NHRA Quotes and Photos from Pomona

Compiled by Ian Tocher
Photos by Zak Hawthorne
11/16/04

The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series came to a close November 11-14, with the running of the 40th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals. Tony Schumacher, John Force, and Greg Anderson each punctuated their 2004 Championships with victories at Pomona Raceway, joined by P/S Bike winner Angelle Savoie.

It’s been a wild and unpredictable year in NHRA drag racing, marred unfortunately by the mid-season death of Top Fuel star Darrell Russell, but all along the way the racers were the ones who told the real story. Here, in their own words, through NHRA and team press releases, are their thoughts on the season-ending event.

TOP FUEL

"Hopefully, this will make us stand out from the crowd as we continue looking for the financial wherewithal that will enable us to compete at the highest level possible next season. We have a brand new truck and trailer order that we hope to debut at the season-opening CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals and we would love to see the name of a Corporate America company on the side of that trailer." -- David Baca on being second after running a career-best 4.487 seconds in Thursday’s first round of qualifying

“There were some really great runs in that session, but we’re not in a position to try and fire off a shot like that.” -- Larry Dixon after slotting into the eighth position in the opening round

“It’s crucial to the growth of the sport that we attract more non-traditional sponsors. The fringe benefits of Lobster Gram are pretty cool too. We’re going to be cooking about eighty lobsters Saturday in our hospitality area.” -- Scott Weis on his new sponsor’s influence on the family owned team

“Going from point A to point B in the last session was critical for setting ourselves up for raceday." -- Tony Schumacher on the 4.491 he ran in the fourth qualifying round to end up second behind Doug Kalitta

"I was a little nervous going into that last qualifying session, but everybody did their job and the outcome was okay.” -- Cory McClenathan on busting his way into the field at number 11 with his last qualifying pass

“When you qualified eighth, you have to run the number-nine qualifier and you know both cars are equal. If you ran that race 10 times, you’d probably have 10 different outcomes. That’s certainly not the way we wanted to end the season.” -- Dixon, after losing to Morgan Lucas in round one despite running a 4.516 that was his best e.t. this year

"The car went down the track in the first round but we just got beat by a decent run." -- Doug Herbert after losing a close one to Baca in round one

"You never want to end your season with a loss." -- Clay Millican after falling to McClenathan in the opener on Sunday

"We dodged a bullet on that pass. We dropped a cylinder early in the run.” -- Brandon Bernstein after beating Weis in round one