Alderman Grabs Top Half in Day One of Houston
Mopar Motorsports NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series 16th Annual O¹Reilly Spring Nationals Houston Raceway Park Baytown, Texas Qualifying Notes & Quotes BAYTOWN, Texas (April 11, 2003) Mopar NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series drivers completed the first day of qualifying for the O¹Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park. Darrell Alderman, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T Johnson & Johnson Racing Hometown: Morehead, Ky. Age: 53 Current Weekend Best Qualifying Time: 6.744 seconds (A Career Best) Current Weekend Best Speed: 203.98 mph (A Career Best) Current Weekend Qualifying Position: Sixth Notes: Darrell Alderman drove his Hemi-powered Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T to the top half of the quickest NHRA Pro Stock field in history. The three-time POWERade Pro Stock World Champion ran a career-best 6.744-second elapsed time at 203.98 mph; also a career best. The bump is currently an impressive 6.768 seconds; the previous quickest field was set at Pomona (Calif.) Raceway earlier this year with a 6.815-second bump. ³We¹re real happy with that run,² Alderman said. ³It seemed like it rattled a little bit in low. We might of gotten a little more out of it. I think we can go 204 mph tomorrow morning. The car is working well and it could possibly better tomorrow morning. But who knows what this thing might do. It¹s all seventy field right now. It¹s pretty neat just to be a part of it.² Allen Johnson, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Stratus R/T Johnson & Johnson Racing Hometown: Greeneville, Tenn. Age: 43 Current Weekend Best Qualifying Time: 6.757 seconds (A Career Best) Current Weekend Best Speed: 204.45 mph Current Weekend Qualifying Position: 10th Notes: Allen Johnson made a big splash in his new Dodge Stratus R/T Pro Stock entry. The Greeneville, Tenn., resident ran a career-best 6.757-second elapsed time at 204.45 mph to garner the 10th qualified position. ³I guess we have to be satisfied because we only have 10 runs on this new car overall,² Johnson said. ³We¹re almost in the top half so I¹m happy with that. The engine we have in the car is certainly capable of running well. I think it¹s a top-three engine. We¹ve got a few growing pains, but we¹ll definitely be getting better.² Larry Morgan, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Stratus R/T Larry Morgan Racing Hometown: Newark, Ohio Age: 48 Current Weekend Best Qualifying Time: 6.908 seconds Current Weekend Best Speed: 200.41 mph Current Weekend Qualifying Position: 33rd NOTES: Larry Morgan struggled during todays qualifying lapping the Houston Raceway Park quarter mile in 6.908 seconds at 200.41 mph. ³We had trouble in the carburetors,² Morgan said. ³The car would leave stop then leave again. We definitely have a problem with the car that we need to figure out.² Gene Wilson, driver of the Mopar Parts Dodge Stratus R/T Larry Morgan Racing Hometown: Canton, Ga. Age: 30 Current Weekend Best Qualifying Time: 6.810 seconds Current Weekend Best Speed: 203.74 mph Current Weekend Qualifying Position: 24th NOTES: Gene Wilson missed the top 16 with a 6.810-second elapsed time at 203.74 mph. The Georgia resident talked about today¹s qualifying effort. ³It tugged the motor down quite a bit that time,² Wilson said. ³We need to try to get this Stratus tuned up for tomorrow. Unfortunately, we didn¹t run very well. Tomorrow is a new day and since we run early in the morning there¹s a good chance that we can get in. I think the air is going to be pretty good so I think we can get in. We¹re going to be in the worse (right) of the two lanes. We¹re going to have to play the hand that was dealt to us. We¹re going to change some of the gear ratios in the transmission and see where that gets us.² -Mopar.com- For more information, contact: David Harris, Cox Marketing Group Public Relations Manager Mopar Motorsports NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series davidh@coxmarketinggroup.com (704) 799-2114 office (704) 756-9301 - mobile