Bristol: Alan Pittman final report

Bristol, TN - Bristol Dragway, more popularly known as Thunder Valley, lies in the shadow of northeast Tennessee's scenic Rattlesnake Mountain. But Alan Pittman, who hails from South Carolina, a state renowned for having some impressive peaks of its own, thinks a more appropriate name might be "rattle-shake" mountain, after his early exit from Pro Modified eliminations on Sunday.

Pittman, who qualified first for the second straight NHRA Pro Mod exhibition event this season, with a mark of 6.300/221.92, was anxious to get into head-to-head mode after last month's finals at Gainesville were washed out. Unfortunately, the long-anticipated skirmish was short-lived, as Pittman's Westbrook Motorsports '41 Willys, after leaving the line hard in round one, was immediately beset by severe tire shake. All Pittman could do was shut everything down in an attempt to keep parts destruction to a minimum.

A post-race inspection revealed a broken transmission, which may have been the cause of the problem, or have been caused by the intense vibrations set up when the tires shook so viciously on the launch. In any case, Pittman and his team will now set their sights on the 21st Annual Advance Auto Parts NHRA Southern Nationals, and round three of the five-race Pro Mod series, next week at Atlanta Dragway.

"We hate to go out like this," Pittman said, "but we feel pretty good about our efforts in the NHRA exhibition deal so far this year. The conditions were tricky here this weekend, and I give my guys credit for getting a handle on things as well as they did.

"Qualifying on top again was great," he continued. It's something we're real proud of. Now we want to get a few elimination rounds under our belts, too. We don't have to wait very long for our next chance, because in just a few days we're due to get after it again in Atlanta. Fortunately, we're in our own back yard, so to speak, so we'll be able to go back to the shop and give the car a good going-over. After that, we'll be heading to Georgia with winning on our minds."

-PR