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Wednesday, March 21
Be careful what you wish for
By Chuck Etchells
Special to ESPN.com
The NHRA's return to action last week in Gainesville turned out to be somewhat of a false start. Although we were able to get qualifying in Friday and Saturday, Mother Nature put her foot down Sunday and rained us out.
It's really a shame, because the Gatornationals is one of our biggest races, and a lot of people will be hurt by the postponement. For example, I know many race fans plan vacations around coming to Gainesville, and some of them might not be able to make it back in April. We had some killer crowds there all weekend, even on Sunday when the rain seemed like it was never going to stop. Even though the situation is completely out of our hands, it's upsetting that some of these great fans won't get to see eliminations.
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It's almost ironic that we will face Force in the first round when we go back. As you know, I'd been pretty vocal about John's third car in the last few weeks, even saying that I couldn't wait to face him. Well, in a case of being careful what you wish for, I'll get my chance in Gainesville. We've raced a lot of times over the years, and it's always been interesting. ” |
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— Etchells |
The delay also hurts the NHRA and the race teams. Not only will the crews lose a valuable weekend off, but now we will have three races in a row and five in six weeks. As a team owner, I'm faced with the added expenses of what in reality is another entire race weekend. But it can't be helped, so we'll just deal with it.
Qualifying proved to be a bit of a struggle for the Etchells Racing team. Even though we were able to get both cars in the show, it took a combination of some last-run heroics and a lot of luck to get it done. I can tell you there were some anxious moments in our pit area after our last pass Saturday as we first waited out the rain delay and then watched as the other guys took their shots at knocking us of out the show. I'm glad that Scotty (Cannon), Bob (Gilbertson), Dale (Creasy Jr.) and John (Lawson) were able to get their last qualifying attempts in, because I would have felt like we stole something if they hadn't. Fortunately for us, it all worked out.
It's almost ironic that we will face Force in the first round when we go back. As you know, I'd been pretty vocal about John's third car in the last few weeks, even saying that I couldn't wait to face him. Well, in a case of being careful what you wish for, I'll get my chance in Gainesville. We've raced a lot of times over the years, and it's always been interesting.
Fortunately, we will have plenty of time to get our Kendall/Matco Camaro sorted out before then. Right now, our consistency is just not where we want it to be, but it's not for a lack of effort. Our crew was the last to leave the track Sunday night because they were packing up, and they were the first on the road Monday morning, heading to Dallas to get two days of testing in before moving on to Houston.
We're going to make as many runs as we can, trying to learn as much as possible about our two race cars, as well as testing some things out. For example, we have some clutch discs that we want to try. Doing so without the pressure of qualifying is an added bonus.
We'll need every bit of performance we can get in Houston, because you're almost guaranteed to see some big numbers. Everything's there to make horsepower, from sea-level conditions and cooler spring temperatures to a racing surface that can handle it. I ran my career best top speed there in 1997 (315.56 mph, which at the time was the fastest run ever by a Funny Car), and if the weather cooperates, there's a good chance you'll see career performances in all categories.
But our Baytown buzzword is repeatability. Running a big number is great, but if you can't get your race car down the track on a consistent basis, you're not going far on race day, which, after all, is the name of the game.
We're heading into a tough part of our schedule, with a lot of races in a short period of time. This is where we will separate the pretenders from the contenders. When we come out the other side of this particular stretch, you'll have a pretty good idea of what kind of season you're going to have. Needless to say, we all have our work cut out for us.
Chuck Etchells, driver and owner the Kendall Oil/Matco Tools Camaro Z28 Funny Car, will provide a diary to ESPN.com throughout the NHRA season. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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