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CLERMONT, Ind. --
When we spoke to Glidden in the lanes immediately prior to that first session he noted that he did not think that he would make the cut at this event but did feel that Erica Enders had a good chance to qualify the team's second entry. On his first qualifying lap in some 6 years Glidden carded a .003 reaction time but the car got out of the groove early and took a wayward path to the finish line. Even so Glidden ran his best ever numbers at 6.782/204.94 and was 19th in the initial qualifying order. By the time the final qualifying session ended on Sunday afternoon Glidden was 24th in the field with another career best at 6.703/205.91. Enders was only one place better at 6.673 but with the great air and track conditions during the first three session even such regular contenders as Bob Yonke, Ricky Jones and Vinnie Deceglie were on the outside looking in. Glidden told FNN on Saturday morning that he is loving being back behind the wheel and wife Etta confirmed that he is a different man since he resumed his driving career. Bob told us that he should have sufficient power to make the show in about six weeks or so. Also on the subject of Pro Stock there were 29 cars on the initial qualifying list, the best turnout in some time for the category, with 30 cars making attempts on Saturday. On the other side of the coin only 17 cars made attempts in both T/F and F/C although three top fuel cars that came to the line did not get to make a run. Both Luigi Novelli and Troy Buff had problems with the clutch "tugging" following their burnouts and aborted the attempt with Novelli simply driving off down track when he realized that he had a problem. In Buff's case his crew and several start line workers tried to push the car back but as the clutch heated up it became harder to push the car and the attempt was abandoned. Pat Dakin was the third non runner when he was shut off behind the line with a fluid leak.
Smith's car carried some unexpected backing this weekend as the Lafayette, Indiana based Triple X restaurant signed on yesterday for the event. Smith had frequented the establishment while at in the area at Murf McKinney's chassis shop and that established the connection. The one race deal gave the eatery and root beer producer some local exposure to make central Indiana residents aware of its presence. When the trucks rolled after Bob Bode's first qualifying run everyone assumed that the car was hurt following Bob's career best 4.109 lap. When we checked with Bob and crew chief Walt Pzrybyl it turned out that the oil evidently came from Brian Thiel's car which made the preceding run. Repeating his Brainerd efforts, Bode put together a string of good if not outstanding runs during the next 4 efforts and backed up his move to the ranks of contenders rather than also rans.
Local hero Bruce Litton lost a couple of plugs on his first run causing the car to move out of the groove but he made the initial 12 car cut with a 3.953 only to get moved down in the order on Saturday when the conditions were again stellar. Early in the final session he was running well enough to make the show easily but the car threw the blower belt and slowed to a 4.194 and he had to sweat out attempts by Troy Buff and Luigi Novelli before securing the final spot in the show. On Saturday night Matt Hagan was on a seriously quick pass when the car moved around at around 800 feet and he lifted, feeling that discretion was the better part of valor. Even so the resultant 4.039 run (at only 277.89 mph) put him at the top of the order . Confirming the car's potential was the fact that Hagan was the only car in the 4.0's in the final session with a 4.094. Although Alexis DeJoria noted in an Indianapolis Star newspaper item that ran Sunday that she plans on staying in the alky funny car ranks in the immediate future she also admitted that she has been talking to several teams about stepping up to the nitro ranks. FNN did a follow up and found that one multi car team is especially intent in adding the 32 year old to their roster although she is also investigating the possibility of getting her license independently and thus keeping her options open Terry Haddock qualified for his first US Nationals and on Sunday morning he updated FNN on his current activities. He recently purchased the block repair business fromerly run by Mike Kopchek (the maker of Rage fuel pumps) Haddock has moved the business to Texas and renamed it Lone Star Aluminum Block Repair. For his Money Haddock got the machinery, inventory, and most importantly the training to run the business.
On Friday afternoon prior to the initial professional qualifying session NHRA officials gathered the qualifiers for the Countdown to One in the staging lanes to present them with etched glass plaques and caps to commemorate their achievement. Nine of the bike riders were on the scene relatively early but Steve Johnson was late in making his way over from the West side pits. When Johnson eventually rolled up the return road and parked his bike on the far side of the Mac Tools overpass the rest of the group quickly lined up as if to pose for the requsite photos and then walked away en masse as Steve arrived , telling him that he was too late to be included. After a good laugh at Johnson's expense the actual photos were taken. Prior to the photo session there was a lot of good natured banter among the riders with a lot of it directed at Michael Phillips whose plain black leathers were in distinct contrast to a new pair of Impact race shoes in a bright blue suede. Craig Treble was especially vocal, first suggesting the Phillips' new nickname should be Smurf and then commenting that at least Michael was comfortable with his manhood if he was willing to wear the shoes. Tony Stewart was on the start line on Monday afternoon when Cory McClenathan beat fellow DSR racer Tony Schumacher in the T/F semi final. After making it back to Indiana at 5 am following his win at Atlanta Tony was anxious to get to O'Reilly Raceway Park and provide some moral support for Army teammate Schumacher (as if the many time Indy champ needed a lot of help in that department). In a media center interview following the round Stweart commented on his respect for the top fuel and funny car drivers and also noted that Don Schumacher has been trying for some time to get him in one of the team's dragsters. Stewart also told a story about his contract negotiations with Joe Gibbs some years ago when he (Tony) had a clause inserted in the contract to the effect that he would also make some runs in the McDonalds dragster. Stewart who has a wicked sense of humor at times said that Gibbs did not realize that it was a joke for some time.
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