Championship Drag Racing

Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals presented by Pontiac
Commerce, Ga.
(May 1-4)

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David Baca American Racing Wheels Top Fueler

Reports: Sunday Saturday Pre-race

Atlanta, Sunday: It was a match up of rookie drivers when David Baca, driver of the American Racing/Waterloo Tool Storage/YP.net dragster, met Chris Vandergriff, who is competing in his first professional competition, in the opening round of eliminations at the 23rd annual NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Vandergriff, brother of veteran Top Fuel driver Bob Vandergriff, Jr., was away first as the Christmas Tree (starting lights) turned green. Baca, a second generation driver from Brentwood, Calif., began to reel him in and crossed the finish line in 4.603 second. Slightly behind was Vandergriff crossing the stripe in 4.749 seconds. Baca moved to round two, while Vandergriff showed he belongs in Top Fuel.

In the second round against Rhonda Hartman-Smith, Baca and Hartman-Smith switched lanes just prior to starting the engine with Baca taking the right lane. At the start of racing today, the left lane was the lane of choice. Now the choice is the right lane. Lane choice may have been the difference as Baca once again took the win light, this time in 4.783 seconds.

Traction was Baca's downfall in the semifinals against Darrell Russell. Striking the tires at the green light allowed Russell to race to the win. While Baca coasted down the Atlanta Dragway in 11.624 seconds, Russell blazed to a 4.650 second pass at 318.17 mph in the heat of a sunny Georgia day.

"We're rebounding, filling that glass back up," said Baca. "The guys on this team continue to work hard. The hot rod ran well this weekend. In the semifinals I left on the kid (Darrell Russell). I feel a lot better after this weekend's race than I did in Bristol. We're good to go going into E-town (Englishtown, New Jersey).

In the final round, Larry Dixon won Top Fuel by turning back Darrell Russell. With his semifinal appearance, Baca gained one position in points. Baca now has 352 points and holds seventh place in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel point standings after seven of 23 events.

"We're getting back into the thick of the point race. At this point it looks like an eight team race, with maybe two breaking away from the field. The remainder you can throw a blanket over. You going to have a hell of a pick 'em with three through eight," concluded Baca.

Atlanta, Saturday: "Redemption" has been the key word for David Baca, driver of the Henkelman & Baca American Racing/Waterloo Tool Storage Top Fuel Dragster, this weekend at the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

After qualifying ended, the glass for Baca is now half full. Just one week after shouldering the blame for a first round holeshot loss at the NHRA Mac Tools Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., Baca removed some the weight from the previous weekend by qualifying third (4.566 seconds at 318.99 mph) for tomorrow's eliminations.

"There is no doubt that I'm halfway back," said Baca. "First there was the deal at Bristol, then I had an error in the first round on Friday. To bounce from 13th Friday to third today is good for the group. Tomorrow is a new day but today we really shuffled the deck. This whole American Racing/Waterloo Tool Storage/Skill Clean team is looking forward to tomorrow."

Baca, a second generation rookie Top Fuel driver from Brentwood, Calif., will square off against Chris Vandergriff, who is competing in his first professional race. This will be the first match up for the pair in head-to-head competition.

"Wow! Another rookie. Isn't that interesting? You've got to be in the field to win. Once in, anybody can go to the head of the class. I'm going to pull in, do my job and hopefully turn on the win light. I've still got the other half of that glass to fill," concluded Baca.

Atlanta, pre-race: The key word for rookie Top Fuel driver David Baca, from Brentwood, Calif., driver of the Henkelman & Baca Motorsports American Racing/Waterloo Tool Storage dragster, is "redemption" at this weekend's 23rd annual NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Unhappy with his performance at last weekend's Mac Tools Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway is glad that there is only a short time between last week's race and this week's events.

"Crew chief Johnny West gave me a great racecar last weekend, I lost focus. Car one, driver zero," said Baca, who resides in Brentwood, Calif.

"This weekend the key word is 'redemption.' Fortunately, I don't have to wait two weeks to try and redeem myself. We've got a pretty good hot rod here and a great bunch of guys. I don't want to let those guys down again. I'm hard enough on myself. No one needs to tell me I made a rookie mistake. The thing for me now is to learn from that mistake.

"I'm excited about going to Georgia. I'm in the flooring business and a lot of my carpet suppliers are based in and around Dalton, Ga. We're hoping to get a large number of those executive out to Commerce (Ga.) and give then a taste of NHRA POWERade Drag Racing and entice them to bring some of their dollars and invest in our team, a team for the future. Atlanta Dragway is an awesome track and it would do justice to the word 'redemption' if we could set some noticeable performance numbers."

Thus far this season, Baca has qualified for all six NHRA events. He established a career best when he qualified third at the SummitRacing.com Nationals. Reaching the semifinals at Gainesville and Las Vegas, Baca is currently eighth in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel point standings.