Pomona: David Baca final summary

Mechanical Malfunction Haunts Baca in Opening Round at Winternationals

POMONA, Calif., Feb. 13, 2005 - David Baca would've preferred to have been in the Pomona Raceway pit area watching his Baca Motorsports Top Fuel team prepare his car for the second round of the Car Quest Winternationals Sunday afternoon instead of motoring up Interstate 10.

Baca was heading home to Brentwood, Calif., following a first-round loss to Doug Herbert in the season-opening NHRA POWERade Series event. His departure was hastened by a problem in the race car's clutch area. He wasn't able to give Herbert a run to the finish line because the clutch didn't work properly.

"We had a serious clutch problem during our last qualifying run Saturday and Larry (Meyer, team co-tuner) found the problem," Baca explained. "That concerned him because he didn't have a baseline to work from and had to make a guesstimate. About two seconds into the run - and with no advance warning to the driver - the tires shook. I pedaled (the throttle) once and the tires smoked, so I shut it off."

Meyer and Dennis Baca, David's father and the other co-tuner, will be taking a long look at the clutch area over the next week as they prepare the car for the Checkers Schucks and Kragen Nationals at Phoenix, Feb. 25-27.

Baca is tied for ninth place with 33 points and 22 races remaining on the docket.

-dsr-