Championship Drag Racing

O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals
Topeka, Kan.
(May 30-June 1)

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Driver Profile

Dave Connolly Industrial Distribution Group Chevrolet Cobalt

Topeka, Sunday: Dave Connolly’s streak of successive Pro Stock final rounds at Heartland Park ended unexpectedly at three on a hot Sunday afternoon.  Suffice to say it wasn’t when the Charter Communications/LifeLock Chevy Cobalt driver and team wanted to exit.

The purple Cobalt lurched immediately to the right when Connolly mashed the throttle and he simply shut it off when the car straightened out.  By then, Larry Morgan was well on his way to the round win in 6.772 seconds at 203.22 mph. Connolly coasted through in 14.645 seconds at 56.77 mph.

“It was my fault,” said a disgusted Tommy Utt, the team crew chief.  “I was too stupid to put Dave in the other lane.  We had been having problems with that (left) lane all weekend.”

“We just made a bad run,” added a dejected Connolly.

“I guess it could have been worse,” concluded Utt.

After finishing No. 1 with four consistently good qualifying runs – enough to claim the $1500 Full Throttle Award for the crew – Connolly came from behind to defeat Justin Humphreys in the opening round, 6.737 seconds at 204.32 to 6.769 at 203.03 mph.   Humphreys had a .008 reaction time to a .029, “but I left close enough to him to get the win light,” said Connolly.

Connolly also had two consecutive 2008 final-round appearances coming to Topeka.  He did climb two notches in the standings, leaving in 12^th place with 304 points.

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