Reading: Doug Herbert preview

Herbert Hopes to Repeat in Reading

This weekend, Aug. 14-17, Doug Herbert and the Snap-on team will travel to Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pa., for the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals. Herbert is the defending event champion at Reading where last year he secured a spot in the Countdown to the Championship by earning another Wally for his collection.

In last year's event Herbert qualified No. 14, but steadily won match-ups against higher-qualified cars as the race progressed beyond the weekend and into the week. Since weather conditions were postponing on-track activity, Herbert and the Snap-on team were forced to wait until Wednesday to finally claim their victory, by defeating Rod Fuller in the final round of eliminations.

In addition to the Toyo Tires Nationals, Herbert will also play in the NHRA Softball Classic this weekend as a member of the Scelzi's Superchargers. At the event he will also be promoting his charity, B.R.A.K.E.S.

Quotes from Herbert:

"This softball game in Reading is going to be really fun," said Herbert. "The Scelzi's Superchargers are pretty amped about it. We didn't do so well in the practice at Brainerd so hopefully everyone will hit the batting cages this week and we'll show Antron's team up."

"Last year at Reading our backs were against the wall," said Herbert. "We knew going into the weekend that the only way we could get into the top-eight for the countdown to the championship was to win Reading. This Snap-on team seems to do really well when we're under pressure, so it worked for us."

"Going back to a track where you had a lot of success the year before is always good. It helps with team moral and momentum so I think we're looking pretty good this year. I'm just hoping we don't have to wait until Wednesday again to get the job done," laughed Herbert.

-credit: dhr