Shelly Howard Friday notes

CLERMONT, Ind. - They say the best comes to those who wait. That may have been the case today for NHRA Federal Mogul Dragster driver Shelly Howard. After a long day full of delays due to the torrential downpours Indianapolis Raceway Park received overnight, Howard improved her qualifying time nearly three-tenths of a second to move up to the No. 3 spot after two rounds of qualifying at this weekend's Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

Howard, from Tulsa, Okla., ran an elapsed time of 5.495 seconds at 256.02 mph in her Tom Conway tuned Blown Alcohol Dragster. The run was in stark contrast to her first run yesterday, where engine problems slowed her to a 5.77.

"The car didn't leave real well," said Howard.  "It didn't shake, and ran
pretty good going down the track.  It should have ran a little bit better,
and we possibly may tomorrow.  We usually have tireshake, and that effects
your e.t.  Today we didn't have any, and it ran better.  It was quite a step
up from what we ran yesterday.  We're real happy with it."

-SHR