Richmond: Doug Herbert Saturday notes

Herbert Takes Third in Richmond with His Quickest 1,000-foot Run

Herbert will start third in Sunday's eliminations at the Virginia NHRA Nationals from the Virginia Motorsports Park. The SnaponFranchise.com dragster made its quickest pass since the NHRA shortened racing for Nitro cars to 1,000 feet.

After the first two sessions on Friday the Snap-on team was qualified ninth, but moved up to third with an excellent pass on Saturday. The 3.814 E.T. was the quick of the session and the seventh quickest ever made during the 1,000-foot era.

With the help of Business Manager Dwayne Hawthorne, Snap-on had over 400 guests at the track on Saturday to witness the pass. "We had a great turnout this year," said Hawthorne. "Having these Snap-on customers out to the track is nice because it's something they couldn't normally do. They get to interact with the drivers and see Snap-on tools being used in the pit. It's a great relationship builder."

This is the fourteenth time this season that the SnaponFranchise.com dragster has qualified in the top half of the field. At Virginia Motorsports Park last year Herbert qualified eighth and went to the semifinals but lost to Melanie Troxel.

In the first round of eliminations on Sunday the Snap-on team will face No. 14 qualifier Tim Boychuk, who is making only his third start this season.

"Wow, the car was really moving," said Herbert. "That was an awesome run, especially for the time of day because we should have similar conditions tomorrow. We'll plan on laying down another run just like that tomorrow."

-credit: dhr