Phoenix: Paul Romine preview

PHOENIX, AZ (Feb. 18, 2002) -- Paul Romine will begin his 2002 season, Feb. 22-24, at the NHRA Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals at Firebird International Raceway in Phoenix, AZ. The CARQUEST Auto Parts Top Fuel team will compete at eight NHRA national events in 2002.

"Our CARQUEST team cannot wait for Phoenix and get back to work after a long winter," said Romine, a three-time IHRA Top Fuel World Champion. "Mike (McLaughlin, crew chief) and the guys have been working hard on our 25-percent over tune-up and we tested last week at Speedworld north of Phoenix, showing a lot of promising results."

The CARQUEST Auto Parts team is owned by multi-time NHRA national event winner Doug Herbert. At Firebird, Romine will debut a new Mike Spitzer-build dragster that will be powered by his IHRA tune-up, which restricts the blower overdrive to 25-percent and 50 extra pounds of weight.

"The IHRA setup does handicap us against NHRA legal cars, but we've got a good tune-up," said Romine. "With Doug's crew helping us, we have a consistent combination that can be competitive anywhere and win rounds while helping Doug win the NHRA championship and us the IHRA title."

Top Fuel qualifying for the NHRA CSK Nationals begins Friday at 1 p.m. PT, followed by a second session at 4 p.m. Two qualifying sessions are scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., with eliminations set to begin Sunday at 11 a.m.

ESPN2 has extensive television coverage of the event beginning with two hours of qualifying coverage Saturday at 9 p.m. ET. NHRA 2Day is live from Phoenix Sunday morning at 11 a.m., followed by three hours of eliminations coverage at 7 p.m., with a repeat broadcast Feb. 26 at 3 a.m.

CARQUEST began in 1974 with 100 auto parts stores. Today there are nearly 4,000 CARQUEST Auto Parts Stores serving North America. CARQUEST supplies the professional automotive service repair industry with replacement parts, tools and equipment. CARQUEST auto parts are also available to motorists who choose to do their own repairs although due to the advanced technology in today's automotive vehicles, it is CARQUEST's recommendation that repairs be done by professional automotive service technicians. Any CARQUEST Auto Parts Store will be happy to recommend qualified repair centers. CARQUEST is committed to providing auto parts and services of the highest quality and greatest value to its customers.

-www.CARQUEST.com-