Skuza Qualifies 10th in NHRA Denver
Mopar Motorsports NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals Bandimere Speedway Notes & Quotes July 20, 2002 TELEVISION TIMES: (ALL TIMES EASTERN) QUALIFYING: Sat., July 20; 7-9 p.m.; ESPN FINAL ROUND: Sun., July 21; 69 p.m.; ESPN2 REPEAT: Tues., July 23; 2-4 p.m.; ESPN2 MORRISON, Colo. -- Mopar Motorsports NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series teams completed the final day of qualifying for this weekend¹s 23rd annual Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway. DEAN SKUZA, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Stratus R/T Dean Skuza has had a good weekend thus far in front of the Mopar backers. The Brecksville, Ohio, driver and pilot of the Mopar Parts Dodge Stratus R/T Nitro Funny Car claimed the 10th-qualifying position with a solid 5.242-second elapsed time at 282.84 mph in today¹s third session. Skuza will match up with upstart Dale Creasy, Jr., in round one tomorrow. Despite the consistency, Skuza wasn¹t entirely happy with his performance. ³We haven¹t run on eight cylinders yet this weekend,² Skuza said. ³That¹s what were working on tonight. If we can do that, it¹s going to pick up a tenth and a half. ³I¹m extremely disappointed,² Skuza said. ³This thing should be going out and running a 5.09 on every run. We¹re just leaving so much on the table. We¹ve been leaning it and leaning it. The first run out of the box was the best run we¹ve had all weekend. I mean, we spun the tires and put a hole out. On this last run (fourth session), we ended up blowing out the center spark plug on cylinder number five.² Skuza is looking to record his third NHRA Funny Car title this weekend. GENE WILSON, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T Gene Wilson made two solid passes during today¹s qualifying sessions, but it wasn¹t enough to place the Mopar Parts-backed rookie into his first Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals Pro Stock field. Wilson and his Hemi-powered Dodge Neon R/T took home a weekend best elapsed time of 7.351 seconds at 187.89 mph. ³We sure didn¹t have the weekend I was hoping for,² Wilson said. ³It¹s sure disappointing not to qualify in front of all the Mopar people here this weekend. We made some good runs here and our fourth pass was the 14th quickest of that session. We just had quite a few gremlins that bit this weekend and could never really recover. Hopefully in Seattle, our luck will turn around.² LARRY MORGAN, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T Larry Morgan¹s weekend can be summed up with this cliché so close, but yet so far away. Morgan qualified in the 17th position with a 7.328-second elapsed time at 187.83 mph. The eight-time NHRA Pro Stock winner and driver of the blue Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T missed the field by a scant one thousandth of a second. ³We still have a problem that I don¹t think we¹ve figured out,² Morgan said. ³We¹re talking to (Mopar engineer) Greg (Reeves) about that problem right now. We¹re so close and it¹s just the little things thats getting us. We went testing at two different places and ran real fast. By the time we were done testing, I had wrecked all of my parts. Now I think we probably hurt them again. So were going to go back and change some things again. We¹re just so close that we can catch fire at any time now. It¹s just too bad that we didn¹t get started here.² DARRELL ALDERMAN, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T Darrell Alderman made the show barely. The three-time POWERade Pro Stock World Champion held off Mopar teammate Larry Morgan with a 7.327-second elapsed time at 187.89 mph. Alderman, who drives the Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T, is in quest for his 29th NHRA Pro Stock victory and second of this season (Gainesville, Fla.). The 52-year-old standout will face off against No. 1 qualifier Ron Krisher in round one tomorrow. ³We have a tough one tomorrow in Ron Krisher,² Alderman said. ³They really have us covered here. We¹ll give it our best shot. We really didn¹t have a good day and spun the tires a lot. We¹re changing engines and we hope that it works out. ³I think the first 60 foot is better in the left than it is in the right,² Alderman added. ³There is probably a hundred and a half difference in the lanes right now.² -Mopar.com- David Harris, Cox Marketing Group Mopar Motorsports NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series davidh@coxmarketinggroup.com (704) 799-2114 office (704) 756-9301 - mobile