Topeka: Shaun Carlson Saturday summary

CARLSON NOT IN FIELD IN TOPEKA

TOPEKA, Kan. (May 27, 2006) - Pro Stock rookie Shaun Carlson endured 90-degree weather and track temperatures exceeding 115 degrees during qualifying for the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka this weekend.

The driver of the Team Mopar/SRT Dodge Stratus R/T for Don Schumacher Racing is encouraged nonetheless, despite not qualifying for the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Pro Stock field with his best pass, a 6.874-second elapsed time at 200.29 mph, set in the first session.

His other attempts included a 6.881/200.29, a 6.880/200.00 and a 6.935/200.02 in the final round under the hottest conditions of the weekend.

"As far as my time in the Pro Stock class, these are definitely the hottest conditions I've run on," said Carlson. "To go from Columbus (Ohio) being as cool as it was, and Bristol (Tenn.) being even colder, and come here with it being so hot is kind of a culture shock.

"This is now the second event in a row that I've been able to get down the track all four times, so we're really getting a baseline on the Team Mopar/SRT Dodge now to figure out what needs to be changed on it. I'm duplicating my driving (in each round), so now we can work on the car.

"Before they couldn't do that because I changed so much every pass. But now I think we're going to work on different engine stuff. We've had some clutch issues we've been working with, mostly because of my driving. Now that we've got that situated I think we have the window figured out on the clutch."

Next up for Carlson is the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., June 9-11.

-dsr-