Gainesville: Gary Densham final summary

Densham squad making strides after lessons at Gatornationals

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Gary Densham has walked away from the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway with a trophy in the past. That was in 2003 with an experienced crew and crew chief.

This year, however, Densham has a new crew, car and tuner. This year, Densham and the Racebricks Chevy Monte Carlo didn't make the field for Sunday's eliminations.

"When I went to work for John Force Racing and we had Jimmy Prock as the crew chief, it still took us about eight months to get that car running consistently quick," Densham said. "There are so many ways to mess up a run and there are very few ways to make the car go down the track. We're a new team and with that comes a learning process. It takes time. I think (crew chief) Greg Amaral and the entire team are doing their best and that's a great thing."

The Bellflower, Calif., resident said he was still impressed with the way the team was working together over the weekend during the Gatornationals. The team produced weekend best numbers of 5.191 seconds at 283.46 mph. It was the first time the team put together its warm-weather setup.

"We didn't get to race on Sunday but I was amazed at the way the team was working together between qualifying rounds," Densham said. "We worked well in a specific time frame and we are starting to talk and teach less and work more. We just have to keep a positive attitude and get ready for Houston.

"We also gathered a little data about the hot race tracks. We didn't get to test during the offseason, so we're a little behind on having data for this car. But we got some numbers this weekend and we'll work from those."

The next NHRA POWERade drag racing event is the O'Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park, April 8-10. Densham said he expects better results in Houston.

"Are we ready to go out and whip the big multi-car teams in two weeks? Probably not," Densham said. "But I think we have what it takes to run with them and we'll see what happens.

"We made about 10,000 stupid mistakes in Gainesville. I should have put on a new blower belt one pass, we should have done something else on the other. We made a lot of stupid mistakes. But the experience we gain as a team will help us cut out the little mistakes and that will make a big difference on the track."