Gainesville: Steve Vick Friday report

Gainesville, FL - In a disappointing turnaround from a stellar pre-season performance, Mocksville, North Carolina driver Steve Vick failed to qualify his 1968 Camaro for the 8-car Pro Modified exhibition field at the 32nd Annual Mac Tools Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida after the first day of qualifications.

Vick, who set an unofficial new nitrous-injected mark of 6.249 during testing at Darlington International Dragway in February, couldn't manage a full pass at Gainesville Raceway, in spite of generally good racing conditions.

The event, the first of five Pro Mod exhibition races being held at NHRA national events this season, is one that each of the 16 drivers in attendance was anxious to show well at. But with only eight cars going on to the next round, there were bound to be some disappointments, as Vick now knows all too well.

"We had it set up for a 6.24 pass in the second round, "said Vick, "but it shook bad in second gear. We had less clutch in it than we had when we made the record pass in Darlington, so we don't have a clue to what the problem was. All we can do now is take the car home and see if we can get a handle on things before the IHRA opener at the end of the month."

-HC