NHRA (ATLANTA) - DENSHAM UNVEILS NEW IMPALA...

Funny Car driver Gary Densham is thinking some new carbon fiber might bring the luck hes been looking for at this weekend's Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. And that's just what he'll be debuting, in the form of a new Chevrolet Impala body.

General Motors spent a lot of money in both design and wind tunnel testing on the new Impala, Densham said. "This is one sleek machine that will put us right there with everybody else.

We've had the body in the shop for awhile, but we wanted to make sure we had the performance numbers down the track first before we put it on the chassis. Timing was critical too. Since we've been doing a lot of Monday testing, that's put us behind a little."

Aerodynamics play a critical role in keeping these wheeled rockets going straight down the track at over 300 mph, and no one knows better than the former high school shop teacher from Bellflower, Calif.

"This Impala body will take some getting used to," Densham said. "We've been running the Monte Carlo for two years and we've learned it only takes subtle changes to affect how the car handles. Although it may not look that different from the grand stands, believe me, it is.

We made a half-track run after the Las Vegas race and found out that some minor tweaking needed to be done. We've made those tweaks and we're ready to give it a shot."

The Torco Racing Fuels / Racebricks Collectables Funny Car team is hoping the weather cooperates this weekend.

"Weather in north Georgia can play tricks on all the teams," Densham said. "Our set-up varies so widely between Friday night qualifying and Sunday eliminations. It's amazing to see how everybody on our team works so closely together to figure all that stuff out. Now, if the driver just does his job, we've got a good shot at taking home a Wally."