Race report

NHRA

Consistent result for Massey at Pomona

Spencer Massey: "My goal was to do better than I did here last year and we did."

Published: Feb 10, 2014, 9:14 PM

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Spencer Massey

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 9, 2014) - At the 2013 NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Spencer Massey lost the first-round race on a holeshot to fellow Texan Steve Torrence. And Massey's held on to that memory for a year.

Spencer Massey

Photo by: Todd Steitle

He wasn't about to let that be the story at the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season opener. Instead, the tale is about an incredibly consistent 10,000-horsepower Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher dragster.

Through four rounds of qualifying, Massey posted two 3.76-second runs and one 3.77-second run. During Sunday's eliminations, the Battery Extender team led by crew chiefs Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara tuned Massey to two 3.78-second runs before falling in the semifinal round to No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta. Out of seven runs this weekend, six of them were in the 3.7-second range. Not an easy feat for a nitro-fed machine.

"All in all it was a pretty good weekend," Massey said. "My goal was to do better than I did here last year and we did. I didn't lose on a holeshot."

"But it's almost like this was our test session. We tried so many different things in Florida (in January) that we came in here with some new parts so basically this was testing for us all over again. And it wasn't too shabby for seven runs this weekend. It's very consistent. We ran a bunch of 3.7-second laps. We only lost by three thousandths at the finish line to the No. 1 qualifier so we can't hang our heads."

And Massey knows how consistency pays off through the 24-race Mello Yello season.

"Consistency wins races, wins championships," he said. "In 2011 we were very consistent and we came within three thousandths of a second from winning the championship. We have the consistency so now we need to get after it a little more so the car can start running in the low 3.70s.

"It would be nice to be the fastest guy out here. We'll work on that when we get to Phoenix in two weeks."

DSR

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