CHEVY SWEEP/NHRA POWERade Race Results - St. Louis
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CHEVY SWEEP/NHRA POWERade Race Results - St. Louis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Romack or Kirk Weeks
Pontiac/Chevy Trackside Communications
NHRA Drag Racing
jfromack@cs.com or krkweeks@cs.com
317.843.5447 or 317.843.5443
http://media.gm.com/gmracing
http://www.gmracing.com
Wilkerson Completes Sweep with Hometown Win at St. Louis
KJ Breaks Tie with Shepherd for Most Career Pro Stock Chevy Wins
MADISON, Ill., May 4, 2008 - With his race team and sponsor, Levi, Ray, & Shoup, less than 100 miles up the road, Funny Car veteran Tim Wilkerson picked the perfect race to record career win No. 7 - today's 12th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway. After claiming his fourth No. 1 qualifier of the season and 14th of his career on Saturday, the Springfield, Ill., native drove past Mike Neff in today's final round for his first career win from the No. 1 qualifying position. Wilkerson drove his Levi, Ray, & Shoup Chevy Impala SS to a winning elapsed time of 4.874 seconds at 317.27 mph to defeat Neff's Ford at a 4.886 e.t. at 321.58 mph for his seventh career win, and he leaves St. Louis as the Funny Car points leader with a 24-point advantage over Ashley Force.
"We've ended up qualified No. 1 a couple of times this year and couldn't even get out of the first round," Wilkerson said, "so it's good to get the monkey off of our back and I'm pretty proud of that deal. My guys just do a terrific job working hard on the car. The track was good all day and we left a lot on the track in the finals. For all of our sponsors, Chevrolet, Levi, Ray & Shoup, we were just lucky to get there.
"I don't know, the emotions are out of control, to tell you the truth. We're sure happy to be here. I've never been in the points lead of anything in my life. I'm really, really surprised to be able to tell you at this point of the year that we'd be doing this well, and hopefully when we start with the new car around Denver that won't put a damper on my performance. The last couple of years we just lost our hand on what was going on with these cars, and it's really hard to get it back. Just from tenacity, and really a lot of help from a lot of people out here. I don't think there's one crew chief in Top Fuel or Funny Car that hasn't helped me at one time or another with some stupid question that I had, but we're just trying to do the best we can do."
Unfortunately, Wilkerson had to be a Chevy beater today en route to his 15th career final round defeating fellow Chevy drivers Tony Bartone in Round 1, Del Worsham in Round 2 and Cruz Pedregon in a semifinal match-up.
"Every time we race Tim it's huge, but this one was even more so," Worsham said. "He does it all over there. He tunes it, he drives it, and he even drives the tow vehicle back to the pit after the run. He's very old-school, but he's also on a total roll right now, and it almost looks like they're playing in another league, they're going so fast. We knew we had to back it down a little from Round 1, or it would probably smoke the tires, but we also were completely sure Tim would make a full lap, and a good one at that. It was a tough tuning call, but we thought we had it right.
"But we have to look at the positive side of this, and getting that win in Round 1 was just plain huge for us. If you can win that tough one, the first one, you've had a good day and you're in good company as one of the eight cars to advance. I wanted more, we all wanted more, but we got beat by a team that's so hot you can't touch them, and we got a round out of this. It's another step forward."
In Pro Stock, Kurt Johnson in the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt defeated Dave Connolly in an all-Chevy final round to break a tie with Lee Shepherd for most wins ever by a Chevy Pro Stock driver with 27. His first win of the season also extended his streak of winning at least one victory for now 14 race seasons, the longest current streak in Pro Stock. Johnson proved he had a fast car with a track-record speed (209.39 mph) in qualifying, and in the final round he didn't back down with an elapsed time of 6.631 seconds at 209.30 mph to defeat Connolly in the Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt at a 6.651 e.t. at 208.78 mph.
"We were scared to touch the car after running a .58 this morning," Johnson said, "but we knew we had to make some changes. We changed gears around, we changed the clutch around, and the whole ACDelco crew came together and we did what we needed to do. We'll have days like this (in Pro Stock). Tire shake was an issue, but we're pushing these things to the limit. These cars are making well over 1400 horsepower and spinning well over 10,000 rpm, so it's brutal out there. That's what it's all about and we just had a great day.
"It's brutal out there; every run's a challenge. We've got humans working on these cars and everybody's making different decisions out there. That last session yesterday everybody was grouped together with .59s and Jason (Line) made a great run with a .57. It just gets so finite and all of the little changes make a difference now a day, it seems like. But it's great to win 14 years in a row; it's been a long time since (the win in) Phoenix last year. This is the seventh race of the season and we now have six different winners, so that just shows you how tough it is and it's great for the fans."
