Records fall like dominoes

By RICK PETERSON

The Capital-Journal

In four rounds of Pro Stock Truck qualifying for the Advance Auto Parts Nationals, at least one track record was set in every round.

Bob Panella Jr. of Stockton, Calif. turned in the final record- setting run Friday night to celebrate his 28th birthday, earning the top qualifying position for the 16-truck eliminations, which will get underway at 11:15 a.m. today.

Panella, currently second in the Pro Stock Truck points race, set an elapsed time record of 7.596 in his final qualifying run at a speed of 176.10 miles per hour in his Chevy S-10. Panella also flirted with the speed record of 176.77, set by No. 4 qualifier Scott Perin of Pen Argyl, Pa.

"I didn't realize there was a track record every run, but there's been some really good runs throughout the weekend and hopefully we can make four more," Panella said.

When qualifying began on Thursday, the Heartland Park Topeka track record was 7.719 set by Brad Jeter last October. By the time qualifying ended Friday night, all 16 qualifiers had easily eclipsed that record.

"Last year here, for some reason, a lot of trucks didn't run that well, " Panella said. "'I'm not sure what the problem was last year, but I just took all of my data from last year and thought I knew what I did wrong and tried to go the other direction.

"Fortunately, for me and a lot of people, it seemed to work."

Jeter (Greenville, S.C.) is the No. 2 qualifier at 7.621 and 176.07 MPH, while Jerry Haas (St. Louis, Mo.) is No. 3 at 7.623, 175.84.

Mark Osborne, who held a 20-point lead over Panella in the points race at the start of the event, qualified 12th (7.671, 175.11).

Notes

- Mopar Parts announced that it has renewed its primary sponsorship of Augusta native Todd Patterson's Dodge Dakota Pro Stock Truck team for next season.

"This further reinforces Mopar's commitment and confidence towards Patterson Racing and the Pro Stock Truck class," Patterson said. "Now we can continue taking our racing program to the next level.

"We look at Mopar not just as our primary sponsor, but also as a partner who shares the same goals as us."

Ironically, Friday's announcement came in the midst of Patterson's most disappointing performance of the season.

Patterson, currently 7th in the Winston point standings, failed to qualify for eliminations, the first time all season that he has failed to qualify.

Patterson wound up in the 22nd position, with his best elapsed time in four qualifying tries a 7.723 at 173.61 MPH.

- Melanie Troxel and Pete Swayne were the top qualifiers in the Federal-Mogul Dragster and Funny Car divisions, respectively.

Troxel, of Littleton, Colo., had a top run of 5.443 seconds at a speed of 258.71 MPH, while Swayne, Orange, Calif., ran a 5.712 at 249.76.

Lawrence native Rob Wendland qualified fifth for Dragster eliminations (5.625, 248.75), making a huge jump from the 16th spot in his final qualifying run. Garden City's Gerald Gossman qualified 16th (5.794, 238.22) and will face Troxel in the first round of eliminations, set for 2:30 p.m. today.

Pittsburg's Michael Heckert qualified 16th in the Federal-Mogul Funny Car class (6.079, 236.38) and will face Swayne in the first round today.

- The first round of Funny Car qualifying was delayed by two separate fires, with the cars of Bob Gilbertson and Scotty Cannon both becoming engulfed in flames as they traveled down the HPT track. Both drivers were able to get out of their cars and were fine, although Cannon did twist an ankle as he jumped out of his car.

- Jim Brissette was named Friday as the crew chief for Cory McClenathan's MBNA Top Fuel dragster, owned by Joe Gibbs.

Brissette's appointment came immediately after co-crew chief Rick Cassel resigned. Cassel joined the team in June and had served as co- crew chief with Brissette. Pioneer Electronics will not renew its sponsorship of Tom Hoover's Funny Car, driven by Cory Lee. Pioneer cited its intention to concentrate its efforts on CART/Champ racing.

Lee, former crew chief, took over as driver this year after the retirement of Hoover and is currently No. 8 in the Funny Car point standings.

Pioneer has sponsored Hoover for the past seven years.

Copyright 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.