Alderman Fourth & Skuza Fifth
Mopar Motorsports NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals Notes & Quotes May 2, 2002 TELEVISION TIMES: (ALL TIMES EASTERN) QUALIFYING: Sat., May 4; 9-11 p.m.; ESPN2 FINAL ROUND: Sun., May 5; 5:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m.; ESPN2 REPEAT: Tues., May 5; 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m.; ESPN2 COMMERCE, Ga. -- Mopar Parts NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series teams completed the first day of qualifying for this weekend¹s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at the Atlanta Dragway. NOTABLE: The second round of qualifying was cancelled due to rain. A normal schedule should resume on Saturday. Darrell Alderman debuted his brand new Jerry Bickel-built Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T. The following are notes and quotes following today¹s qualifying activity. DEAN SKUZA, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Stratus R/T Dean Skuza tossed aside a lot of the monkeys that have plagued the team this season. The new Dodge Stratus R/T grabbed the fifth slot with a 4.960-second lap at 310.84 mph. ³We found a problem that¹s been plaguing us on and off for the last two years,² Skuza said. ³We addressed it in our testing session at Bristol (Tenn.), even though we didn¹t go down the track. When we smoked the tires all three times, it showed us something. We looked at run after run over the last two years and we kept seeing the same problem in the clutch. We changed it and made a great run. the problem was such an intermentant deal that it was hard to track. On that run, we left it soft, it we made a beautiful run.² GENE WILSON, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T Prior to one of many rain showers, Gene Wilson tried to qualify his Hemi-powered Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T in his hometown. Mechanical bugs hurt Wilson in his first qualifying effort. ³The two-step broke in the clutch,² Wilson said. ³The car would never rev up off the line and it just shut off about 100 feet out. It looks good for tomorrow, so we should be in good shape.² LARRY MORGAN, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T Despite making a solid run, Larry Morgan, who pilots the blue Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T was unhappy with his 6.976-second lap at 198.29 mph. The Newark, Ohio resident collected the 16th- qualifying position ³I about crossed the center line and I should have crashed,² Morgan said. ³We just made a bad run. I guess I should have lifted. It was loose all the way down the track. It was a horrible run. We¹ll figure it out for tomorrow.² DARRELL ALDERMAN, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T Darrell Alderman and the Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T lit up the Atlanta night and grabbed the provisional fourth qualifying position. The three-time POWERade Pro Stock World Champion ran a 6.904-second elapse time at 200.02 mph. It was Alderman¹s first pass in his new Jerry Bickel-built car. ³We made a nice first pass,² Alderman said. ³We have this new Jerry Bickel car and it felt real good. My crew chief Rickie Smith likes to work with the new car. The good news is that we still have quite a bit more in this Hemi engine left.² -30- David Harris, Cox Marketing Group Mopar Motorsports NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series davidh@coxmarketinggroup.com (704) 799-2114 office (704) 756-9301 - mobile