TOLIVER OUSTED EARLY IN SEATTLE
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/j_toliver_112259.jpg" alt="j_toliver_112259"align="left"borders="0" />
KENT, Wash., (July 20, 2008) – Jerry Toliver's day ended early at the 21st annual NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways near Seattle. The driver of the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing was defeated in the first round by Gary Densham after losing traction early in the run.
Toliver and Densham were the sixth pair of Funny Cars to square off during round one of eliminations. Toliver left the starting line hard but smoked the tires early in the run as Densham fought to keep his car from crossing the center line (an automatic disqualification). Toliver recorded an elapsed time of 6.111 seconds at 115.32 mph to Densham's winning 4.774/216.13.
"The Rockstar Energy Drink boys gave me a good race car today and it was just driver error," said Toliver, who dropped one spot to No. 16 in the Funny Car point standings. "I almost red-lit. I was just ready to go and I started to leave and I realized at the very second I touched the pedal that it wasn't time to go yet. I was trying to pull back and what that does is give the motor a couple hundred too much RPM and it just upset the whole set-up and the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge went out there and smoked the tires. I just dropped the ball.
"I feel bad for the guys; we worked hard this weekend," added Toliver. "We'll march on to Sonoma next weekend. We've got four more races left (until the cut-off for the top 10 in the Countdown to the Championship) and we've got a good hot rod. We had good success this weekend. We improved our elapsed times and we picked up our 60-foot and 330-foot times, which is what we needed to do. We've got a good race car now and it's time to get it on."
The next race for Toliver and the Rockstar Energy Drink team will be the 21st annual FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., July 25-27.
FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS (unofficial)
1. Tim Wilkerson, 1009
2. Tony Pedregon, 822
3. Robert Hight, 821
4. Ashley Force, 772
Cruz Pedregon, 772
6. Ron Capps, 723 (runner-up today)
7. John Force, 705
8. Gary Densham, 704
9. Mike Neff, 655
10. Jack Beckman, 581
11. Bob Tasca III, 559
12. Del Worsham, 554
13. Gary Scelzi, 523
14. Melanie Troxel, 477
15. Tony Bartone, 452 (winner today)
16. Jerry Toliver, 448
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/j_toliver_112259.jpg" alt="j_toliver_112259"align="left"borders="0" />
KENT, Wash., (July 20, 2008) – Jerry Toliver's day ended early at the 21st annual NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways near Seattle. The driver of the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing was defeated in the first round by Gary Densham after losing traction early in the run.
Toliver and Densham were the sixth pair of Funny Cars to square off during round one of eliminations. Toliver left the starting line hard but smoked the tires early in the run as Densham fought to keep his car from crossing the center line (an automatic disqualification). Toliver recorded an elapsed time of 6.111 seconds at 115.32 mph to Densham's winning 4.774/216.13.
"The Rockstar Energy Drink boys gave me a good race car today and it was just driver error," said Toliver, who dropped one spot to No. 16 in the Funny Car point standings. "I almost red-lit. I was just ready to go and I started to leave and I realized at the very second I touched the pedal that it wasn't time to go yet. I was trying to pull back and what that does is give the motor a couple hundred too much RPM and it just upset the whole set-up and the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge went out there and smoked the tires. I just dropped the ball.
"I feel bad for the guys; we worked hard this weekend," added Toliver. "We'll march on to Sonoma next weekend. We've got four more races left (until the cut-off for the top 10 in the Countdown to the Championship) and we've got a good hot rod. We had good success this weekend. We improved our elapsed times and we picked up our 60-foot and 330-foot times, which is what we needed to do. We've got a good race car now and it's time to get it on."
The next race for Toliver and the Rockstar Energy Drink team will be the 21st annual FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., July 25-27.
FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS (unofficial)
1. Tim Wilkerson, 1009
2. Tony Pedregon, 822
3. Robert Hight, 821
4. Ashley Force, 772
Cruz Pedregon, 772
6. Ron Capps, 723 (runner-up today)
7. John Force, 705
8. Gary Densham, 704
9. Mike Neff, 655
10. Jack Beckman, 581
11. Bob Tasca III, 559
12. Del Worsham, 554
13. Gary Scelzi, 523
14. Melanie Troxel, 477
15. Tony Bartone, 452 (winner today)
16. Jerry Toliver, 448
