Baytown: Lee Callaway preview

Callaway set to make hometown splash with Meyer tune-up.

BAYTOWN, Texas - In any sport, when playing in front of the hometown fans, you always give an extra effort to get a win. NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster racer Lee Callaway has those thoughts on his mind going into this weekend's Division 4 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Houston Raceway Park, just minutes away from his home in Baytown, Texas.

For this weekend and the rest of the season, Callaway has teamed up with his good friend and two time Division 4 Champ Jay Meyer to call the tuning shots on his Blown Alcohol Dragster. He also will debut a new carbon fiber Chuck Haase' wing, which has a more aerodynamic profile and is several pounds lighter than the unit he has now.

Coming into this weekend's event, Callaway is currently second in Division 4 standings, with only three points separating him and fifth place driver Troy Buff. This weekend's event is also the last event Division 4 drivers can earn points towards the Jegs Sportsman All-Star race where the top points earner in every class from NHRA's seven geographical divisions will compete. The points are also very close in that race, essentially giving the spot to whoever does the best this weekend.

"We're pulling out all the stops for this weekend's race," said Callaway. "We've teamed up with Jay Meyer; he's going to give us some tuning help. He ran really well the past two years before he sold his car this year. We have his fuel system and clutch program on the car now. We took it out and tested here a few weeks ago, and had a very favorable results in similar conditions to what we will see this weekend. We plan to do some more testing on Thursday before the event. We're doing everything we can to insure a good performance this weekend. We really want to win the All-Star spot, and ultimately win the Division Championship. We have everything in place to do it, it's just a matter of doing it."

The race is scheduled to be ran as a night race, which Callaway feels will lead to much better conditions opposed to running it during the heat of the day.

"I'm really glad they decided to run this race at night," stated Callaway. "Houston Raceway Park is one of the best tracks in the world, but even it can get greasy in the middle of Texas heat. Running at night will give us much better air and track conditions to run in. We're shooting to be able to keep this car in the low .50's this weekend, and maybe even run some .40's. From the testing we did in the middle of the day, I think the car has it in it."

Qualifying will start Friday evening, followed by one final session Saturday afternoon. Final eliminations will begin Saturday evening. Stay tuned to InsideTopAlcohol.com for the latest news in alcohol racing.

For more information about Chuck Haase' chassis, wings, and custom fabrication, visit his website at HaaseEnterprises.com

-cr-