Did the lack of fanfare from Snake Racing when it came time for the grand announcement of SkyTel as the replacement sponsor for Miller Lite contribute to ESPN2’s producers leaving out any coverage of it during the ESPN2 Qualifying show? After the long winter’s night Dixon and crew chief Bender managed “bracket car” numbers in qualifying, ending up 6th at 4.504. Dixon went out in a first round loss to Bob Vandergriff’s UPS backed car.
Erica Enders seems to have dropped from her previous “star” status, seldom qualifying since her switch to a former Schumacher Mopar. Some members of the NHRA PR staff are striving to keep the flame alive for the “popular” driver who seems a clear victim of early overexposure to the media in her short career. She sounded uncomfortable and unprepared in her national event commentary on the PA system during Pro Stock eliminations.
In her defense she probably didn’t know she was going “on air” until Sunday morning when she was expected to give “expert” analysis. No matter the lectures from her “media advisors,” the move out of Cagnazzi Racing and rejection of their sponsor Revive Energy Drink now seems questionable. If Ashley Force is “Nitro’s Child” then Erica must be “Gasoline’s Girl.”
Competition Eliminator graduate and Texas Pro Stock rookie Rodger Brogdon’s Mopar Pro Stocker qualified 12th with help from crew chief and engine builder David Nickens. Nickens also was found in the Enders Racing pit over the weekend and will apparently help Enders for a couple more races. Nickens will be assisting Brogdon and he helped tune the new Stratus to a 6.67, but it’s unclear how much longer Mr. Nickens will be assisting Enders Racing.
“Hot Rod” Fuller drove his Rob Flynn-tuned dragster to the No. 2 qualifying position with a stout 4.481-second pass. Reportedly there is a lot of tension in the Powers Motorsports camp between Flynn and Lee Beard, and Fuller making it to the semis at Pomona by defeating the Lee Beard-tuned, Matco-sponsored car driven by Whit Bazemore in round two probably didn’t help. There’s been no word from Powers about additional sponsorship for the car which will move Valvoline to associate status after the first two races, other than “Rod Fuller is under contract to drive through the end of 2007”.