Shane Heckel Rusk2 preview

Will Hanna

Administrator
Jan 19, 2006
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Great State of TEXAS
Heckel heads back to Rusk for round 2

RUSK, Texas - What was originally scheduled to be a two race swing has turned into a three week swing as NHRA Competition Eliminator driver Shane Heckel heads back to Cherokee County Motorsports Park in Rusk, Texas, for this week's resumption of the rain delayed Division 4 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event held there. The race was postponed due to rain after the first round of eliminations.

Heckel, who helps run the family business HHH Car Ports and the family chassis shop Ballistic Racecraft in LaPorte, Texas, comes into the event fresh off of last weekend's O'Reilly Midwestern Nationals in St. Louis, which was the week after the original Rusk event. Despite losing in the first round in St. Louis, Heckel is optimistic about his chances coming back to a track he is more familiar with in his B/Dragster.

"We never caught up with the track conditions in St. Louis," said Heckel. "In qualifying the starting line was pretty bad, then it was real good on Sunday, and it just drove through the clutch. We ran pretty good in Rusk a few weeks ago, so hopefully we can pick up where we left off. We're going to get there early on Friday and test a few things."

Heckel qualified No. 4 in Rusk with a 6.744 (-.546 under the index), and received a competition single in the first round when his scheduled opponent Adam Hickey left the grounds. Heckel is slotted to run Clark Smiley's F/Super Mod in the second round.

"We're definitely not looking past the second round," stated Heckel. "We just hope to get around Clark and worry about the next round if we get there. Clark has a good car and I know he has good power because he runs a TRE engine just like we do. That car has done better every lap down the track, so we're not taking them lightly."

Eliminations will resume on Saturday. Stay tuned to InsideCompRacing.com for the latest news in Comp Eliminator.

Contact: Will Hanna/ Pro Race Communications
Email: [email protected]