Indianapolis: Shelly Howard Thursday notes

CLERMONT, Ind. - The standard engine in an NHRA Federal Mogul Dragster is an eight cylinder, internal combustion engine, making roughly 3000 h.p. During today's first qualifying session of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Federal Mogul ...

CLERMONT, Ind. - The standard engine in an NHRA Federal Mogul Dragster is an eight cylinder, internal combustion engine, making roughly 3000 h.p. During today's first qualifying session of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Federal Mogul Dragster driver Shelly Howard's dragster broke a push rod in her burnout, which caused her to make her run by the power of only seven cylinders.

Needless to say, the Tulsa, Okla., resident ran well short of her potential with a run of only 5.777 seconds at 245.54 mph to place her ninth overall.

"We broke a push rod during the burnout," said Howard. "We made the run on only seven cylinders. We had an oiling problem in the motor, so that lead to the push rod breaking."

With two more qualifying sessions tomorrow, Howard plans to step up with the help of all eight cylinders and the tuning expertise of former Indy winner and World Champion Tom Conway.

"We ran a 5.77 today on only seven cylinders," stated Howard. "So, obviously we should step up with eight cylinders. That's the main thing we are worried about, getting everything fixed so we don't have this problem again."

Qualifying resumes tomorrow with sessions at 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Stay tuned to InsideFMRacing.com for the latest Federal Mogul news from Indy.