Pomona, prerace: Bob Gilbertson is optimistically confident going into this weekend's CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at the historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif. Since 1961 the Winternationals has been the kickoff race of the NHRA drag racing season and Gilbertson, buoyed by his team's performance at the recent Las Vegas test session, is looking forward to getting back on track and competing with all the new cars and teams that will be racing nitro Funny Car this year.

"This is going to be a big year for the nitro Funny Car category," Gilbertson said. "With Kenny Bernstein coming out of retirement and (John) Force's daughter Ashley racing in the class along with all the other teams it's going to be a war. Being a single-car team it's going to be tough to even qualify but with the way my car ran in Vegas last weekend I'm sure we'll be able to compete at the top level. We went to the semi-final round at this race last year and I'd like nothing better than to improve on that finish this Sunday afternoon."

Although Gilbertson didn't make a full quarter-mile pass in testing, his incremental numbers were some of the best of all the nitro Funny Cars who tested.

"Tommy D (Delago, crew chief) made some wholesale changes to the car and the tune-up and it seems to me that we've got a lot more power than we did last year and if I do my job as a driver, I'm sure we'll definitely be a spoiler. Who knows. with a little luck maybe we could even win the Winternationals."

TELEVISION SCHEDULE:

Saturday, February 10, 2207 Qualifying 10:00 PM - 12:00 AM ET (ESPN2)

Sunday, February 11, 2007 Eliminations 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM ET (ESPN2)

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Thanks for sharing this info, Jackee!
Go Gilby!