Force, Schumacher teams shine in Las Vegas testing

National Dragster, Feb 4, 2005 by McKenna, Kevin

"What's the big deal? We've 'won' testing before. Having low e.t. here feels good, but in the grand scheme of things it's pretty meaningless. I mean, it's important to run well and to know your car and your combination, but this weekend isn't exactly going to determine who wins the championship." - Whit Bazemore

"We're just trying to refine what we had last year and make the car do what we want it to do. In that respect, back-to-back 4.76s is a pretty decent start." - Gary Scelzi

"I'm still shaking; that was awesome. I've made about 35 to 40 runs over the last year, but that's the first time I've had someone in the other lane. I tried my best not to get distracted. I was just trying to do everything the same way I was taught. I never saw John [Force], and I didn't hear him. After the run, the only thing he said to me was, 'Nice job, kid. I owe you one.' " - Robert Hight on his 4.765 to 4.773 "win" over Force in his first side-by-side pairing

"We don't have a lot of new stuff to test, but we are trying two different chassis designs. We plan to run both of them over the next couple of weeks, then take whichever one is best to Pomona. Right now, I'm running the car that Ron [Capps] drove last year, and it seems to be working pretty well." - Tommy Johnson Jr.

"As soon as I hit the throttle, the car moved really hard, and it picked the front wheels up for a few seconds. Unfortunately, it hurt itself; otherwise, it might have run a 4.49 or 4.50. It was going to be an awesome run." - Morgan Lucas on running a 4.57 at just 276.24 mph Saturday

"Our plan is pretty much to make half passes. We might make one full run, but there is no sense hurting a bunch of parts when you can learn a lot just by going to half-track." - David Baca

"On my first run, it picked the front end up, and as the car moved around, I thought, 'Did I forget how to drive?' Then I came out and ran low e.t., and that felt pretty good. I had confidence last year, and I've got even more this year." - Eric Medlen