Winston Finals: Pro Stock Notes & Quotes Sunday, November 15, 1998

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Pro Stock Notes & Quotes
Sunday, November 15, 1998
This page will be updated throughout the evening
All reports courtesy of the racing teams

Kurt Johnson (ACDelco Camaro), lost in round two to Richie Stevens:
Johnson, the defending Pro Stock champion at the season-ending Winston Finals, qualified his ACDelco Camaro in the No. 3 spot at Pomona Raceway with a 6.914-second elapsed time at 199.55 mph. "We won this race last year, so we know we can do it," said Kurt, "but there are 15 other guys out there who want to win, too!"

Kurt set the performance pace in the first round of eliminations, defeating John Nobile and recording the quickest e.t. of the round at 6.928 seconds and the fastest speed at 199.64 mph. In the second round of racing, K.J. was upset by Richie Stevens, 6.959 to 6.965.

"The tires spun, and that was the end of it," Kurt commented. "We backed off the clutch pressure a little because we wanted to be conservative after running a 6.92 in the first round. The tires spun even harder, so apparently the track changed more than we expected. We just made a poor run, and Richie outran us. He made a good run, and you've got to give him credit."

A loss by two-time series champion Jim Yates in the same round assured Kurt of a third-place finish in the Winston points standings. Kurt has finished in the Top 5 in the championship standings for six straight years, and his Camaro will carry the number "3" again in 1999.

"Well, we finished third in the points again, so at least we don't have to put new numbers on the car next year," Kurt said with a grin.

Jim Yates (Splitfire/Peak Pontiac Firebird), lost in round two to George Marnell:
"We looked really good in the first round and we thought we had a pretty good combination on the Splitfire/Peak Pontiac Firebird. Right in front of us in the second round, a top fuel car oiled down the track in the right lane so we switched over to the left. We just had the wheelie bars a little crooked and it started moving towards the center line. I tried to correct it, and I had to pedal it in fourth gear to keep it from flipping over. George (Marnell) just squeaked on by me.

We gave it our best shot and it was just a typical ending to the kind of year we've had. We're going to take all the engines back to New York, test them on the dyno to see where they are, and then go to Houston running every motor through one car. That will give us a correlation between the best and the worst and we'll be able to see how they compare against each other. Then we'll go back to the dyno and try to make more horsepower. We want to baseline them against each other so that we'll know which motor is the best going down the race track. We'll use the dyno to correlate the data. We'll start tomorrow. We're not wasting any time. We want the championship back and we're going to work hard to get it.

Mark Pawuk (Summit Racing Pontiac Firebird), lost in round one to Tom Martino:
"We made some changes on our staff, and I think that really helped to bring the morale around and our performance as well. Our Summit Racing Pontiac team is excited about next year and I think we'll do even better. We qualified fairly well at a lot of races and we just couldn't get past the first round. We made some changes for race day and that seemed to help. We really feel that we made some tremendous strides in September that put us in the Winston top-10 for good. My hat goes off to my crew, Rob Downing, Mark Lavoy, Paul Lavoy, the guys at the engine shop, Scott Pastercack, and Dave Cook. They've done a tremendous job keeping this Firebird a fast car. The game plan for the off season is to put in a lot of work and think of way to catch WJ."

(Rickie Smith drove Mark Pawuk's backup Pontiac Pro Stock Firebird in today's race. Smith, who qualified 11th,,suffered an accident during Friday afternoon qualifying and was not able to return in his primary race car.)

"After my accident last year at Woodburn, a lot of guys pitched in and helped me out so that I would be ready to race in Seattle," explained Pawuk. "I wouldn't have been able to compete without the generosity of the teams and drivers in the NHRA Pro Stock division. That's what you do around here when someone needs a little help and it's just my way of returning the favor."

George Marnell (Tenneco Pontiac Firebird), lost in semifinals to Richie Stevens:
"We broke our primary motor during qualifying and we could never get the backup motor to perform like we wanted. It definitely has more power than that, but we have a gremlin somewhere and we just have to figure out what it's going to take to run well. We were lucky enough today to do the right things. We got down the sloppy lanes and we ended up winning a couple of rounds. We didn't win the race but we were successful in making the best out of a bad situation. That says a lot about Bob Cave and the rest of the Tenneco Pontiac Firebird team. Everybody did their job. Now if we can get everything working together we'll be a pretty good team.

