[coverattach=1](3-16-2009) GAINESVILLE, Florida – A far cry from the team’s intentions for a big season-opening act in Gainesville, Danny Rowe was defeated in the first round of eliminations on Saturday at the ACDelco NHRA Nationals at Gainesville Raceway. The Hottinger Group/Sterling Bridge ’67 Camaro Pro Mod had demonstrated to be one of the most consistent and potent hot rods on the property for the Get Screened America NHRA Pro Mod Challenge, but it uncharacteristically smoked the tires right off the starting line in Rd. 1 bringing a seemingly promising weekend to an early end.
The historically fast track and enjoyable springtime weather provided drivers and tuners two solid days of opportune conditions, but many struggled to negotiate the legendary quarter-mile of Gainesville Raceway. Rowe came out in the second round of qualifying and jumped right to the top of the qualifying sheet with a tough 6.001-second, 240.59mph lap in the Jimmy Rector-tuned Camaro. After all three rounds of qualifying were complete Rowe sat comfortably in the No. 2 spot, second only to Roger Burgess’ five-second shot.
“Nobody goes in with intentions of going out early,” said Rowe, who receives additional support from Friction Unlimited. “But I’m not too terribly disappointed. We qualified well, and again showed that we have the performance to win these races; we’re not going out here and getting outrun. I’ve got a lot of confidence in this Hottinger Group/Sterling Bridge team and I know what we’re capable of doing.”
Rowe continued with a laugh, “To tell you the truth, we just need luck to side with us for once and we’d probably be calling our friends and family to celebrate a win. We had a good car going into eliminations and felt confident, but it just went out there and blew the tires off. There were reports that we’d broken something or that there were parts failure, which might have been a nice excuse, but we just missed the tune up a little bit. You can’t leave anything on the table out here in the GSA Pro Mod Challenge; we had it loaded up to run another 6.00 and ended up overpowering the race track. That’s racing, but we’re still happy to be out here competing with the best of the best.”
Danny Rowe Racing will be back in action during the Get Screen America Pro Mod Challenge event on March 27-29 at the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas.
Information regarding Danny Rowe Racing can be found at .: Danny Rowe Racing - Pro Modified :.
The historically fast track and enjoyable springtime weather provided drivers and tuners two solid days of opportune conditions, but many struggled to negotiate the legendary quarter-mile of Gainesville Raceway. Rowe came out in the second round of qualifying and jumped right to the top of the qualifying sheet with a tough 6.001-second, 240.59mph lap in the Jimmy Rector-tuned Camaro. After all three rounds of qualifying were complete Rowe sat comfortably in the No. 2 spot, second only to Roger Burgess’ five-second shot.
“Nobody goes in with intentions of going out early,” said Rowe, who receives additional support from Friction Unlimited. “But I’m not too terribly disappointed. We qualified well, and again showed that we have the performance to win these races; we’re not going out here and getting outrun. I’ve got a lot of confidence in this Hottinger Group/Sterling Bridge team and I know what we’re capable of doing.”
Rowe continued with a laugh, “To tell you the truth, we just need luck to side with us for once and we’d probably be calling our friends and family to celebrate a win. We had a good car going into eliminations and felt confident, but it just went out there and blew the tires off. There were reports that we’d broken something or that there were parts failure, which might have been a nice excuse, but we just missed the tune up a little bit. You can’t leave anything on the table out here in the GSA Pro Mod Challenge; we had it loaded up to run another 6.00 and ended up overpowering the race track. That’s racing, but we’re still happy to be out here competing with the best of the best.”
Danny Rowe Racing will be back in action during the Get Screen America Pro Mod Challenge event on March 27-29 at the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas.
Information regarding Danny Rowe Racing can be found at .: Danny Rowe Racing - Pro Modified :.