Mike Edwards has the Young Life/Penhall Pontiac Prepared for Western Swing
Pro Stock Veteran Fifth in Points with One Win on Season
DENVER, July 9, 2008 - The grueling three-race NHRA Western Swing, a series of events contested on consecutive weekends in Denver, Seattle and Sonoma (Calif.), gets underway on Friday at Bandimere Speedway. Just the very nature of this midseason, summer racing tradition, and the way it separates a majority of the teams from their racing and engine shops back east, makes it imperative to be fully prepared for any contingency that may pop up along the way. It's a challenge that Mike Edwards feels his Young Life/Penhall Pontiac GXP team is ready for as they begin the first leg of the stretch this weekend at the 29th annual NHRA Mile-High Nationals.
"The Western Swing is going to be tough on everybody - personnel and equipment," Edwards said. "You have to be fully prepared for anything that can happen. For us, considering that our engine shop is all the way back in North Carolina and our race shop is in Oklahoma, going out on the Western Swing is like going into no man's land. If you don't have a part, or you're missing something on the transporter, you just can't go into the other room and pick one up. All of our engines have been fully freshened and the transporter is stocked with all the parts and pieces we'll need. Hopefully we can put some good runs together and maybe win a race or two."
Edwards, a 14-time Pro Stock national-event winner, has earned three of his career victories during the midseason swing including the 2002 Mile-High Nationals, back-to-back victories at Seattle in 1996-97 and a runner-up at Sonoma in 2001. Along with a large group of other Pro Stock competitors looking to do well at this year's Mile-High Nationals, last week Edwards spent a pair of days leading up to the Independence Day holiday testing his Young Life/Penhall Pontiac GXP at Bandimere Speedway.
"The Denver race is so unique in that's it is so much different than any other place we go," Edwards said. "You never know for certain what everyone else is going to do. But it's a fun race for everybody and I enjoy going up there. You never know how you're going to end up because of all the changes you have to make. Everyone on this Young Life/Penhall team is giving 100 percent and we'll continue racing as hard as we can."
As the 2008 NHRA POWERade campaign blows past the halfway point in what has already been an extremely tight season in Pro Stock, the 50-year-old Oklahoma native will admit to being quite pleased with his team's performance, and rightfully so. Toward the end of 2007, the team set out on the ambitious task of developing their own in-house engine program, and it continues to show even more promise as the year progresses.
"Roger (Stull) got it going and made the commitment to get it done," Edwards said. "He sat down, had a plan and knew what he wanted to do. We brought in Nick Ferry and Paul Hoskins, and those two guys are running the engine program in Denver, N.C. Of course, I'm down there, Terry's (Adams) down there, Al's (Lindsey) down there, we're down there quite a bit to help out, but those two guys are taking the engine program and making it what it is. He sat down, had a plan, knew what he wanted to do, is giving it his best shot and is seeing if he can compete with the rest of these guys.
"We thought we would be a little bit further behind by the time we got to this point of the year, but we're really excited with the way that has gone and it looks like the endeavor is going to pay off. It's been a learning curve that's for sure, but the overall picture, and with where we are right now, the whole team, and Roger, we're pretty excited."
With 12 races completed and only six contests remaining before the final 10 spots for the Countdown to One are determined (following the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis), Edwards 2008 scorecard is already looking very impressive. The Young Life Pontiac GXP driver has one win (Atlanta), advanced to no less than the semifinal round at four races and qualified in the top half of the field eight times. He's currently in fifth place in the POWERade standings heading into this crucial three-race swing.
"I like everything that we're doing, everything we're seeing, it's coming together," Edwards said. "You never want to say more than you think you can do, but we're making steady progress with both the engine program and the racecar. But, of course, everyone else is making steady progress, too. We've made some big steps and big gains this season, and unfortunately I let us down at a couple of races with red lights. I can't do that and have to get better there, but the overall team and the overall program is going well. We have total control over everything we're doing now, and that seems to be the way to go. We're excited about it. When you can win a race every once in awhile like we did in Atlanta, that kind of makes the season a little bit better for a little while.
"The Seattle and Sonoma race are usually pretty close to where everyone usually runs. I feel that if we can come out of this Western Swing and stay fifth in the points, then we should be able to make the Countdown. But as close as Pro Stock is, you never feel safe. We're trying to put together a team that's capable of doing a lot of things well and that can compete with the best. We've already won a race this year, and for us, considering what we've done the last couple of years, that's a milestone. We're excited with where we are and the potential of this program. We're fifth in the points standings heading into Denver and if we continue building on what we've already accomplished, we just might get a little bit better."
29th annual NHRA Mile-High Nationals
GM RACING STATS AND FACTS
* Greg Anderson's back-to-back wins at Englishtown (N.J.) and Norwalk (Ohio) gave the Summit Racing Pontiac driver a class-leading four wins on the season and moved him back into the Pro Stock points lead.
