Rookie Carlson exits on Saturday in Sonoma

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 15 of 23
Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals
Infineon Raceway
Sonoma, Calif.
Race Date: July 28-30, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

ROOKIE CARLSON EXITS ON SATURDAY IN SONOMA

SONOMA, Calif. (July 29, 2006) - Pro Stock rookie Shaun Carlson
continued to break in the brand-new Jerry Haas-built Team Mopar/SRT
Dodge Stratus R/T this weekend at Infineon Raceway, but was unable to
qualify for this weekend's Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals.

His best run of the weekend was a 6.731-second pass at 205.85 mph. Carlson's
other passes were a 6.7318/205.85, a 7.986/124.78, when the car veered
hard to the left at the launch, and a 10.192/88.92 after a parts failure.

"The first pass we ran into a few problems. We broke a rear-end, which
is kind of a freak thing that just happens," he explained. "The thing with
that pass that we paid a lot of attention to was how it turned to the left,
hard. With it being a new car, we're still adjusting the four-link
suspension, and that has something to do with it. On the second pass,
we figured out the car needed some rear-steer (to keep it from veering
left), so we tried that for the third pass.

"It got down the track in that third session, but still wasn't good enough
to get in. So, for the fourth session we put a lot of rear-steer into the
car, and it went pretty straight. We ran another .73, which wasn't enough to
get us in. It was pretty sunny and warm for that session. Had we done that
for the third session, when conditions were more favorable, it would have
been awesome.

"The good thing is that we are figuring this car out. It's a good new
car, it just needs some more track time."

Carlson has one weekend off before heading to Brainerd, Minn., for the
Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals (Aug. 10-13).

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