NHRA: Panella, Daniels top qualifying in Columbus
18 June 2000
BOB PANELLA JR., PANELLA TRUCKING CHEVY S-10, qualified No. 1 for the sixth time this season, edging out RANDY DANIELS, BAILEY TRUCKING CHEVY S-10, with a track record elapsed time of 7.578 seconds at 177.49 mph to Randy's 7.583/177.51. Daniels did, however, post a track speed record of 177.81 mph in an earlier run. Daniels, whose 7.583 led qualifying after three qualifying sessions, did not improve in the final session with a 7.605/177.81, while Panella bettered his 7.610 with the 7.578-second pass. Panella was staged behind Daniels in the last session. PANELLA: WHEN YOU SAW THAT DANIELS DIDN'T IMPROVE, DID YOU THINK YOU COULD BEAT HIM? "I thought we had a chance. I didn't know for sure, but I thought we had a chance. I don't know what happened the run before. We kind of almost got lost and didn't know why, so we had done a couple of questionable things to the clutch that we didn't know for sure about. So, we went back to what we know, and it worked. Actually, it worked real well. It wasn't the greatest run in the world; it kind of went left a little bit. It might have cost us a few thousandths (of a second), but it was enough and that's what matters." IT'S ANOTHER RANDY AND BOBBY SHOW: "Larry Seay, my other customer, has to race Randy in the first round. I'd like to see some good things happen. It's definitely going to be a battle of some pretty good trucks tomorrow -- between Randy and Larry Seay and Jeff (Gracia, Bob's teammate) and (John) Lingenfelter, and me and (Taylor) Lastor. It's tight." DANIELS: "We were pretty happy after the earlier run. We were really tickled. I thought we had a really good handle on the S-10, but after the last session it kind of got us doubting ourselves a little bit. We were praying for rain; we thought we were ready for race day. I knew I was definitely going slower. I probably should have quit. The truck was all over the race track; it went left and over to the centerline and got out of the groove. Unfortunately, whenever these race tracks get this hot it's a narrow groove out there." IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE IN THE LANES? "I think the left lane might be the better lane overall. I've had a chance to make two runs in each lane now. But we have seen awfully good runs in both lanes. The NHRA has prepped us a good track, and hopefully it will stay like this all day tomorrow." WERE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT PANELLA RUNNING AFTER YOU? "We were already making bets on what he was going to run. We knew we honestly should have run faster than what we had earlier. Hopefully we will get a shot at him in the final tomorrow and get this S-10 to the winner's circle again." PRO STOCK: RICKIE SMITH NO. 6, KJ NO. 7, HAMMONDS A DNQ Two Camaros qualified in the top 16, with RICKIE SMITH leading the way in sixth with a 6.979/196.36; KURT JOHNSON, ACDELCO CAMARO Z28, is No. 7, 6.981/196.85. TOM HAMMONDS, who was in 10th after two rounds, had high hopes of qualifying for the first time this season, but was unable to improve in the final round and fell to No. 21, 7.022/196.73. Running the final qualifying session was questionable because of rain in the area. KURT: "I broke third gear on the first run; it split the case. We came back this morning and ran a 6.98, which put me No. 2. Then we were the first car out in the right lane tonight and it just took some cars to get down it to get the conditioning, because it was real loose down track. We ran another 6.98. We're not displeased with our performance. We thought we should have run better on that last run, but being the first car down the race track is just bad luck; it's the luck of the draw. The right lane doesn't seem to be as fast. The left lane is faster, so we'll go in the left lane tomorrow, and I'm ready to go. I think we have a car that can win the race." YOU HAVE JIM YATES IN THE FIRST ROUND: "Having lane choice is good for me. He'll be tough; he always is. He ran 7.01 on that last run, I ran 6.98. I ran .98 this morning, he ran a .99. That was a good race. He's ahead of me in points; I'm going to have to kick his butt." HAMMONDS: "We just didn't make a good run. It's very disappointing. We had something that we could tune from and go forward and we just didn't make a good run. We were a little too light on the clutch down low; at the same time it was too aggressive in the middle of the track, where it wanted to spin the tires. The combination of these two things really affected the performance of the Camaro. We didn't make the run we were capable of running. At the same time we have something to look forward to and hopefully we are heading in the right direction. Considering this is only our fourth race and to come so close is some consolation, but we are still not where we want to be yet -- and that's in the field on Sunday." WERE YOU HOPING FOR RAIN? "I don't like to operate like that. I wasn't out doing some kind of rain dance. When we make it in the field we want it to be on our own merit and not because a rainstorm came through and didn't give everybody else a chance to improve. When everybody else improves we have to improve. And that's how I want to be able to qualify, with everybody's best and my best as well."