Stott scores runner-up in Valdosta
VALDOSTA, Ga. - Quain Stott rolled into the ADRL's 4th Annual Hardee’s Georgia Drags with one thing on his mind - to go rounds. While going rounds is like money in the bank for the Columbus, North Carolina based LeeBoy Paving Equipment team, Stott knows going rounds in elimination is not a given.
"These Pro Mod cars are finicky," Stott explains. "One day you can look like a hero, the next day a chump." Fans of the ADRL and the purple and white LeeBoy Corvette have had a hero more often than not as Stott and his team enjoy a league leading .762 winning percentage at ADRL events. "We really like running these outlaw events," said Stott. "They're action packed, the fans love it and at the end of the night someone has bragging rights."
After a slow qualifying session, Stott began planning for the elimination rounds. "We didn't qualify as well as we wanted," he said. "Once we figured out that we had a blower problem it was really to late to do anything about it. We have 45 minutes between rounds, it's pretty much 'run what you brung' once eliminations start. But we had some old school, poor boy, tuning tricks that we used to compensate for that blower. Normally that blower will make more boost that I can use. We'll just have to dig into it when we get home."
Horsepower helps Stott in Rockingham
COLUMBUS, N.C. -- Quain Stott found some additional horsepower on his LeeBoy Equipment 1963 split-widow Corvette this past week during the IHRA Spring Nationals in Rockingham. The additional boost would give Stott an needed edge to propel the former World Champion into the top half of the field.
"There was five of us all packed together with 6.11s going into the final round of qualifying," Stott said. "I knew we were going to have to turn it up a notch if we were going to qualify well."
The 6.095 that Stott's LeeBoy team registered Saturday night would be good enough to place them in the number eight position. "With the Sportsman ladder that we run over here in IHRA the #8 spot is not a bad place to be," Stott continued.
Stott celebrates 34 seasons of racing - 12th season with LeeBoy Equipment
COLUMBUS, NC - Every season when Quain Stott rolls into the Rockingham Dragway, it's like a homecoming. Stott, a North Carolina native calls the drag strip situated in the sand hills of eastern Carolina home. Thirty-four season later, Stott will again make the trip this week for the IHRA Spring Nationals April 18-20.
"I started racing a '67 Camaro when I was 15-years-old," Stott explains. "I don't want people thinking I'm too old."
While Stott may have started young, he's been around long enough to see many changes in the sport. One of the biggest changes that Stott sees is the effect money has had on the sport. "When I started it took a lot of talent to drag race. Now it seems money out-weighs talent. It's a long way from where I started."
