NHRA® Team Report
NHRA Northwest Nationals
Pre-Race Report
It will be back to traditional tuning this weekend for Cruz Pedregon’s Snap-on® Dodge® SRT® Hellcat® after leaving the mile-high conditions in Denver. Seattle is a track with great memories for Cruz dating back to 1991 when he made it to his very first semi-finals as a professional driver in a Top Fuel Dragster.
"I’d been around racing all my life, so to best the legendary Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme in a Top Fuel Round 1 that year in Seattle is something I’ll think of every time we head to the Pacific Northwest," Cruz says. "We get to be here a week earlier this year with the change in the NHRA schedule, and we’re really looking forward to seeing all the fans in the stands and those who stop by our pit every year.”
Cruz’s Funny Car will once again sport the Snap-on franchise tribute paint scheme to honor the many franchisees of the team’s primary sponsor. Before races, Cruz rides along with franchisees in NHRA cities to visit shops and professionals talking tools and racing. The ‘Own It’ paint scheme is a reminder that the Snap-on franchise opportunity is a way to own your own business, and it’s a ‘thank you’ to current and future Snap-on franchisees.
The weekend the Snap-on Nitro Franchisee featured on the side of Cruz’s car is Shawn Sinclair. He’s had his Snap-on franchise in the Spokane area for 34 years. In his early career, Shawn was an automotive technician who says he found out “he enjoyed the tools more than working on the cars.” Shawn met Cruz and his brother NHRA’s Tony Pedregon while in the pit here three years ago. When he’s not working or at a race event, Shawn is a former motocross guy who now gets his need for speed while jet skiing.
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