Pro Stock Qualifying

What Are a Few Thousandths Between Friends?

by Phil R. Elliott

PS qualifying has become a major headache to many. Flyin' Phil Photo

“Hello Mom?”

“Hi Robert, how’s it going in Houston?”

“Well, we finally got the Mustang into the seventies.”

“Wow, that’s great! That’s a career best! Where’d you qualify?”

“Well, that’s the bad news. Our 6.796/202 is 21st…”

“What?!”

“Yes, it was a record bump (6.768). Hey, you know Jeggie held the record (6.750) coming in here?

“Yes.”

“He missed his own record by a hundredth (6.760) and is only 12th! The top seven guys are under the old record. Hey, (Scott) Geoffrion ran 6.751 and he’s barely 8th! That’s the best NHRA time for a Ford ever!”

“Well I’m sorry you didn’t make the field but that’s pretty impressive. Who’s up top?”

“Warren (Johnson) is 1st with what is now the new record – a 6.720! Kurt (Johnson) is in second (6.726) and he set the speed record at 205.57! (Greg) Anderson ran 6.727205 for 3rd and he earlier ran 205.41! Even he can’t believe how well his new Pontiac Grand Am is going so far!”

The Texas to Virginia phone conversation is false for a couple reasons. First, I made it up. Though seemingly surreal, the numbers are factual. Second, Robert Patrick’s mom never misses a race.

I’ve never been to Baytown. It has been on my must see list for a few years now and the 16th annual O'Reilly Spring Nationals has certainly not changed my desire. The track, with about 700 feet of concrete and relatively cool April air, produces phenomenal performance.

I still have a slight problem with NHRA’s Friday night qualifying session, especially for Pro Stock entrants. The dichotomy I face when I say this is that while I love the “show” aspect for the fans, it is now a proven fact that if you fail to have your combination honed for the singular night session, you will be going home. The conditions for the session are pleasantly cool for everyone involved, but the numbers that pop up are false indicators of the actual needs to win the event on Sunday. So, what always happens is racers blast out their bests Friday, then spend all day Saturday resetting and retuning for the hotter, slimier raceday conditions. There is little chance of the qualifiers duplicating their previous numbers and few non-qualifiers (from Friday) have a chance of bumping in to the incredibly tight fields.

Nonetheless, congratulations are in order for all the career bests turned in at HRP once again. No matter what external influences contribute to the numbers, they are real and I do not mean to take anything away from the race teams involved.

Something nearly as surreal happened at Bristol but for somewhat different reasons. After Q-session 1, Greg Anderson (6.897) and Ron Krisher (6.964) book ended the field. The weather was relatively good for Thunder Valley, with 67 degrees and 58 percent relative humidity in mid afternoon, and track temp was under 90 degrees. At dusk, both ambient and track temps had dropped ten degrees but the humidity was up to 72%. Friday night, Anderson slowed slightly (6.903), WJ moved to the top (6.894) and Jim Yates (6.951) had the bubble. Keep in mind that eastern Tennessee has some elevation over Texas so the numbers cannot really be compared.

Regardless of sanction, track ownership or date chosen, a Spring dragrace in Bristol will be hit with rain. Saturday morning it was obvious that once again, the wet stuff was imminent. It was cooler for PS Q3 than it had been Friday night and wholesale bumping began in the first pair. By the time it was over, Yates (6.933) had lowered the bump and tightened the field considerably. Then the rain came, the drying proceeded and time elapsed. It was at least four hours after the preset schedule when PS rolled under the tower. Conditions were as good as they ever have been there, and suddenly it looked like usual alternates had a shot and that a Saturday NHRA crowd would see a PS Q’ing show. Bristol, with its high percentage of doorslammer fans, was a perfect place to do it, weather induced or not.

