Englishtown: Gary Densham final summary

Densham denied second-round match

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 24) - There are no second chances in NHRA Funny Car Drag Racing and driver Gary Densham knows it all too well. Tire shake and smoke kept him from advancing to the second round of eliminations at the 38th annual ProCare Rx NHRA SuperNationals.

As the 16th qualifier, Densham's Torco Racing Fuels/Racebricks Collectibles Chevrolet was pitted against Tommy Johnson Jr., who not only qualified first but did so with a low e.t. track-record of 4.729-seconds.

"We knew we had our work cut out for us," Densham said. "When you go up against a team that sets low e.t., it makes you push the envelope harder and run the risk of losing traction. That's exactly what we did today."

Densham's pass of 8.443-seconds at 97.53-mph was no match to Johnson's winning 5.156-second quarter-mile dash at 270.59-mph.

"Evan Knoll and the great folks at Torco Racing Fuels have been so patient with us and Marty Yacoobian and the staff at Racebricks Collectables couldn't be more supportive," Densham said. "We're hoping that the second-half of the season will be better for us than the first.

"We had a great qualifying run going Friday night but I couldn't keep the car from crossing the center line at the quarter-mile stripe. We took out the timing block in the process and that disqualified, what I felt would have been, our best pass of the weekend."

Densham ultimately made the show with a fourth-round qualifying pass of 4.938-seconds at 304.32-mph.

-credit: dr