NHRA: Reading NHRA Chevy Second Round Notes
20 September 1999
CHEVROLET NOTES AND QUOTES NHRA TRUE VALUE KEYSTONE NATIONALS MAPLE GROVE RACEWAY NHRA WINSTON DRAG RACING SERIES SUNDAY, SEPT. 19, 1999 PRO STOCK -- CAMARO Z28 -- ELIMINATIONS MIKE EDWARDS, DEWCO PERFORMANCE CAMARO Z28, runner-up here last year in Pro Stock, was eliminated in the first round by Jim Yates. Yates took the win on a holeshot advantage with a .412 reaction time to Edwards' .446. Edwards posted another outstanding elapsed time, 6.912 at 199.20 mph, but lost to Yates' 6.934/198.36. EDWARDS: "If you had told me before that round that I would have cut a .44 light and run a 6.91, I'd have taken my chances. I like those odds. Actually, I thought he red-lighted. But when I got to the other end I knew he'd won. He did a good job. You've got to hand it to him." (Note: Yates, in the second round against Jeg Coughlin, red-lighted, with a .394 reaction time.) KURT JOHNSON, ACDELCO CAMARO Z28, was defeated by Darrell Alderman in the second roud, 6.995/197.10 for Kurt, 6.984/196.16 for Alderman. Kurt eliminated Mike Thomas in the first round with a 6.941-second lap, but lost lane choice to Alderman's 6.940 in his win against Tom Martino. KURT: "We came here with a totally new combination. We tested in Atlanta and it was fine. We ran good on Friday night, we were No. 1. Saturday didn't go the way we wanted, this morning it didn't go the way we wanted. We made some changes for the second round. It was smooth, but it just didn't make a straight run; it got out of the groove. If you don't make a straight run with these things you're just not going to win. I don't know if it would have gone straight if I had lane choice, but the other lane would have been better. I'm disappointed because we lost, but we learned something from first round to second round by changing shocks. With the new Pi computer system we were able to look at some information that we haven't been able to with the old computer. We simulated the 6.87 (qualifying) run. If it would have gone straight it would have been fast. We will come here tomorrow and get the pre-load right, the clutch right, and it will be fast, I'm not worried at all. I know it's going to be fast...finally. Topeka is going to be good; it's going to have a great starting line; the air will not be as good, but I think we will fly there. I have never won there, it's time to win there." FUNNY CAR -- CAMARO Z28 WHIT BAZEMORE, KENDALL OIL/SUPERWINCH CAMARO Z28, was ousted in the first round by Dean Skuza, 5.080/291.73 for Whit, 5.047/280.11 for Skuza. This was Whit's best run of the weekend, which rep[reesnted an improvemnt of over six hundredths of a second in elapsed time and 10 mph in top speed over his qualifying time. BAZEMORE: "This was a tough weekend for Team Kendall. We had some problems in qualifyng which persisted on Sunday morning. We responded with our best number of the weekend in a round where a lot of people were dropping cylinders and smoking the tires It was a close race and we came up a little short. It's awfully frustrating to lose in the first round, but we can say that we're fortunate that it doesn't happen very often to us. In fact, that was only the second time this season. The tough part is that this will make our pursuit of Tony (Pedregon, who advanced to the second round, then was eliminated) even harder. But we're not giving up. Our goal is to beat him for second place, which we will have to make happen, no matter how difficult it might be. To be honest, we're a little upset. We're just going to dig even deeper to show what this Kendall Camaro team is made of." # # #