Brogdon refocused on bigger picture as Brainerd race looms
(8-15-2012) TOMBALL, TX – Rodger Brogdon knows he's taking a big leap of faith by rolling out a brand-new 2012 MAVTV Chevy Camaro with a brand-new motor from his recently acquired engine shop all at the same time, but heading into this weekend's Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, the gutsy Texan figured he had nothing to lose.
"We know we might have to struggle a little bit right now in order to be a championship caliber team in the long run," Brogdon said. "We'll go to Brainerd but I don't think we'll set any national records. We feel like we can make four good runs and get qualified but the reality is we're in testing mode for 2013."
Brogdon and racing partner Steve Kent made the difficult decision to skip the three-race Western Swing in order to better their program. After consulting several of their peers, Brogdon and Kent realized the only way to truly contend for the championship was to build their own powerplants. The first move was purchasing Elite Motorsports, an engine-building facility in Oklahoma.
The initial motors from Steve Kent Racing went into service at a recent test, where Brogdon also introduced his new Camaro.
"Testing went OK," Brogdon said. "We've still got a lot to work out and it's going to take more than six or seven runs in testing to figure it all out.
"We've had our typical new car issues. We had air lines blow off. The car shoots left at the launch and I'm not used to the restricted sight lines in this car. I'm not liking that part of it at all right now because it feels like I've got about half the vision that I'm used to in the Pontiac. There's just a whole bunch of new car issues."
Brogdon said getting up to top speed is going to be a process as the chassis and body problems need to be worked out before they can really start getting a fine tune-up on the engine.
"The engines are decent and they're a great starting point for us," Brogdon said. "We just need to get that chassis more consistent before we can really start working on them hard. We've got a lot of plans in the works to start making the engines better, but it just takes time to order parts and get them in the car.
"We're excited to go to Brainerd if for no other reason than to get back in a racecar. We may surprise some people, who knows. For sue, we're going to have some fun out in the Zoo with the fans. It's the best place in the world to mingle with the people that support our sport."
Qualifying for the Lucas Oil Nationals gets under way at 2 p.m. CDT on Friday from Brainerd International Raceway. Qualifying continues at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday with eliminations starting at 11 a.m. Sunday. The qualifying show will air at 11 a.m. EDT on Saturday on ESPN2 and the eliminations show airs starting at 9 p.m. on Sunday.
Please visit
www.MavTV.com and
www.LucasOil.com for more information.
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