Team Chevy's Dave Connolly Captures Second Consecutive U.S. Nationals Title
Source: General Motors Racing
Sep 3, 2008 - 9:03:44 AM
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INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 1, 2008 - The hottest NHRA Pro Stock driver stayed that way today as Team Chevy's Dave Connolly won the 54th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park for the second consecutive year. The 25-year-old driver of the Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt defeated Larry Morgan in the final round to capture his 20th career win and his third this season. It also marks the 17th straight year a Pro Stock driver in a GM-branded car has won the U.S. Nationals.
Despite missing the season's first five races because of sponsorship issues, Connolly has now advanced to an amazing seven final rounds in only 13 races with victories at Indy, Sonoma (Calif.) and Bristol (Tenn.), and he will start the six-race Countdown to One playoffs in the sixth position in points.
"To win Indy once was incredible but to go back-to-back is pretty exciting," Connolly said. "It was just our day. We didn't make the best of runs the last two rounds, but it was a great win for Chevy and GM, and I'm proud to put that Cobalt in the winner's circle at Indianapolis for the second year in a row. The nice thing is that I have the same great team I had last year, and I think that team chemistry is why we've done so well this year. We have a great group that gets along well and that enjoys racing together, and I'm the lucky one that gets to let the clutch out on Sunday.
"Any time you win a race it's a big deal, but we've come out and gone to the last four finals and we've been on a streak - that's the way it goes sometimes. Things start clicking and you find yourself in the winner's circle. I'm just thankful to be here and to be living my dream, making a living drag racing. We didn't know coming into this year if we would be able to make the Countdown or not, but here we are, in the sixth spot, and we're going to try chasing the boys at the top. We just have to keep doing our job and keep trying to turn the win light on."
Connolly entered today's eliminations with his Charter Communications Chevrolet qualified 9th. He defeated Warren Johnson in Round 1, No. 1 qualifier Allen Johnson in Round 2, and then got a holeshot victory over Kurt Johnson's ACDelco Chevy Cobalt in the semifinals to advance to his third consecutive money round here at the U.S. Nationals (he defeated Greg Anderson last year after losing to him in 2006). In the finals Connolly drove his Chevy Cobalt to a winning elapsed time of 6.743 seconds at 206.04 mph to Morgan's 6.797 e.t. at 204.70 mph. The margin of victory for Connolly's Cobalt was .041 of second or a full car length at the finish line.
Connolly becomes just the seventh Pro Stock driver to win multiple U.S. Nationals and he joins Greg Anderson and Jeg Coughlin Jr. as the only Pro Stock drivers to win at Indianapolis this decade. Connolly also has 27 round wins this year, the most in the category since his return to competition in April.
"We have a long stretch ahead of us and we're going to see how this Countdown works out," Connolly said. "I'm never worried about this Chevy Cobalt going up and down the track because I know (crew chief) Tommy Utt is going to give me the best car possible and I think that makes me better as a driver."
GM-backed racers held down three of the four semifinal positions as Kurt Johnson in the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt and Mike Edwards in the Young Life Pontiac GXP joined Connolly in the round of four. Johnson defeated Justin Humphreys in the first round and fellow Chevy driver Jeg Coughlin in the second before losing to Connolly on a holeshot. Johnson will start the Countdown second in points to Summit Racing Pontiac driver Greg Anderson.
"The ACDelco Cobalt crew came into this weekend looking to win the race and take the points lead heading into the playoffs," Johnson said. "Unfortunately, the driver was a little late and we came up short. Although Dave (Connolly) took so long to stage in the semis that I thought he had broken, I was fully focused and ready. After all, I've been in that situation before and was killer on the tree. In fact, when I let the clutch out, I thought I was good. I can't really say what happened. I had cut it a little close in the first two rounds, especially with that .002 in the semis against Jeggie (Coughlin), so we had backed off the air gap. We might have given it a little too much distance. On top of that, that red light in Reading was in the back of my mind, so that may have also played a part.
"Even so, we're just going to shake it off. It would have been a different story if I hadn't had a .22, a .13 and a .002 (reaction time) in my last three runs. In fact, I hadn't had a light that bad since Seattle, so it really is not an issue or a concern. Every now and then, you're going to have one of those lights, and today just happened to be the day."
Edwards qualified an impressive No. 2 and defeated Steve Speiss in Round 1 and points-leader Greg Anderson in Round 2 before bowing out to Morgan. Edwards will start seventh to start the Countdown to One playoffs and is one of eight GM-branded drivers qualified including Pontiac drivers Anderson (1st), Jason Line (4th), Edwards (7th), and Greg Stanfield (10th). They are joined by Chevy drivers Johnson (2nd), Coughlin (3rd), Connolly (6th), and Ron Krisher (9th).
"We had a great weekend," Edwards said. "We've been pretty decent all year, but at Reading we were really bad with the car. We tested before coming to Indianapolis and probably found a little bit. We qualified No. 2, which is awesome for us. We just missed that No. 1 spot by a little bit, and you're disappointed anytime you lose a round, but all in all it was a great weekend.
"I want to thank everyone that supports us; Young Life, Penhall - all the Penhall people came out today and we had a big crowd - Pontiac, all my guys and the guys back at the engine shop who are doing a tremendous job. We're running good and now we're going to Charlotte and see what happens."
In Funny Car, Tim Wilkerson in the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala SS advanced to the semifinals before losing to eventual winner Robert Hight. Unfortunately Wilkerson had to defeat a pair of fellow Chevy drivers to advanced to the third round, Del Worsham in Round 1 and Tony Pedregon in Round 2, and then faced off against the Ford driven by Hight. Hight had a winning elapsed time of 4.358 seconds at 273.83 mph as Wilkerson lost traction and slowed to a 5.424 e.t. at 133.08 mph. Wilkerson can take some solace in the fact that he and Tony Pedregon leave Indy tied with the most wins in the class (four) and Wilkerson will start the Countdown to One first in points followed by Pedregon.
"I had a pretty good car all weekend and it was really unexpected when it pulled the tire loose out there," Wilkerson said. "When I saw Jack (Beckman) go as slow as he did I was a little concerned about our tune-up. Yesterday we were too weak and it put a hole out, and we didn't want that happening today. We were really thrashing this morning trying to get this car ready. We had a serious oil pump/mad drive issue - we broke two of them and couldn't figure out what was wrong. It was a mess, but we got her fixed and won a couple of rounds. We have a good car. We need to keep our heads during this Countdown. We know we can beat anybody we race; it's just that we have to make good decisions."
The next stop on the 24-race NHRA POWERade circuit is the first race of NHRA's six-race playoffs, the Countdown to One, the inaugural NHRA Carolinas Nationals at the new zMax Dragway at Concord (N.C.) on Sept. 11-14, 2008.
PRO STOCK
Winner - Dave Connolly (Chevy Cobalt), 6.743ET/206.04MPH
Runner-up - Larry Morgan (Dodge), 6.797ET/204.70MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Allen Johnson (Dodge), 6.634ET/207.18MPH
Low elapsed time - Allen Johnson, 6.634 seconds
Top Speed - Warren Johnson (Pontiac GXP), 208.33MPH (track record)
FUNNY CAR
Winner - Robert Hight (Ford), 4.312ET/283.85MPH
Runner-up - Jack Beckman (Dodge), 4.438ET/254.04MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Tony Pedregon (Chevy Impala SS), 4.073ET/301.94MPH
TOP FUEL
Winner - Tony Schumacher, 3.916ET/309.13MPH
Runner-up - Doug Kalitta, 4.036ET/299.86MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Larry Dixon, 3.841ET/316.90MPH
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