Compiled by Ian Tocher
6/17/04
As usual, the racers tell the story in their own words via team and NHRA press releases from the 40th annual Pontiac Excitement NHRA Nationals presented by Summit Racing Equipment, held June 11-13 at National Trail Raceway, near Columbus, OH.
TOP FUEL
“I double-stepped it in the final session there and we lost a good chance to get some data under some sunshine, but I think Tim [Richards, crew chief] has a good enough handle on this thing.” - Brandon Bernstein after qualifying number one—and before going up in smoke in the opening round against Mitch King on raceday
“We’re about a 10th of a second behind. That doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re going 320 miles an hour, it’s quite a bit of difference at the finish line. We’re getting a little better, but we don’t quite have it all together yet.” - Doug Herbert before qualifying third, his best starting position in more than a year
“This is a real disappointment, especially when you go from a number-one qualifying position at the last race to a DNQ at this one. But it’s even more of a downer when you don’t even have a chance to run.” - Cory McClenathan on the clutch problem during his burnout that prevented his fourth and last attempt to break into the 16-car field. It was Cory Mac’s first DNQ since the 2001 Dallas race and only his fifth in 248 career races
“We didn’t get down the track in either of the last two sessions, which was a bit disappointing. But, as always, I’m confident we’ll be properly prepared for tomorrow. That’s when they start counting the points.” - Tony Schumacher qualifying second behind Brandon Bernstein
“It’s nice to be able to give one back to the team every once in a while.” - Larry Dixon on his holeshot win over David Grubnic in round one
“Even though we didn’t win the race, it was a good weekend. We didn’t break any parts and it looks like (crew chief) Ed McCulloch is getting a better handle on the tune-up.” - Herbert after losing to Doug Kalitta in round two
“The good news is that we’re back on top of the standings. We really caught a break with Brandon (Bernstein) losing early, but we still had to take care of business. We just couldn’t quite close the deal.” - Schumacher on Bernstein’s first-round loss; and on coming up short to Darrell Russell in the final round
“Maybe it played to our favor because they couldn’t look at what we had done in the semis.” - Russell on the timing glitch in the semis that gave him no time for his win over Dixon, so NHRA awarded lane choice in the final to Schumacher
“We needed this. It had been almost two years since we won and you do start to doubt yourself at times.” - Russell again, on winning his sixth T/F race and the team’s first since July 2002
FUNNY CAR
“You’ve gotta get hot in the heat. Otherwise you’ve got no chance (to win the championship).” - Gary Densham on the upcoming summer month races, and before qualifying third and making it to a second-round loss against Gary Scelzi
“In this sport, unfortunately, you have to prove yourself every weekend, every run.” - Whit Bazemore before qualifying in the number-two position
“I haven’t been pushed back in the seat like that in quite awhile.” - Cruz Pedregon on the track record 4.769-second pass that earned his first number-one qualifying position since Pomona in November 1998
“It’s doing what it’s supposed to do. And to make one of these cars do that is a pretty big thing.” - Gary Scelzi after qualifying 6th
“The early numbers on the run were as good as any we posted during qualifying. The hot track just wouldn’t hold the tune-up and the car spun the tires at mid-track.” - Tommy Johnson Jr. on his first-round loss to Scelzi
“We were looking to run a low 4.80, but the clutch engagement timers that are activated by the throttle switch, went off too soon. They are weather sensitive and the change in temperature from when we were in the pits to the starting line was about 10 degrees and it just caused the car to smoke the tires.” - C. Pedregon explaining what went wrong in his opening-round match against Jerry Toliver
“When it spun the tires it got out of the groove and dropped a cylinder. It wasn’t going to go anywhere so I shut it off early. If I would have legged it through there, it probably would have gone an .86 or .87 and knocked the blower off or something stupid and we wouldn’t have won anyway.” - Tim Wilkerson on his 4.901 in the first round against Eric Medlen’s 4.822
“What’s really going to help us is Cruz’s car is running much better and we’ll be able to look at their data more. Two times the information is better than one, so we’ll get it all straightened out.” - Tony Pedregon on his brother and teammate’s performance after suffering a first-round loss to Del Worsham
