Championship Drag Racing

O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals
Bristol, TN
(April 28-30)

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Driver Profile

Mark Pawuk Pawuk Racing Pontiac GTO

Bristol, Saturday: Mark “Cowboy” Pawuk failed to qualify for final eliminations at the NHRA O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway this weekend due to what he termed “driver error.”

Since selling his Pontiac GTO during the Houston race at the beginning of April Pawuk has been utilizing a Chevy Cobalt belonging to his Ohio racing buddy, Ron Krisher, a car that’s somewhat different in terms of driver controls than his previous mount.  

“It was critically important for us to make a good run on Friday evening,” Pawuk said following qualifying on Saturday afternoon.  “We lost that run when I made a mistake in setting the fuel pump inside the car after the burnout.  I didn’t set it correctly, so instead of us getting the fuel load of fuel I essentially shut things off.  When the car left the starting line it just nosed over and quit.

“If we could have made a good run Friday evening that would have set us up to run even better on Saturday, but things are so critical in Pro Stock that if you miss one run it’s just about impossible to catch up.  We missed the run, and obviously, didn’t catch up.

“That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!

“Seriously, there’s nothing funny about this, so I shouldn’t be kidding around.  Racing at this level is a serious undertaking, and I’m just sorry that we disappointed our fans and sponsors by missing the show.  I can only promise that we’ll try to do better at the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Atlanta next weekend.”

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