Columbus NHRA Chevy S-10 Final Elim Note
13 June 1999
CHEVROLET NOTES AND QUOTES PONTIAC EXCITEMENT NATIONALS NHRA WINSTON DRAG RACING SERIES NATIONAL TRAIL RACEWAY COLUMBUS, OHIO SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 1999 PRO STOCK TRUCK -- CHEVY S-10 -- FINAL ELIMINATIONS Three Chevy S-10s advanced to the semifinals: No. 1 qualifier BRAD JETER, JETER RACING CHEVY S-10; MIKE COUGHLIN, JEG'S MAIL ORDER CHEVY S-10 and his brother JOHN COUGHLIN, JEG'S MAIL ORDER CHEVY S-10. RANDY DANIELS, DANIELS MOTORSPORTS CHEVY S-10, winner of two events this year, was defeated by Jeter in the second round, 7.762/174.66 for Daniels, 7.709/176.40 for Jeter. Jeter's top speed is a new track record. DANIELS: "We knew he had us covered from his performance in the previous rounds. We tried something a little different with the gear ratios, but our combination didn't like it." DID YOU THINK YOU COULD BEAT HIM? "If he had left like he did the round before I think I could have beat him (Jeter's reaction time in the first round against Don Smith was a .495, Daniels' reaction time against Jeter was a .435 to Jeter's .484). I only needed four thousandths (of a second)." IS JETER THE TOUGHEST TO BEAT THIS WEEKEND? "I was batting a thousand until this weekend. I beat him the two previous times (we met). He told me before the run he owed me one. He was trying to play with me a little bit." WHAT ABOUT THE HEAT? "We snuck up on it. We were definitely better than when we qualified. We definitely came up with a few things that helped us out in the heat." LIKE WHAT? "I can't tell you all my secrets, but it was in the area of gear ratios, different ways of tuning the motor, the timing and jetting." IS IT DIFFICULT TO TUNE FOR THE HEAT? "The heat really put a whipping on us, that's why we qualified so bad (No. 9). If we had run in qualifying what we ran in the first round (7.722) we might have been further up the ladder. That would have made a bigger difference for us. Unfortunately, it didn't happen that way." ON THIS TOUGH CLASS: "There are not many jobs you could have where you can measure (success) in thousandths of a second." BOB PANELLA, PANELLA MOTORSPORTS CHEVY S-10, winner of last weekend's event on Route 66 Raceway, was defeated by Todd Patterson's Dodge, 7.826/173.41 for Patterson, 7.841/175.78 for Panella. PANELLA: "My light (reaction time) wasn't spectacular (.516), the 60-ft. mark was horrible, it spun the tires, it was totally unbelievable." WAS IT THE RIGHT LANE? "We thought the left lane had a better starting line but it was a little marginal in the middle. In the right lane the starting line wasn't the greatest in the world, we thought we could adjust to that. It had a better middle, but we didn't get that far. We made a bad run, made a bad call. I think each lane was equally garbage. We just didn't adjust for it. It was our fault, not the lane's fault. We might have gotten a little luckier if we had selected the other lane, but I don't think it would have been the answer." DOES IT AFFECT YOUR POINTS? "(Mark) Osborne went out, but (Brad) Jeter has a hell of a chance to make up some ground. He and I will go back and forth the rest of the year, and it will go all the way to the end. Sometimes he has bad luck, sometimes I have bad luck. If we keep that up, it will be an exciting championship chase. We can't top last weekend (where he dominated by winning the Holley Dominator Duel, qualified No. 1 and won the event). That would have been hard to do, no matter what happened." MARK OSBORNE, RCL COMPONENTS CHEVY S-10, points leader, was defeated by John Coughlin, 7.730/174.57 for Coughlin, 7.744/175.68 for Osborne. OSBORNE: "The track was unusually hot at 138 degrees, and the driver wasn't on, we didn't have the S-10 tuned up to its best ability and it just cost us. We didn't have it set up for a 138-degree track, I guess you could say. The motor is running good, the motor is there, we just have to get the setup a little closer; we haven't been under these type of conditions, with 138 degrees on the track." ON THE COUGHLIN BROTHERS ADVANCING TO THE SEMIFINALS: "It seems like they have picked up a little bit of performance, they're doing a pretty good job over there and they have a really good horseshoe up their tail, they have a lot of racer's luck." ON LOOKING FOR A NEW CREW CHIEF: "I am looking around for a crew guy, and one crew chief. I'm looking around trying to find someone who will work to the best of his ability, someone who would stay, someone who is energetic about his work, willing to spend a lot of time on this program and at the Abingdon, Va., raceshop. We've been using Tim Freeman's crew chief, Tommy Lee. He's doing an excellelnt job this weekend."