The 25-year-old Connolly was making only his second start in the Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt after sponsorship issues forced him to sit out this season's first five races. With his new sponsor headquartered in St. Louis, Connolly advanced to his second consecutive final round at Gateway after claiming a win here last year.
"This was an interesting weekend," Connolly said. "It was fun, but basically it was a test session for us each round. We were putting a new clutch in the car every round. It was the weirdest day I've ever seen in Pro Stock, that's for sure. (In the finals round) I just let the car go through the (starting) beams and as soon as I went to stop it, the tree was on and I was just dead late. We could've run with Kurt . . . it was a win we should've had."
"All-in-all we were happy to take the three round wins and the runner-up for the second weekend out. We have to test before we go to Bristol (Tenn., May 16-18)."
In the Sportsman classes, Peter Biondo of Maspeth, N.Y., drove his '08 Chevy Cobalt to the Super Stock title, in a battle of Camaros Gary Stinnett from Emporia, Kan., in a '69 Camaro defeated the '67 Camaro driven by Donnie Beeler of Elizabethtown, Ky., to win Stock Eliminator, and Brina Splingaire from Lemont, Ill., won Super Gas in a '63 Corvette.
The next stop on the 24-race NHRA POWERade circuit is the 8th annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn., on May 16-18, 2008.
PRO STOCK
Winner - Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt), 6.631ET/209.30MPH
Runner-up - Dave Connolly (Chevy Cobalt), 6.651ET/208.78MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Jason Line (Pontiac GXP), 6.571ET(track record)/209.23MPH
Low elapsed time - Jason Line (Pontiac GXP), 6.571 seconds
Top Speed - Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt), 209.39MPH (track record)
FUNNY CAR
Winner - Tim Wilkerson (Chevy Impala SS), 4.874ET/317.27MPH
Runner-up - Mike Neff (Ford), 4.886ET/321.58MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Tim Wilkerson (Chevy Impala SS), 4.744ET/326.16MPH
TOP FUEL
Winner - Rod Fuller, 4.525ET/328.70MPH
Runner-up - Tony Schumacher, 4.521ET/329.58MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Dave Grubnic, 4.583ET(track record)/325.45MPH
# # # #
Contact: Jeff Romack or Kirk Weeks
Pontiac/Chevy Trackside Communications
NHRA Drag Racing
jfromack@cs.com or krkweeks@cs.com
317.843.5447 or 317.843.5443
http://media.gm.com/gmracing
http://www.gmracing.com
Wilkerson Completes Sweep with Hometown Win at St. Louis
KJ Breaks Tie with Shepherd for Most Career Pro Stock Chevy Wins
MADISON, Ill., May 4, 2008 - With his race team and sponsor, Levi, Ray, & Shoup, less than 100 miles up the road, Funny Car veteran Tim Wilkerson picked the perfect race to record career win No. 7 - today's 12th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway. After claiming his fourth No. 1 qualifier of the season and 14th of his career on Saturday, the Springfield, Ill., native drove past Mike Neff in today's final round for his first career win from the No. 1 qualifying position. Wilkerson drove his Levi, Ray, & Shoup Chevy Impala SS to a winning elapsed time of 4.874 seconds at 317.27 mph to defeat Neff's Ford at a 4.886 e.t. at 321.58 mph for his seventh career win, and he leaves St. Louis as the Funny Car points leader with a 24-point advantage over Ashley Force.
"We've ended up qualified No. 1 a couple of times this year and couldn't even get out of the first round," Wilkerson said, "so it's good to get the monkey off of our back and I'm pretty proud of that deal. My guys just do a terrific job working hard on the car. The track was good all day and we left a lot on the track in the finals. For all of our sponsors, Chevrolet, Levi, Ray & Shoup, we were just lucky to get there.
"I don't know, the emotions are out of control, to tell you the truth. We're sure happy to be here. I've never been in the points lead of anything in my life. I'm really, really surprised to be able to tell you at this point of the year that we'd be doing this well, and hopefully when we start with the new car around Denver that won't put a damper on my performance. The last couple of years we just lost our hand on what was going on with these cars, and it's really hard to get it back. Just from tenacity, and really a lot of help from a lot of people out here. I don't think there's one crew chief in Top Fuel or Funny Car that hasn't helped me at one time or another with some stupid question that I had, but we're just trying to do the best we can do."
