Sun, May 17, 10:57 AM Mopar Notes and Quotes

Courtesy of Scott Sebastian, Team Mopar PR Mopar Parts Nationals

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - After four qualifying sessions at the 1998 Mopar Parts Nationals, Team Mopar has qualified three cars heading into Sunday's eliminations. In Top Fuel, driver Mike Dunn and the Darrell Gwynn-owned dragster qualified for eliminations in the 8th position with a fourth-round qualifying run of 4.65/318.39. In Pro Stock, Darrell Alderman is 16th at 6.994/197.42, and in Funny Car, the Mopar/Matco Tools Dodge Avenger entry of Dean Skuza qualified # 11 with a Friday pass of 5.062/307.23. Team Mopar Pro Stock non-qualifiers included Larry Nance (#26 - 7.030/195.76), Allen Johnson (#27 -- 7.033/195.82) and Scott Geoffrion (#28 - 7.045/197.71)

Mike Dunn, Mopar Top Fuel Dragster (#8 -- 4.65/318.39) "Not the way we planned it, but we got the job done. Going out and smoking the tires we have during qualifying really put us behind the eight-ball. When you can't get a car down the track, you're not able to get a baseline for your Sunday set-up. We had to take a chance and tune the car down a bit trying to get the car down the track without dropping any cylinders. Ken (Veney) did a great job with the tune-up, and when I saw it was a .65 at 318 it put us right where we needed to be going into Sunday's eliminations.

Darrell Alderman, Pro Stock Dodge Avenger (#16 - 6.994/197.42) "I'm not sure how I feel right now. We kind of knew going into the session that the weather conditions weren't going to allow a run into the sixes. The temperature just didn't cool down enough for the air to make a difference for us to be able to make a good run. Knowing that I was on the bubble going into the last run was uncomfortable because I knew that my teammate (Scott Geoffrion) wasn't in yet. After I didn't improve on my time, I knew that only one of us was going to be racing on Sunday. I'll just have to carry the torch for The Dodge Boys."