NHRA

Sonoma: Mark Pawuk eliminations summary

SONOMA, CA 8/5/03 After a half dozen straight races in which he left first on his opponents, Mark "Cowboy" Pawuk's streak came to an end in the first round of the Fram-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway. Pawuk's decent but unspectacular .040 ...

Edited: Aug 6, 2003, 3:49 AM

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SONOMA, CA 8/5/03 After a half dozen straight races in which he left first on his opponents, Mark "Cowboy" Pawuk's streak came to an end in the first round of the Fram-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway. Pawuk's decent but unspectacular .040 R.T. came up .006 short against first round opponent Mike Edwards, and with his fellow Pontiac driver notching an elapsed time of 6.817 seconds to Pawuk's 6.856, the day ended early for the driver of the Summit Racing Pontiac Grand Am.

"I'm disappointed we didn't do a little better," Pawuk admitted, "but we ran some good numbers, although I will admit it's pretty disconcerting to run a 6.796 in qualifying and only end up 14th. That just shows you how competitive Pro Stock is these days."

Pawuk's crew chief, Marcus Bowen, said that despite the loss he'd learned some valuable lessons from Mike Stryker, who'd joined the team for two races. "Mike gave me some valuable tips," Bowen said. "I felt like we were making progress, but whenever you've got a chance to spend time with guys like Mike, who have the championship rings to prove their worth, you'd be crazy not to take advantage of it. I learned a lot from him in just a few days, and I'm hoping he can come to a few more races with us."

Stryker's future with the team remains uncertain at this point, but Pawuk also felt his involvement had been beneficial. "I could see that Mike was really studying our set-up, and from talking with he and Marcus I think we made the right decision in bringing him on board. Who knows, we might do it again later in the season. We'll just have to wait and see at this point."

Next: NHRA Rugged Liner Nationals, Brainerd, MN Aug 14-17.

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