Norwalk: Dave Connolly final report

DAVE CONNOLLY SCORES HOMETOWN PRO STOCK VICTORY IN SUMMIT NATIONALS

Dave  Connolly turned his return to his hometown area into a large victory
celebration  Sunday when he captured the first Summit Racing Equipment Nationals
Pro Stock  title at Summit Motorsports Park.

Connolly, a native of Elyria,  Ohio, who grew up watching races and racing at
the former Norwalk Raceway Park  some 30 miles from his home, drove Evan Knoll
's Torco Racing Fuels Chevy Cobalt  to his second win of the season and 11th
of his career just like he owned the  track.

He qualified fourth but set the tone for eliminations  by running the weekend'
s quickest elapsed time, 4.628 seconds at 207.59 mph, in  defeating Warren
Johnson in the first round. Connolly, 24, went on to beat Greg  Stanfield (6.651
at 207.24 to 6.709 at 205.16), and his Victor Cagnazzi teammate  Jeg Coughlin
in the semifinals (6.684 at 207.05 to 11.344 at 72.42) before  stopping
fellow Ohioan Larry Morgan in the title round (6.660 at 207.11 to 6.718  at 205.54).

"It was a tough win all the way around and well deserved for (crew chief) Tommy Utt," said Connolly. "He's given me a great race car for months now and we finally took advantage of it. At the last few races we always seemed to have electrical problems but we always seemed to get them fixed before first round.

"Winning here definitely means a lot to me. I had cousins, grand parents, a lot of friends and family come out to watch me. That was probably the biggest winner's circle picture I've had taken. I think they had to get the wide-angle lens out for it.

"I don't think I missed a week not coming to this track from the  time I was
10 until I was 17, so to come back and go out and perform like we did  and
win the race is just icing on the cake.  It was a picture-perfect  weekend."

With the win, Connolly solidified his hold on third place  in NHRA POWERade
Series points. He has 775, three rounds (60 points) behind  Coughlin with 12 of
17 races in the Countdown to Eight portion of the  championship chase.

The 13th event begins Friday at Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway, the third of six straight races.

-credit: dcr