Fri, Oct 30, 10:08 PM Weather's Okay - For Now, Anyway

by Larry Sullivan But Clouds are Gathering

BAYTOWN, Texas - Only sixteen runs down the quarter-mile remain for competitors in the Professional categories in the 1998 Winston Drag Racing Series, with eight of those coming in the next three days. That's what the schedule says, anyway. However, Mother Nature may dictate some changes in that schedule. The forecast for Friday isn't too bad, but the probability of rain goes up Saturday and Sunday, so once again we're keeping one eye on the race cars and the other on the skies here at Houston Raceway Park.

Friday dawned foggy and humid here at the 2nd annual Matco Tools Supernationals, but racing began right on schedule, with the final round of qualifying for Stock Eliminator entries. That will be followed by the first round of Super Stock class eliminations and the first round of eliminations for Super Street and Super Gas. Comp Eliminator cars take their second shot at qualifying just before noon, followed by the two Federal-Mogul categories.

The Pro eliminators are scheduled for their first qualifying session starting at 2 PM, followed by final qualifying for Comp and Federal-Mogul cars, and then the last scheduled evening qualifying session of they year will begin at 6 PM. First-round eliminations for Super Comp will close out the evening.

Sunday here will be a special day for Hispanic race fans when Tony Pedregon unveils a special-edition paint scheme to honor Selena, the late, young Tejano music star. Selena's sister, Suzette Ariaga, will be on hand when John Force, Pedregon, and Action Performance Co. Inc., unveil a Selena-themed race car Sunday during the event's starting-line ceremony. The brightly painted Selena-themed race car honors the entertainer for her contribution to the music industry.

Sponsorship and driver change rumors run rampant this late in the season - hopefully some of the rumors will come to rest before we leave here. One very persistent rumor was put to rest recently when Mike Dunn confirmed that his contract with the Darrell Gwynn team goes through the 1999 season and he is happy there, so he will not be making a rumored move to a highly-visible Funny Car seat next year.

Come by Drag Race Central throughout the day to find out what's happening here in Baytown.



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