Houston: Joe Fuentes preview

BAYTOWN, Texas - Federal Mogul Dragster rookie Joe Fuentes will be looking for what last weekend's rain kept him from doing: scoring his first win. This weekend, he will get another shot during the. Matco Tools Fall SuperNationals presented by Racing Champions at Houston Raceway Park. During last weekend's O'Reilly Fall Nationals, heavy rains forced NHRA to postpone the event two weeks after just two qualifying sessions for the Federal Mogul Dragsters.

Fuentes, owner of J & D Electric in Austin, Texas, was able to make only one of those two runs due to ignition problems. Fuentes hopes to turn things for the better this weekend in Houston.

"Basically this weekend we are going to try to do what we wanted to in Dallas, but couldn't do because of the rain," said Fuentes. "We found some more weight to take off the car over the week. In total we took 48 pounds off the car, and that's without putting the beadlock wheels on it. We are a lot closer to our target weight now."

With tuning advice from veteran tuners Ora Vasquez and Tom Conway, Fuentes looks to make a strong showing this weekend.

"Ora is still feeling bad, so he will not be able to make it, but we will be in contact with him by phone," explained Fuentes. "Between him and Tom Conway helping us, we have been doing a lot better lately. We really need a good weekend for a boost, we have had a lot of bad breaks this year. We are going to get pretty serious about this next year, and we want to be ready."