NHRA

Houston: Joe Fuentes wrap up

BAYTOWN, Texas - Federal Mogul Dragster rookie Joe Fuentes ran a career best elapsed time of a 5.510 at 252.80 miles per hour to almost upset No. 1 qualifier Jay Meyer in the first round of this past weekend's Matco Tools SuperNationals presented ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

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BAYTOWN, Texas - Federal Mogul Dragster rookie Joe Fuentes ran a career best elapsed time of a 5.510 at 252.80 miles per hour to almost upset No. 1 qualifier Jay Meyer in the first round of this past weekend's Matco Tools SuperNationals presented by Racing Champions at Houston Raceway Park. Meyer took the win by virtue of a quicker reaction time coupled with a 5.548 at 250.23 mph.

The Austin, Texas based driver experienced problems in the first two qualifying sessions and was only able to muster a 6.78 at 178 mph that put him as the No. 2 alternate. In the final qualifying session, Fuentes' brakes did not hold on the starting line, and he did not get a time recorded, eventhough he was side-by-side with Troy Buff's 5.55 in the next lane. Luckily for Fuentes, No. 16 qualifier Sergio Recio hurt a motor in qualifying and was unable to return, and Fuentes was able to take his spot.

Fuentes said, "I was just happy we got a chance to race.  I really didn't 
think I had a shot at beating Meyer, so I didn't try to cut a light.  I guess 
I learned my lesson there.  It was far from a perfect run.  I had to pedal it 
in high gear because it was out of shape, and I clicked it off early.  Our 
tuning consultant Ora Vasquez really has us moving in the right  direction."

Given his new found performance, Fuentes looks forward to next weekend where he will return to the Texas Motorplex for the resumption of the O'Reilly Nationals that was postponed two weeks ago due to rain. Fuentes is scheduled to run No. 3 qualifier Brandon Henkelman.

"We finally got the car to run like it should," said Fuentes. "We really needed to run like we did this weekend, and now we have some momentum heading into next week. We are really looking forward to it."

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