Baytown: David Baca Saturday summary

Baca looks to eliminations after qualifying No. 15 BAYTOWN, Texas (April 17, 2004) -- The American Racing team never got a handle on the newly resurfaced Houston Raceway Park track during qualifying for the NHRA O'Reilly Spring Nationals. David ...

Baca looks to eliminations after qualifying No. 15

BAYTOWN, Texas (April 17, 2004) -- The American Racing team never got a handle on the newly resurfaced Houston Raceway Park track during qualifying for the NHRA O'Reilly Spring Nationals. David Baca, from Brentwood, Calif., finished in the No. 15 position.

In the cool of yesterday's evening session, Baca ran a 4.704-second pass at 307.72 mph, which held throughout the remainder of qualifying.

"We ran okay when it was cool," said Rick Henkelman, partner with Baca in Henkelman & Baca Motorsports, "but when it heated up we experienced traction problems. They just laid a new track surface here and that's got a whole lot of racers and crew chiefs scratching their heads. It looks like it will be a race or two before this track comes in. Sun's hot and the track is slick, not a good mix."

Baca now looks to eliminations as he faces No. 2 qualifier Doug Kalitta in tomorrow's opening round. Kalitta qualified with a pass of 4.533 seconds at 322.81.