Indy NHRA Chevy PS/PST Sunday Notes
7 September 1999
CHEVROLET NOTES AND QUOTES U.S. NATIONALS NHRA WINSTON DRAG RACING SERIES INDIANAPOLIS RACEWAY PARK INDIANAPOLIS, IND. SUNDAY, SEPT. 5, 1999 PRO STOCK -- CAMARO Z28 -- FINAL QUALIFYING Defending U.S. Nationals Pro Stock champion MIKE EDWARDS, DEWCO SALES CAMARO Z28, is No. 10 qualifier, 6.992/196.24. He matched that e.t. with his 6.992-second pass in the final qualifying session, which was the quickest of the round, and posted a faster speed of 196.76 mph. EDWARDS: "Well, we feel good. We hope to make a nice run tomorrow. We have a lot of confidence now. The Camaro is running good; hopefully we can go out there and repeat that and see what happens. We really struggled all weekend, the motor kept shutting off in the first four runs. We got to run all the way that time, but if we made that run in the night session we could have run a .96 or .97. But we're in, tomorrow's a new day." DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE EDGE OVER YOUR FELLOW CAMARO TEAMMATE KURT JOHNSON, WHO'S 16TH? "Not at all. We have struggled all year with this car. This car takes a different setup every track we go to. We seem to be getting better with it. Right now we're trying to make one pass at a time, and try to make it a good pass. If we can keep doing that I think we will be all right." TOM HAMMONDS, WINNEBAGO/MATCO TOOLS/KENDALL OIL CAMARO Z28, did not qualify. He was 28th, 7.052/195.90. The good news is that Kaison William Hammonds was born at 10 a.m. CDT on Sunday, Sept. 5. He weighed in at 6 lbs., 10 oz., and is 20" long. HAMMONDS: "I can't believe it. Even though we didn't qualify we came out and gave it our best shot. The last run was a win-win situation for me. If we ran well enough and got to race on Monday that would be great. If not, then I got to see my new baby. I'm looking forward to doing that." ON THE BIRTH: "Carolyn's water broke last night after the last qualifying session (back in Crestview, Fla.). She called me and told me she was going to drive herself tothe hospital; she wasn't having any bad contractions. She did that. She called me again this morning and told me that they were going to give her induced labor and that the labor should begin about 3 p.m. this afternoon. I guess the baby couldn't wait that long. They did induced labor this morning, but it didn't take an hour after that before she had the baby. Carolyn said the one thing that really struck her when she saw the baby was that his feet were pretty big. That made me feel good." HOW DID YOU SELECT THE NAME KAISON? "We just made it up. We thought it sounded nice. Wiliam is my Grandpa's name. I owe a lot of my success not only to my mom, but to my grandpa. I think I got my work ethic from him. He was a big truck driver, hauled wood for a living. That's where I really knew that through hard work anything was possible." IS THIS YOUR LAST RACE? "This is most likely my last race. It has been a tough season, but it's also been a lot of fun. I learned a lot, having to deal with putting together a new crew, a new transporter, truck and trailer and the amount of trouble we had to go through this year made it pretty tough. Like I said before, nobody is going to give you anything for free and anything I get I'm going to have to earn it. I'm very fortunate to have companies like Winnebago, Chevrolet, Mac Tools and Kendall Motor Oil behind me who understand, and that makes me feel good. I'm very grateful for that. I have to get ready for (NBA basketball) training camp and I want to spend some time at home. I'm in good shape but not in training shape yet. And I have to take some time off to spend with Carolyn and the new baby. Our 4-year-old son Keelan is all excited about the new baby. He can't wait to see his baby brother." KURT JOHNSON, ACDELCO CAMARO Z28, ended up No. 16, 7.001/198.70, his worst performance of the season since he failed to make the field in Englishtown, N.J., in May. Kurt and Warren will race each other in the first round. Kurt suffered transmission problems in the final run. KURT: "The transmission shifted from first to third gear. This has been a bad weekend. Everything was working great when we tested in Atlanta, but we've had a series of problems here with tires, cutches, and now transmissions. We've been one step behind since we arrived in Indy. The good news is that we're qualified, the bad news is that I have to race the No. 1 car that I build the engines for." PRO STOCK TRUCK -- CHEVY S-10 PICKUP -- AFTER TWO ROUNDS OF ELIMINATIONS The top three in points have been eliminated. BRAD JETER, JETER RACING CHEVY S-10, third in points, lost to MIKE COUGHLIN, JEG'S MAIL ORDER CHEVY S-10, in the first round when he red-lighted. Points leader MARK OSBORNE, RCL COMPONENTS CHEVY S-10, was eliminated by Craig Eaton's Dodge in the second round, and BOB PANELLA JR., PANELLA MOTORSPORTS CHEVY S-10, lost to SCOTT PERIN, CHEVY S-10, on Perin's holeshot advange in the second round. OSBORNE: "We lost by just a thousandth (of a second). I'm bummed, my motor is blowed up, it got hurt last night. It burned a piston up, and we have a burned a piston in the spare; it's not looking so good." DOES THIS HURT YOU IN POINTS? "We actually gained two points from where we came in here (by qualifying No. 1). Panella gave his run away and I guess I gave my run away. Actually, the motor gave it away. We're leaving here to go to Jenkins' engine shop. They're going to be busy people. We broke two engines in Tim Freeman's truck and one in mine. We had no choice but to run, we didn't have another." BOB PANELLA: "I was late, there was really no excuse. Some people said he went in and got on the gas and then off the gas. I didn't hear any of that. I didn't take him serious enough. I kind of looked at him on Friday and said he's doing a good job, but I didn't take him seriously." ON THE POINTS CHASE: "We didn't really hurt anything. It would have been nice to at least go one more round and leave with the lead. But there's four races left. The person who wins is the one who capitalizes on the least amount of mistakes. Especially here. There are 16 trucks within five hundredths (of a second), everyone is starting to drive better, run better. I honestly think it's surpassed Pro Stock. They don't look near as competitive as they normally do. The top 16 plus 10 more were right there in Pro Stock Truck." # # #