St. Louis: Doug Herbert Saturday summary

HERBERT QUALIFIES ON LAST ATTEMPT DURING ABBREVIATED QUALIFYING SESSION

Madison, Ill., (May 5, 2007) -- Coming off his runner-up finish in Atlanta, Doug Herbert and the Snap-on Tools dragster qualified No. 16 for the NHRA Midwest Nationals.

Qualifying action for the NHRA Midwest Nationals began Saturday afternoon after rain caused both Friday qualifying sessions to be cancelled. Battling the muggy conditions left after the continuous pours on Friday would prove none too easy during the first round of qualifying.

After watching most dragsters struggle in the right lane, Herbert and the Snap-on Team made it through the quarter-mile in the No. 15 position with a 5.37 second pass at 264.91 mph.

Knowing the track conditions would improve crew chief Jim Brissette and team got to work preparing for their next run.

Herbert drove the Snap-on Tools dragster through the lights with a 4.78 second pass at 318.99 mph to claim the No. 16 spot in the hard fought battle to race on Sunday.

"The rain yesterday really stunk," said Herbert. "But the good thing is the weather cleared up and we were able to get two passes in today. The No. 16 spot isn't exactly where we want to be, but we'll be racing tomorrow. That's the important thing. If we can get the car to go down the track without me having to get on and off the gas like we did during the last session, we can beat anybody here.

"Anything can happen on race day, and we'd like to keep up the streak we started last week. We're out to prove it wasn't a fluke and that we're legitimate contenders. We'll start working on that tomorrow."

Herbert will face "Hot Rod" Fuller in the first round of eliminations.

-credit: dhr