Indianapolis: Dave Connolly preview

Dave Connolly Hopes to 'Get the Job Done' in Pro Stock At U.S. Nationals; Plans to Run Super Comp Dragster, Too

Still irked he let an important round win get away from him in Memphis, Dave Connolly is doubling his effort to improve his focus for the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals by doing duty in two race cars.

The driver of the SKULL Gear Pro Stock Chevy Cobalt, currently third in NHRA POWERade Series points, plans to also compete in Super Comp.

Connolly, 23, came up through the Sportsman ranks and has two Super Comp national event wins to go with his nine Pro Stock victories, including four (Atlanta, Topeka, Denver and Brainerd, Minn.) this season.

"I feel pretty good going into this race," said Connolly. "We've had a good race car in the last few races and good horsepower under the hood. The guys at Victor Cagnazzi's engine shop are working on some new parts that are making more horsepower. Maybe we'll be able to catch up to Jason (Line, current Pro Stock point leader, 1,245 points) and Greg (Anderson, No. 2, 1124).

"I had a car that could go some rounds at Memphis (August 20), but I didn't get the job done," Connolly continued. "The pressure is on me to redeem myself at Indy. I think we have a shot at winning the U.S. Nationals. It's something I've always wanted to do. It's our biggest race of the year.

"Driving the Super Comp car will help me on the 'tree (starting line lights) . . . help me concentrate. This is a long race and you don't want to lose concentration."

Connolly, one of the best at leaving the starting line first, was peeved with his performance at Memphis. He had a mediocre reaction time (.051-second) against Warren Johnson in the opening round. He had lane choice and the quicker elapsed time, 6.768 seconds to 6.814 seconds, but went home early because Johnson had a .024 reaction and won by four-thousandths of a second.

Connolly has worked his way up from 12th place in the last 11 races. The climb began when Tommy Utt took over as crew chief. Connolly has 1,074 points, four wins and one runner-up finish since then. "We decided to take the car back to Victor's shop (in Mooresville, N.C.) after Memphis so the guys could work on the engine instead of testing at Indy (August 22-23)," said Connolly. "I think it will pay off because we should have more power under the hood. We had a choice to make and I think, in the long run, we made the right decision. We hope we have a good weekend."

-credit: dcr