NHRA
Reading Team Pennzoil Friday Notes
READING, PA (Sept. 17) -- Day one of qualifying at the 13th Annual True Value Keystone Nationals in Reading, PA was successful for Bruce Allen and The Outlaw Fuel Additives Pontiac Firebird. After shaking the tires and clicking it off in the first ...
Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM
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READING, PA (Sept. 17) -- Day one of qualifying at the 13th Annual True Value Keystone Nationals in Reading, PA was successful for Bruce Allen and The Outlaw Fuel Additives Pontiac Firebird. After shaking the tires and clicking it off in the first round, Allen and Crew Chief David Reher returned to the pits and changed a few things in the set-up. Apparently the changes they made were successful. In Round 2 of qualifying Allen ran a 6.908 / 197.93 mph to place him solidly in the field in the number 5 spot.
David Reher: "On our first pass we had too much tire speed and broke the tires loose. We went back and changed the clutch and transmission ratio to try and get rid of the tire shake. It worked. We are real happy with the run, but the car was pretty sloppy on the top end. We have a lot of room for improvement. Our plan for the morning will be to make a few changes in the car to clean up the run. If we can do that we will be able to go faster, and possibly improve."
The cool weather conditions and a excellent track surface, as advertised, has produced one of the quickest and fastest fields of the year. With 35 entrants and the bump at 6.972, being safely in the field is a good feeling for Allen and crew.
"Being solid in the show gives us the advantage of trying to improve on ourselves, instead of trying to beat the rest of the field to just get qualified," said Reher.
Mike Thomas, driver of the Pennzoil Pontiac Firebird, was not as successful today. After sustaining a crash in qualifying at the U.S. Nationals the damaged car was taken to the shop of car builder Jerry Haas, to have the front and rear right quarter panels replaced. The repaired car was picked up a few days before coming here to Reading. In both Round 1 and Round 2 today, Thomas shook the tires and had to click the car off.
"The car is not quite right yet," said Thomas. "Jerry Haas did a good job fixing the damage, but we still have to make adjustments to get the set-up back to where it was. Because of the rain we could not work the car yesterday, and there was no time to test before coming here. We are going to work on the set-up tonight. Hopefully, we can get it close enough to make a good run tomorrow morning and get in the field."
Qualifying continues tomorrow, Saturday Sept. 18, with Rounds 3 and 4. Eliminations start at 11:00 AM EST on Sunday Sept. 19.
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