 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
JOLIET, Ill. - Friday's first-ever professional drag racing session at the brand-new Route 66 Raceway proved to be the perfect time and place for the Pennzoil stable of drivers to put together their best opening day of the year. By day's end, two of the top three spots in Pro Stock and the No. 3 position in Top Fuel were occupied by Team Pennzoil-sponsored drivers. Here's a quick look at each drivers day at the track. Eddie Hill, the pilot of the Pennzoil Top Fuel Dragster, showed the track it's first run in the 4.6 second range in Round 1 when he posted a 4.692-second pass at 301.11 mph. Several hours later, Hill bettered that mark when he tripped the lights in 4.629-seconds at 308.43 mph. The thrilling run, which was just four-thousandths of a second off of his career-best, put Hill in third place through two rounds of qualifying. Still, the seasoned pro wanted more. "We dropped the No. 3 cylinder and blew out the supercharger's burst panel at the other end of the track," Hill said. "Otherwise, we probably would have gone a little faster. I'm still very pleased with the consistency of the Pennzoil Dragster." Hill, a 62-year-old NHRA Hall of Fame driver, was also impressed with the new track. "This place is great," Hill said. "Talk about state-of-the-art. They have done a great job of preparing this track for racing. The groove is fairly narrow but it's there. Mark my words, this is going to turn into one of the best stops on the circuit real fast." Bruce Allen, the driver of the Outlaw Fuel Additives Pro Stock Pontiac, was one of only two drivers in the NHRA's most competitive professional bracket to traverse the quarter-mile in under seven seconds. Allen posted an impressive 6.993-second pass at 196.44 mph to put his car in the No. 2 position heading into the weekend. "This is exactly where we need to be," Allen said. "The track has a little groove already and I was pleasantly surprised that the surface was able to hold a sub-seven second run this early in the weekend." Allen, who spent the last two weeks fine-tuning the weight distribution, suspension and cylinder heads on his car, was pleased to return to the form that put him in the final round of the Fram Nationals in Atlanta last month. "It's nice to come to a new facility after having made significant changes in our race car and run as well as we did," Allen said. "Today was a very positive day and the fact that we qualified near the front will allow us to really let loose tomorrow and have some fun." Mike Thomas, the driver of the Pennzoil Pro Stock Pontiac, finished in the third qualifying spot just behind Pennzoil teammate Allen. Thomas recorded a 7.004-second run at 195.79 mph at the start of the cooler evening session to put his car comfortably in the lead group. "After running down both lanes of this track, I can tell you that I sure am glad to be in a position to have lane choice," Thomas said. "That could very well be the difference when it comes down to the elimination rounds. Overall, the track is great. But I think the left side has a little more rubber on it."
Thomas posted his best time in the right lane which led him to conclude that
he could have gone even faster if he was in the left lane during the night-
time round. "I slipped a little in third gear and started drifting
towards the center of the track," he said. "If that hadn't happened,
I'd have run a 6.98. Still, I'm pleased with this time, especially at a new
track, and we're in a great position to win this race."
|
|
Ready to take your order at 1-800-230-3030 | Customer Service 1-800-517-1035