<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/pittman_cayuga.jpg"align="right"borders="0"/>
GREENVILLE, S.C. - For Pro Modified competitor Alan Pittman the time has come for some serious reflection on the season past and some equally serious thinking about 2007.
With the final race of the 2006 eMax IHRA Drag Racing Series set to go at Rockingham Dragway this weekend, Pittman has a lot on his mind. The Universal Technical Institute World Finals will close out a comeback season that saw Pittman and car owner Mel Bush start strong and win a race in just their third time out. But as the season wore on, they fell on hard times, which was disappointing but not totally unexpected by the team that brought a new car and new engine program to the highly competitive Pro Mod wars.
“We started off real well this year, and I think we just got a little overconfident,” said Pittman, who built the team's unique supercharged 1962 Chevy Bel Air at his AP Race Cars shop in Greenville, South Carolina. “We figured all we had to do was show up and race, and we’d have no major problems. I’ve been doing this long enough that I should have known better, though, and eventually a lot of little things that we overlooked early on came back to bite us. I think a lot of that was just because I’d been away from racing for three years, and my crew and I had to get back into a good routine. That just takes time.”
“I’m real happy with the way the season went, even though we would have liked to have done a little better and finished in the top ten,” said Pittman. “We have a real good car, and Carl Spiering has built us some good motors, so we know we have all the right pieces. We just have to take all the lessons we learned this year and put them into practice. Since we have had some major changes in the crew this year, I’ve had to get a lot more involved with things like the clutch set-up and tuning the car. I got more hands-on experience this year than I’ve ever had, and I think that’s a good thing. It all helps us put the best car possible out on the track.”
“We think we have all of the bugs worked out now, and we want to put on a good show at Rockingham this weekend,” Pittman said. “From there, we have to look ahead to next season, and see where this team will go. Mel and I both want to come back and run the way we know we’re capable of running. Of course it takes a lot of money to run with the big dogs, so we’re looking for sponsor help, just like a lot of these guys. We plan to be back next year, for sure, but right now I’m concentrating on this weekend’s race, because we really would like to finish as strong as we started this year. That will give us a real boost as we go into the off season.”
This weekend’s race is the Universal Technical Institute World Finals, October 20-22, Rockingham Dragway, Rockingham, North Carolina.
Pittman Hoping Lessons Learned This Year Will Prove Valuable at Rockingham and in the Season Ahead
GREENVILLE, S.C. - For Pro Modified competitor Alan Pittman the time has come for some serious reflection on the season past and some equally serious thinking about 2007.
With the final race of the 2006 eMax IHRA Drag Racing Series set to go at Rockingham Dragway this weekend, Pittman has a lot on his mind. The Universal Technical Institute World Finals will close out a comeback season that saw Pittman and car owner Mel Bush start strong and win a race in just their third time out. But as the season wore on, they fell on hard times, which was disappointing but not totally unexpected by the team that brought a new car and new engine program to the highly competitive Pro Mod wars.
“We started off real well this year, and I think we just got a little overconfident,” said Pittman, who built the team's unique supercharged 1962 Chevy Bel Air at his AP Race Cars shop in Greenville, South Carolina. “We figured all we had to do was show up and race, and we’d have no major problems. I’ve been doing this long enough that I should have known better, though, and eventually a lot of little things that we overlooked early on came back to bite us. I think a lot of that was just because I’d been away from racing for three years, and my crew and I had to get back into a good routine. That just takes time.”
“I’m real happy with the way the season went, even though we would have liked to have done a little better and finished in the top ten,” said Pittman. “We have a real good car, and Carl Spiering has built us some good motors, so we know we have all the right pieces. We just have to take all the lessons we learned this year and put them into practice. Since we have had some major changes in the crew this year, I’ve had to get a lot more involved with things like the clutch set-up and tuning the car. I got more hands-on experience this year than I’ve ever had, and I think that’s a good thing. It all helps us put the best car possible out on the track.”
“We think we have all of the bugs worked out now, and we want to put on a good show at Rockingham this weekend,” Pittman said. “From there, we have to look ahead to next season, and see where this team will go. Mel and I both want to come back and run the way we know we’re capable of running. Of course it takes a lot of money to run with the big dogs, so we’re looking for sponsor help, just like a lot of these guys. We plan to be back next year, for sure, but right now I’m concentrating on this weekend’s race, because we really would like to finish as strong as we started this year. That will give us a real boost as we go into the off season.”
This weekend’s race is the Universal Technical Institute World Finals, October 20-22, Rockingham Dragway, Rockingham, North Carolina.
