NHRA: Capps, Epler, Gilbertson advance in Bristol
9 July 2000
CHEVROLET NOTES AND QUOTES WINSTON SHOWDOWN BRISTOL DRAGWAY BRISTOL, TENN. SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2000 WINSTON SHOWDOWN: RON CAPPS STAYS NO. 1; CAPPS, EPLER, GILBERTSON ADVANCE TO NEXT ROUND Unseeded No. 1 qualifier RON CAPPS, U.S. TOBACCO CO. CAMARO Z28, defeated Mike Dunn's Top Fuel Dragster in the initial round of eliminations that pared down the 24-car field to 16. JIM EPLER, WWF RACING CAMARO Z28, eliminated Doug Kalitta's Top Fuel Dragster; and BOB GILBERTSON, THINK TANK CAMARO Z28, lost to Doug Herbert's Top Fuel Dragster, but was reinstated as the quickest "loser" by virtue of his 5.210-second lap. This resulted in three Camaros advancing to the next round. A total of five rounds will determine the Winston Showdown winner. WHIT BAZEMORE, KENDALL OIL/MATCO TOOLS CAMARO Z28, was eliminated by Cory McClenethan's Top Fuel Dragster and is out of the event. SCOTTY CANNON, CAMARO Z28 FUNNY CAR, was also dismissed, by Paul Romine's Top Fuel Dragster. CAPPS: ON DEFEATING DUNN WITH A 4.911-SECOND PASS: "I've been consistent. I shallow staged. We were going for the best e.t. possible, so I shallow staged, like I do for qualifying. My lights have been anywhere from .512 to .509 in every run. Consistency is what we're working on. We knew lane choice would be a factor and we knew we had to run a Funny Car in the second round (Frank Pedregon). We concentrated on doing the best we could to set low e.t. of the round. It was great to run that well in the heat, with the sun out like that. I'm excited about our chances tomorrow. It was nice to run close to our qualifying number (4.887 seconds). I never saw Dunn's car, but you never know. Our Camaro nosed over hard near the finish line. It moved around that time just like it did on our qualifying run." BAZEMORE: "It was a surprise. It went out and just drove into tire shake at 1.4 or 1.5 seconds into the run. It rattled a little bit when we ran the .94 (in qualifying) and the rattle tonight was about the same. So I didn't pedal it because it did it the run before and made it fine. Then it just blew the tires off. When I pedaled it I pedaled it too quick. There was no way it was going to recover. We were going to get beat anyway, so it doesn't matter. It's a huge disappointment even though we had come here to test. Even when you don't run well you expect to win. When we ran so well earlier in the day (in final qualifying with a 4.947/293.86) I thought we had a good chance." PRO STOCK: FOUR CAMAROS IN PRO STOCK FIELD One unseeded Camaro joined three seeded Camaros in the 16-car Pro Stock field. Seeded KURT JOHNSON, ACDELCO CAMARO Z28, led the way in third, with a 7.036/195.68 lap. KENNY KORETSKY, BUCKS COUNTY KAWASAKI CAMARO Z28, was the unseeded driver making it into the field, in 11th position, with a 7.085/194.60 lap. RICKIE SMITH, in the other BUCKS COUNTY KAWASAKI CAMARO Z28, is No. 13, 7.099/193.46; and V. GAINES, in the WESTERN MOTORSPORTS CAMARO Z28, is No. 16, 7.116/194.21. # # #