FUNNY CAR
"I hated to sit out Houston, (but) it is nice to get back out here with friends and family. It is amazing how many lives Eric touched because he made everybody happy. It is just not the same coming to the races without your teammate and best friend. I was actually without two teammates today (because) John (Force) didn't qualify. That made this whole day sort of weird."
— Robert Hight after beating Ron Capps to earn his first event title of the ’07 season
"Honestly, I'm really humbled to be here. We've all been working so hard for this, I really have to give all the credit to my team. Brian [Corradi, crew chief], Mark [Oswald], Steve [Boggs] and the rest of the guys, they all bust their tails every day, because they know we can do this.”— Mike Ashley after earning his career-first number-one starting slot with a 4.725 at a track-record 334.32 mph. The speed also represented the fastest Funny Car run in NHRA history, but Ashley failed to back it up within the required one percent to establish an official record
"I was given the same opportunities as everyone else. We just didn't get the job done. It's that simple.”— John Force after seeing his streak of 395 consecutive starts come to an unexpected end
"I love what the fans did.”— Force again, on the standing ovation he received while returning to the starting line to watch teammate Hight and his daughter, Ashley, make their final qualifying attempts
"It was so close. I could hear him, but I couldn't see him. That's how close it was."— Gary Densham after getting nipped by Del Worsham’s holeshot in the first round
"I didn't gamble at all this week. I wanted to save my luck for the track."— Ashley Force after beating Cruz Pedregon in round one
"Unfortunately, when we started the car, the Racepak computer went dead, and we couldn't tell what it was idling at rpm-wise. We couldn't tell anything, so we unplugged and plugged it back in, and nothing happened. We did the burnout and backed up, it was completely dead, and we went to download the computer (after the run) and got absolutely no data. So, we don't know if there was a problem, what happened. It was one of those unknown phenomena, I guess.”— Gary Scelzi after losing grip in round one against Jim Head
