NHRA quotes from Atlanta
Compiled by Ian Tocher
5/19/04
Ron Lewis Photo
Once more, straight from the racer's comments in NHRA and team press releases, here's the story of the 24th annual Summit Southern Nationals presented by Pontiac, held May 14-16 at Atlanta Dragway.
TOP FUEL
"I would like to see both the car and the driver get a little bit more consistent as we head into this stretch of races ahead. This is where we must make a jump in the point standings if we want to meet our goal of a top five finish this year." -- David Baca before the race, on the prospect of six national events in the next seven weeks
"From my standpoint being in the first pair isn't that big of a deal. My job is the same if we're the first pair or last pair of cars to go down the track." -- Larry Dixon after qualifying 8th, which paired him against 9th-place qualifier Clay Millican and made them the first to run on raceday. Millican won
"We didn't see him until about the 1,000-foot mark, then I saw the nose of his car creep in." -- Bernstein on losing to Cory McClenathan in round two
"I don't know that I would have bet on myself today. You do reach a point where you start to doubt yourself a little. You wonder if it will ever gonna' come again. To be honest I was glad when we got out of the first round with a win." -- McClenathan on winning his first race since the fall race at Pomona in 2002
"Today we just stopped making big changes. We knew it would be hot and we decided to get down the track every time no matter what. It worked and I couldn't be more happy and relieved." -- Cory Mac, on the tune up he and crew chief Todd Smith agreed upon for the Atlanta event
FUNNY CAR
"I'd be lying if I said we just want to get some experience (this year). To be honest, we want to win every race. We want to win Atlanta and after Atlanta, Chicago and after Chicago, Topeka. But the first one, they say that's the toughest." -- Rookie Eric Medlen before the race, where he went to the second round, but lost to Tim Wilkerson
"We've been running the tire most of the season and I think we've made a lot of progress, but you don't know. It hasn't been real hot yet. That'll be the biggest test." -- Gary Densham before the race, on the new Goodyear 2096 rear tire all the fuel teams have to use
"The tires really don't seem to be the huge factor we thought they would be coming into this race." -- Wilkerson after the first day of qualifying
"I've got the best brain trust in the sport (crew chiefs Austin Coil, Bernie Fedderly, John Medlen, and Jimmy Prock). They don't tell me how to drive; I don't tell them how to tune the car -- and that includes the tires." -- John Force on the tire issue
"We're going to put this oildown situation behind us. We're not even trying to make up points for that. We're just trying to win races." -- Whit Bazemore on the oildown penalties he received at the previous race in Bristol, TN, that bumped him from 4th to 6th in the points
"It's disappointing but understandable. It's a new team, working with a new
tire, a new car and new people so it's going to take a little time to get used
to. With every run we're learning something and the more runs we make the quicker
we can figure it out. Paul Smith is a smart guy and he'll get a handle on it,
it just takes a little while to sort out."
-- Jeff Arend after going up in smoke in each of the four qualifying sessions
and missing the race
"It was one of those runs that everything just went right." -- Tony Pedregon on his 4.765-second pass at 329.83 mph in the second qualifying session that set an unofficial top-speed record for the nitro floppers
"It's disheartening, but we've had to back up a little bit. We can run 330 mph. I'm not going to worry about it." -- Gary Scelzi, the current national speed record holder (329.18 mph), on Pedregon's accomplishment
"The injector plates held open and the engine was idling really high which builds temperature in the clutch, causing it to drop a cylinder." -- T. Pedregon explaining what went wrong in his first-round match against Bob Gilbertson
"We can't quite get everything lined up at once. Once we get me driving right and the car running right, it's going to be big." -- Tommy Johnson Jr. on recent improvements in his team's performance, but after dropping his first-round match against Jerry Toliver
"It was nice to see the car run so well on the first pass with the new setup. I didn't see Whit until half-track." -- Ron Capps on his first-round loss to Bazemore
"These machines are absolute living and breathing monsters, and when any one little tiny thing goes wrong, you can do something simple like smoke the tires or you can blow it up big time. It's just the way it is, and no one is immune to it. That's why we wear these fire suits." -- Del Worsham on the engine explosion in round two that seriously damaged his new Monte Carlo body
"We gave her a little too much motor and a little too much clutch, and like all weekend long, she did just what we told her to. This was one time we would have liked her to have
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"It looks like the clutch was really aggressive. It got hot. We were up there running for a lot longer than we normally do. And for whatever reason it was just really aggressive when he stepped on the gas and it smoked the tires. We tried backing it down from the prior runs today just to be safe, to make sure we got off the starting line, because I didn't feel the left lane was quite as good as the right lane. But for whatever reason we just had a hiccup in the clutch and it was just too aggressive and came loose." -- Mike Neff, crew chief for Scelzi, on their final-round loss
"It was as close as you can get to having a great day without getting there." -- Gary Scelzi on losing to teammate Bazemore in the final
"All the conditions are a challenge for you. I don't think I'm really a specialist at hot tracks or cold tracks. The thing about the Funny Car is it has a very narrow window for error; you have to tip-toe under conditions like we had today in those later rounds where we had 125-, 130-degree track temperatures." -- Lee Beard, crew chief for Bazemore, on what it took to win at Atlanta Dragway
"To win here twice is unbelievable. This is the place where I saw my first drag race, where all my dreams started. It's emotional. The points are the same and the money's the same, but some races mean more than others to the people involved and Atlanta means a lot to me." -- Bazemore on backing up his 2002 win at "Georgia's House of Speed"
PRO STOCK
"It was just a freaky thing." -- Jim Yates on the clutch troubles that prevented him from qualifying in Atlanta
"If we get this car to go straight for the first hundred feet we can make a charge and get back to the top-half of the field." -- Jeg Coughlin Jr. on being 15th after the first day of qualifying. He eventually started 4th, but lost in the first round to Kurt Johnson
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"In drag racing, we get four passes in qualifying, and if you miss the combination, you could be facing a short day on Sunday." -- Warren Johnson before bowing out in round one against Bruce Allen
"I guess we've found a new way to lose one of these." -- Kurt Johnson on being counted out of his semi-final match against Larry Morgan after his car failed to start due to an arcing starter cable, then not being able to quickly replace the hood after the wiring problem was jury-rigged to start
PRO STOCK BIKE
"When this engine starts and revs to 14,000 rpm on the dyno the entire facility shakes. There are not a lot of things more exciting than this kind of motorcycle going almost 200 mph in a closed-off dyno room." -- Steve Johnson on pre-race testing conducted at his shop in Birmingham, AL. Johnson ended up 17th in qualifying, missing the cut by .010 second
"We're just looking to do the same exact thing we did last year." -- Geno Scali, defending Pro Stock Bike champion, before qualifying 3rd, then going out in round two against Shawn Gann
"Personally, I really needed this performance for my confidence. I was beginning to wonder if I had lost my edge." -- Angelle Savoie after stealing the top qualifying spot away from Michael Phillips with a 7.121 in her final attempt
"I must have been too anxious." -- Craig Treble on his .005 redlight in the first round against Fred Collis
"I thought I had to cut a real good light against Angelle to have a shot and I just went too far." -- Brown on his redlight start (-.008) against teammate Savoie in round two
"It's been a long time getting back here (to winner's circle). I thought this
would never happen again. I really was beginning to have my doubts. But, my
team gave me a great bike this weekend and as far as I'm concerned the curse
is over." -- Savoie on scoring her first win since the
Chicago event last May 
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