Darlington Pro Stock Review

Darlington, SC. -- (March 15, 1999) The IHRA season opened in fine fashion for the Stu Evans/Ford Credit Racing Pro Stock team as Chris Holbrook and Stewart Evans qualified No. 1 and No. 10 respectively for the IHRA Prolong Super Lubricants Winter Nationals at Darlington International Dragway.

Unfortunately, persistent rain on Sunday forced IHRA officials to reschedule the final elimination rounds for Saturday, May 8.

Chris Holbrook reclaimed the Pro Stock ET [Elapsed Time] World Record during the second qualifying session on Saturday when he recorded a stellar 6.612 - 209.07 mph blast. Ironically, Holbrook's record-setting pass was against rival Jon Yoak, who had reset both ends of the Pro Stock World Record on Friday with a 6.62 - 210.11 mph run.

"It's great to bring the ET World Record back home to the Stu Evans team," said Holbrook. "We were unhappy when we lost the ET record at the last race of 1998 and then watching Yoak take the miles-per-hour record from us on Friday was just too much.

"ET wins races, but miles-per-hour is for bragging rights, and we want that record [mile-per-hour] back here too."

Both drivers found the tricky Darlington surface to be a true test of their driving skills as their performances during the Friday and Saturday qualifying sessions required their full attention for every inch of the track's 1320 foot length.

"Both of our cars are making a tremendous amount of power and at times this Darlington track would try and take a bite at us," said Stewart Evans. "But Butch [crew chief Peterson] has had a lot of experience on this kind of track and I'm confident he'll keep us consistent going into the final eliminations.

Evans and Holbrook now look to the next race on the schedule - the Amalie IHRA Nationals at Desoto Dragway on March 26-29.