Working with a near all volunteer crew, veteran Top Fuel driver Doug Herbert took it to the regulars in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway.

Just prior to final eliminations Herbert talked about what it meant to be in the finals for such a historic event.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Herbert. “We’ve got a great bunch of guys working on this car. Proud as I can be of them and what we’re accomplishing here. A lot of the Irwin Tools guys, first race that they’ve even came out to the races. So to come out here and go to the final round, I think we’re spoiling them. We’re sure liking it.”

Working with a near all volunteer crew, veteran Top Fuel driver Doug Herbert took it to the regulars in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway.

Just prior to final eliminations Herbert talked about what it meant to be in the finals for such a historic event.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Herbert. “We’ve got a great bunch of guys working on this car. Proud as I can be of them and what we’re accomplishing here. A lot of the Irwin Tools guys, first race that they’ve even came out to the races. So to come out here and go to the final round, I think we’re spoiling them. We’re sure liking it.”

Unfortunately Herbert finished fourth behind Cory McClenathan, Doug Kalitta and Antron Brown. Along the way, Herbert finished second to Antron Brown twice, with the second being the closest of the two battles.

Herbert, competing on a very limited schedule, admits to putting of effort into a single event.

“We've been working on the car the past month to come out here and run this race,” said Herbert. “I actually only have one full-time guy on my race team right now. The guys working on the car, I talked them into taking the day off Friday from all their NASCAR team jobs. Then, today they had to call in sick and take another day off.”

Prior to running the final round Herbert felt he had the same chance to win as his three competitors. Had, that is, until a mechanical problem ended his run. A run he refused to feel disappointed over.

“We had a linkage break on us in the final. You know what, it was a success to get to the final.

“The track has been awesome. I don't think the track has been a problem ever. It's been good enough to tear the tires off my car. I don't know if my check from NHRA will cover my tire bill. We didn't come here to worry about that. We came here to win the race and we got pretty close.

“I think it was a little bit more (equal),” Herbert added when asked if the format tilted fate in his favor. “The lanes, to me, seemed all equal. The thing I found was during qualifying I was trying to figure out the lights. Yesterday I figured out I was only running in one lane. That is really all that matter. After I did that, everything was fine. It was normal.”

Herbert has one more race he will run for sure, possibly two.

“I know for sure we're going to run the fall race here for Irwin Tools. We're going to try to run Bristol, too.”