Sonoma: Bob Vandergriff Jr preview

Vandergriff looks to shake things up in Sonoma SONOMA, Calif., (July 27, 2006)- The beautiful, rolling auburn hills of the Napa Valley wine region will be shaken this weekend as the third race of the famed "Western Swing" comes to Infineon Raceway ...

Vandergriff looks to shake things up in Sonoma

SONOMA, Calif., (July 27, 2006)- The beautiful, rolling auburn hills of the Napa Valley wine region will be shaken this weekend as the third race of the famed "Western Swing" comes to Infineon Raceway for the FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals. Bob Vandergriff Jr. hopes to be shaking up the Top Fuel field with his UPS dragster during this visit. The UPS team, led by crew chief Jim Dupuy just finished assembling a new chassis in hope that this will bring back the consistency that Vandergriff needs to be competitive as the 2006 NHRA POWERade season begins to race to a finish. Dupuy has had the car running strong, placing it in the top half of the qualifying field in the last three out of four races.

"We have a very strong team and Jim (Dupuy) knows how to produce horsepower," Vandergriff said. "We have a lot of runs on the car we have been running and we think we can find more consistency in our back-up chassis. The guys worked hard this week to get a new car together in a short amount of time. I am looking forward to getting the UPS car into the winner's circle."

Vandergriff enjoys the Sonoma area and racetrack where he held the track elapsed time record at Infineon for 3 years after running a 4.55 second blast back in 1999, where he was dismissed in the semifinal round.