Unfortunately, Wilkerson had to be a Chevy beater today en route to his 15th career final round defeating fellow Chevy drivers Tony Bartone in Round 1, Del Worsham in Round 2 and Cruz Pedregon in a semifinal match-up.
"Every time we race Tim it's huge, but this one was even more so," Worsham said. "He does it all over there. He tunes it, he drives it, and he even drives the tow vehicle back to the pit after the run. He's very old-school, but he's also on a total roll right now, and it almost looks like they're playing in another league, they're going so fast. We knew we had to back it down a little from Round 1, or it would probably smoke the tires, but we also were completely sure Tim would make a full lap, and a good one at that. It was a tough tuning call, but we thought we had it right.
"But we have to look at the positive side of this, and getting that win in Round 1 was just plain huge for us. If you can win that tough one, the first one, you've had a good day and you're in good company as one of the eight cars to advance. I wanted more, we all wanted more, but we got beat by a team that's so hot you can't touch them, and we got a round out of this. It's another step forward."
In Pro Stock, Kurt Johnson in the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt defeated Dave Connolly in an all-Chevy final round to break a tie with Lee Shepherd for most wins ever by a Chevy Pro Stock driver with 27. His first win of the season also extended his streak of winning at least one victory for now 14 race seasons, the longest current streak in Pro Stock. Johnson proved he had a fast car with a track-record speed (209.39 mph) in qualifying, and in the final round he didn't back down with an elapsed time of 6.631 seconds at 209.30 mph to defeat Connolly in the Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt at a 6.651 e.t. at 208.78 mph.
"We were scared to touch the car after running a .58 this morning," Johnson said, "but we knew we had to make some changes. We changed gears around, we changed the clutch around, and the whole ACDelco crew came together and we did what we needed to do. We'll have days like this (in Pro Stock). Tire shake was an issue, but we're pushing these things to the limit. These cars are making well over 1400 horsepower and spinning well over 10,000 rpm, so it's brutal out there. That's what it's all about and we just had a great day.
"It's brutal out there; every run's a challenge. We've got humans working on these cars and everybody's making different decisions out there. That last session yesterday everybody was grouped together with .59s and Jason (Line) made a great run with a .57. It just gets so finite and all of the little changes make a difference now a day, it seems like. But it's great to win 14 years in a row; it's been a long time since (the win in) Phoenix last year. This is the seventh race of the season and we now have six different winners, so that just shows you how tough it is and it's great for the fans."
The 25-year-old Connolly was making only his second start in the Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt after sponsorship issues forced him to sit out this season's first five races. With his new sponsor headquartered in St. Louis, Connolly advanced to his second consecutive final round at Gateway after claiming a win here last year.
"This was an interesting weekend," Connolly said. "It was fun, but basically it was a test session for us each round. We were putting a new clutch in the car every round. It was the weirdest day I've ever seen in Pro Stock, that's for sure. (In the finals round) I just let the car go through the (starting) beams and as soon as I went to stop it, the tree was on and I was just dead late. We could've run with Kurt . . . it was a win we should've had."
"All-in-all we were happy to take the three round wins and the runner-up for the second weekend out. We have to test before we go to Bristol (Tenn., May 16-18)."
In the Sportsman classes, Peter Biondo of Maspeth, N.Y., drove his '08 Chevy Cobalt to the Super Stock title, in a battle of Camaros Gary Stinnett from Emporia, Kan., in a '69 Camaro defeated the '67 Camaro driven by Donnie Beeler of Elizabethtown, Ky., to win Stock Eliminator, and Brina Splingaire from Lemont, Ill., won Super Gas in a '63 Corvette.
The next stop on the 24-race NHRA POWERade circuit is the 8th annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn., on May 16-18, 2008.
PRO STOCK
Winner - Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt), 6.631ET/209.30MPH
Runner-up - Dave Connolly (Chevy Cobalt), 6.651ET/208.78MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Jason Line (Pontiac GXP), 6.571ET(track record)/209.23MPH
Low elapsed time - Jason Line (Pontiac GXP), 6.571 seconds
Top Speed - Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt), 209.39MPH (track record)
FUNNY CAR
Winner - Tim Wilkerson (Chevy Impala SS), 4.874ET/317.27MPH
Runner-up - Mike Neff (Ford), 4.886ET/321.58MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Tim Wilkerson (Chevy Impala SS), 4.744ET/326.16MPH
TOP FUEL
Winner - Rod Fuller, 4.525ET/328.70MPH
Runner-up - Tony Schumacher, 4.521ET/329.58MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Dave Grubnic, 4.583ET(track record)/325.45MPH
# # # #
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