---

NHRA: U.S. Nationals, and points, on the line at Indy

31 August 1999

     NASCAR's premier event, the Daytona 500, is the first race of the
Winston Cup season. The Indianapolis 500 comes early enough on the IRL
calendar that the competitors are thinking win, not points.
     Drag racing's biggest show of the year, however, falls at about the
three-quarter mark of the NHRA campaign. This weekend's 45th annual U.S.
Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park, culminating with final round action
on Labor Day, comes amidst one of the hottest Top Fuel and Pro Stock
Motorcycle championship battles in recent memory.
     So, do Valvoline racers Joe Amato and Matt Hines go for a win, or
points? 
     "It's a combination," answers Amato, the three-time U.S. Nationals
winner who is challenging for his record sixth Top Fuel title. "You want to
win the U.S. Nationals. If you can't be the Winston champion, the next
thing on your wish list is to be the U.S. Nationals champion." He's got
four wins this season and is tied with Larry Dixon for sixth in points,
only 47 behind leader Mike Dunn. 
     Amato thinks his struggle 12 months ago in the Valvoline-supported
Tenneco Automotive dragster could provide a useful lesson. "Last year, we
went to the U.S. Nationals and we struggled. We had an electrical problem
and lost first round. We're hoping to get some redemption this year and
keep the championship chase going. Last year we were one point out at Indy
and then we went downhill from there." Amato ended up third in the
standings. 
     "The track is a little bit funny, at times. They race all the time
there, and the starting line, sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not
good. It's had a tendency to disappear on you. You're there a longer time
and some of the teams, ours included, have a mindset that you have extra
time to try a few things, but that gets you in trouble more than not. So, I
think the bigger issue is to try to be steady and start running good right
out of the box and get a baseline for race day. On Monday, it always seems
the racetrack and the weather conditions change, so it's a matter of the
crew chief (Jimmy Prock) making the right calls and the driver doing his
job."
     Hines has advanced to the final round the last three years at Indy,
claiming the crown in 1998 over Angelle Seeling. He's won once and is
second in points on the Eagle One Suzuki, 98 behind Seeling.
     "I've never really thought about it as a points situation," admits
Hines. "The last couple of years, I've had the point lead going into the
race, so that wasn't a real big issue. Points might come into play this
year, but I'm definitely looking for the win. It's one of the more
stressful, more intense, exhausting races of the entire season. There's so
much going on."
     Ron Krisher, a consistent top-16 qualifier in the Eagle One Pontiac
Firebird in Pro Stock -- a class that regularly sends at least 10 cars home
-- says his key is a solid early qualifying pass. "You need a good run to
begin with, which is at night," explained Krisher, the No. 7 qualifier at
the last event in Brainerd, Minn. "I think only once or twice in the last
10 years has the track been good enough to qualify (during the day). That
track doesn't have a great starting line to begin with, and there are so
many cars there, the track can go away on you." 
     Counting points isn't an issue for Krisher: "At all these other
events, all you hear about is points. Indy isn't about points. It's about
the crowd and the fans and the TV. Everybody thinks 'win.' "