Mike Edwards sounds like a broken record with the way he talks about qualifying No. 1 on Friday and expecting his run not to hold through Saturday’s final sessions.

What the soft-spoken Pro Stock racer from Coweta, Ok., doesn’t share is the fact that he’s usually the one who beats his Friday run. His 6.587 elapsed time at 209.88 miles per hour during the first two qualifying runs at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago, if it holds, will represent his sixth No. 1 of the season in the first eleven races of the season.

“I think it’s premature for me to be up here tonight because the conditions for tomorrow look like Pro Stock is going to run really fast tomorrow,” Edwards said during Friday evening’s press conference. “We made a really good run tonight and hats off to my guys for making it happen. I was shocked that it ran that fast, I really was.” Mike Edwards sounds like a broken record with the way he talks about qualifying No. 1 on Friday and expecting his run not to hold through Saturday’s final sessions.

What the soft-spoken Pro Stock racer from Coweta, Ok., doesn’t share is the fact that he’s usually the one who beats his Friday run. His 6.587 elapsed time at 209.88 miles per hour during the first two qualifying runs at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago, if it holds, will represent his sixth No. 1 of the season in the first eleven races of the season.

“I think it’s premature for me to be up here tonight because the conditions for tomorrow look like Pro Stock is going to run really fast tomorrow,” Edwards said during Friday evening’s press conference. “We made a really good run tonight and hats off to my guys for making it happen. I was shocked that it ran that fast, I really was.”

“Tomorrow is a new day and conditions are going to change all around,” Edwards said. “Our .58 might be seventh or eighth tomorrow, you never know. We’ll come out tomorrow and race the track and see what we can do.”

Edwards expected at least a 6.59 or a 6.60 in conditions that were nearly identical atmospherically. The track was the largest variable and according to Edwards, it improved considerably for the second session.

Making the adjustment came natural for Edwards. Over the off-season Edwards and Mike Edwards Motorsports team brainstormed the tracks that presented the most problems and how they could adjust to those complexities.

“We went to work on how to race the race track every run,” Edwards explained. “No matter what the conditions were … we wanted to go up there and make the best run we can. I think we’ve gotten better in those areas and our engine program has come around. It’s a combination of a lot of hard work and right decisions.”

Those right decisions made Edwards the subject of some intense NHRA technical scrutiny.

“They tore me apart pretty good,” Edwards confirmed. “They’ve checked me a lot this year and they are welcome to come over and check me any time they would like. That makes me feel better and I believe it makes everyone else feel better too.”

That’s a far cry from the man who was so disgusted with his racing program that he was prepared to walk away from a career that had included national event victories and a sportsman world championship.

“I have to thank my partner Roger Stuff for not allowing me to do what I wanted to do,” Edwards admitted. “It’s pretty fun right now and I have never enjoyed this kind of success before.”

Edwards’ last national event victory at Route 66 Raceway was in 2001.

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