About the fourth pair, George Marnell (6.904) jumped from 23rd to 4th and caused the assembled multitude to cheer. After that, there was some sort of ladder movement in nearly every pairing. When WJ and GA met in the final PS match of the night, they’d been rudely bumped down to 6th and 8th. Of course they improved too (6.862 and 6.864, respectively) and went back to the top. As far as relative performances, it was one of the best sessions in recent history. Troy Coughlin (6.912) ended up on the precarious bump – Yates (6.913) failed to make it.

Just north of Atlanta, weather gave PS fits again. After a Q-1 field that started with Jeg Coughlin (6.897) and ended with JR Carr (6.970), Friday night was lost to rain. Saturday morning was cooler than Friday afternoon but the humidity was higher causing crewchiefs to lean heavily on guesswork.

In the second pairing Troy (6.876) jumped up and gave a slight indication of what was to come. When his brother staged in the final pair, he had been knocked from the provisional pole to 19th! His run (6.822) was good for 2nd, behind Anderson (6.821). Troy’s earlier run was on the bump.

Even the highly funded drivers have trouble making the ultra-tight fields. Flyin' Phil Photo

In the final session, with very similar conditions to the morning, Barry Grant improved (6.882) tremendously but missed. A few pairs later, Ron Krisher (6.875) moved Troy out by a thousand but placed himself on the bump. One pair later, Mark Whisnant (6.872) bumped Krisher, which ended the latter’s Q-streak at 76 races. And that is where the excitement ended. There was no other move.

Am I complaining about the most competitive type of car in all of motorsports? Absolutely not. In NHRA Pro Stock, a few thousandths of a second means the difference between, winning/losing, qualifying/not, hero/zero, success/failure… It has to be among the most frustrating forms of motorsports there is, especially for teams that work round-the-clock for a few horsepower and those few thousandths. And there are about eight or ten of those teams. The rest, as you know, buy or lease their powerplants from the other teams or specialty engine-building facilities. Those top teams, representing about twelve cars, should, given all the usual reasons, always make the NHRA fields. Those thousandths make all the difference, as to the breaks of those late qualifying sessions.

After the Atlanta race, I received the following Email from my pal Buzz Baylis:

“In watching the Atlanta Final rounds, the victory circle (by WJ) quote was that, ‘I beat the phone call tune up team.’ Do (you) know who Greg Anderson buys his stuff from? I have been wondering who does his motor building (R&D, etc.) for him? I figured after a decade with WJ he'd handle the race track part…”

I answered thusly:

“Following a first round loss during 2002, WJ ‘endeared’ himself to many by suggesting that he was tired of getting beat by “checkbook” racers. Although it was flippant, and in the exasperating heat of a battle lost, I understood totally. I cannot say I am a huge fan of WJ but in the post Glidden era I have to say that he is the hardest working person in all of PS. I remember there were hours of whining from WJ haters following that statement. I tried to make folk understand to no avail.

“I thought his statement yesterday was a calmed-down version of the previous one, and I believe it was, ‘We beat the phone call tune-up teams,’ NOT singular, and not aimed at Greg. WJ knows full well the capabilities of Mr. Anderson. After all, he trained him, as you pointed out. (I’m not sure how long Greg was with WJ but I didn’t think it was ten years.) And, it sounds as if you missed the TV coverage of Anderson’s brand new shop, complete with engine-building, R&D, testing, fabricating facilities – everything but car construction I think.”

I wrote and sent this to Draglist in mid-May and three weeks later it is as outdated as if I showed up with twin-flatheads to run Top Fuel. In just two more races, the record is now a 6.67/207, Kurt Johnson and Greg Anderson are in a near dead heat for the NHRA points lead. It is hard to believe that gas-burning doorslammers can act like this but it is true. Englishtown had a corrected altitude of nearly a thousand feet below sea level several times during the record setting weekend. And, I just got word that three IHRA Pro Stockers dipped below 6.50 in Ontario this past weekend. Amazing! Congrats to Brian Gahm, Doug Kirk and Carl Baker!

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