POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 12) - Perhaps no other Pro Stock team underwent as many changes as Rodger Brogdon's ProtectTheHarvest.com group did to prep for the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. So naturally, the tall Texan is anxious to see the results of his massive off-season overhaul during this weekend's 53rd annual O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
Two-thirds of the way through the 2012 season, Brogdon and partner Steve Kent purchased an engine-building company and began the process of moving it to a new 10,000-square-foot shop in northwest Houston, where the entire race team now is housed. They also added veteran Pro Stock wrenches Terry Adams and Tommy Lee to the crew.
Their goal is simple: Get better.
"We hired some good people," Brogdon said. "We were very fortunate to get Terry Adams from Mike Edwards' camp and Tommy Lee from Ron Krisher's camp, so there's a lot of experience there, which showed in our test sessions. I can't see why it won't carry over to the first race in Pomona."
Brogdon continued testing his Chevrolet Camaro this week in Las Vegas and is now prepared to show off its improvements.
"We'll be ready," Brogdon said. "I don't see why we can't qualify in the top half of the field. I'll be disappointed if we don't at least do that."
Due to the big switch to making their own engines, Brogdon barely missed the Countdown to the Championship in 2012 after reaching the NHRA playoffs the previous two seasons. Because it takes time to develop a solid combination in the ultra-competitive Pro Stock class, Brogdon unveiled a new Camaro about the same time as the engine shop acquisition and began using his own engines to get a baseline tune-up.
"The big goal is to steadily improve," Brogdon said. "That's why Steve and I decided to take the next step up. If you look at the numbers, about 75 percent of the winners in Pro Stock come out of the top four qualifying positions. It's depressing to leave the shop and know you're only going to qualify 12th or 13th and have about a five percent chance of winning. That's where we were. It's all a numbers game, like any business."
Because of this, Brogdon took a look at the race team and realized he needed to run it like one of the several successful businesses he owns.
"We decided to make a bunch of changes," Brogdon said. "We said, This is the path we're going to take."
Now, he's ready to see the positive results from the path he chose.
"We're excited about racing in Pomona," Brogdon said. "We've made some progress, so we think we'll go out there and make some good runs. It'll show on the scoreboard. We're all anxious."
From: Rob Geiger
More...
Two-thirds of the way through the 2012 season, Brogdon and partner Steve Kent purchased an engine-building company and began the process of moving it to a new 10,000-square-foot shop in northwest Houston, where the entire race team now is housed. They also added veteran Pro Stock wrenches Terry Adams and Tommy Lee to the crew.
Their goal is simple: Get better.
"We hired some good people," Brogdon said. "We were very fortunate to get Terry Adams from Mike Edwards' camp and Tommy Lee from Ron Krisher's camp, so there's a lot of experience there, which showed in our test sessions. I can't see why it won't carry over to the first race in Pomona."
Brogdon continued testing his Chevrolet Camaro this week in Las Vegas and is now prepared to show off its improvements.
"We'll be ready," Brogdon said. "I don't see why we can't qualify in the top half of the field. I'll be disappointed if we don't at least do that."
Due to the big switch to making their own engines, Brogdon barely missed the Countdown to the Championship in 2012 after reaching the NHRA playoffs the previous two seasons. Because it takes time to develop a solid combination in the ultra-competitive Pro Stock class, Brogdon unveiled a new Camaro about the same time as the engine shop acquisition and began using his own engines to get a baseline tune-up.
"The big goal is to steadily improve," Brogdon said. "That's why Steve and I decided to take the next step up. If you look at the numbers, about 75 percent of the winners in Pro Stock come out of the top four qualifying positions. It's depressing to leave the shop and know you're only going to qualify 12th or 13th and have about a five percent chance of winning. That's where we were. It's all a numbers game, like any business."
Because of this, Brogdon took a look at the race team and realized he needed to run it like one of the several successful businesses he owns.
"We decided to make a bunch of changes," Brogdon said. "We said, This is the path we're going to take."
Now, he's ready to see the positive results from the path he chose.
"We're excited about racing in Pomona," Brogdon said. "We've made some progress, so we think we'll go out there and make some good runs. It'll show on the scoreboard. We're all anxious."
From: Rob Geiger
More...
