Baca - St. Louis - post race

Mach 1's Baca inches ever closer to top 10
 
ST. LOUIS (June 25) -- David Baca came to Gateway International Raceway with two distinct goals in mind. First, he wanted to raise awareness for breast cancer research to honor a co-worker who has been stricken with the disease. Secondly, he wanted to get his Mach 1 Air Services dragster into the top 10 in the world rankings. In review, Baca came within a whisker of accomplishing both of his goals.
 
Without question, his pink ribbon-adorned dragster and tireless efforts in the media and in the professional pits helped the St. Louis chapter of the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation get their message out to drag racing fans. His personal messages to Terri Valenti, the wife of Mach 1 Air Services District Manager Rick Valenti, on his 8,000 horsepower racecar also found their mark.
 
"The response to our efforts were huge and we need to thank the fans here in St. Louis, plus the local TV and newspaper guys for giving us their time," Baca said. "Like I said before, we've all been touched by cancer in some way or another so people can relate to what we were doing. Certainly, within our team and our sponsor, Mach 1, it has a special meaning at the moment with Terri's illness."
 
On the second front, Baca made up a lot of ground in the POWERade points chase, moving to within just four points of the prestigious top 10. By qualifying fourth and racing to the quarterfinals, Baca earned a total of 55 points at this event.
 
"We're within a strong qualifying effort of being in the top 10," Baca said. "And we've been qualifying well lately so we could be there on Friday night in Denver. It would have been great to get there today but we just came up short. The first half of the season has been a bit of a struggle but we've made tremendous progress."
 
The POWERade Drag Racing Series now takes its traditional summer break of two weekends off before resuming with the 27th annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Denver.
 
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