"We're awfully tenacious so we'll get there. We're looking forward to next year and we're happy to end this season on a positive note. We got some breaks today but we've been due for a little luck. We've been on the wrong end of those a few times this year and sometimes the table just turns your way. We'll go back to the shop and start tearing things apart. We have two months to figure it out and that's precisely what we plan to do."

Warren Johnson (GM Goodwrench Service Plus Pontiac), lost in the semifinals to Jeg Coughlin Jr.:
W.J. qualified his championship-winning GM Goodwrench Service Plus Pontiac in the No. 1 spot at the season-ending Winston Finals. W.J. ran a 6.891-second elapsed time at 201.02 mph, obliterating the track records and posting the first 200 mph Pro Stock run at Pomona Raceway. Warren was the quickest qualifier for the 13th time in 1998 and the 102nd time in his career.

"There aren't any guarantees in this business, but I think we got a leg up on the competition with that run," Warren reported. "We came here with the intention of winning, just like we approach every race."

Johnson exceeded 200 mph on three of his four qualifying runs. He now holds the speed record at every event on the NHRA circuit and has logged 25 of the 28 Pro Stock passes at over 200 mph; no other driver has broken the 200-mph barrier more than once.

Johnson defeated Troy Coughlin in the first round of eliminations and Tom Martino in the second stanza. "The track has taken a real beating with all the oildowns today," Warren reported after the second round. "From 330 feet to the end of the track, the car is spinning and shaking because the track's so slick. The fuel cars can deal with these conditions because they have thousands of pounds of downforce, but that's a luxury a Pro Stock doesn't have."

Warren advanced to the semi-final round for the 16th time in 1998 where he faced Jeg Coughlin, Jr. Coughlin won the race on a holeshot, 6.946 to 6.932. "We made a step in the right direction, but it wasn't enough," said Johnson. "I don't' know whether we've got a bad batch of clutch discs, but we can't seem to get them to function like they did earlier this year. Now we've got a couple of days off before the new season begins, so we'll get it figured out before we come back to Pomona."

Richie Stevens (Collins Racing Pontiac Firebird), winner:
"This is the most unbelievable feeling I've ever felt. We've been battling all year and to win the last race like this is just the best. I never thought when we started this season with two new cars, two rookie drivers and no information on any track that we'd win an event. I had confidence in my driving but until you actually win, you sort of think in the back of your mind that you might not be able to do it.

"(Team Owner) Shawn Collins and his wife Mary gave me a chance to drive even though I was just a teenager. I'm so glad I was able to show them that thy made the right choice picking me. My crew chief Tommy Utt taught me so much and he and the rest of the crew worked their butts off at ever race to make me look good. This is for them, all of them."

Mike Thomas (Pennzoil Pontiac Firebird), lost in the second round to Jeg Coughlin Jr.:
Thomas lost his quarterfinal race against Jeg Coughlin Sunday in the second round of elimination drag racing at the 34th Annual Winston Finals. The race marked the end of Team Pennzoil's 1998 campaign.

Thomas was initially upset at finishing the season with a lap where he was forced to shut-off his engine after 300 feet. But it didn't take long for the smile to return to his face once he had a moment to reflect on the most successful season of his seven-year professional career.

"I blew right through the clutch," Thomas said. "It just never locked up with the motor and I knew there was nothing I could do so I just closed her down. I really wanted to win this race and finish the season with another Victory Circle celebration.

"We have added up the points and it looks as though I'll finish in sixth place. That's fantastic for us. We've never in been in the top 10 before so this is an awesome feeling. Plus, we jumped up a spot today. We started this race in seventh place and I could have finished in sixth, seventh or eighth depending on what went on with Mike Edwards and Tommy Martino. Everything ended up working out right for us to move up."

Thomas finished with 977 Winston points to Edwards' 975 points. Martino finished behind Edwards by just 13 points at 964 points.

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