Joliet: Bill Windham preview

Windham Hopes Continuing  Improvement,
Four Qualifying Runs Get Him into Route 66  Lineup

The weather gods seem to be preventing rookie Pro Stock driver Bill Windham from making four consecutive qualifying runs at NHRA POWERade Series events this season. The good news is he still has 15 more races remaining on the 2007 docket.

First up is the Torco Racing  Fuels Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in
Joliet, Ill., Friday through  Sunday.  And, if the forecast pans out, the
driver from El Dorado Hills,  Calif., just might get his wish.

"Our performance is getting better at each race and we are getting closer to qualifying, but I'd still like to make all four qualifying runs," said Windham, driver of the Big O Tire Chevy Cobalt. "Eddie Guarnaccia (team crew chief) has been making good calls on the chassis changes and they did a great job on the setup at Topeka last week, but we just needed another run to get in the show."

Windham joined  the tour at Houston, the fourth race of the year, and was
greeted with  rain.  The wet followed him around, taking away one session at
Atlanta, two  at St. Louis and one at Topeka.  But the Pro Stock contingent had to
fight  an extremely finicky racing surface during qualifying at Topeka, where
Windham's  6.792-second run was just two-hundredths of a second off the  mark.

"I feel very comfortable in the car now, but I can always use more laps," Windham said. "I've had just a minimal amount of time in the car compared to the other drivers. We're going to get to start a race soon. I know the car is capable.

"We are going to Route 66 Raceway with a  full head of steam.  The four weeks
we were off affected me.  That's  was too long a layoff."  Postponement of a
race at Bristol, Tenn., from May  18 to July 8 caused the long gap between
events at St. Louis at  Topeka.

There soon won't be any down time in the schedule because a  stretch of six
races in succession begins June 24 in Englishtown, N.J.   Then come stops at
Norwalk, Ohio, Bristol, Denver, Seattle and Sonoma,  Calif.

-bw/jls