Defending NHRA Pro Stock champion Mike Edwards wasn’t excluded from the weather issues which hampered every team at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals. He was one of those drivers who pulled to the staging lanes for his first qualifying run only to be sent back to the pits multiple times when rains fell throughout the first day of the event staged outside of Chicago.

Even though he drove to the No. 1 spot in the field with a 6.660, getting those numbers wasn’t exactly business as usual.

“It’s tough on everyone,” said Edwards. “It’s tough on us, the NHRA, the fans, the Safety Safari guys. My hat’s off to them. They did a tremendous job fighting the weather.”

Defending NHRA Pro Stock champion Mike Edwards wasn’t excluded from the weather issues which hampered every team at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals. He was one of those drivers who pulled to the staging lanes for his first qualifying run only to be sent back to the pits multiple times when rains fell throughout the first day of the event staged outside of Chicago.

Even though he drove to the No. 1 spot in the field with a 6.660, getting those numbers wasn’t exactly business as usual.

“It’s tough on everyone,” said Edwards. “It’s tough on us, the NHRA, the fans, the Safety Safari guys. My hat’s off to them. They did a tremendous job fighting the weather.”

If his run holds through Saturday qualifying, it will mark the eighth time this season he’s gone into race day as the No. 1 seed. Edwards has 30 pole positions in his career.

“The track was really good for me as I believe it was for most of the Pro Stock teams out there,” Edwards said. “[The weather] was something we all had to deal with out here. I think we must have come to the staging lanes at least three times. We got the session in on Friday and hopefully we won’t have to deal with as much rain on Saturday.”

The day maintained a slow operating pace and the delayed qualifying and that’s not the ideal day for a champion of Edwards’ caliber.

“You want to get going,” Edwards said, “Everyone else had the same circumstances we did, so you just try to do your best. We were ready to go since it was the first run. You think you know what to expect, but you’re not sure.”  

But for Edwards’ competition, they knew what to expect. When the conditions are their toughest Edwards is too.