In racing, it is often said that you have to pay your dues before you start winning, but in the
first round of Pro Stock at Summit Raceway Park today the race was one of those that you hate to
come up on the short side of.
In the opening round Rodger Brogdon and the Charter Communications team took on the Professor of
Pro Stock, Warren Johnson. As they left the starting line, WJ took a .003 advantage but by the 60
foot timers Brogdon was ahead by .010, at the 330 mark Rodger was ahead by .012, as both cars
passed half track Rodger was still ahead by .007 and both cars were running just over 163 mph. As
they passed the 1000 foot timers Brogdon was still out front but the margin had closed to .001. At
the finish line both Rodger and the Professor ran identical 6.726 elapsed times, Brogdon was going
205.26 mph to WJ's 205.98. In the closest race of the first round, the true margin of victory
resorted back to the .003 reaction time advantage that began the race back on the starting line.
As Rodger put it after the race, "Those are the ones that hurt. You always want the win light to
come on in your lane, but to come short by such a small margin, well you start looking at all the
little things that could have made a difference in the run. Reaction time, shift points, keeping
the car more centered in the groove, one small change in any of those items could have made the
difference in the run. It's no matter though it still ends our race day. We will just need to move
on to the next race in Denver and tighten up our offense a little bit more."
With a week off before the NHRA Full Throttle tour begins the grueling western swing, Brogdon and
the Charter Communications team will take the time to freshen all their equipment for the next
three races that run in Denver, Seattle and Sonoma, CA on consecutive weekends. For Rodger, it will
be the first time in several years to race on "the mountain" but his first venture there with a Pro
Stock car. As the tour proceeds on to Seattle and Sonoma, it will be Brogdon's first time to visit
both tracks.
"With each race we get a little better," Brogdon concluded, "and we're getting so close to giving
the rest of the field a solid run for their money. After the race today looks like we're about as
close as you can get. With the way we've been going I'm looking forward to making the turn in
Denver and having a really solid western swing."
