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THEY SAID IT

NHRA Quotes from Gainesville

Compiled by Ian Tocher
3/23/04

Round three of the 2004 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series was held Mar. 18-21, at Gainesville Raceway. Here, in their own words, are the thoughts of competitors at the recently completed 35th annual Mac Tools Gatornationals.

"Our intent is always to be number one; so, we are disappointed." -- Whit Bazemore on being nipped by Tim Wilkerson in the final pass on Saturday for the top qualifying spot

"We thump our chest pretty hard about being the only single-car team out here, so that's good for us to do that." -- Tim Wilkerson on becoming the first number-one qualifier with Chevy's new Monte Carlo flopper body

"It's nice to get into the top half of the field." -- Tommy Johnson Jr. after qualifying 7th

"It's unfortunate that we have to race someone that tough early in the day." -- Ron Capps on his first-round meeting with John Force

"It's easy to throw your hands up in the air and shrug your shoulders and say what are we going to do? But, that's what makes champions, champions. And then when you win it really pays off because you've been through a lot of adversity." -- Capps again, after falling to Force

"It was running fine and then it just smoked the tires, almost like it hit oil. It didn't hit oil, but it's very confusing and very discouraging to have something like that happen." -- Gary Scelzi on smoking the tires against Tony Bartone in round one

"This track needs to be ground to knock the roughness off of it. It's smooth, which is a great start. You can't just run on a green racetrack like this without grinding it. Hopefully we'll complain enough to get them to grind this thing for next year." -- Scelzi again, on the recently resurfaced Gainesville strip

"That's how the sport is. It's a brutal game. Budgets sometimes don't matter. That's the beauty of our sport. When you go to the starting line underdog or favorite, you only have one car and one motor, and you've prepared your stuff to the best of your ability and you go race." -- Bazemore on losing to Cory Lee's much lesser-funded team in the first round

"It was nice to get our first round win of the season." -- Cruz Pedregon on getting past Phil Burkart in round one

"It just lost a cylinder in the last second. When it did that I knew that Johnson was close because I could here the echo and I was hoping we could pull out the win but he got to the finish line just a bit quicker than us. If I had been up against anyone else in that session I would've won, but that's drag racing." -- Tony Pedregon on his first-round loss to Johnson Jr.

"I hit the gas and started truckin' and I felt it really pull down and I thought it must be dropping holes or beating itself up into junk. But I never saw Cruz so I just held my foot to the floor, waiting for it to blow up; because after all, it's race day." -- Wilkerson after his parachute deployed immediately on launching his second-round win over a tire-smoking Cruz Pedregon

"We're a little bit off on the consistency and that's the key on race day. Sunday is all about being consistent. Making one or two good runs on a Sunday will never win a drag race." -- Johnson Jr. on his tire- smoking loss to a very vulnerable 5.21 by Lee in round two

"It's exciting with the Worsham kid out in front. We're definitely motivated." -- Force on his unfamiliar role of playing catch-up in the points chase

"I never thought I would win the Mac Tools Gatornationals without running a 300-mph pass all weekend." -- Worsham on the less-than-stellar performances of the fuel classes this year at Gainesville

"Any time you beat John Force, even in qualifying, you get excited. His record just proves how great he is. So to beat him here in the finals of the Gatornationals is a big deal to my dad, and myself and the entire organization. -- Worsham again, after his first Gators win

"For some reason the car that I am driving seems to be sticking to the tracks well in the first couple of races." -- David Grubnic after securing his second number-one qualifying spot in 2004

"As long as you're qualified, you can win from any position." -- Larry Dixon after slotting in 5th, his best qualifying effort so far this year

"Fortunately, were able to get down the tricky track on three out of four runs and plenty of the high-dollar teams weren't able to do that." -- Tim Cullinan after qualifying his low-budget entry 11th on the ladder

"We were on the wrong end of a real tight drag race. It's a bummer, that's for sure. I had a decent reaction time, but he had a better one." -- Dixon on losing to a holeshot by Doug Kalitta in the opening round

"We knew we had to go for it. It bit us. It only went about two inches before it broke the tires loose." -- Cory McClenathan on his opening- round loss to Grubnic

"This was a tricky track. The new surface gave all the crew chiefs trouble. I'm sure that next year, after a little rubber is put on the track, you will see the times and speed that have been the hallmark of Gainesville Raceway return." -- David Baca on the uncharacteristically off-speed performances by the nitro ranks at the Gators

"We ran what we could in our lane, it just wasn't enough." -- Scott Weis after falling to Tony Schumacher in the semis

"When track conditions go bad, we shine. It levels the playing field between guys like us and the mega-dollar teams." -- Howard Weis on his team's success in Gainesville

"This is still a dream come true for me." -- Grubnic after losing in the semis to Darrell Russell

"I've wanted to win this race my entire life." -- Schumacher after beating Russell in the final, on the history and prestige of winning the Gators

"This is a zero tolerance class and you can't put yourself in the position to have to break into the field in the final qualifying session." -- Troy Coughlin on missing the cut with an 18th-place qualifying effort

"I'm glad it's over, and we learned a lot this weekend. We learned that you better stick to your game plan and don't panic, even if you get a run or two behind. That's what we did. We got behind and started changing too many things, and we got lost. We just had to sit down, take a timeout and regroup, and just put everything back where it needed to be and make and then just go make a lap." -- Greg Anderson on the process that led to his third straight number-one starting position this year

"As for tomorrow, I've always been of the opinion that you have to take it one round at a time, and knock them all off, no matter who is in the other lane. Although a few may lie about it, I haven't seen anyone out here walk on water yet, so we like our chances." -- Warren Johnson after qualifying 9th for raceday

"We left a lot on the table in the final session and now we can go into race day armed with great data on our new engine." -- Jeg Coughlin Jr. on the improvements seen in his car while qualifying third at Gainesville

"The car has just not been happy this weekend. I can feel it in the car that something just isn't right." -- Kurt Johnson on the qualifying passes that put him 7th on the ladder

"Just to be racing on Sunday is the whole key." -- Kenny Koretsky after his first-round loss to Bruce Allen

"I'll take what we got. We gained some rounds and got back in the top 10." -- Jim Yates on his jump in the points after making it to the semis against Coughlin Jr.

"There is only one guy happier." -- Coughlin Jr. after falling to Anderson in the final round

"I'm very proud of light I had in the final." -- Anderson on his .045 reaction against Coughlin's .048

"It's great because we worked so hard in the off-season just to be competitive." -- Andrew Hines after securing his career-first pole position

"It was a good run. I'm not complaining, but us riders are always looking for that perfect run, and in my mind that wasn't a perfect." -- Geno Scali on his second-place qualifying pass

"Driver introduction was memorable and cool. I've always wanted to be a part of that. It's so different, it gave me cold chills to walk out there on the stage and wave at all the people that support you." -- Angie McBride on qualifying and racing in her first NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle event

"I think Angie, being a rookie at this level, was a little surprised at the focus necessary to cut a good light and drive the bike." -- George Bryce, team owner for McBride, on losing to a 7.27 by Joe DeSantis in round one despite McBride going 7.21 seconds, thanks to a .083-second reaction by McBride against DeSantis' .019 light

"This is the future of NHRA Pro Stock Bike racing." -- Hines after winning the sport's first all-Harley final against teammate G.T. Tonglet, and giving H-D its first NHRA win.