Gainesville: David Baca Saturday summary

David Baca's 4.669-second Run Puts Him 12th Going into Gatornationals Eliminations

David Baca saved his best qualifying run for last at Gainesville Raceway Saturday, but it wasn't quite as quick as he and his Baca Motorsports Top Fuel team preferred. He'll start eliminations from 12th position Sunday and race Larry Dixon.

Unusually cold conditions during Friday qualifying hampered co-tuners Dennis Baca (David's father) and Larry Meyer. Baca did get down the track in 4.805 seconds, 222.05 mph on his second run of the day as the temperature began to drop.

"That Friday night run was very promising," said David Baca, as he, his father and Meyer went over tuning notes from past runs. "We knew what we had to do Saturday and went in that direction with the tune-up, but the car didn't run like we thought it would."

The result was a 4.669-second, 322.92-mph performance.

"We'll put things together and come up with a game plan for tomorrow . . . and see what happens," Baca added.

This is the third of 23 NHRA POWERade Series events and the first in which Baca will not start in the top half of the 16-car field. He was eighth at Pomona, Calif. and Phoenix.

"Maybe this will be a good omen," Baca concluded.  "We lost both races in
the first round.  Now we want to win some rounds."

-bms-