JERRY HAAS
Jerry Haas, from Fenton, Mo., a Pro Stock Truck team owner and 13-time award winning chassis builder, is one of the founding fathers of the class. He had this to say regarding the announcement by NHRA.

"I don't even know where they (NHRA) are coming from on this. The trucks are the most competitive thing they have out there -- 95 percent of the time you can expect close side-by-side racing. I hear the story that trucks are not fast. Well they are fast. We're working within the rules that NHRA gave us and 7.39 seconds at over 182 mph is damn good for a small block engine. If they want them to go faster, change the rules. I'll do whatever they want to do to go faster," said Haas.

Continuing, Haas added, "Since the inception of the class in 1998 we have had 35 to 45 teams at most every race. Right now Top Fuel usually doesn't have a full field and they certainly don't have a lot of side-by-side racing. These 45-plus truck teams have supported NHRA for four years and many of the teams have invested millions of dollars over that span. The results are that NHRA has treated them like a 'redheaded stepchild.' It was the worst thing that NHRA could have done to the trucks. It's a low blow to all the truck people that have stepped up and supported NHRA.

"If they wanted to do away with the class, they should have said, 'OK, we're going to race this class another year, 2002." This would allow everyone enough time to phase their equipment out. I could go along with something like that. Right now we've got five races left this year. We might as well throw our stuff in the trash can. A million to two million right in the trash can. To tell them they can go into Comp is insulting. They didn't want to run Comp, they wanted to be a professional team. NHRA made this class and I guess they can do whatever they want, but I wish that they had done their homework and seen what they could do to market the class better -- including getting together a task force to see what steps were necessary to 'make the trucks run faster,' if that was the problem."

BOB PANELLA, SR.
One individual who has invested much into fielding a first class Pro Stock Truck team is Bob Panella, Sr., from Stockton, Calif. Panella Motorsports, head by the family patriarch Bob, Sr., currently competes on the truck circuit with a two-truck team -- a Chevy S-10 driven by two-time and reigning Winston Pro Stock Truck Champion Bob Panella, Jr., from Stockton, Calif., and a GMC Sonoma, with Jeff Gracia, from Ontario, Calif., handling the driving duties.

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