Commerce: David Baca preview

David Baca hopes for "redemption" at Atlanta Dragway.

COMMERCE, Ga. -- The key word for rookie Top Fuel driver David Baca, from Brentwood, Calif., driver of the Henkelman & Baca Motorsports American Racing/Waterloo Tool Storage dragster, is "redemption" at this weekend's 23rd annual NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Unhappy with his performance at last weekend's Mac Tools Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway is glad that there is only a short time between last week's race and this week's events.

"Crew chief Johnny West gave me a great race car last weekend, I lost focus. Car one, driver zero," said Baca, who resides in Brentwood, Calif.

"This weekend the key word is 'redemption.'  Fortunately, I don't have to
wait two weeks to try and redeem myself.  We've got a pretty good hot rod
here and a great bunch of guys.  I don't want to let those guys down
again.  I'm hard enough on myself.  No one needs to tell me I made a
rookie mistake.  The thing for me now is to learn from that mistake.

"I'm excited about going to Georgia. I'm in the flooring business and a lot of my carpet suppliers are based in and around Dalton, Ga. We're hoping to get a large number of those executive out to Commerce (Ga.) and give then a taste of NHRA POWERade Drag Racing and entice them to bring some of their dollars and invest in our team, a team for the future. Atlanta Dragway is an awesome track and it would do justice to the word 'redemption' if we could set some noticeable performance numbers," concluded Baca.

Thus far this season, Baca has qualified for all six NHRA events. He established a career best when he qualified third at the SummitRacing.com Nationals. Reaching the semifinals at Gainesville and Las Vegas, Baca is currently eighth in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel point standings.

-h&bm-