Stevens has tough draw in Brainerd first round

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 16 of 23
LUCAS OIL NHRA NATIONALS
Brainerd (Minn.) Int'l Raceway
Race Date: Aug. 11-13, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

STEVENS HAS TOUGH DRAW IN BRAINERD FIRST ROUND

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 13, 2006) - No. 16 qualifier Richie Stevens Jr. faced
a tough task today when he matched up against reigning three-time Pro Stock
champion and No. 1 qualifier Greg Anderson in the opening round of Pro Stock
eliminations at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International
Raceway. An upset was not in store for the driver of the Team Mopar/Valspar
Dodge Stratus R/T, as Anderson led from start to finish, winning the contest
with a 6.769-second pass at 203.95 mph to Stevens' 6.820/202.94.

Stevens was banking on getting an advantage at the start, ticking off an
excellent reaction time of .033 of a second (.000 is perfect), but Anderson
was a tad quicker with a .022. "I didn't think he would be that good off
the starting line," said Stevens. "I went up there and went into the box
first. He knows I usually go in second, so I went in first to try and throw
him off. It didn't work, and he left us from the start and ran away with it.

"Coming from the 16th spot is tough, even in Pro Stock, where people
seem to be able to win from anywhere," offered Stevens. "We didn't
really make a good run either; it shook pretty hard up top.

"We slipped up a bit this weekend, and really didn't make any good
runs. The first run Friday (6.792/202.97) was the cleanest run we made
by looking at the computer, even though the Saturday morning session
(6.785/203.00) was quicker.

"We are going to have to do something to get this turned around. We were
heading in the right direction, and now we will fall back out of the top 10
(in points). David (Nickens, crew chief/engine builder) is going to take the
motors back to the engine shop in Houston to put them on the dyno and see
what's going on. Hopefully, we'll get it all fixed quickly and get this
Mopar headed back in the right direction."

Stevens is currently 11th in points, only eight markers behind Greg
Stanfield.

Next up for Stevens is the O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals at Memphis
Motorsports Park, Aug. 18-20.

***