“What we’re learning is that our windows (for making mistakes) are way too small with this car. We’re going to test so we can learn how to make those windows bigger so that we can get down the track each time.” - Roland Leong, recently re-hired crew chief for Ron Capps, after Capps was ousted from the first round by Phil Burkart
“What do you say? My brain said no but my foot said go. Bottom line, we messed up a chance to close the gap on Baze.” - John Force on going red against Burkart in round two
“We got beat by an outstanding run in the heat of the day and that’s about it.” - Bazemore on Medlen overcoming a holeshot to beat him in round two
“Shut up! Go away! You lost—and on a holeshot, too.” - Scelzi to Medlen during his ESPN2 interview after dusting off the rookie in the semis
“When it spun the tires, I pedaled it and it broke the blower studs. Otherwise, we’d be having a different conversation right now.” - Scelzi on his pedaling contest with Worsham in the final
“Whit’s been to five finals and we’ve only been to three, yet we’re right there with them, which is awesome. But we all know there’s a long way to go and I still say John Force will be in the mix before it’s all said and done.” - Worsham on the points chase after beating Scelzi in the final round
“I was thinking that maybe the bottom half of the field brings out the best in us, we run a little bit harder, try to go a little bit faster, we don’t back down, and we get a little more aggressive.” - Worsham again, on all three of his wins this year coming after he qualified in the lower half of the field
PRO STOCK
“We’ve learned a lot this weekend, not the least of which is that a lot of cars out here have gotten better. I’ll take a lot of the credit for that because I think we’ve put so much heat on everyone else that we forced them to go home and work that much harder.” - Greg Anderson after earning his seventh top qualifier honor this season
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“If we’d have been in the other lane, we would’ve qualified; there was that much difference between the lanes.” - Jim Yates after ending up 19th and missing the show with a last-chance qualifying effort in the left lane
“We had too much wheel spin down low. The car recovered, but we left a lot on the table early in the run and that hurt us on the big end.” - Jeg Coughlin on his first-round loss to Steve Johns
“The bad lane hurt us.” - Kenny Koretsky on losing from the left lane to Dave Connolly in Sunday’s opening round
“This was a tuners race and a lot of teams fell off, but we didn’t. All the credit goes to (crew chiefs) Rob Downing and Jeff Perley because it was the warmest conditions we’ve raced in this season and we learned a lot.” - Anderson giving credit where credit is due after beating Connolly in the final
“Last year when we won was a pretty emotional day with Jason (Line) getting upside down. This weekend sure beats that.” - Anderson on going home after the win with two intact racecars in the trailer
PRO STOCK BIKE
“Being the number-one qualifier is nice for the team, but it really doesn’t matter on Sunday.” - Andrew Hines on sitting atop the P/S Bike field for the fourth time this year
“It was a surprise to me. I pushed the air button to shift but nothing happened. I pushed several times with no success. I tried high but nothing I tried worked.” - Fred Collis on the shifter problems that led to a loss to Keith Dennis in round one
“I was as surprised as anyone by the slow run we had out of the bike today. We thought it was ready for a 7.17 or a 7.18 type run, but when it left the starting line it just went nowhere.” - Craig Treble on losing with a 7.254 to Shawn Gann in round one
“I knew I had to be as perfect as I could be at the start. I thought I might be able to hold him off, but he just came around me at the very end.” - Antron Brown after carding a perfect .000 light, but losing to Hines in the second round
“The bike bogged a bit right at the start and it cost me.” - Angelle Savoie on her semi-final loss to Steve Johnson
“The Pro Stock Bike class has gotten tougher and tougher over the last
three years and we really have reached a point where anyone is capable of winning.
Right now looks like it’s our time. I’m just going to stay focused
on the championship and getting points.”
- Hines after beating Johnson to pick up his second
win of the year and extending his points lead 
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