Robert Patrick always felt that he had a quick car, but for the better part of the 2009 season
misfortune seemed to hold the potent Purvis Ford Mustang at bay.
Once again the Fredericksburg, Va.-based driver came to the final qualifying session of an ADRL
Extreme Pro Stock event unbridled. And, this time the misfortune was born by the competition.
Patrick scored his second consecutive No. 1 effort of the season at the ADRL Ohio Drags in
Columbus, Ohio with a 4.134 elapsed time at 173.70 miles per hour. The run vaulted him from third
to first.
The run was what the former IHRA Pro Stock champion needed to turn the tide of what was developing
into a frustrating weekend.
"We've been working hard and we've messed up a couple of motors at the last two events," Patrick
explained. "The last two races, we've been the quickest car . it's pretty frustrating when you have
the car to beat and the rods are hanging out.
"Bob Ingles works hard on our engines and I think we've corrected the issues.
"We just haven't had any luck," Patrick continued. "We have a good team, a good combination and a
good engine builder in Bob Ingles. We've just had one of those years where nothing has gone right.
We haven't been able to keep the same engine in the car throughout the course of a weekend.
"There's nothing wrong with my engine builder, we just had some mechanical issues with the parts we
were using. We are working to correct that. Hopefully we have that all figured out."
With some faulty parts out of the system and a lot of hard work, Patrick has turned up the wick on
the competition, and he's turned it up big time.
