Championship Drag Racing

Mac Tools U.S. Nationals
Clermont, IN
(August 31-September 5)

EVENT HOME
   Tickets
   Event schedule
   Results
   Team Reports
   Audio Broadcast
   ND staff blog
   Photo Galleries
   Video highlights
   Entry List
   Driver Appearances

Driver Profile

Bob Gilbertson Tradicion Azul Monte Carlo Funny Car

Indianapolis, prerace: Buoyed by a good test session last week at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Bob Gilbertson and his Autolite/Prestone Funny Car team are looking forward to the biggest race of the year, the U.S. Nationals this weekend at IRP.

Testing produced a 4.88-second time slip and Gilbertson believes that they have found the problem that has been plaguing them during the summer.

"We went back to the basic combination that we started off the season with and we went right down the track, I even shut the car off early on that 4.88 run and we're looking to run in the 4.70s to qualify for the Nationals," Gilbertson said. "There's 27 cars entered for only 16 spots and we're going to have to do everything right to make it in the show and we intend to do just that."

"We made some minor changes in the clutch that really made a big difference," co-crew chief Nick Boninfante, Jr. said. "We also got a new blower that helped us out a lot and we're confident that we're going to be able to make some noise this weekend."

Gilbertson, who missed qualifying for four races this season, dropped from a best of fourth to 15th in the NHRA POWERade points standings and he and his team are going to use the rest of the season to test and prepare for 2006.

"We're confident that we'll be in the thick of things at Indy," co-crew chief Tommy Delago said. "We now have a good race car that's responding to the subtle changes we're making and we should be in good shape at the biggest race of the year."

E-mail this article   Print this article