Gateway: Herbert out in opening round

Snap-On Racing:

Tire Smoke, Grubnic Sideline Herbert At St. Louis

MADISON, Ill., June 24, 2001 - Doug Herbert's Snap-on Racing Top Fuel dragster lost traction in the first round of the Sears Craftsman Nationals Sunday and he was defeated by David Grubnic at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis.

"Just about the time you think you have the tune-up figured out, you don't have it figured out at all," was the Cherryville, N.C. driver's assessment as he prepared to return to North Carolina. "It's really disgusting, especially with the way we've been going. We've been learning how to tune the car on slippery tracks, but we had trouble here."

Although the weekend began with unusually cool conditions around the St. Louis area, the temperature warmed up on race day and the racing surface turned tricky.

Herbert left the starting line nine-thousandths of a second before Grubnic, but the Snap-on dragster's tires began spinning early and Herbert was timed in 5.401 seconds at 198.09 mph to Grubnic's 4.799 at 306.40.

Herbert remains eighth in Winston Series standings with 567 points.

The team has a week off before beginning the schedule's Western swing, with the first stop at Pomona, Calif., July 5-7, for the NHRA's 50th Anniversary Nationals. That event is followed by races at Denver, Seattle and Sonoma, Calif., on successive weekends.

Qualified: No. 11, 4.722 at seconds at 297.68 mph.

First round: David Grubnic def. Herbert

Race winners: Doug Kalitta, Top Fuel; Tony Pedregon, Funny Car; Warren Johnson, Pro Stock.

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