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Chevy Claims 150th NHRA Pro Stock Victory at Bristol
Connolly's Chevy Cobalt Defeats Stanfield's Pontiac in All-GM Final
BRISTOL, Tenn., May 18, 2008 - Dave Connolly in his Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt delivered Chevy's 150th NHRA Pro Stock victory with a win in today's rain-delayed 8th annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. Scattered showers interrupted eliminations in all classes, but for the 25-year-old Connolly it was well worth the wait. Connolly drove his Chevy to a holeshot win over Greg Stanfield's Attitude Apparel Pontiac GXP with an elapsed time of 6.731 seconds at 204.70 mph to Stanfield's quicker but losing 6.717 e.t. at 204.42 mph. This was Connolly's second consecutive final-round appearance in his three races this season.
"I don't know what it is, but every time we get a rain delay or a rainout we seem to get a win," Connolly joked, "so for the next 17 races, or whatever we have left, I hope it rains every weekend. It doesn't make it so good for the fans, but there were still a bunch of people in the stands. We had a group from Charter Communications and they were still in the stands watching even after the rain delays and everything else. There a great group of people. It just goes to show you that with all of the resources that Cagnazzi Racing has, we can put some good cars in the show.
"I didn't even realize this was Chevy's 150th Pro Stock win. That's pretty incredible. All the great folks at Chevrolet, they've been behind me since I started my career and I can't thank them enough. They always have top-notch vehicles. We came out here this season with a brand new Chevy Cobalt and the third race out with it we're in the winner's circle, so I'm pretty appreciative that we got this milestone win for Chevy."
Connolly made his long-awaited debut to the 2008 NHRA drag-racing season at Atlanta behind the wheel of his new Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt Pro Stocker. Despite a stellar 2007 season where he finished third in the final Pro Stock standings, the Ohio native was forced to sit out this year's first five races due to lack of sponsorship. Connolly won eight races last year including a record-equaling five in a row, and after a first-round loss to Kurt Johnson at Atlanta he has now posted back-to-back final-round appearances with a runner-up finish at St. Louis and today's win at Bristol.
"This season has definitely been up and down," Connolly said. "I just have to thank (sponsors) Charter and LifeLock because we wouldn't even be out here racing. We'd still be sitting on the sidelines. It makes you appreciate everything that much more. We got pretty lucky last race to go to the finals, and then to come out here where I was taking out cones and stuff in Friday qualifying, I would have never thought we would make it to the winner's circle, but we did. I can't thank my team enough. It's the same team we had last year and we just jell so well. When you have team chemistry like we do it doesn't take long for things to come together like it was. It felt like riding a bicycle, I got back on it and here we are again.
"It was rough sitting on the sidelines to start the season. I stayed busy doing some Sportsman racing, but Pro Stock is what I love. I'm just glad to be back and we're making up ground fast. A win and runner-up this soon is giving us a better chance of making the Countdown."
Stanfield was making his second final-round appearance of the season after finishing runner-up to fellow Pontiac driver Greg Stanfield at Las Vegas last month. After a near-perfect .002 reaction time in his defeat of V. Gaines in the semifinals, an uncharacteristically slow .101 reaction time in the finals against Connolly relegated the four-time Super Stock national champ to a holeshot loss.
"Driver error, plain and simple," said a dejected Stanfield. "I just messed up. I've been racing a long time and I rarely have that bad of a start. I can think of just one other time I was that bad. I guess it's just not our time. It's seems easy for certain people and it's harder for others. Once we get our first win I think there will be a lot to follow. You've just got to take advantage of opportunities when they come up and close the door, but we're not going to give up. Just hide the razor blades from me."
In Top Fuel, Team Chevy's Larry Dixon in the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco dragster advanced to his third final round of the season by defeating Doug Herbert in Round 1, Troy Buff in Round 2, and old nemesis Brandon Bernstein in the semifinals before facing off with points leader Tony Schumacher. In the final round Dixon recorded his second runner-up finish to go along with his win at Phoenix as Schumacher had a winning elapsed time of 4.555 seconds at 306.81 mph and Dixon hazed the tires at half-track and recorded a 4.958 e.t. at 253.37 mph. With a win and two runner-up finishes on the season, Dixon is third in the Top Fuel standings behind Schumacher and Antron Brown.
In the Sportsman classes a pair of '87 Camaros squared off in the final round of Super Stock as Jim Harrington from Chapel Hill, N.C., defeated Michael Iacono from Walding River, N.J., Anthony Fetch from Belleville, N.J., won Stock Eliminator in his '68 Camaro, and Dave Connolly's father, Ray, made it a double-win weekend for the Connolly family with a win in Super Gas in his '63 Corvette.
The next stop on the 24-race NHRA POWERade circuit is the 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka on May 30-June 1, 2008, in Topeka, Kansas.
PRO STOCK
Winner - Dave Connolly (Chevy Cobalt) 6.731ET/204.70MPH
Runner-up - Greg Stanfield (Pontiac GXP), 6.717ET/204.42MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Warren Johnson (Pontiac GXP), 6.674ET/207.43MPH
Low elapsed time - Warren Johnson, 6.674 seconds (track record)
Top Speed - Warren Johnson, 207.43MPH (track record)
Top 10 - 1. Greg Anderson (Pontiac GXP), 561; 2. Jason Line (Pontiac GXP), 559; 3. Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt), 545; 4. Jeg Coughlin (Chevy Cobalt), 530; 5. Allen Johnson (Dodge), 461; 6. V. Gaines (Dodge), 460; 7. Mike Edwards (Pontiac GXP), 443; 8. Greg Stanfield (Pontiac GXP), 401; 9. Warren Johnson (Pontiac GXP), 355; 10. Justin Humphrey (Pontiac GXP), 296.
FUNNY CAR
Winner - Melanie Troxel (Dodge), 5.066ET/310.27MPH
Runner-up - Mike Neff (Ford), 6.471ET/146.21MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Mike Neff (Ford)), 4.783ET/321.04MPH
Top 10 - 1. Tim Wilkerson (Chevy Impala SS), 552; 2. Ashley Force (Ford), 529; 3. Cruz Pedregon (Chevy Impala), 477; 4. Robert Hight (Ford), 473; 5. John Force (Ford), 408; 6. Tony Pedregon (Chevy Impala), 404; 7. Mike Neff (Ford), 383; 8. Ron Capps (Dodge), 360; 9. Gary Densham (Chevy Impala), 356; 10. Del Worsham (Chevy Impala), 338.
TOP FUEL
Winner - Tony Schumacher, 4.555ET/306.81MPH
Runner-up - Larry Dixon, 4.958ET/253.37MPH
No. 1 Qualifier - Tony Schumacher, 4.502ET/327.59MPH
Top 10 - 1. Tony Schumacher, 726; 2. Antron Brown, 595; 3. Larry Dixon, 561; 4. Rod Fuller, 466; 5. Hillary Will, 455; 6. Cory McClenathan, 450; 7. Brandon Bernstein, 427; 8. Doug Kalitta, 384; 9. Dave Grubnic, 360; 10. Doug Herbert, 343.
