2006-04-27
Team Mopar/SRT Dodge Stratus R/T driver Shaun Carlson‘s rookie season in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Pro Stock class has been everything but what the successful NHRA Sport Compact driver expected. It has featured the highs of winning the coveted second seat on Don Schumacher Racing‘s Pro Stock team to the lows of not qualifying at the season‘s first four events.
Carlson is back on a high since qualifying for his first event of the season three weeks ago in Las Vegas, and is ready to continue moving forward and upward at this weekend‘s O‘Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.
He‘ll be adding to his Pro Stock experience under new crew chief David Nickens, named last week to head Don Schumacher Racing‘s Pro Stock teams. Alongside the successful tuner with Mopar ties, who has six Pro Stock wins as a crew chief, is newcomer to the team Mike Sullivan, a clutch specialist with whom Carlson has worked at his NuFormz Racing shop in Ontario, Calif.
“It‘s awesome working with Mike again,” says the Southern Californa native. I have been working with him for the last four years. We click well together. He knows what I want, I know what he needs, so the communication between us is unbelievable.”
Both Carlson and his teammate Richie Stevens Jr. are testing at Atlanta Dragway (Commerce, Ga.) this week before Bristol. “I‘m trying to stay out of everyone‘s way right now,” says Carlson, “so David and Mike can do their thing and have things the way they want.
“I‘m excited as all heck to get adjusted and hop in the car this weekend. I really want to get this Team Mopar/SRT Dodge in the field safely, and I don‘t see any reason we can‘t get in the top half of the field with all of the tools that (team owner) Don Schumacher and Mopar have provided us.”
Nickens is upbeat about joining the DSR Pro Stock effort and working with Carlson. “I‘m very excited about this challenge, and I think we‘ll be in pretty good shape very soon,” he says.
“Shaun is good worker and has a great attitude. We just have to put him in a position to go out there and win races. He can do it. He can do a very good job in this class, and he has the most important thing, and that‘s the will to win. In very short order, we‘ll have him whipped into shape, and find out what he‘s been lacking to put him in a position to get to the winner‘s circle.”
SHAUN CARLSON QUICK FACTS: * Qualified for his first event of 2006 in Las Vegas. * Rookie season in Pro Stock class * First year with Don Schumacher Racing * Was named second DSR Pro Stock driver after February ‘06 test session at LVMS * Owned and drove his Team Mopar SRT4 in the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series in 2005, grabbing one win and finishing fourth in points. * Finished fourth in 2004 Sport Compact points standings * Is a two-time Sport Compact event winner * Subbed for an injured Darrell Alderman in the 2004 NHRA Winternationals Pro Stock event at Pomona, grabbing an early round win and nearly advancing to the semifinals in his Pro Stock debut * Finished third in ‘03 Pro FWD points * 2002 Xbox Cup champion in the Pro Outlaw class * A famous engine builder and FWD performance guru, Carlson has worked on projects such as the world record-holding import drag car driven by Stephan Papadakis. * First FWD builder to run in the 9s and 8s. * Built the first Sport Compact drag car with a tube chassis * Has been drag racing professionally since 1999 * President and founder of NuFormz, an 11-year-old company that builds aftermarket components in Ontario, Calif.
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