Mopar Friday Qualifying Notes

 <<Brainerd Friday Notes.doc>> 







Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals     Contact David
Harris-DavidHarris@ClearChannel.com
Brainerd International Raceway	                      Mopar Motorsports NHRA
Representative
Friday Qualifying Notes		                 Mobile: (704)
756-9301/Office: (704) 455-3500

Alderman Grabs 13th
Osborne Misses

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 17, 2001) - Darrell Alderman drove his new Mopar Parts
Dodge Neon R/T to the 13th-qualifying position to close the first day of
activity at Brainerd International Raceway.

Alderman clicked off a 7.029-second elapsed time at 196.93 mph.

"We feel that we can move up tomorrow," Alderman said. "We made a much
better run on that second one. The track was in bad shape on the first run
and we just shook the tires real hard."

Teammate Mark Osborne, driver of the other Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T,
failed to crack the top 16 with a 7.062-second lap at 195.82 mph.

"We haven't made real good runs here today," Osborne commented. "On the
first run, we really missed with the clutch set up. The second run we balked
a little in the carburetor at the start and didn't make a clean run. We were
in the bad lane (left) on our second pass, but everybody else seemed to get
down - we just didn't."

Morgan On the Outside

Larry Morgan and the Dodge Motorsports Neon R/T are on the outside of the
top-16 qualifiers after the first day. The Newark, Ohio resident barely
missed the show in 18th after clocking a 7.056-second elapsed time at 195.48
mph.

Crew Chief Billy Wagner commented on the second session.

"We stuck the tire too much and it gagged the car," Wagner said. "We'll look
at the clutch and make some changes for tomorrow. We should be okay because
we know how to correct it."

Skuza Smokes the Tires

It wasn't a good day of qualifying for the Mopar Parts Dodge R/T Nitro Funny
Car. Driver and two-time NHRA national event winner Dean Skuza failed to
make a complete pass after smoking the tires on both qualifying efforts.

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Brainerd Friday Qualifying
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"We're a little off with the track," Skuza said. "We're looking at the track
conditions and they seem a little tricky. We're going to look at the clutch
and see what we can put together for tomorrow."

Nickens Not In

Pro Stock rookie Bo Nickens ran a Hemi-powered Dodge R/T entry out of the
Nicken Racing stable. It was the first laps of qualifying for Nickens since
hitting the wall during the national event at Houston Raceway Park earlier
this season.

Nickens, who is the son of car owner David Nickens, failed to qualify with a
7.191-second pass at 194.52 mph.

"The car is okay," Nickens said. "We were way off on out tire-ratio
combination. We're going to change both, pull the tires off and get it
fixed. You'll see s make better runs once we change those things."



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