Stevens convinced he's a Pigpen clone

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 21 of 23
O'REILLY NHRA FALL NATIONALS
Texas Motorplex
Dallas, Texas
Race Dates: Oct. 7-9, 2005

DALLAS (Oct. 9, 2005) - Richie Stevens Jr. is convinced he's a clone of the
Peanuts comic-strip character Pigpen who walks around through life with a
cloud over his head. He only thought he was before today.

In his fifth Pro Stock match-up of the season against his Don Schumacher
Racing teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. in today's opening round of the O'Reilly
NHRA Fall Nationals, Stevens lost another tight race, despite a strong
performance by the Team Mopar/Valspar HEMI-powered Dodge Stratus R/T. It was
his third consecutive first-round exit since he reached his second final
round of his initial season with Don Schumacher Racing at the U.S. Nationals
on Labor Day.

It came down to reaction times, and both Coughlin and Stevens are masters at
that. Coughlin took off with a .020 (.000 is perfect) light, Stevens
responded with a .027. That was all she wrote, as Coughlin crossed the
finish line first with a 6.710-second elapsed time at 205.32 mph, winning on
a holeshot advantage to Stevens' quicker yet losing 6.707/205.69.

"It is a joke," said Stevens of the Pigpen reference. "That cloud is still
there. I think somebody is burning a candle somewhere on me.

"I had a good light. His was a tad bit better. What do you do? I don't know.
I can't catch anybody making a mistake. Any time I run somebody, it seems
they're on their best game, and I don't get any slack.

"Not that there's any slack cut in this class at all, but I cannot catch a
break to save my life. It's unreal.

"We knew one of us was going to win this round for Don Schumacher Racing. I
guess if I'm going to lose I'd rather lose to him, but I don't want to lose
at all.

"I'm trying to do good. I'm trying to stay alive in points and it's going to
hurt bad.

"Just a bad day. We qualified in the top half of the field, and usually that
gives you the advantage. It seems like every time I qualify in the top half
it doesn't work to my advantage, so maybe I just need to qualify 14th or
15th; maybe that will work out for me.

"We made a better run, he was better on the light. I gave up a little bit. I
would have thought that would've been enough. I would have thought we could
have outrun him based on our performance in qualifying.

"Actually, I thought I had won because I didn't see him next to me. When I
heard Jeg had won I thought I had red-lighted, and I was really upset with
myself. But that didn't happen. He beat us, fair and square."

Stevens dropped to ninth in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Pro Stock
standings, with two events remaining in the 2005 season.

Next up is the ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip in Las Vegas on Oct.
21-23.