Revell Nationals: Funny Car Notes & Quotes Friday, October 23, 1998

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Funny Car Notes & Quotes
Friday, October 23, 1998

Ron Capps (Copenhagen Camaro Z28), is No. 13 qualifier, 5.214/253.73, following two less than stellar runs:

"The motor ran away from the clutch. We went out and had an .870 60-ft. time, the Camaro was running good in the first half. I felt the rpm coming up, and the car stopped pulling as hard. I said, ooh, that's about enough. I let off the throttle and sure enough that's what happened. Roland looked at the computer and (it showed that) the motor got ahead of the clutch. It's easier to lift and come back tomorrow than to go out and blow it up. We already hurt one Camaro body earlier, we have to take care of this one."

On the first round:
"The Camaro wasn't running that good, it was running o.k. Usually this car does so good that even when it's running only o.k., it still runs a 5.05. I felt the cylinder go out, I thought it picked back up, then it went out again. At about that time it tried to kick the blower off in my lap. It exploded pretty good and damaged the front of the body. We took that body off and put 'old trusty' back on. This is the Camaro body we used to win the earlier Dallas race this year. This is the one that didn't go to the wind tunnel. I think the guys are going to work on the damaged body tomorrow when we have some time. Right now we're running with only one body. We will be o.k."

Note: The Camaro body that was damaged was the one with which Capps won the Topeka race last weekend.

Dean Skuza (Matco Tools/Mopar Dodge Funny Car Avenger), No. 4 qualifier, 4.923, 303.03:
"Wow, what a great pass. Everything came together during the night session. We knew that the track was tight so we got a little aggressive with our tune-up on our Matco Tools/Mopar Avenger. Texas Motorplex is one of those tracks that when the weather is right, you are going to see big numbers. To set career-bests in back-to back races is great for our team and gives us a boost heading into the late stages of the season. Lets just try to keep it going."

Del Worsham (Checker-Schuck's-Kragen Pontiac), No. 9 qualifier, 4.988, 272.56:
"We decided not to run the night session here. We ran the 4.98 in session #1 even though I shut it off at around 1,000 feet because it was starting to chew itself up. We broke some stuff and had to change motors, and then we put a new one in and found out even though it was brand new it had a problem, so we're on motor #3 now and we've only made one pass! Almost as importantly, we need to think about what we're going to do to run it through the lights without leaning it out at the top end. It needs more fuel at the end of the run.

"Plus, our crew is just exhausted and it's going to be a long weekend, so we needed to make the smart move here and work on the car then get back to the hotel for a decent night's sleep. At least that was the plan before we started to install motor number 3. We'll still be in bed earlier than we normally would be on a Friday. I said earlier that it didn't make any sense to pound it out and thrash like crazy, and now I'm glad we made the call not to go. We'd be completely spent now, with a 6:30 am wake up call tomorrow. You need to have something left for Saturday and Sunday, you know."

Whit Bazemore(Team Winston Camaro Z28), made his career best pass tonight, in the second round of qualifying, 4.891, 309.70, good for No. 2. Whit is now the seventh Funny Car driver to run in the 4.8s.

Chuck Etchells (Kendall/Ma Ma Rosa's Pizza/Superwinch Camaro Z28), is No. 5 qualifier, 4.931/308.00. Etchells was No. 1 in this morning's session with this elapsed time:

"Today was a pretty good day. We ran a 4.93 right out of the box, which gave us a pretty good baseline. We tried to go for the home run in the nightime session, but unfortunately the motor started going away after 800 feet. I stayed in it because I knew it was on a good run. Even with the motor problem we still ran a .94. We know the Camaro can run quicker, and it will."

Cruz Pedregon (Interstate Batteries Pontiac Firebird), No. 1 qualifier, 4.839(track record), 317.90:
"You can look at what other teams are running, but there isn't anything wrong with our 4.94 at 311 mph. That just goes to show that you have to run what you can do, and take what you can get. There's something to be said for paying attention to what you're trying to accomplish. When you have a race car as quick and as fast as our Interstate Batteries Firebird, it's easy to try and out do the rest of the pack every time out. Consistency wins races and I really feel that we're going to accomplish a lot of good things before the season is over. We're hoping to put a few more wins on the board before it's all said and done. We're going to try and keep moving up and when the dust settles at the end of the year, then we'll look at the points. I'm just trying to stay focused, do my job and the rest will take care of itself. I believe in myself, in my team and my crew chief and if we can come out of this race with a win, then maybe we'll start to hit our stride.

Second Session: "We were in the staging lanes and guys were up there running 4.93s, I saw my brother Tony run 4.92. I know Wes (Cerny) never predicts if the car will be aggressive. He never says anything. Only twice has he told me to 'hang on, 'it's going to have the front end up and it's going to be dancing around while you're driving.' That was in Houston when we set the national record and tonight. By nature he's aggressive, so when he talks, it says something. To me, that was music to my ears. I thought it was going to cool down tonight, but the weather really hung in there and didn't cool down as much as we thought. I knew the race track would be there, my only concern was that it was maybe a touch on the dark side out there. When you look at the track, the groove is very narrow and there isn't a lot of room one way or the other to go right or left. I was really trying to keep it in the center because if you get the tires in the rough stuff with a car that makes power like this Interstate Batteries Firebird, it won't make it and you take a chance of messing up a good run. So I definitely wanted to make sure I did my part. The quicker you go, the less margin for error you have to work from. This car does funny things. It's like a bullet. When it's bucking, humping around in the middle and getting squirrelly, that's when I know it's on one.

Tim Wilkerson (JCIT Pontiac Firebird), No. 7 qualifier, 4.957, 292.68:
"That 4.95 is pretty much what we thought the JCIT Firebird would do. We were a little concerned about that lane, watching everybody spin the tires before we ran. I think we were just fortunate enough that we were far enough back in the lane that the race track held what we trying to do. It put a hole out down there at about three-and-a-half seconds and that's why our speed was down. That's all right. Now we don't have to approach the situation so conservatively, and we can go out there tonight and try to put up a big number. We can try to attack the race track a little. I really feel there's a lot left in the race car. I don't know if it will run in the 4.80s but it will run in the low 4.90s."

Randy Anderson (Parts America Pontiac Firebird), No. 12 qualifier, 5.131, 291.35:
Jim Dunn told me that the Parts America Firebird would run anywhere from a 5.08 to a 5.15, and it ran a 5.13. He decided that we would approach it a little differently, back it off a little bit and try to do what we did at Indy, instead of trying to run big numbers right out of the box. The car did exactly what he wanted it to do. We're all pretty enthused. Just like at Indy, it ran a good number in the first session, we fine tuned it from there and went all the way to the finals. The lane seemed to be fine. The car pretty much drove itself. It made a nice smooth run and it gives us something we can work with tonight. There's no question that there's quite a bit left. We plan to go a lot quicker. Our car makes tremendous power but it just hasn't been consistent. We're taking a new approach this weekend and it looks like it's going to work."

Al Hofmann (GM Performance Parts Pontiac Firebird), No. 8 qualifier, 4.970, 307.06:
"That's the first time we've made a good pass in the first session in a long time. We were trying to be careful and make it to the other end. We didn't want the GM Performance Parts Firebird to go that slow, but this car has some big power and we had it pulled way back. We'll go out tonight and try to step it up into the top three or four anyway. Last year when we won here we had completely different parts including a different set of clutch disks. The track right now is much better than it was last year and the air is a lot better. We're looking for some big, big numbers and think we have something to show."

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