NHRA

Pomona II: Dave Connolly final summary

Connolly Loses to Rickie Smith in Battle of SKULL GEAR Teams POMONA, Calif., Nov. 6, 2005 -- Somehow, Dave Connolly's first-round Pro Stock loss to Rickie Smith in the Auto Club Finals at Pomona Raceway put a fitting farewell to a somewhat strange ...

Published: Nov 8, 2005, 6:33 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Connolly Loses to Rickie Smith in Battle of SKULL GEAR Teams

POMONA, Calif., Nov. 6, 2005 -- Somehow, Dave Connolly's first-round Pro Stock loss to Rickie Smith in the Auto Club Finals at Pomona Raceway put a fitting farewell to a somewhat strange 2005 POWERade Series season in a battle of SKULL GEAR-sponsored Chevrolet Cobalts.

Connolly, who won many rounds with his quick reaction times, received of bit of his own medicine from Smith, a winner with a time of 6.767 seconds at 204.05 mph. Connelly crossed the finish line in 6.755 at 204.51 mph. Smith used a .013-second reaction to Connolly's .059 to advance to the second round.

"I just messed up," said a dejected Connolly. "We're going to put this season behind us, take some time off and then begin getting ready for 2006."

The new year should be much better than the old one. On the plus side, Evan Knoll purchased the team after it was folded at mid-season and kept all the members; Connolly won twice (Pomona in February and Las Vegas in April); led the series several times; won $50,000 in the King Demon special event; and finished fifth with 1294 points.

On the opposite side, the team's future was in doubt B.K. (before Knoll), and they struggled in the last half of the season when the new Cobalt's performance waned.

Crew chief Terry Adams, like Connolly, was more than happy to bid adieu to the season, but he doesn't plan to wait long before launching into 2006 racing mode.

"In the last couple races we were able to finally find and fix some things on the car," Adams said. "We're going to start working on next year next week. I plan to run the wheels off the car this winter.

"Better things are ahead . . . and all of us on this team want to thank Evan Knoll for believing in us and sticking with us. We are looking forward to 2006."

The Winternationals open the new campaign at Pomona, Feb. 9-12.

-dcr-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Pomona II: Cruz Pedregon final summary

Next article Pomona II: Doug Herbert final summary

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 51 min

Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda

Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign

Indy NXT

IndL Indy NXT 2 h

Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign

GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance

WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 2 h

GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen

13 Autosport retains unchanged lineup for 2027 IMSA campaign, eyes global expansion

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 3 h

13 Autosport retains unchanged lineup for 2027 IMSA campaign, eyes global expansion

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts