Championship Drag Racing

NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals
Las Vegas, NV
(April 6-9)

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Driver Profile

Phil Burkart N/A

Las Vegas, Saturday: Phil Burkart has been battling the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Monte Carlo for a couple of days here in Las Vegas, as the car has shown a propensity for getting the front end in the air well down track, leaving Burkart no way to steer it. He posted a strong 4.870 on his first pass Saturday, then had to abort his final run when the car began to carry the front tires past the 330-foot mark. With the front tires off the ground and the car heading for the center line, Burkart had no choice but to lift off the throttle and call it a day. He will enter eliminations from the No. 7 position, and will face Whit Bazemore in round one.

"We've been making a lot of power all weekend here, all year really, and it's had a tendency to pick the front end up," Burkart said. "Of course, when it does that you can only hope it goes straight because you can't really steer the thing. Sometimes it will dance the front tires enough to allow you to make some corrections, but this time it hauled them up and kept them up, way up. As it got close to the center line, I had to lift or it would have been picking off orange timing blocks, breaking the front A-arms, maybe shedding the body off the car, and all sorts of fun stuff.

"We'll have our hands full tomorrow, running Whit. That's a great team over there, and they've had their share of trouble on Sunday this year. You know they can't go too much longer without busting out, but we just have to do all we can do to make sure they don't do it here. We'll be up for it, I know that. I love a challenge."

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