We learned a lot about the car and what we need to do to win last week in Seattle. The first-round loss hurt, but we're better for it. Sarver's lap drew a large gasp from crowd because one of his header exhaust assemblies dislodged near the finish line and began to drag on the ground, sending a huge shower of sparks into the night air. Don Sosenka drove his Mr. Magoo machine into the 16th and final position with a partially shut-off lap of 6.253 seconds at 156.90 mph. The elapsed time set a new Sears Point Raceway track record and put his GM Goodwrench Service Plus Trans Am comfortably out in front of the provisional field.
Failure is a real good teacher.
We took our notes from Denver and from here last year and found a good tune-up. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow before I start celebrating. The conditions will be every bit as good then as they were tonight. Ron Krisher, who has taken the pole four times this year including last weekend in Seattle, is the closest driver to Johnson on the ladder. He drove his Eagle One Pontiac Firebird through a nice 6.952-second lap at 199.14 mph.