NHRA

Joliet: Marc White preview

White hoping to take momentum into hometown event. JOLIET, Ill. - After posting a runner-up finish at last weekend's Division 4 event in Dallas, Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Marc White and the Etterman Racing team are excited about this weekend's ...

Published: Apr 25, 2002, 10:19 PM

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White hoping to take momentum into hometown event.

JOLIET, Ill. - After posting a runner-up finish at last weekend's Division 4 event in Dallas, Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Marc White and the Etterman Racing team are excited about this weekend's NHRA Division 3 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series opener at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. In addition to wanting to win on the track, White also hopes to put up a strong showing at his hometown track.

White, from just a few miles down the road in Glendale Heights, Ill., and the Etterman Racing team regained the performance that carried them to a No. 7 finish nationally last year in Dallas. The team qualified No. 2 with a 5.861 second elapsed time at 247.18 mph, and then took out Burl Brown with a 5.816 at 245.16 mph, and Todd Simpson with a 5.836 at 246.10 mph to advance to the final. White's final round opponent Tate Branch took a slight starting line advantage and held on to win with a 5.882 at 248.13 mph to White's hard-charging 5.863 at 247.18 mph.

"The weekend started out the way the rest of the year had been going," said White. "We were hurting the motor every qualifying run. We stayed up real late Saturday night, and got there real early Sunday morning, and finally found the problem that has been tearing things up. So we were finally able to start racing the car. After that, things started to come around. We made some changes, and it showed promise. The motor stayed together without getting hurt, so that was really good, because that was starting to become a problem."

With the problems that plagued him early this season behind him now, and the momentum of a strong outing in Dallas, White is fired up as ever going into this weekend's event.

"As far as we are concerned, the first round of the Dallas race was really the first run of the year, the way we are looking at it," stated White. "Everything we did before that has been horrible. We got back into the finals, which is where we feel we need to be, and going into Joliet this weekend, hopefully we can keep things going and get back to the finals. Hopefully we'll win this one."

With cool weather conditions forecasted, and Route 66's reputation as having one of the best racing surfaces in the country, White feels it will take 5.6 second times to win.

"It could very well be a 5.60 race this weekend," White commented. "It's been kind of cool up here, with the temperatures in the 60's, so if it's like that this weekend, the potential is definitely there to run 5.60's. We've done it there before, so hopefully we can do it there again."

Qualifying begins at 4 p.m. Friday for the Top Alcohol Funny Cars, with two more sessions on Saturday. Final eliminations will conclude the event on Sunday. Stay tuned to InsideTopAlcohol.com for the latest news in alcohol racing.

For more information on the team, visit their website at EttermanRacing.com.

-er-

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