Drag
San Antonio: Round one preview
ADDICTED TO NITRO: RACER LAGANA JR. HOPES TO CONTINUE 2006 SUCCESS THIS WEEKEND IN SAN ANTONIO NORWALK, Ohio (March 19, 2007) -- After years of struggling in the Knoll Gas -- Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Top Fuel ranks, 29-year-old Bobby Lagana ...
Edited: Mar 20, 2007, 5:25 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
ADDICTED TO NITRO: RACER LAGANA JR. HOPES TO CONTINUE 2006 SUCCESS THIS WEEKEND IN SAN ANTONIO
NORWALK, Ohio (March 19, 2007) -- After years of struggling in the Knoll Gas -- Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Top Fuel ranks, 29-year-old Bobby Lagana Jr. maintains the same pre-season mentality as any year prior to this weekend's Nitro Jam season kick-off in San Antonio, Texas. (Buy tickets at Ticketmaster: www.ticketmaster.com/artist/959593.) The event, the Amalie Oil Texas Nationals presented by NAPA AUTO PARTS, is scheduled for March 23 -- 25 at San Antonio Raceway.
"A lot of people don't realize how important it is to not set your expectations too high. We just go out there with the goal of having fun," said Lagana Jr., who calls Scarsdale, N.Y. home. "We want to put ourselves in a position to qualify, but I hear people get there Thursday and say 'I'm going to win the race.' It's dangerous to be too confident. The last thing you want to do is leave a race disappointed.
"This sport is all about overachieving. We are the classic example of that, competing with guys with ten times more money. Our ability to do that all comes from my dad, he taught us how to race, taught us how to run this thing from every single bolt."
And Lagana Jr. did just that last season, claiming the first two wins of his career, an achievement he's been pursuing his entire adult life. The first win came against IHRA's defending world champion Clay Millican at Grand Bend, Ontario. His second win, coming in Epping, N.H., was just icing on the cake.
The team has stepped things up this year. With the money Lagana Jr. earned for finishing third in the 2006 point standings, the team upgraded to a newer, nicer hauler.
"We do have some help this year from Skull Shine -- Torco. And with our third place money last year, bought a bigger truck and trailer. But we'll still need to qualify every time, that's what keeps us going from race-to-race.
"I think this is going to be the most competitive year with IHRA ever," said Lagana Jr. "There are just so many good cars, drivers, crew chiefs, teams...it's going to be a dog-fight all year. It will be so easy with all the competition this year to all of a sudden find yourself not qualified for a race.
"As usual, Jay's (Lewis, crew chief) got the car looking good this year," added Lagana. "How can I complain, I have the 'crew chief of the year.'"
Other drivers competing at this weekend's Texas Nationals include:
-Cruz Pedregon, Bob Gilbertson, Del Worsham, Gary Densham and Dale Creasy Jr. in Knoll Gas -- Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Funny Car
-Scotty Cannon, Doug Foley, Bruce Litton, Scott Weis, Terry McMillen and TJ Zizzo in Knoll Gas -- Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Top Fuel
-Quain Stott, Danny Rowe, Mike Janis, Glen Kerunsky and Matt Hagan in Torco's CompetitionPlus.com Pro Modified
-Mark Thomas, Rob Atchison and Terry McMillen in Alcohol Funny Car
-Pete Berner, Frank Gugliotta, Robert Patrick and Rob Mansfield in Torco's CompetitionPlus.com Pro Stock
***
Saturday HOLT CAT "Night of Fire"
The HOLT CAT "Night of Fire," which occurs Saturday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m. during the Texas Nationals, features the final round of professional qualifying under the lights -- including two flame-burning Nitro-fueled classes -- and the ground-pounding Bob Motz jet-powered Kenworth truck.
Providing San Antonio fans even more value when attending the Texas Nationals, NAPA AUTO PARTS is offering a Nitro Fast Pass coupon available at participating stores. Redeemable at the San Antonio Raceway ticket office and all Ticketmaster locations, the coupon grants $15 off a Friday or Sunday adult general admission ticket, plus a free kids ticket.
-credit: ihra
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Spanish GP: Pramac D'Antin preview
Next article Lakeland: Bryan Silas preview
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Matt Hagan
Hagan, Torrence, McGaha emerge victorious at Epping
NHRA
NHRA
New England
Hagan, Torrence, McGaha emerge victorious at Epping
Hagan, Brown, Enders lead first day of NHRA Spring Training
NHRA
NHRA
Hagan, Brown, Enders lead first day of NHRA Spring Training
Beckman wins Funny Car Traxxas Nitro Shootout
NHRA
NHRA
Indianapolis
Beckman wins Funny Car Traxxas Nitro Shootout
Latest news
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
11 min
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
43 min
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
57 min
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe