Rookie Shaun Carlson Completes TMile-high Nationals
2006-07-13 NHRA MEDIA - - Pro Stock Rookie Shaun Carlson has been busy during the past few weeks testing a new Jerry Haas-built Dodge Stratus R/T that he will campaign for the remainder of the 2006 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series for Don Schumacher Racing, beginning at this weekend‘s Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.
Carlson and his Mopar team took full advantage of the two-week mid-season break and tested at Bandimere Speedway immediately following the Midwest Nationals in Madison, Ill. They also tested yesterday for one day back at St. Gateway International Raceway (Madison, Ill.) before heading west on I-70 towards Denver.
The California native is pleased with the test results and his new Team Mopar/SRT Dodge Stratus R/T. “The testing at Bandimere went well. All of the DSR team drivers tested great, and we continue to find things out about our cars,” said Carlson. “My new car is 35 pounds lighter than my old car, and one of the problems we have figured out is that we didn‘t have the weight located the best way possible on the old car. Jerry (Haas) put a lot more carbon-fiber pieces on this new car, so we can arrange the weight similar to Richie‘s (Stevens Jr., teammate). We think that is really going to help us with our 60-ft. time, which has been a constant problem for us all season.”
As for the July 11 Gateway test session, “Yesterday we worked with the small things. With a new car there are so many things that can go wrong, and the last thing we would want is to have something like brake lines go bad, or have the car turn left or turn right real hard, or something weird. Terry (Adams, co-crew chief) worked with the four-link suspension as well, ” he said.
Carlson is eager to do well for Mopar this weekend, “Not only do you have a lot of true racing fans with Mopar, but you have a lot of casual fans at this event because of what Mopar has done to promote it and themselves,” he added. “I‘m going to be down at the Mopar Big-Block Party in Golden tomorrow night hanging out and having a good time with the fans. We‘ll have several of the DSR team cars down there, Dodge concept vehicles, and I‘m actually going to have my new Dodge Charger Formula Drift car and the Dodge Viper Drift car there.
“Then on Friday the racing starts, and we can concentrate on getting into the show and doing a good job for Mopar. It‘s their race and one of their cars should win it.”
