Seattle: Bob Vandergriff Jr final summary

Vandergriff comes up short in Seattle

KENT, Wash., (July 23, 2006)- Top Fuel pilot Bob Vandergriff Jr. was on his game during Sunday's elimination's at the Schuck's Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways. After qualifying in the No. 8 position with a 4.660 second blast on Friday, the UPS driver knew he had to be ready for first round opponent Tony Schumacher and Vandergriff delivered. The 11 season veteran from Alpharetta, Ga., slapped a holeshot on Schumacher with a .007 light, the best in the class for the weekend, but came up a bit short to the eventual winner Schumacher, posting a 4.714 to the Sarge's 4.599.

"We're certainly disappointed," said Vandergriff. "We are not happy with our performance. In the pursuit of a more consistent results, we are going to change to a car with less runs on it and hopefully, see improvement. The present car has not been reacting to changes that we have been making. We are producing plenty of power but need to add consistency to our program."

The team will spend the brief time in between Seattle and next weekend's FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Ca., assembling a new chassis.

"We need to regroup here at the halfway mark of the season," explains crew chief Jim Dupuy. "We need to see if the new chassis will react better to our tune-up. We are also going to go back to some basics in the tune-up department. We have a great team and really good driver that we want to get into the winner's circle. We are hoping that these changes will allow us to do just that."

Vandergriff leaves Seattle in the No. 14 position in the 2006 NHRA POWERade points chase.

-www.VandergriffMotorsports.com