Englishtown: David Baca preview

For David Baca the plan is simple: One mile on Sunday

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. -- For Top Fuel driver David Baca, from Brentwood, Calif., driver of the Henkelman & Baca Motorsports American Racing/Waterloo Tool Storage/YP.net dragster, the plan for this weekend's 34th annual K&N Filters SuperNationals presented by Pep Boys is simple according to Baca's son, David, Jr.: Go one mile on Sunday.

"When I talked to my son, he said, 'Hey dad it's easy, you got to go a mile on Sunday,'" said Baca, who has reached the semifinals three times in seven events this year. "He's right. We need to work on going to the final round to put ourselves in a position to win one of these things. That will be our goal in Englishtown."

Baca's most recent semifinal appearance came at the just completed NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga., where he qualified third. The race results gave the American Racing/Waterloo Tool Storage/YP.net team confidence as they prepared for qualifying at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.

"This old hot can run with the best of them. We've always known that. On Saturday at Atlanta things came around very nicely and we qualified third. That does a lot for team morale. When you're in the top five in qualifying, you have a lot more confidence.

"We're pretty excited about our chances in Englishtown. The whole team seems to be on the same page. Everybody's focused. That helps to keep our performance level high which attracts looks from corporate America.

"We're extremely happy with the support we've received this year from American Racing, Waterloo, YP.net, Skill Clean and the remainder of our associate sponsors but what this program lacks is the type of mega-dollars it takes to compete with the beer cars and the other major players out here. If someone out there is looking to come into our sport, I hope you will consider our team," concluded Baca.

Qualifying for the Henkelman & Baca Motorsports Top Fuel dragster begins Friday with two sessions, one at 4:30 p.m. and another at 7:30 p.m. Qualifying concludes on Saturday with two sessions at 1:30 p.m. and 4:05 p.m. Final eliminations for all classes get underway at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

-h&bm-