NHRA Nationals: Cannon focused on making Reading field

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
ROUND 18 of 23
LUCAS OIL NHRA NATIONALS
Maple Grove Raceway
Reading, Pa.
Rainout Date: Oct. 4-5, 2003



READING, Pa. (Oct. 3, 2003) - Like his Oakley teammate Scelzi, Scotty Cannon
needs to make it into the 16-car Funny Car field at the rain-delayed Lucas
Oil NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway this weekend. Before the event was
postponed because of rain on Sept. 13, Cannon was not qualified after one
session.

This Saturday, Oct. 4, two more qualifying sessions will be held before
final eliminations on Sunday, Oct. 5. The popular Mohawk-coiffed racer had
qualified for 56 straight events until he DNQ'd in Memphis, and not
qualifying in Reading is not an option, he says.

"We absolutely need to get into the field on that first run on Saturday," he
says. "The cool conditions predicted should help our Oakley Funny Car. If
we're in comfortably, hopefully in the top half of the field, we can
continue to work on our setup in the second round to improve our
performance."

Cannon established his career-best top speed at Joliet last weekend, a
325.22-mph run, and predicts that speeds could be strong this weekend at
Maple Grove. "I don't know if any records will be broken, but I'll be glad
if we're able to run a 4.70-second elapsed time. That should get us into the
field. And, I know this car is capable of running 325 miles an hour again.
That would be an encouraging accomplishment for my team."

Cannon is currently 14th in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car
point standings.