Cannon DNQs for first time since 2001

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 19 of 23
O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals presented by Pennzoil
Memphis Motorsports Park
Memphis, Tenn.
Race Dates: Sept. 19-21, 2003


MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 20, 2003) - For the first time all season and since
the Englishtown, N.J., race in 2001, Scotty Cannon failed to qualify his
Oakley Funny Car at an NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event.

Today, Cannon's streak of qualifying for 56 straight events was snapped by
his coming in No. 17, with a 5.134-second elapsed time in today's final
qualifying session. The bump spot was a 5.11, and he fell agonizingly short.

"It is what it is," said the popular Mohawk-wearing racer from Lyman, S.C.
"I take my hat off to all the fans. I have an awful lot of people up here in
Tennessee who are my fans. I've done a lot of match racing here over the
years. Well, I guess we'll just have to go back and see if we can make it
better.

"We were too aggressive in the first session today, so we backed it down for
the final round and we were just too conservative," he explained. "It's
disappointing, without a doubt, but we're not down. We'll just keep plugging
along and doing all we can to make improvements."