Cannon qualifies No. 16 for second straight race

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Round 3 of 23
MAC TOOLS GATORNATIONALS
GAINESVILLE (Fla.) RACEWAY
SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2003

FINAL QUALIFYING:

SCOTTY CANNON, TAKES HIS OAKLEY 'ELITE SPECIAL FORCES' FUNNY CAR TO SECOND
STRAIGHT NO. 16 QUALIFYING POSITION

GAINESVILLE, FLA. (March 15, 2003) -- With "Elite Special Forces" decaled on
the side of his Funny Car representing a boot produced by his sponsor Oakley
for use by the U.S. Elite Special Forces, Scotty Cannon qualified No. 16 for
the second straight race in 2003 at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway's
Gatornationals,the third of 23 NHRA POWERade events this season.

Enduring a tough start to the year, a visit to the Don Schumacher Racing
shops in Indianapolis between races by Cannon's Oakley team resulted in
improvements in the car's engine performance, and the team was encouraged.

Cannon's first qualifying run here at 5.072/300.10 was his best of the
weekend, placing him No. 11 at the time. His next three runs saw the return
of the gremlins that have haunted this new team all year, and he fell to No.
16, just squeaking into the field.

All three Don Schumacher Racing Funny Cars have qualified for this year's
first three races.

"In the first run, it ran OK. It went a 5.07," he said. "One of the clutch
timers went off real late. The next run it was doing OK and we went out and
smoked the tires. We were pretty aggressive for Friday night. First run
today we had a switch that never went off, and sent the whole system off --
the clutch system, fuel system that goes under the pedal. We changed it and
then in the final round another part of the same switch set the clutch off
when I first stepped on the clutch; like it had all the clutch the car could
ever have in it right when I left the starting line. It just jumped off the
ground and smoked the tires."

Despite the glitches, the team is seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
"The good thing is," Cannon added, "is that we've been having trouble
kicking the rods out and burning the mains out of it all year. Me and the
team spent the whole week at the Indy shop and went over everything with a
fine toothcomb. We looked over all the short blocks, the blowers, the
cranks, the clearance in the motors and we found some stuff we weren't happy
with that we thought was right, and we changed it, and it looks like it's
made the motor where it's going to live. Unfortunately, we came here with
the motor in good shape and it's living. But we smoked the tires one run,
which a lot of people are having trouble with here anyway, and in two runs
we just had a fluke. Something happened that we had no control over, a part
braking; one valve one time and a switch the next. At least we're qualified.
We're making a little headway. But nowhere near like everyone else.

"It's a little frustrating, but we're in it for the long haul. We dodged
another bullet; that's all I can say. We'll just see what happens tomorrow.
It's not over yet."

For the second straight race, Cannon will face No. 1 qualifier Tony Pedregon
in the first round. "Somewhere down the line he's gong to have to lose. I'm
not really focused on him or who I've got. I just know if I'd been 13th or
14th qualifier I wouldn't have him,  but still at the same time the car
wouldn't be running up to par like it should be. I thank everybody for
standing behind us and we're not making excuses. It's only the third race
with a whole new team; we started off with nothing."

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