Memphis: Gary Densham Friday summary

DENSHAM LOOKING TO BEAT THE COMPETITION IN THE HEAT

MEMPHIS (August 19, 2005) -- Gary Densham didn't have the results he was looking for Friday during the first round of qualifying at the 18th annual O'Reilly Mid-South NHRA Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park.

The good thing is that Densham and the Racebricks Chevy Monte Carlo team turned around the afternoon and moved up in the qualifying ladder with two sessions remaining before final eliminations start Sunday afternoon.

"The weekend sure got off to an interesting start," Densham said. "We broke an axle in the first round. It's just one of those rare things that just never happen but it did so we had to deal with it. The worse part was we didn't get any data out of the run but it was so hot it might not have mattered much."

Densham is in the No. 11 position after posting a 5.010-second pass at 285.83 mph.

"We felt like we needed to get down the track no matter what," Densham said. "We set it up for a mid-4.90 and it was dead-on that number but the tires spun a little more than I thought once we got on the asphalt and we ended up with a 5.01. We're pretty happy with that."

Pro qualifying continues at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Final eliminations start at 3 p.m. Sunday. Densham is hoping to repeat his 2001 victory here -- his first career win.

"When it's this hot it really levels out the playing field because the top guys can't go crazy and our all the horsepower in the world into their tune-ups," Densham said. "They have to finesse it down the track just like the rest of us so it makes it interesting."

ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will air all the racing this weekend. Qualifying can be seen at 8 p.m. (ET) on Saturday while the eliminations can be seen at 10 p.m. (ET) on Sunday. NHRA 2Day will start at 11:30 a.m. (ET) on Sunday.

-gs-