* Anderson's Norwalk victory two weeks ago was the most recent win for a Pontiac and the 186th all time for Pontiac in the Pro Stock category. Of those 186 victories, Greg Anderson has the most behind the wheel of a Pontiac with 53 victories (55 total career wins), Warren Johnson is next on the list with 42 wins and Jim Yates is third with 25.
* Ron Krisher, driver of the Valvoline Chevy Cobalt, was runner-up at this event last year and currently sits ninth in the Pro Stock standings.
* Summit Racing Pontiac driver Jason Line holds the Bandimere Speedway track record for speed in Pro Stock at 195.73 mph.
* After 11 of 24 races on the schedule completed, and just six events remaining before the Countdown to 1 cut at Indianapolis, eight drivers in GM-branded cars occupy a spot in the top 10 of the Pro Stock standings. Greg Anderson (Pontiac) leads the standings with 878 points, Kurt Johnson (Chevrolet) is in second place with 826 points, Jason Line (Pontiac) is third with 777 points, Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Chevrolet) is fourth with 767 points, and Mike Edwards (Pontiac) is fifth with 634 points. Greg Stanfield (Pontiac) is in eighth place with 592 points, Ron Krisher (Chevrolet) is in ninth place with 589 points, and Warren Johnson (Pontiac) is 10th with 534 points. Dave Connolly (Chevrolet) is just outside the top 10 in 11th place with 480 points.
* Chevy Impala SS Funny Car drivers have combined for seven victories so far this year to give the red bowtie the most wins this year in the class. Chevy drivers Tim Wilkerson and Tony Pedregon both have a class-leading three victories each and are 1-2 in the points standings, and Del Worsham drove the CSK Chevrolet to a win in April at Houston.
* Tony Pedregon's win two weeks ago at Norwalk was Chevrolet's 95th all time in the nitro Funny Car category, and it was also the 189th time a Chevrolet had advanced to a Funny Car final round.
* After 11 of 24 races, three Chevy Impala drivers occupy a spot in the top 10 of the NHRA POWERade Funny Car standings including points leader Tim Wilkerson in the Levi Ray & Shoup Chevrolet. Wilkerson leads all Funny Car drivers with 863 points. Tony Pedregon in the Q Horsepower Chevrolet is in second place with 712 points, and Gary Densham in the Racebricks Chevy Impala SS is seventh with 581 points.
A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the NHRA Mile-High Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, July 12, beginning at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Coverage on ESPN2 continues on Sunday, July 13, when NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage starting at 11 a.m. Eastern, and concludes with final eliminations coverage beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
Pro Stock Veteran Fifth in Points with One Win on Season
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/untitled_133314.bmp" alt="GM Logo" />
DENVER, July 9, 2008 - The grueling three-race NHRA Western Swing, a series of events contested on consecutive weekends in Denver, Seattle and Sonoma (Calif.), gets underway on Friday at Bandimere Speedway. Just the very nature of this midseason, summer racing tradition, and the way it separates a majority of the teams from their racing and engine shops back east, makes it imperative to be fully prepared for any contingency that may pop up along the way. It's a challenge that Mike Edwards feels his Young Life/Penhall Pontiac GXP team is ready for as they begin the first leg of the stretch this weekend at the 29th annual NHRA Mile-High Nationals.
"The Western Swing is going to be tough on everybody - personnel and equipment," Edwards said. "You have to be fully prepared for anything that can happen. For us, considering that our engine shop is all the way back in North Carolina and our race shop is in Oklahoma, going out on the Western Swing is like going into no man's land. If you don't have a part, or you're missing something on the transporter, you just can't go into the other room and pick one up. All of our engines have been fully freshened and the transporter is stocked with all the parts and pieces we'll need. Hopefully we can put some good runs together and maybe win a race or two."
Edwards, a 14-time Pro Stock national-event winner, has earned three of his career victories during the midseason swing including the 2002 Mile-High Nationals, back-to-back victories at Seattle in 1996-97 and a runner-up at Sonoma in 2001. Along with a large group of other Pro Stock competitors looking to do well at this year's Mile-High Nationals, last week Edwards spent a pair of days leading up to the Independence Day holiday testing his Young Life/Penhall Pontiac GXP at Bandimere Speedway.
"The Denver race is so unique in that's it is so much different than any other place we go," Edwards said. "You never know for certain what everyone else is going to do. But it's a fun race for everybody and I enjoy going up there. You never know how you're going to end up because of all the changes you have to make. Everyone on this Young Life/Penhall team is giving 100 percent and we'll continue racing as hard as we can."
As the 2008 NHRA POWERade campaign blows past the halfway point in what has already been an extremely tight season in Pro Stock, the 50-year-old Oklahoma native will admit to being quite pleased with his team's performance, and rightfully so. Toward the end of 2007, the team set out on the ambitious task of developing their own in-house engine program, and it continues to show even more promise as the year progresses.
