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Thursday, June 7  A pass in the rain By Chuck Etchells Special to ESPN.com Last week I promised I would get back to talking about our team, and I am going to be true to my word. In many ways, our weekend in Chicago was Etchells Racing's 2001 season in condensed form. In the few days we spent at Route 66 Raceway we experienced both highs and lows (along with a lot of rain and cold temperatures), and when we left Monday we all realized there is still a lot of work to be done. The one thing we know for certain is the new 2001 Camaro body is a winner. The added downforce it has over the previous version makes it one of the most stable Funny Cars I have ever driven. However, it's not just a matter of slapping it on the car and flying down the track. For example, you have to find the proper balance, allowing you to carry the front wheels when you want them to and keep them on the ground when you need them. Any of you who might have seen the awesome slow-motion close-up replay of Jim's car Sunday saw how the nose was in the air with the wheels cut to the left trying desperately to keep it in the groove. Obviously, that's one area we're working on. Something else we need to change is our rear spoiler. In the rush to get these new bodies to us in time, we were unable to get the adjustable rear wing we wanted, and it might have cost us in the semifinal against Del Worsham. When the conditions are as good as they were in Joliet, Ill., you can actually have too much down force, which translates into less speed, with the car slowing down by being stuck to the track. Not to take anything away from Del's great run, but I sure would like to see how things would have turned out if we were able to take a little angle out of the rear wing before that run. The bottom line is we need more passes with this setup, and that's what we plan to do. Before heading to Columbus, Ohio, for next week's race, we're going to test at Indianapolis Raceway Park and make as many runs as we can, generating as much information on our Camaros as possible, with the side benefit being that the crew can continue to fine-tune their own rhythm. They did a great job servicing the cars throughout qualifying, but we still haven't been tested under fire with both cars Sunday. The last thing we want to do in Ohio is have a repeat performance of last Saturday. After not making down the track Friday, we prayed the rain gods would give us the opportunity to make another qualifying run. Somehow, we got two chances, and even though we were able to get Jim in with a solid 4.89 pass on his last attempt, my car never made what I would consider a competitive pass, and on my last run we blew the Sunoco/Matco Camaro body off at the hit of the throttle. We were very lucky it didn't cause some serious damage to that body I raved about earlier. Fortunately, we were able to rebound with Jim going to the semis Sunday. That was huge for the team, because both Racing Champions and Matco Tools had brought a lot of people to the race, and we certainly didn't want to disappoint them. From what I understand, the Racing Champions suite went wild every time Jim ran -- I'm just glad we were able to give them a good show. That last pass meant a lot to the whole team. Even though we lost, that 4.848-second blast was by far our quickest run in quite some time, and a career best for Jim. It makes it easier to believe that we just might have started to turn that proverbial corner and started heading in the right direction. It's small consolation, I know, but we will take our victories where when can get them, no matter how small they seem. It may not be how we drew it up at the start of the year, but after our many trials and tribulations, it's definitely part of our revised plans. Chuck Etchells, driver and owner the Sunoco/Matco Tools Camaro Z28 Funny Car, provides a diary to ESPN.com throughout the NHRA season.  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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