By Jay Wells. Photo by Jeff Burk

The Texas Motorplex's all-concrete quarter-mile has an incredible reputation for incredibly quick elapsed times and supersonic speeds. If the recent surge in performance is any indication, a quick look into the Motorplex's historic past shows that National records may once again be ready to crumble.

It's that kind of record-setting potential that gives Bob Gilbertson and his Stewart & Stevenson Pontiac Firebird racing team the incentive to press onward as they attempt to match horsepower in this year's tremendous Funny Car fracas. It's been a year since Gilbertson was able to run at Dallas and even then he had only one run since qualifying was rained out and the pairings were set on points. Now he's itching to get back there and see what his TEAM FMTV have up their sleeve.

"Everything you hear about how great of a track Dallas is, is true," said Gilbertson, who is hoping to improve his career-best time of 4.856 seconds. "There's not a transition point as in most tracks. It's smooth concrete so you can really apply the power. I wish we could have made more laps on it last year, but the rains came and took away our chances."

Gilbertson is embroiled in a point battle for the No. 10 position in the NHRA Winston Funny Car point standings. He may not be able to obtain that mark this late in the season, but that still hasn't deterred his TEAM FMTV from playing the spoiler's role. He is currently in the No. 13 position with 734 points, trailing No. 12 Scotty Cannon by only eight points. He could easily leap into the No. 11 spot currently occupied by Jim Epler with the acquisition of 32 points or a round and a half of competition. With a maximum of 12 rounds contending in the scope of things, the possibilities are endless.

"We have to be consistent with every run we make," Gilbertson stated. "We have had plenty of opportunities offered to us to make up the ground, but just didn't take advantage of them. At this point we're 217 points out of tenth and still have 240 points to achieve. It's definitely not over and anything can happen in this sport. You can never take anything for granted."

Stewart & Stevenson will lend their personal support to the effort with a throng of avid drag race fans making the trek from Houston to be able to support their team. "After the S&S company picnic last weekend, we know we have the support of some of the best fans in the world. We plan on putting on quite a show for them," said Gilbertson.

TEAM FMTV DRIVER NOTES

• Bob Gilbertson won his first Funny Car NHRA national event on April 16, 2000 in the O'Reilly Nationals at the Houston Raceway Park. Coming from the No. 16 qualifying position he defeated an all-star cast for the victory, including 10-time Funny Car champ, John Force, Jim Epler, Ron Capps and Jerry Toliver in the finals.

• He finished 12th in the 2000 NHRA Winston Funny Car point standings with 899 points. Gilbertson's quickest elapsed time and fastest speed is 4.856 seconds, 312.86 mph set at the Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. on Sept. 28, 2001.

• The FMTV (Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles) military truck division of Stewart & Stevenson Services, Inc. joined Gilbertson's Terminator Motorsports as a full-time sponsor at the beginning of the 2001 season.