CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
NHRA SPRINGNATIONALS
BAYTOWN, TEXAS
POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017
BO BUTNER, BUTNER AUTO SALES, JIM BUTNER AUTO CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier, earned first Pro Stock win):
Q: YOU’D BEEN IN THE FINAL SEVEN TIMES AND COME UP SHORT. WHAT WAS SPECIAL ABOUT TODAY?
BO BUTNER: “I can’t tell you what’s so special because I’ve had the best car all year long. I have the best crew, the best of everything. It just went our way today.”
Q: HOW DOES YOUR APPROACH DIFFER FROM A PRO STOCK CAR TO A SUPER STOCK OR STOCK ELIMINATOR?
BO BUTNER: “I was fortunate to have a lot of win lights in my Sportsman stuff. This (Pro Stock) we’ve gotten a few, but to make it four consecutive win lights is very tough and a lot harder than I ever expected.”
Q: HOW DOES THIS FEEL? DOES IT COMPARE WITH YOUR FIRST SPORTSMAN WIN?
BO BUTNER: “Any win when you stand on that stage – I don’t care if it’s Stock or Super Stock – it never gets old. It’s a great feeling and you can’t explain it unless you live it.”
TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 5 qualifier; fell in first round): “Nobody likes to go out in the first round. That’s always the toughest event of the day, because your nerves are heightened, and getting past that round is tough. It’s frustrating knowing that our day ended early, but the good thing is, we don’t have to spend more than a week thinking or dwelling about it. We’re banking on winning it again this year. We get to go right in and try our luck again.”
FUNNY CAR:
COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “I’m proud of my guys. We struggled in the first round, but made it through, got the car back out. We made a solid pass in the second round, and in the semis, it was a great race against Robert Hight. We weren’t able to get around him for the win, but it was a great race and great race day for our team. What we’re taking away from this weekend is that consistency we’ve been looking for with our race car. We may not have a Wally in hand, but we have things we can take away from this track and use in the future. I’m looking forward to the next race.”
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK COOLANT & MOTOR OIL CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 3 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “We’re going to stay on it; it’s what we do. The Funny Cars are doing well. Mine dropped a hole. On Saturday, in the final session, I finally came alive. I got my lights back, I was back on my game – I just got beat today. You learn from things, even at my age.”
ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fell in final): “It’s huge. We hadn’t been to a final for a long time. But you get that far, and the car’s running so good, it’s pretty rare that you get a car like this. For whatever reason, it went out and spun. Had it in the groove, and everything was going just right. I thought I was far enough down, and I didn’t see (Ron) Capps, and I tried to drive it spinning. It put two cylinders out on the right side, and whoom, it went over and crossed the centerline. I couldn’t save it. I thought this was the day we were going to get our win and get in the Traxxas Shootout. The good news is we’re racing in just about six days. We’re back at it again. That’s what you like this time of year, to get going. We’ve got a good car. We’re not searching for a combination or anything like that. We’ve got to go put four runs together on Sunday and hold the Wally.”
PRO STOCK:
JEG COUGHLIN JR., ELITE MOTORSPORTS, JEGS.COM ELITE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; fell in final): “We really wanted this today and just fell short in a number of ways there in the final. Nothing to hang our heads about. Congratulations to Bo (Butner). They earned it. They’ve been fast for a couple of years now. I hate to see him get his first one next to ‘Old Yeller’ but he’s a great racer and a great friend. If there’s a positive out of coming in second it is definitely seeing him win. We’ve made a lot of progress since the start of 2017. We ran great in qualifying here and came out today in E1 and went low for the round and set the track record. We came back in E2 and didn’t make the most efficient of runs but got the win. It was still pretty darned fast, and same with E3. We lost lane choice for the final and some of the guys were a little bit concerned about that but I didn’t have any worry about the right lane. It looked in good shape and it definitely wanted us to get after it a hell of a lot more than we did. But we didn’t and today is Bo’s day.”
GREG ANDERSON, SUMMIT RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 3 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “I’m happier than heck for Bo Butner. That’s cool. He’s a hell of a racer and we’re having fun racing with him. It’s been frustrating because he’s been so close so many times, and he hasn’t been able to win. He’s just too good of a racer to not win a race and he finally got it done today. As disappointed as I am to not win, I feel good at the end of the day. No, I don’t like to lose, but this is a day I’ve been waiting for a hoping for, and if I had a small part in it, then I have to be happy.”
TANNER GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, VALVOLINE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 5 qualifier, fell in semifinals): “I am so grateful to have an awesome team who can put a great race car together. Dave (Connolly) had my car right where it needed to be to win this race. We have consistently shown that our race car can perform on race day. I am comfortable in this car. I have begun to develop a race day rhythm that takes me further into racing Sunday afternoon. My Gray Motorsports Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro was consistent all day long. I just missed the tree (red light foul in semifinals).”
ERICA ENDERS, ELITE MOTORSPORTS, ELITE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fell in first round): “It is an extremely unfortunate outcome that we red-lit (by nine-thousandths of a second). I’m pretty damn good with sitting on my clutch pedal and I gamble with thousandths of a second all the time and to miss it by nearly a hundred of a second, that just does not happen with me. I’ll risk sounding a little over-confident because I think our track record speaks for itself. That’s a hard pill for me to swallow, but the good news out of all of it is we finally have a race car again and they know we are coming.”
JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 6 qualifier; fell in first round): “Even Superman had a bad day, and you have to have a bad one every once in a while so you appreciate the good ones. It really could have been worse, but we just had a couple little mistakes. It’s a good reminder of how hard this sport is. You have to stay on top of it. But I’m super, super excited and happy for Bo (Butner) and proud to be part of that as well. It’s a fun thing to watch somebody’s dream come true. He is not an overnight success, that’s for sure, and I can promise you that he appreciates this probably more than anybody.”
DREW SKILLMAN, RAY SKILLMAN AUTOSPORTS, RAY SKILLMAN CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 7 qualifier; fell in first round): “So far this season, our engines have been better than the car. We’ve had the power, but we’ve struggled with the car set-up because it had a narrow chassis-tuning window. This new Haas Camaro was made from the same jig as Tanner’s (Gray) car, so we’ll be able to exchange more meaningful data between the two vehicles. It also has the new 2017 Camaro body, which is more aerodynamic, so that will be a plus as well.”
VINCENT NOBILE, MOUNTAIN VIEW RACING, MOUNTAIN VIEW TIRE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 9 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “We didn’t run so well in qualifying and to come out and take out Jason Line in Round 1 and outrun him gave me a boost of confidence for Sunday. That was short-lived because we slowed and lost to Greg Anderson in Round 2. The Elite performance in general is improving and I know is only a matter of time before this Chevrolet Camaro is going rounds.”