Panella wins Dom Duel at Rte. 66 NHRA in S10
6 June 1999
BOB PANELLA JR.WINS DOMINATOR DUEL AND $20,000 IN CHEVY S-10 Bob Panella Jr. defeated Jerry Haas in an all-Chevy S-10 final of the Holley Pro Stock Truck Dominator Duel today, collecting $20,000 for his efforts. Panella, No. 4 qualifier for the Duel, parlayed a good reaction time (.482), and a quick elapsed time of 7.683 seconds into a victory against Haas' 7.725/174.26, with a .569 reaction time. Panella also qualified No. 1 for the first time in his Pro Stock Truck career, with a track record e.t. of 7.637 seconds at 175.84 mph. Following this inaugural event, the NHRA announced that if the winner of the Dominator Duel also wins the Pro Stock Truck title on Sunday, he will receive a "Double-Up" bonus of $10,000. Panella could go home with up to $40,000 for qualifying No. 1, winning the Duel and winning the event. PANELLA: "We made an almost phenomenal run this morning and we tried to repeat it in the next two rounds. I didn't make too big a mistake, we got the win. I knew we were in a position to win, and I was hoping nothing would go wrong, and fortunately everything went our way. I can't say enough about the Holley people. That's a great thing they did for us. Hopefully it will continue and we will take more of their checks." DOES THIS BODE WELL FOR TOMORROW? "I think so. I think the first-round butterflies may have gone and I have a win under my belt before final eliminations even start. We're still the fastest truck out there. If I can repeat this four times tomorrow, we should have a good day. I like hot weather. If that's what it takes, great." ON THE FINAL RUN: "I knew that by no means was it going to be easy pickings. I raced a Winston champion (Kopp) and I raced (Brad) Jeter, and Jerry Haas has been around forever. It was not going to be easy. That's what the Holley Dominator Duel is all about. It's not like you're going to get an easy win." ON ALSO QUALIFYING NO. 1 FOR THE FIRST TIME: "I missed it about two thousandths (of a second) at Englishtown and three thousandths at Atlanta, and got it here finally. I knew it was there, we just haven't been able to capture it. The '99 Holley Dominator Duel was open to eight competitors earning points during a six-race span between the 1999 AutoZone Winternationals at Pomona Raceway and the 1999 Mopar Parts Nationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J. Seven Chevy S-10s and one Dodge competed in today's event. Chevy S-10 drivers included Brad Jeter, Tim Freeman, Mark Osborne, Bob Panella, Larry Kopp, Randy Daniels and Jerry Haas (1 through 7). Craig Eaton in a Dodge was eighth. HAAS: "We lost. We were happy to be in the finals. We came in here No. 7 and won the first round (against Tim Freeman) and we were really happy about that. Then we won the second round (defeating Randy Daniels), and went to the finals. We were on a roll. When I rolled in to stage, the S-10 rolled in too far, I lit both lights. I said, oh no, I'm in trouble (not knowing how deeply staged he was). He (Panella) staged just a second later and it broke my concentration for a second. I had been good on the tree all day long. Bob deserved that win, he was runing well. I was more disappointed in losing the race than the money. I would have liked to take Holley's money, but unfortunately we didn't get it."
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