NHRA: Houston NHRA Pro Stock Thursday Notes
19 March 1998
CHEVROLET NOTES AND QUOTES PENNZOIL NATIONALS NHRA WINSTON DRAG RACING SERIES HOUSTON RACEWAY PARK
PRO STOCK TRUCK
LARRY KOPP, ACCURATE BINDING/G-FORCE TRANSMISSIONS CHEVY S-10, is No. 1 qualifier, 7.738/173.21 mph. Kopp campaigns a new Jerry Haas chassis, with engines built by Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins. Kopp is from Baltimore, Md. He is a regular competition eliminator racer.
ON BEING THE FIRST PRO STOCK NO. 1 QUALIFIER IN FIRST QUALIFYING SESSION: "Well, we came here with all intentions of being No. 1 qualifier and winning the race."
ON THE NEW CHEVY S-10 TRUCK: "Basically, these trucks are the same as Jerry Haas and John Lingenfeltr ran, Jerry probably refined the chassis to fit some of the new rules a little bit. But basically the truck is the same height, width, weight and motor configuration as before."
ON MANUALLY SHIFTING: "That's all I've ever done in my career. That's where I figured maybe I would have a little bit of an advantage, because I never air shifted, electric shifted."
HOW QUICK CAN THESE TRUCKS GO? "We figure about what I ran would be a stellar run. I think my truck might go into the 7.60s. We have plenty of speed to do it. If the truck stays good enough then the weather is going to play a factor in it. This is just a real high for us right now. It's great. I just hope we can come here and continue to be No. 1 qualifier. To win the race would be totally, absolutely mind-boggling."
IS THIS CATEGORY A GOOD PLACE FOR SOMEONE WANTING TO MAKE THE TRANSITION TO A PRO CLASS? "It is if they want to commit to be a professional type racer. Those in Super Stock and other classes are not used to working on their cars. You can't just park the truck and then just pick it up and go race. The Pro Stock Truck takes the same amount of maintenance as a Pro Stock Car. You have to follow in their footsteps."
ON SELECTING A JERRY HAAS-BUILT CHEVY S-10: "He's built all my previous race cars in the past, all three cars. He's great. If you have a technical problem, he's there to help you solve it and make it better."
JERRY COULD HAVE BUILT YOU A CHASSIS FOR ANY BODY, WHY CHEVY S-10? "I've always run Oldsmobiles in the past, I always had a tie with General Motors, and I've always run small-block Chevys."
ON BILL JENKINS' MOTORS: "I always wanted him to do the engines for me with the technical expertise he has with the specific splayed-valve head we're running. He's at the top of the heap right now."
DID YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO TEST? "When I was down here for the Super Bowl race in January I ran the truck with a Chevy engine we borrowed from Lingenfelter. We figured we would be close because I knew kind of what it would take to get it down the track. We're there. Hopefully we will stay there."
HOW MANY PASSES HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE TRUCK: "Just five before these two today."
JERRY HAAS, CHEVY S-10 (No. 6 qualifier, 7.838/172.21): "The truck is brand new. We didn't get to test. This is the first day, first time we're running. We just started it up and went on the starting line. We ran an .87 on the first run. It was balking on the starting line and we looked at the data and it's not what we wanted to see. We picked up five hundredths in the second run, but it's still pretty flat in second gear. We have to figure that out. After that it takes off and runs pretty good."
ON SEEING HIS CHASSIS IN NO. 1 SPOT WITH LARRY KOPP: "I'm really pumpted up. That gives us something to shoot for. Larry's chassis is identical to what we have. His has the earlier body configuration, which we have changed and made better since. (Jerry Haas' and John Lingenfelter's S-10s have the '98 Chevy S-10 noses on them.) But he's running real well."
ON STRUGGLING TO GET TRUCKS BUILT IN TIME FOR THIS WEEKEND: "I'm just glad to be here today. A week ago this truck didn't even have primer on it. We had a miracle week. The guys in the shop did an outstanding job. Jim Hooker, the painter, did a fantastic job putting the paint scheme on it."
JOHN LINGENFELTER, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVY S-10 (No. 5 qualilfier 7.836/168.53, 171.33 earlier): "I've been better. We're working here trying to straighten out what's wrong. We're having the same problem Jerry (Haas) is having. We're just glad to be back. It's just a struggle at the moment. I only got the truck on Monday."
