CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS
PACIFIC RACEWAYS AT KENT, WASHINGTON
POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
SUNDAY, AUG. 6, 2017

An interview with Funny Car winner ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB OF CALIFORNIA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; second victory on western swing and of the season; recorded 250th victory for John Force Racing and his 39th):
Q: NO ONE COULD TOUCH YOUR CAR TODAY.
ROBERT HIGHT: ”This is one of those weekends that you dream about. We rolled off the trailer and were No. 2 right behind John (Force), and then every round after that – seven straight – we were low ET of every single round in qualifying and on race day. That just goes to the Auto Club team. These guys are amazing. We’re hitting our stride at the right time. All I have to do is stand on the gas, guide this car down there and the win light turns on. It’s awesome.

Q: (CREW CHIEF) JIMMY PROCK DOESN’T GET HIGH OR LOW. HE’S ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT THE NEXT RUN.
ROBERT HIGHT: He is. There’s nobody who thinks more about a race car. I’ve spent a lot of time with Jimmy Prock over the years, then he went away on a short vacation. He’s back with us. I can tell you one thing – Chris Cunningham has made Jimmy Prock a better crew chief. This team listens to each other, they work together. It’s fun just to stand back and watch them. We’ve got it made.
An interview with Pro Stock winner DREW SKILLMAN, RAY SKILLMAN RACING, RAY SKILLMAN AUTO GROUP CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier; second victory on western swing and third of the season):
Q: COULD YOU TELL WHEN YOU WERE TWO INCHES OUT IN FRONT OF ERICA (ENDERS) IN THE FINAL?
DREW SKILLMAN: I was a little nervous there. I knew I had a good car and it all went well for us this weekend.
Q: GRAY MOTORSPORTS IS PUTTING SOME GOOD HORSEPOWER UNDER THE HOOD.
DREW SKILLMAN: We swept the western swing (Tanner Gray won at Sonoma in the Gray Motorsports Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro SS). The horsepower has been great, the teams are working together and we couldn’t be happier.
TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 5 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “It’s a little bit frustrating, especially when you see the guy I the lane next to us on a good run and we had an outstanding run in the first round today, so I thought I could carry that momentum and make it all the way to the finals. But we slipped up and I pedaled the thing but no way was it going to catch (Clay) Millican. We’ll take a weekend off and be ready to go into Brainerd. I think our western swing was pretty outstanding with two semifinal round appearances and second round here. I wish we could have taken it a little bit further, but overall a pretty good weekend. We picked up points this weekend and we’ll just keep fighting for it.”

FUNNY CAR:
COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “I’m really excited. Our Advance Auto Parts team found a little bit more consistency on race day when it r3eally counted. I’m really thrilled we went out there and ran some consistent 90s to get us to the semifinal round. Taking out Cruz (Pedregon) in the first round with a 3.91 and then having to race (Jack) Beckman with a 3.95, where I actually shut off a little bit early right at the finish line, but still an awesome run for our Chevy Camaro team. Then, going into the semis, we knew going up against our teammate Robert Hight that his car has been flying throughout the western swing, so we had to bring it all to the table. We definitely gave him a good run. All in all, not a bad weekend. I’m really proud of my team, and it’s a great way to finish off the western swing.”

JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK COOLANT & MOTOR OIL CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 8 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “The car slowed down at the final few hundred feet. We’re going back to front-half it; we’ll put another chassis in play. We know we bent it, but it was working pretty good. Now that we have the opportunity to switch it, we’ll bring the new out and run it and we’ll front-half the other one and it will be a back-up and get ready for Brainerd. We made a couple of good runs out here but couldn’t get the win.”

PRO STOCK:
ERICA ENDERS, ELITE MOTORSPORTS, MELLING PERFORMANCE/ELITE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fell in final): “It seemed like we were really onto something earlier this summer when we won Epping and that every weekend one of these Elite Motorsports cars was racing for the trophy. But we’ve found out how extremely finicky the electronic fuel injection can be. It’s been a fight, not only for us but for everyone. That’s why we’ve had so many different winners. We came in here with something to build on and it’s worked to some extent. We’ll keep chipping away.”

TANNER GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, GRAY MOTORSPORTS VALVOLINE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “I just missed the tree today. I cannot thank my team enough for giving me a great race car. I’ve said before that the car alone can’t win races. I have to perform on the starting line. I cannot say enough about my guys over in our Gray Motorsports Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro pit. We have a great thing going. Our guys are doing a heck of a job and I am just glad to have them.”

BO BUTNER, BUTNER AUTO SALES, JIM BUTNER AUTO CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 3 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “Overall, the whole swing was very good for us, especially for bringing out a new car. It was great, and it was more than I could ask for. Today, I just made a mistake [on the starting line]. That’s going to be good for me, though, because it lets you know you’re human. You’re not going to be perfect every time. We’ll get this out of our system and go on to Brainerd, and then Indy, where I would love to do well. Then the Countdown starts, and this cannot happen then. We’ve gotten it out of our system.”

GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 7 qualifier; fell in first round): “We were just ultra, way too conservative. We underestimated the racetrack. We were first pair, and generally you have to detune everything and go up there cautious. We did, and the racetrack was great. We just had no wheel spin and ran slow all the way down the track because of it. We’re usually good on race day, but we have not been lately. We have to rethink what we’re doing.”

JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 5 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “I had a good car this weekend, the best one I’ve had in a long time, but we have a lot of work to do still. We aren’t where we need to be, but we will be.”

VINCENT NOBILE, MOUNTAIN VIEW RACING, MOUNTAIN VIEW TIRE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 10 qualifier; fell in first round): “We got behind the eight ball from the beginning. We are struggling and can’t seem to find the sweet spot. We will take the week off and get ready before we head to Brainerd. The Countdown is around the corner. We need to pick it up sooner rather than later. Erica’s (Enders) Chevrolet Camaro seems to be running well, were just chasing ours to get it up to speed.”

CHRIS MCGAHA, HARLOW SAMMONS RACING, HARLOW SAMMONS OF ODESSA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 9 qualifier; fell in quarterfinals): “If you’ve got enough power, you can just back up, have a soft gear box and just kinda toss the ball out there and let it go. It almost acts like you don’t care what kind of transmission you have if you have enough power. Some days it feels like I’m close, and some days I feel like I feel like I’m pretty behind.”