Racing before family and friends at Englishtown is nothing new for Koretsky, Northrop or crew chief
Eddie Guarnaccia, and the trio is pleased to arrive with what is a promising motor combination they
believe will easily match up with the Nitro Fish Pontiac GXP.
"We are running the same motor we had in the car last week at Joliet (Ill.)," said Northrop, who
has raced at Englishtown for many years. "It's a good motor; we never made a run to show the
engine's potential because we were only able to get in a couple of runs."
A broken motor Saturday forced Guarnaccia to make a change and Northrop didn't qualify. "I think
we have the potential to run well," Northrop continued. "I'm looking forward to this race. If
there's such a thing as a home-track advantage, I'd like to think we have it."
Guarnaccia's replacement engine was built by Bob Book and will be in the car Friday when qualifying
gets underway.
"We are trying to evaluate how the motor runs," Guarnaccia noted. "We didn't do a very good job
last week because we only had the two runs. It is a totally different combination than what we're
used to - different power band, gear ratio and clutch combination. We are thankful for the
opportunity to work run the motor.
"It's going to take a few runs, but I believe we'll be able to do what it takes. We'll be okay . .
. we have four (qualifying) shots at it."
Pro Qualifying schedule:
Friday: 3 and 6 p.m.; Saturday: noon and 3 p.m.
Sunday: Eliminations at 11 a.m. (ET)
On TV, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD (all times ET)
Saturday: one hour of qualifying, 7 p.m. (ET); another hour, 11:30 p.m.
Sunday, NHRA Race Day, 30-minute pre-race show, noon; three hours of eliminations, 10 p.m.