"Roger (Stull) got it going and made the commitment to get it done," Edwards said. "He sat down, had a plan and knew what he wanted to do. We brought in Nick Ferry and Paul Hoskins, and those two guys are running the engine program in Denver, N.C. Of course, I'm down there, Terry's (Adams) down there, Al's (Lindsey) down there, we're down there quite a bit to help out, but those two guys are taking the engine program and making it what it is. He sat down, had a plan, knew what he wanted to do, is giving it his best shot and is seeing if he can compete with the rest of these guys.
"We thought we would be a little bit further behind by the time we got to this point of the year, but we're really excited with the way that has gone and it looks like the endeavor is going to pay off. It's been a learning curve that's for sure, but the overall picture, and with where we are right now, the whole team, and Roger, we're pretty excited."
With 12 races completed and only six contests remaining before the final 10 spots for the Countdown to One are determined (following the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis), Edwards 2008 scorecard is already looking very impressive. The Young Life Pontiac GXP driver has one win (Atlanta), advanced to no less than the semifinal round at four races and qualified in the top half of the field eight times. He's currently in fifth place in the POWERade standings heading into this crucial three-race swing.
"I like everything that we're doing, everything we're seeing, it's coming together," Edwards said. "You never want to say more than you think you can do, but we're making steady progress with both the engine program and the racecar. But, of course, everyone else is making steady progress, too. We've made some big steps and big gains this season, and unfortunately I let us down at a couple of races with red lights. I can't do that and have to get better there, but the overall team and the overall program is going well. We have total control over everything we're doing now, and that seems to be the way to go. We're excited about it. When you can win a race every once in awhile like we did in Atlanta, that kind of makes the season a little bit better for a little while.
"The Seattle and Sonoma race are usually pretty close to where everyone usually runs. I feel that if we can come out of this Western Swing and stay fifth in the points, then we should be able to make the Countdown. But as close as Pro Stock is, you never feel safe. We're trying to put together a team that's capable of doing a lot of things well and that can compete with the best. We've already won a race this year, and for us, considering what we've done the last couple of years, that's a milestone. We're excited with where we are and the potential of this program. We're fifth in the points standings heading into Denver and if we continue building on what we've already accomplished, we just might get a little bit better."
29th annual NHRA Mile-High Nationals
GM RACING STATS AND FACTS
* Greg Anderson's back-to-back wins at Englishtown (N.J.) and Norwalk (Ohio) gave the Summit Racing Pontiac driver a class-leading four wins on the season and moved him back into the Pro Stock points lead.
* Anderson's Norwalk victory two weeks ago was the most recent win for a Pontiac and the 186th all time for Pontiac in the Pro Stock category. Of those 186 victories, Greg Anderson has the most behind the wheel of a Pontiac with 53 victories (55 total career wins), Warren Johnson is next on the list with 42 wins and Jim Yates is third with 25.
* Ron Krisher, driver of the Valvoline Chevy Cobalt, was runner-up at this event last year and currently sits ninth in the Pro Stock standings.
* Summit Racing Pontiac driver Jason Line holds the Bandimere Speedway track record for speed in Pro Stock at 195.73 mph.
* After 11 of 24 races on the schedule completed, and just six events remaining before the Countdown to 1 cut at Indianapolis, eight drivers in GM-branded cars occupy a spot in the top 10 of the Pro Stock standings. Greg Anderson (Pontiac) leads the standings with 878 points, Kurt Johnson (Chevrolet) is in second place with 826 points, Jason Line (Pontiac) is third with 777 points, Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Chevrolet) is fourth with 767 points, and Mike Edwards (Pontiac) is fifth with 634 points. Greg Stanfield (Pontiac) is in eighth place with 592 points, Ron Krisher (Chevrolet) is in ninth place with 589 points, and Warren Johnson (Pontiac) is 10th with 534 points. Dave Connolly (Chevrolet) is just outside the top 10 in 11th place with 480 points.
* Chevy Impala SS Funny Car drivers have combined for seven victories so far this year to give the red bowtie the most wins this year in the class. Chevy drivers Tim Wilkerson and Tony Pedregon both have a class-leading three victories each and are 1-2 in the points standings, and Del Worsham drove the CSK Chevrolet to a win in April at Houston.
* Tony Pedregon's win two weeks ago at Norwalk was Chevrolet's 95th all time in the nitro Funny Car category, and it was also the 189th time a Chevrolet had advanced to a Funny Car final round.
* After 11 of 24 races, three Chevy Impala drivers occupy a spot in the top 10 of the NHRA POWERade Funny Car standings including points leader Tim Wilkerson in the Levi Ray & Shoup Chevrolet. Wilkerson leads all Funny Car drivers with 863 points. Tony Pedregon in the Q Horsepower Chevrolet is in second place with 712 points, and Gary Densham in the Racebricks Chevy Impala SS is seventh with 581 points.
A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the NHRA Mile-High Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, July 12, beginning at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Coverage on ESPN2 continues on Sunday, July 13, when NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage starting at 11 a.m. Eastern, and concludes with final eliminations coverage beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
