CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
CHEVROLET PERFORMANCE U.S. NATIONALS
LUCAS OIL RACEWAY AT BROWNSBURG, INDIANA
POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
SEPT. 5, 2016
An interview with Pro Stock winner CHRIS MCGAHA, HARLOW SAMMONS RACING, HARLOW SAMMONS OF ODESSA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS:
CHEVROLET PERFORMANCE U.S. NATIONALS WINNER. HOW DOES THAT SOUND TO YOU?
“It hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s kind of like the first win. Even after a year-plus, it hasn’t sunk in quite yet. The U.S. Nationals is pretty big, and to bring it home for Chevrolet is the main thing.”
YOU HAD KIND OF A WILD DAY AND THIS WAS SORT OF A GUT-IT-OUT ELIMINATIONS. WHAT WAS IT LIKE?
“It was definitely about track management today. We had some help today from the American Ethanol guys – their crew chief and consultant were over today helping us some – so they pointed us in a good direction and it worked.”
TO PUT IT TOGETHER, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
“I came here to Indy that first time in 2011 and the only thing I wanted to do was qualify. We did it on the last run, and thank goodness there were five runs or we wouldn’t have made it. To come back five years later and win it is a pretty big deal.”
TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 3 qualifier; fell in second round): “Everybody wants to win Indy and there is so much pressure. And that includes every single person on the team — from the driver to the crew chief and everyone. We didn’t get the job done for Monster, but we are still on a high note from our win at Brainerd because that was huge for us. We didn’t get the job done this weekend but we get the weekend off and now the Countdown begins. It’s time to put all the little mistakes away and pack them up. We have to get our game faces on and we really have to throw down because in the Countdown there is no room for mistakes.”
FUNNY CAR:
COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, TRAXXAS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fell in second round): “It was a great weekend for our Traxxas Chevy Camaro team. We went out and won our title sponsor’s race. The Traxxas Nitro Shootout was a huge win for us and $100,000 prize. It was a big one for our team, especially at Lucas Oil Raceway and at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals. It’s a big race for us and coming into the ‘Big Go’ we knew it was going to be a tough weekend with a lot of tough competitors to go up against. But we got the win in Round 1 and made a pretty solid pass. In Round 2, unfortunately we had a mechanical problem with the kill switch getting shut off actually by a piece in the body. We switched the lever yesterday to hopefully avoid a problem where it doesn’t get shut off if there is a shake in the run. We put a different switch on and it killed it right at the end. So from the eighth mile on we had them all the way and going for the win but, unfortunately, it was just a kill switch for the car. It totally died but I tried to coast hoping that something would happen and we would get lucky.”
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK ANTIFREEZE & COOLANT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 6 qualifier; fell in first round): “It’s been a roller coaster ride losing that Auto Club Chevy (incident in third round of qualifications) and then coming out here and winning the Traxxas Nitro Shootout with Courtney (Force) and her Chevrolet. We are excited the way our cars are running, but we are just a notch off. We know what it takes to get there. We are a little behind the eight ball but we are getting caught up with Chevrolet and I am excited.”
ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 8 qualifier; fell in second round): “The first round was a nice run and we got the bugs out of it. It was the first run to the finish line. Then, on that run, we were almost .17 ahead at the 330 (foot mark). It is just kind of like one move from making it down the track. It was running harder than any car out there in that round, but it was just a little too much. If (crew chief) Mike Neff could make a clutch adjustment, it would be there. In some ways, I think this car is better than our other one. We are going to go to Charlotte and have the bugs worked out of it and we will definitely see if it’s better.”
PRO STOCK:
VINCENT NOBILE, MOUNTAIN VIEW RACING, MOUNTAIN VIEW TIRE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “I have a really bad hot rod; there is nothing more you can say about it. I understand we didn’t qualify No. 1, but we were No. 1 for a few sessions and ended up No. 4. I’m feeling really good as a driver. The car is responding to every single thing I do. You live and learn and that round loss (semifinals) could possibly have won us the championship if we keep moving forward.”
SHANE GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, VALVOLINE/NOVA SERVICES CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 3 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “We had a real shot at it today, for sure. It was one of the cars to beat. But we just didn’t do our job in the semifinals there against (Allen Johnson). We were coming, but we just ran out of racetrack. We clinched our spot (in the Countdown) the right way, by winning a round. It takes a team effort, and we’ve had one this year.”
JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 5 qualifier; fell in second round): “We use this race as a good chance to try a couple of things that we normally wouldn’t try. We learned some things, some positive and some not so positive. Either way, they are data points. There is stuff you can take away from it.”
GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier; fell in second round): “You have to continue to build and keep getting better. We’ve said that all year long that every race we go to we have to keep getting better or they are going to catch up and possibly go around us. It’s on us now to come with a better product when we show up at Charlotte. We have about 10 days of work ahead of us, and we did learn a lot of things this weekend and think we have a good direction. It’s not going to be easy, but we feel good about the playoffs.”
BO BUTNER, JIM BUTNER RACING, JIM BUTNER AUTO CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; fell in first round): “It’s disappointing, especially at our home track. We’ll get back at it for the Countdown.”
ALEX LAUGHLIN, LAUGHLIN MOTORSPORTS, GAS MONKEY GARAGE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 6 qualifier; fell in second round on holeshot): “Now more than anything, I’m just mad. And now I’m just going to work that much harder on everything else. I have a simulator at home for reaction time, and I’m going to spend more time on it and do everything I can to improve from here. I still have a lot to learn. This is really my first real year and everybody has been through so much more than I have so I know I’ll have a lot of growing pains along the way.”
DREW SKILLMAN, RAY SKILLMAN RACING, RAY SKILLMAN AUTO CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 10 qualifier; fell in first round on a holeshot): “A new season starts tomorrow. We were just not in it at all this weekend. We did get the car better through the weekend, but my game just didn’t get any better. It’s disappointing, especially after a highlight like Brainerd (victory) two weeks ago. We will be ready for Charlotte and come out swinging.”
AARON STRONG, STRONG RACING, A&J FURNITURE MANUFACTURING CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 12 qualifier; fell in first round): “I’m disappointed with the loss. Obviously, as a whole it was an awesome weekend, but we wanted to keep it rolling. We actually made a really good run. We learned some stuff in that round and we’ll be back.”