NHRA

Topeka: Rodger Brogdon preview

(Topeka, Ks) While Rodger Brogdon and the Pistonator team have certainly been busy since the crash in St Louis 18 days ago, this past week has been mild in comparison to the thrash that enabled the team to even compete at Atlanta last weekend. The ...

Edited: May 21, 2010, 1:39 AM

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(Topeka, Ks) While Rodger Brogdon and the Pistonator team have certainly been busy since the crash in St Louis 18 days ago, this past week has been mild in comparison to the thrash that enabled the team to even compete at Atlanta last weekend. The 12 days between the last 2 events has been well documented, but after suffering their first DNQ of the season, Brogdon and team have continued their mission to put the Kent Services / Attitude Apparel car back on track.

After qualifying concluded in Atlanta, the team loaded everything up and headed back to North Carolina and Victor Cagnazzi's race shop late on Saturday night. Then on Sunday the race engine was pulled and the teams test motor installed. A few minor items on the car that attracted their attention in Atlanta were dealt with and early Monday, Keith "Big Show" Graham was back on the road headed for Tuesday and Wednesday testing back in St. Louis.

"We knew in Atlanta that both the engine and car were race ready," said Brogdon "we were just a day short going into Atlanta to get a couple laps under our belt to re-establish our baseline. Going back to St. Louis to test allowed us to do some chassis fine tuning on the car. With the schedule they run at Gateway, we knew it wasn't going to be a national event caliber starting line, but the crew there does work hard to accommodate the teams that show up to test. We were able to get several laps on the car both Tuesday and Wednesday and with each lap the car seemed to get better. Now that we've got the chassis back underneath us, I'm not too sure that the car isn't actually better now than before the crash."

Thursday morning the team rolled west down I-70 for the 6 hour drive to Heartland Park Topeka and this week's running of the O'Reilly Summer Nationals. "Thursday afternoon we'll get the race engine back in the car and get ready for Friday's first qualifying session. The weather at Topeka looks to be great, so all four qualifying sessions should be at our disposal.

I know Tommy (Utt), Dr. Phil, Weasel, Jerry and Big Show are all ready to get back on track and back to how we were running in St. Louis. It's been a lot of work, a lot of time and a lot of miles by everyone involved to get us back on track. Steve Kent and I can't say Thank You enough for everyone's dedication and tireless effort to get us back to this point. Hopefully this weekend we'll all be able to reap the rewards of everyone's effort, I know I'm ready!"

-source: str

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