Indianapolis: Mark Pawuk final summary

A Thousandth Of A Second Throws The Cowboy

Pawuk Ends Up 17th For The Sixth Time This Year

INDIANAPOLIS, IN 9/4/06 Mark "Cowboy" Pawuk is leading a charmed life. The problem is the "charms" appear to be voodoo trinkets, because for the sixth time this year he ended up 17th among the Pro Stock qualifiers, with only 16 cars making final eliminations.

"I don't think I've ever been this frustrated in my 21-year Pro Stock career," said the Ohio businessman after his Pontiac GTO missed the cut by a razor-thin thousandth of a second. "It's doubly frustrating watching my Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson go on to win his fourth straight Indy title while I'm on the sidelines. I want to be out there racing against him, not watching."

Pawuk hung on to the 16th and final spot on the list of qualifiers through two tough sessions on Saturday before coming up with his best elapsed time on Sunday morning, only to see it eclipsed by that thousandth of a second by another driver moments later.

"I guess you could say I'm in my can't-catch-a-break mode right now," he said. "We're obviously behind in the horsepower department, but it can't be by more than a pony or two. If we were way behind it would show in our results, but that's not the case. Still, a miss is as good as a mile, and we didn't make the show at the most important drag race of the year, so I won't offer up any excuses. The only thing I can do is promise to keep digging and keep trying."

-credit: mpr