Cannon Looks to Repeat at Gateway (NHRA)

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
ROUND 12 OF 23
SEARS CRAFTSMAN NHRA NATIONALS
GATEWAY INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
MADISON, ILL.
RACE DATE: JUNE 27-29, 2003

Cannon Looks to Repeat at Gateway

MADISON, Ill. (June 24, 2003) - Scotty Cannon was on a roll this time last
year. He qualified No. 1 in his Oakley Funny Car at the 2002 Sears Craftsman
NHRA Nationals at Gateway International Raceway, advanced to the final round
against John Force, then settled for runner-up status after red-lighting.
Not a bad result in the heat of summer.

Cannon followed that up at the next race in Denver, Colorado, by becoming
low qualifier again, grabbing the No. 1 spot for the second time that year.
He then advanced to the second round and lost to Del Worsham.

"It was hot in St. Louis," Cannon recalls. No surprise there, as Gateway is
notorious for the heat and humidity that is standard issue in the Midwest
during the summer months. "Zippy (Mike Neff, Cannon's crew chief last year)
had a good tune-up on the car. We just had a good weekend. What can you say?
Nothing really went bad in the final. I think Force smoked the tires and I
red-lighted. I kind of gave it away. You don't ever know what's going to
happen. You try your hardest sometime and you run on the ragged edge of
messing up one of these things."

Asked if he could use what he learned last year at Gateway to benefit his
struggling team this year, Cannon responded, "Not really, because our whole
combination is different this year. I learned  that I hope I don't red-light
again. I should learn from that. We're still having trouble with the
consistency of the car. We're still working on it. I would like to be in the
finals again, that's for sure. That would be fun."

Now that the POWERade Drag Racing Series is in mid-season, the heat of the
summer months requires a different approach for most teams, Cannon's
included. "It gets harder, the tracks get slicker, it's just a hard period,"
the 1999 NHRA Rookie of the Year says. "It's harder to run in the middle of
the year than it is in the first of the year. The car actually showed a
little promise at the last race. It's showing promise as it goes, we just
can't seem to get four or five runs in a row. The direction we're going with
the clutch seems to be going the right way; it's just a matter of finding
out what it likes when we apply the clutch."

Cannon, of Lyman, S.C., is somewhat ambivalent about running final
eliminations on Sunday evening at Gateway. "It's nothing special, it's
really going to depend on the track and the heat. It always plays a big
factor there. It isn't the team with the most power and all the trick stuff
that usually wins in the middle of the summer. It's the guy who can can
apply the power to the track. Hopefully we will get on top of that.

"I don't really care if we run at night or not. I don't know whether it's an
advantage or a disadvantage. Everybody has to race under the same conditions
at the same time. It's another day to me, really. But I like it, because
it's cooler and I think it puts on a good show for the fans, with the fire
coming out of the headers. It's pretty awesome."

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