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Burkart managed to wrestle his near-bare chassis to a stop without further incident and exited the cockpit unhurt. "It was flying down there, on a really strong run, and then it started to spin the tires just a little past half-track," said Burkart. "I kept my foot in it because it was still going, then, 'Boom!' I was aiming for the finish line, and the next thing I knew, I was getting peppered with parts and pieces. I reached for the parachute levers and couldn't find them. That's when I realized what had happened, so I shut the fuel off and got on the brake.
The car was really pulling to the right. Turns out that something must have punctured the right front tire because it was flat and the car really wanted to find the wall. When I got out and took a look at it, I couldn't believe it." Using the same Monte Carlo body that the team used prior to Houston, Burkart ultimately qualified 10th with a last-ditch 4.946 but slowed to a 5.02 and lost to Bob Gilbertson in round one.
Densham making headway: Gary Densham snapped his two-race nonqualifying streak only to find Houston winner Robert Hight waiting for him in round one. It was the first meeting between Densham and Hight, who drives John Force's Automobile Club of Southern California Mustang, the same car that Densham drove for the last four years. "Those guys are my pals and they always will be," said Densham. "I wish them the best of luck, except when I race them. Robert is a great young man, and I'm happy for him to have that opportunity. It took two years to build that team, and I think that at this point in time it's one of the best in the pits, if not the best. They do a great job, and I have a ton of respect for them, but, obviously, I want to beat them." Unfortunately for Densham, he'll have to wait for another day. After qualifying 13th with a 4.958, he smoked the tires against Hight, who made the quickest run of eliminations, 4.88. "It looks like we're finally getting the motor to where it's supposed to be, but we're still struggling in the clutch depart ment," said Densham. "Every run we seem to get a little better, so we're either going to go broke or get good. If we can manage to stay out here, I'd like to think that by the time we get halfway through the year we can be a threat to win."
Tough break for Wilkerson: After struggling with a setback blower configuration at the first couple of races, Tim Wilkerson has scuttled that experiment and seems to be back on track. Now all he needs is a little luck. Wilkerson turned in his best qualifying effort since Brainerd last year with a third-best 4.809 and beat Del Worsham in round one with a 4.91, the second-quickest run of the round. But in a bizarre second-round race against eventual runner-up Tony Bartone, Wilkerson's Levi, Ray & Shoup Monte Carlo rattled the tires and shook the parachute from its pack. "I felt the car shudder, and when I pedaled it, it took off," said Wilkerson. "Then, all of a sudden, it started smoking the tires. I pedaled it again, and that's when I heard [crew chief Fred] Mandoline on the radio say, "The chute's out.' I'm just upset that we got beat by a 5.3. I told Fred that if we got past the first round, the other guys were in trouble. Then we give away the second round. But that's okay. At least the car seems to be back."
Same ol' story for Scelzi: For the second straight race and third time this season, Gary Scelzi lost on a holeshot. After qualifying No. 1 with a 4.797, Scelzi beat Eric Medlen in round one with a 4.93 before losing by .003-second to a slightly quicker-leaving Cruz Pedregon in round two, 5.00 to 4.99. "Except for the first 60 feet, he was kicking our butt at every incremental," said Scelzi. "The car was down on rpm at the hit [of the throttle]. It had one less degree of timing on it, and it didn't react. We looked at the video frame by frame, and I hit the gas at almost exactly the same time that I did on the .074 the round before. Yeah, it's a holeshot loss, but the weird thing about it is that both races the last two weeks were decided by .00333-second. If you add that up, it's .00666-second, so there's a devil in there somewhere. People keep asking me what's wrong, but I really don't think there's anything wrong. In Houston, I was knocking the Tree down throughout qualifying, and I was doing the same thing here, but, for whatever reason, I'm the idiot that's getting left off. I'm sick of hearing about it, but when you put yourself in the spotlight, that's part of the game."
Cruz reaches semi's again: Houston runner-up Cruz Pedregon reached the semifinals for the third time this season before losing by .004second to eventual winner Whit Bazemore. "We lost a cylinder early, nearly at the hit of the throttle, and I never did see him," said Pedregon, who was two-hundredths quicker out of the gate but slowed to a 5.11 against Bazemore's 5.08. "I could kind of hear him, but we were ahead the whole way before he nipped us I in the lights. I've always heard that if you lose a cylinder at the hit, it's worth a tenth or tenth and a half, so the car probably would have run a 4.95 or 4.96. But it was a good weekend. In Phoenix and Gainesville, I was a little off and the car was a little off, but in Pomona, Houston, and at this race, we've been right there."
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