Championship Drag Racing

Mac Tools U.S. Nationals
Indianapolis, IN
(August 29-September 3)

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Driver Profile

Richie Stevens Nitro Fish Pontiac GXP

Indianapolis, prerace: Don Schumacher Racing’s Richie Stevens Jr. left it all on the race track in Reading, Pa., in an effort to make the next section of the Countdown. Unfortunately, the gap between his 10th spot in the Pro Stock standings and the eighth and final spot in the Countdown to Four was too large to close.

But the Louisiana native hasn’t lost any of his fight. With nothing to lose, he may be even more dangerous. Stevens has a burning desire to play spoiler to the seven teams challenging teammate Johnson for the NHRA Pro Stock title (Stevens’ Team/Mopar Valspar Dodge Stratus R/T is tuned by Johnson’s J&J Racing team).

“We gave it a shot, we just came up a little bit short,” said Stevens. “We’re just going to go out there and try to win races. We’ve got nothing to lose as a team. We’ll try a couple of things on the car and try to go for it all instead of being conservative. But it’s really not going to change the approach of the team too much.

“The Countdown is over for me so I can go out there and try to be a spoiler and win races. I can try to hopefully help out A.J. a little bit and take some of his biggest competitors out.”

Stevens has had an up-and-down ride recently at the U.S. Nationals. He hopes 2007 will see him reach the summit with a visit to victory lane.

“The U.S. Nationals is always the best. Every one wants to win that one,” said Stevens. “I came close two years ago and had a runner-up to Greg Anderson in the finals in ’05. I had a terrible one last year. I went from having one of the best races to one of the worst races at Indy the last two years. I went from runner up to a DNQ, so now all that’s left is to win it.”

The runner-up finish at Indy in 2005 was especially meaningful for Stevens. It came after a grueling week that saw the New Orleans resident flee Hurricane Katrina by car and drive to the U.S. Nationals just in time to make qualifying. For a few days, he was unable to contact his parents and sister, who lived in the New Orleans area (they weathered the hurricane safely).

“This [weekend] will also be the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,” Stevens said. “It would be nice to go out there and win it, especially coming off of missing the Countdown to Four.”

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