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Mon, 9 Jun 2003, 03:27 PM

Mark Pawuk Prepares for Pontiac Excitement Weekend

Courtesy of Jeff Romack, GM Racing
Photo copyright 2003 Auto Imagery, Inc.

COLUMBUS, Ohio --

Pawuk deploys the chutes.

The Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit Racing is less that a week away, and for Mark Pawuk, the annual spring event at National Trail Raceway represents one of the most important contests on his motorsports calendar. While he diligently prepares for the added pressure of competing at his home track, the Summit Racing Pontiac driver is admittedly enjoying the challenges this year of putting together a competitive motorsports program.

"I'm having more fun this year," said Pawuk. "I'm more upbeat, I'm driving better and you're seeing that in the overall atmosphere in our pits. I also feel that we're knocking on the door. Our Summit Racing Pontiac has definitely been more consistent. Other than Greg (Anderson) and Kurt (Johnson), I feel that we have enough horsepower to be a top-five racecar in qualifying and to be able to go some rounds on raceday. Unfortunately, we lost that final qualifying session in Chicago or we would have been in the top half of the field. When you can do that, it has the potential of changing the whole outcome of the race.

"When you're dealing with thousandths of a second, moving up or down in the qualifying field ends up being determined by fractions of time that are less than the blink of an eye. And that's running full bore for 6.7 seconds at 205 mph. Trying to stay competitive in NHRA Pro Stock is the toughest thing I've ever done."

The DNQ bug that has plagued the Pro Stock category for the last few years has proven to be an indiscriminate virus. With 16-car fields separated by as little as .03 of a second, no one is immune, and Pawuk feels fortunate to have been bitten only once this year. But as the Ohio native looks ahead to the upcoming event at National Trail Raceway, he enters next week's race confident with the knowledge that his program is on the upswing.

Mark Pawuk
"The reason for upsurge lies in the whole package," said Pawuk. "We rebuilt this entire Summit Racing Pontiac team from the ground up at the end of last season - some of it by choice, some not by choice. I brought a new group of people into the engine shop, and Marcus Bowen, who has been with me for three years now, took over the crew chief responsibilities. Marcus has done a tremendous job.

"We're running this Grand Am differently than last year, but we've also fixed some of the things that were broken. We had some issues with our engine program, but we're at a point again where we can do extensive research and development, and because of that, we're starting to move forward. We've been trying to get to that point for the last three years and I believe we're finally there."

The ability to produce sufficient horsepower from multiple pieces has also given the Summit Racing team the luxury of testing on a regular basis, something they couldn't do with any reliability in 2002. Last month at Englishtown, N.J., the red-and-blue Pontiac lived up to the age-old adage of "practice makes perfect," responding with a run of 6.725 seconds at 205.13 mph. They were the quickest and fastest rounds in Pawuk's 19-year career as an NHRA Pro Stock competitor.

"We have two really good engines for racing," explained Pawuk, "and three good motors to test with. Two of our engines, I'm not sure they would qualify in these tight Pro Stock fields, but they are definitely good enough to test with and can provide us with information we can use. With that array of parts, we can hit the testing circuit a little harder and be able to learn more. We have a research-and-development engine that we use now instead of wearing out our best motors. If something does look promising, we can switch over to one of our good engines to see if what we have learned is relevant. We haven't had that luxury in about two years.

"We've also got some great people at the engine shop that we brought in this year that continue to do an outstanding job. They're working on a couple of more engines and with each passing day, we're continuing to peck away, making progress and doing everything we can to make this Summit Racing Pontiac a winner."

Pawuk celebrates Columbus win.
Over the course of a long tenure as a professional drag racer Pawuk has won six national events and competed in 21 final rounds. His last victory was at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October 2001, when he scored a final-round victory over Tom Hammonds. But one of Pawuk's most cherished racing moments came at National Trail Raceway on Father's Day 2000 when he captured his fifth career win at the Pontiac Excitement Nationals.

"That is something I will never forget," said Pawuk. "With my wife Bonnie there, and Kyle and Kassandra, and my mom and dad, and it being our sponsors' race, it was just a thrilling afternoon. It still gives me chills thinking about it.

"There's some extra pressure at Columbus since it's a Pontiac and a Summit event - we obviously want to do well. But with the runs we're making these days, if we get a break or two, and things go our way, maybe I can have another Father's Day like I had in 2000."

In addition to his at-track activities next week, Pawuk will join a contingency of GM Racers on Thursday, June 12, for a special visit with the kids at the Columbus Children's Hospital.

"I'm looking forward to racing again in Columbus, but we can't wait to see our friends again over at Children's Hospital," said Pawuk. "That's something all of the drivers who take part look forward to, and there's nothing like putting some smiles on a few kids faces.

"When our son Kyle was born, he had to spend two weeks in the Akron Children's Hospital. I can tell you firsthand that the doctors, nurses and volunteers that take care of these kids are truly a blessing, and we should all be thankful for their skill and dedication."

After Columbus, the NHRA POWERade campaign closes in on its halfway point, and Pawuk knows that a few round wins will put him right back in the driver's seat for a top-five finish. With that kind of can-do attitude, competing has become fun again for the Summit Racing Pontiac driver.

"Whatever's meant to be will be," insists Pawuk. "I honestly feel that you have to make your own breaks, but if we can keep running like we have been, and I keep driving like I've been driving, we're definitely a threat to win some races. We're less than five rounds out of fifth place right now and there's a lot of racing left in the season. I'm pretty optimistic about where our program is headed."