Pro Stock rookie Carlson feeling good for SuperNats in E'town

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 11 of 23
K&N Filters SuperNationals
Old Bridge Township Raceway
Englishtown, N.J.
Race Date: June 16-18, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; 203-243-2438 cell;
jstropus@earthlink.net

PRO STOCK ROOKIE SHAUN CARLSON FEELING GOOD FOR SUPERNATIONALS

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 14, 2006) - Don Schumacher Racing Pro Stock Rookie
Shaun Carlson is very optimistic heading into the K&N Filters SuperNationals
at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park this weekend. His optimism comes from
changes crew chief David Nickens and assistant crew chief Terry Adams have
made to the Team Mopar/SRT Dodge Stratus R/T and the positive results that
followed.

Changes made following Friday night qualifying at the CARQUEST NHRA
Nationals last weekend in Joliet, Ill., resulted in Carlson setting the
quickest elapsed time of his young Pro Stock career, a 6.708-second pass at
204.79 mph. The run put him just .008 of a second short of qualifying for
the quickest Pro Stock field in NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series history.
His final chance to make the field was foiled when NHRA officials were
forced to cancel the final qualifying session because of rain.

Carlson was thrilled with the way the car responded to the changes: "My
first run on Saturday was my career-best ET by a lot (.032), and it almost
got us in the field. We were ready to go for that fourth session (of
qualifying), then we were told that they cancelled it," he said. "My heart
just dropped. We knew we would get into the field because we were so close,
and now that we had a competitive baseline set-up.

"That's the way it goes, and there's nothing you can do about it. But,
I'm going into this race in Englishtown feeling a lot better. I feel really
good about the Team Mopar/SRT Dodge and where we are headed as a team. To
pick up that much time in one run is awesome, and we know we can build off
of it," he said.

His goals for qualifying? "It would be great to get in the field safely
on Friday, and not have to go through that again. The conditions are
usually tougher on Saturday, which hurts your chances of getting in."

Crew chief David Nickens is encouraged by his rookie's progress: "He did
very well last weekend once we got things figured out. We're going to
have another engine done that has the same stuff as the engine we had
in Richie's car last weekend, so we're pretty excited about that. Hopefully
we can do a good job with him on Friday night, and get him into the show."

SHAUN CARLSON QUICK FACTS:
* Qualified for his first event of 2006 in Las Vegas (No. 12)
* Rookie season in Pro Stock class
* First year with Don Schumacher Racing
* Was named second DSR Pro Stock driver after February '06 test session
at LVMS
* 32-years old (05/17/74)
* Born, raised, and currently lives in Alta Loma, Calif.
* Quickest elapsed time to date: 6.708 seconds (Chicago 6/10/06)
* Fastest speed to date: 205.60 mph (Pomona 1)
* Owned and drove his Team Mopar SRT4 in the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact
Racing Series in 2005, grabbing one win and finishing fourth in points.
* Finished fourth in 2004 Sport Compact points standings
* Is a two-time Sport Compact event winner
* Subbed for an injured Darrell Alderman in the 2004 NHRA Winternationals
Pro Stock event at Pomona, grabbing an early round win and nearly advancing
to the semifinals in his Pro Stock debut
* Finished third in '03 Pro FWD points
* 2002 Xbox Cup champion in the Pro Outlaw class
* A famous engine builder and FWD performance guru, Carlson has worked
on projects such as the world record-holding import drag car driven by
Stephan Papadakis.
* First FWD builder to run in the 9s and 8s.
* Built the first Sport Compact drag car with a tube chassis
* Has been drag racing professionally since 1999
* President and founder of NuFormz, an 11-year-old company that builds
aftermarket components in Ontario, Calif.

SCHEDULE: 
Pro qualifying sessions are scheduled for 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June
16. Qualifying continues at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 17 and
final eliminations begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday, June 18.

ON TV: 
ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will televise two hours of qualifying of the K&N Filters
NHRA SuperNationals at 5 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, June 17. ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD
will televise three hours of final eliminations coverage beginning at 4 p.m.
(ET) on Sunday, June 18.


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