CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
DENSO SPARK PLUGS NHRA NATIONALS
THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 2017
TANNER GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, VALVOLINE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 5 qualifier, youngest pro winner of NHRA race):
Q: WALK US THROUGH YOUR WEEKEND
TANNER GRAY: “It started off really good. (Crew chief) Dave Connolly made some good calls during qualifying and we ended up qualifying fifth. I made a few mistakes on Friday when it counted and I think we had a little more in the car. But I think it showed out here today. I think we were first or second in the session on every run. I can’t thank everybody enough. They are definitely the reason I am standing here. I do a small part. It feels really cool.”
Q: TELL US ABOUT GETTING YOUR HEAD RIGHT BEFORE THE FINAL
TANNER GRAY: “I was pretty nervous coming up. This is something I wanted to do since I was really young and I finally got the opportunity to do it. When I started this deal, I told my dad I wanted to be the youngest Pro Stock winner. To be able to do that feels really cool.”
TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 4 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “Qualifying was tricky was for us; we only got down the track once out of four runs, and that’s tough going into race day, and pulls your confidence down a little. The team made some changes, and we came out in the first round and were able to go right down the racetrack. I had a good light there and we have to keep swinging for that. Wish we could have done the same in the second round, but our day ended early. But we made a lot of changes this weekend – especially in the cockpit, for me, and the clutch. To be able to get to the second round is pretty good for us, and we’ll keep moving forward. The good thing is that the changes we made to the cockpit are staying. We’re not changing anything there; we’re done. We can only move forward from that and get better.”
FUNNY CAR:
COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; fell in first round): “It’s a bummer. Our Advance Auto Parts team has had some great runs, and we know the car is capable of running some stellar numbers. We’re having a hard time finding some consistency with it, especially being able to run it in the heat. So we’ll be back out here tomorrow testing all day in the heat to see if we can get the right tune-up going into the next race. When I got back to the pit, it was straight to computer to figure out the problem with the car, what’s going on, how we can fix it and how we can move forward going into the next few races and what we’re going to try out for testing tomorrow.”
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK COOLANT & MOTOR OIL CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 7 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “I look at this day as positive. We went some rounds, and our other drivers did some things, too. Courtney (Force) was No. 1 qualifying, we made some changes to Brittany’s (Force) car, and Robert Hight’s car with Jimmy Prock is making progress. It’s all part of a process. (In the semifinals) We had a blower problem. We thought we fixed it, and we don’t know if that was the problem in the race. We thought we could change them in the lanes, but we didn’t have time to make adjustments, so we just took the right lane. Then we went down and just dropped a couple holes, and Tommy Johnson won. There are no uppers without downers.”
ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 14 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “I really don’t know what happened (with the red light). I really hate it for my guys because they work so hard. No excuses. We’ve been at this a long time and should have been ready for that or anything. I still had my hand on the brake, too, so I knew it wasn’t time to go. That happens sometimes, but that doesn’t make it any easier to take.”
PRO STOCK:
JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “My Summit Racing Chevy Camaro is a really good car. I just didn’t do a good job tuning it today, and I didn’t do a good job driving it today. Sometimes you just don’t have a great weekend, but I’m fortunate that I have great folks behind me with Summit Racing and folks like DENSO and our team owner Ken Black. I didn’t have the greatest weekend, but I sure wouldn’t want to trade places with anyone else. We have good hot rods, and even Superman had a bad day. It’s all good.”
JEG COUGHLIN JR., ELITE MOTORSPORTS, JEGS.COM ELITE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “It’s been a tough couple of years but I feel like we’ve definitely turned the corner. I feel really comfortable in this car. We’ve made some good runs and our program is getting better at every event. We just need to put it all together.”
BO BUTNER, BUTNER AUTO SALES, JIM BUTNER CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 3 qualifier, fell in final): “I had no question that this was going to be our day. But I feel like that every Sunday I pull in. I know we have the best team and the best equipment, which leaves it up to me. I think I’ve had a chance to win every final round I’ve been in and it’s usually driver error. Again, today it was, but our Chevy Camaro is very, very fast. Believe me, I leave my house daily knowing that I’ve got everything it takes to win one of these races. When I first started this deal, everyone told me that Pro Stock was going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done in racing. They weren’t fooling. I am not a quitter though, and if people are wondering, I am still having fun. I know what our team is capable of, so that makes it fun.”
GREG ANDERSON, SUMMIT RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “We had a great day yesterday (winning the K&N Horsepower Challenge) and things started out good today, but I broke my motor at the finish line in the first round and we had to make a change in a hurry. We got her in there and got it done but it took a different tune than the other engine did. We were way off, but the bottom line was Tanner Gray did a great job. He was .001 on the tree and it really wasn’t going to matter what I ran. He took the bull by the horns. I had a decent light, but not compared to a .001. My hat’s off to him. I ran into the hot guy at the wrong time and lost second round.”
ERICA ENDERS, ELITE MOTORSPORTS, ELITE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 11 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “I think I could have done more behind the wheel to help us win but either way I’m pleased with today’s race. Of course, we want to win every race we enter but we really turned a page today so I’m feeling very optimistic. We looked at everything from Friday and Saturday last night and decided to get back to basics and make damn sure the car goes from A to B every run. I know how to drive the car and my confidence in my abilities is high so it’s OK if we’re not the quickest and fastest every wee