Baca will need to be a heartbreaker to advance at home

SONOMA, Calif. (July 29) -- Local hero David Baca will enter race day at his home track of Infineon Raceway with a major upset on his mind. The Brentwood, Calif., native will begin his quest for the title of the 19th annual Fram-Autolite Nationals against POWERade points leader Doug Kalitta, the most prolific Top Fuel driver in track history.

"It's not going to be easy racing the hottest driver on tour in the first round but the way I look at it you have to beat them all if you want to win so bring him on," Baca said. "We've struggled a tad finding a quick way down this racetrack. It's certainly not for lack of effort. The crew guys have been busting their butts. Some times you just struggle.

"Having said that, everyone in the field has had an off run or two in qualifying, including Doug, so it's wide open. The air some times feels better than it is at this track and it makes it very hard to tune the car. We'll try our best to figure it out by tomorrow."

Baca's best pass in his Mach 1 Air Services dragster was a 4.642-second run at 285.53 mph. Kalitta was six hundredths of a second better with a best pass of 4.582 seconds at 326.48 mph. Kalitta's quicker qualifying time awards him lane choice Sunday morning when eliminations begin at 11 a.m.

"We've run quick down both lanes so I'm not concerned about lane choice," Baca said. "We need to just execute out plan and not worry about all the other stuff. It's easy to get distracted at your home track because you've got so many friends and family here. Plus, this is a big market for Mach 1 and Big O Tires so they have big groups out. Maybe we've pushed the envelope a little in qualifying because you really want to do well for everyone that supports you.

"I think we just need to relax and race the track. We've had a great summer and it would be awesome to go some rounds and get into the top 10. We've been knocking on the door for the last few weeks. It's time to get it done. We certainly have our work cut out for us but this team knows how to rise to the occasion."

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