NHRA
Denver Richie Stevens Round 1 Report
'Kid' slides into field in Round 1 DENVER (July 16) -- Friday's opening round of professional qualifying for the 21st Annual Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway followed the exact same pattern as many of the National Hot ...
Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
'Kid' slides into field in Round 1
DENVER (July 16) -- Friday's opening round of professional qualifying for the 21st Annual Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway followed the exact same pattern as many of the National Hot Rod Association races this year -- it was delayed several times by rain.
When the rain finally relented four hours later, the driver's of the Pro Stock class did manage to slip and slide through the opening round with mixed results. On the positive side, the cooler temperatures allowed both ends of the track record to be reset. At the same time, many of the cars that ran early in the session could not complete their runs under power due to the dubious track conditions.
Richie "The Kid" Stevens, the driver of the Valspar Refinish Pro Stock Pontiac Firebird, split the two extremes and recorded a safe pass of 7.465 seconds at 184.35 mph. The run was neither spectacular nor uninspired, but it was good enough to place the 20-year-old Stevens in the No. 10 spot on the qualifying ladder.
"That's not a bad start, all things considered," said Stevens, the youngest professional driver competing at this event. "I'm glad we ran well enough to earn a spot in the field because if it's hot tomorrow, then we might have just set the field for the whole weekend right there. At least we got all the way down the track and we were able to get a lot of data that will help us set-up the car properly.
"It's unfortunate that we were up near the front of the session because the track appeared to get better and better as the round went along. I don't think there was much rubber when we ran and the track definitely wasn't holding any heat.
"I don't know if it was cold or a little wet out there, but I did get loose right when I shifted into fifth gear. The car moved a bit. It wasn't a lot but it was definitely enough to get my attention. Fortunately, the car came right back to me so I was able to drive her out the back end and set a pretty decent time."
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 JRCS: Race Results 1999-07-12
Next article BUSCH: Myrtle Beach Starting Lineup
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
Latest news
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
8 min
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 18 min
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
31 min
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
Ex-DTM champion Guven fails to clear Formula E license hurdle: What is Porsche doing?
DTM
DTM DTM 37 min
Ex-DTM champion Guven fails to clear Formula E license hurdle: What is Porsche doing?
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