Pomona: Jerry Haas Race Cars finals

Pomona, Calif. - - Pro Stock Truck driver Charlie Greco, from St. Davids, Penn., who qualified 14th with a pass of 7.542 seconds at179.09 mph, had his day cut short when he was defeated by Scott Perin in the opening round of today's NHRA AutoZone Winternationals. Perin recorded a run of 7.545 seconds at 179. 59 mph. Greco tripped the lights in 7.655 seconds at 178.47 mph in a losing cause.

"We staged a little deep which scrubbed some time off our elapsed time but gave a better reaction time," said Greco. We started drifting out of the groove and suffered some tire shake in third gear. By that time Perin was way out.

"We are already focusing on the next event, but first will do some testing. I feel that I need some more seat time to become more comfortable with the truck. In retrospect, we were pleased with the weekend and our performance."

Greco's teammate Matt Rhoades, from Lake Havasu City, Ariz., who ran a surprising initial run of 7.552 seconds on Thursday, fell just short of making the field and finishing in the 18th position. "We gained valuable experience during our first outing in Pro Stock Truck. We were able to spend additional time in the seat under actual competition conditions. This will payoff down the road," said Rhoades, after qualifying ended.

Team owner Jerry Haas, from Fenton, Mo., plans to head home and regroup. "I've been on the road for three weeks," said Haas, "and plan to go home and take a few days off. Then we'll regroup and test before the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

"We'll check all our computer tapes from this weekend here at Pomona (Calif.). We'll also re-measure the truck to make sure they haven't settled and changed measurements now that we have a few runs on them."

The next event is the Mac Tools Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Fla. The event is scheduled for March15-18.

-Mickey Schultz