NHRA: Chevy S-10s Sweep Top 12 Positions at Topeka
2 October 1999
BOB PANELLA JR., PANELLA MOTORSPORTS CHEVY S-10, is No. 1 qualifier for the third time this season, 7.596/176.10. He's two for two in sweeping the top qualifying spot and the title, winning in Chicago and St. Louis. His e.t. is a track record. He is followed by Brad Jeter, Jerry Haas, Scott Perin (who set a track record speed of 176.77 mph) and Brian Self to round out the top five. PANELLA: "It feels real good. I don't really enjoy going into eliminations under the gun. Yesterday I made two mediocre runs. I knew there was more left. We had to do our best to try to make a smooth run today and fortunately we made a pretty good one this afternoon and we were able to capitalize on the run this morning and do a little better." ON BEING ONE OF THE LAST PAIRS TO QUALIFY: "I definitely enjoy being a little further back. I'm usually towards the front. It might help a little today. The track is pretty good, the sun was down the whole session, you couldn't ask for a much better track, really." ON THE TRACK RECORD BEING BROKEN IN EACH ROUND: "Last year here for some reason a lot of trucks, including mine, didn't run that well. The weather was colder than now. I don't know what the problem was last year. We took all the data from last year, when we didn't do well, and we went in the other direction for this weekend and it seemed to work. I didn't realize it was a track record every run, but I know there were some pretty good runs throughout the weekend." IS THERE A FINE LINE BETWEEN IT BEING COOL AND TOO COOL? "Definitely. I think last year was a case of it being a little bit too cold. Some of the Dodge trucks really like a cold track. Not our Chevy S-10. I prayed for hot weather this year and did well at the hot races. This is my first cool one, maybe I can change my luck in the cool ones." ON GAINING SIX POINTS ON LEADER MARK OSBORNE: "I didn't realize he qualified 12th. Every little bit counts at this point. Hopefully we won't make any mistakes the next four rounds and we will put the Chevy S-10 in winner's circle on Sunday, if it doesn't rain." FUNNY CAR -- CAMARO Z28 After two rounds of qualifying, WHIT BAZEMORE, KENDALL OIL/SUPERWINCH CAMARO Z28, is No. 6 qualifier, 5.099/287.11. BAZEMORE: "We were a little down on power on our first run, because we dropped a cylinder early on. With the weather being a question mark, Tim (crew chief Richards) wanted me to go to the finish line no matter what the car was doing. As a result, we ran a 5.09 at 287 miles-an-hour, which was a good starting place because it got us in the show, and you always want to be qualified. Tonight we knew it was going to be tricky. Unfortunately, we were in the right lane, and not one car made it down that side successfully. In addition, with all the lengthy delays the track was a little cold for those of us late in the order. Some guys ran well early, and our hats are off to them. However, it would have been nice if the jet dryer had made a few passes after the long clean-ups to build some heat back in the surface and give us a chance to run well. As it stands, we'll take what we learned today and look to move the Kendall Camaro further up in the order on Saturday." RON CAPPS, COPENHAGEN CAMARO Z28, is No. 18 (DNQ), 9.885/80.02. In today's first session he experienced tire shake and in the second round the Camaro was pushed off the starting line after an oil leak was discovered. CAPPS: "Obviously we felt good about going into this round. We have Dale Armstrong over here full time, which is very exciting. I was really eger to go out there tonight. We tried some things that would have given us a shot at low qualifier. After the burnout I saw an NHRA guy in front of my car trying to wipe up something. I could see it was something other than fuel. Sure enough, Rick Stewart came over and started pointing to the car and I figured I had an oil leak. We couldn't find the leak when we brought it back, so it looks like it's just leaking somewhere around the block. There's nothing broken, no fittings broken. We'll pull the short block out and put another one in it and not take a chance, especially with the cooler temperatures tomorrow. It should be quite exciting, it should run pretty good." PRO STOCK -- CAMARO Z28 KURT JOHNSON, ACDELCO CAMARO Z28, is No. 4 qualifier, 6.925/198.23, posted in the second session. MIKE EDWARDS, DEWCO PERFORMANCE CAMARO Z28, is No. 6, 6.935/197.39, also set in the evening session. Mike had two good runs today; his first was a 6.966/196.64, good for first position after the first qualifying round.