Chad Wilson Sparkles in his 10.5 Debut

HOUSTON - If you can't win, put on a good show and make the highlights, right? Chad Wilson, driver of the AMS Staff Leasing '57 Chevy, took that old adage to heart as he put on a spark-filled display in his debut behind the wheel of the 2,500 Extreme 10.5 car at the ADRL RacingJunk.com Dragpalooza II at Houston Motorsports Park last weekend.

"It was a good show, I have to say that," laughed Wilson.

The AMS/Rage clutch-man-turned-Extreme 10.5-drag-racer explained that crew chief Howard Moon had decided to push the car in his set-up, but that the track was better than they expected. The extra traction had Wilson riding a wheel-stand off the line and down the track where it slammed down, drug the underside of the car and made a shower of sparks for the more-than 10,000 fans in the stands.

From the No. 6 qualifying position, Wilson squared off against Rodney Rosentiel for the first round of eliminations, but was easily dispatched, running his wheel-standing 7.82 to Rosentiel's 4.47.

"We'd been working hard on the car, trying to get things worked out, and, honestly, I was just glad to be able to qualify in my first outing," he said.

Wilson's teammate Troy Critchley said he couldn't agree more. "For Chadley to go out there and do that well for the first time racing behind the wheel of a 2,500 horsepower alcohol car is not bad at all. He's going to have a great year," Critchley said.

Wilson added, "It was so cool to have all those fans and our sponsors there, and I was glad to give them a good show. I can't say thank you enough to [sponsors] Dave Wood and Tommy Lipar. I know it will be a lot of fun this year."

Wilson will be back in action as clutch-man and transport driver for the AMS/Rage team in Gainesville, Fla. March 15-18, and will take another shot behind the wheel of the Extreme 10.5 April 13-15 at the ADRL SpeedTech Winter Drags in Montgomery