EDWARDS QUIETLY LEADING THE CHARGE
Tue, 2007-03-27 19:16
In this era of multi-car teams and well-funded racing budgets, NHRA Pro Stock
driver Mike Edwards seems to quietly be leading the charge as a one-car wonder
in his class. As a single-car team, Edwards finished fourth in the final NHRA
POWERade points standings last year, and the Oklahoma native is coming off a
semifinal appearance at Gainesville (Fla.) two weeks ago and sits third in this
year's early points standings as he prepares his Young Life Pontiac GTO for this
weekend's 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park on
March 30-April 1. Edwards is the defending event champ at Houston as he
narrowly defeated fellow Pontiac driver Jim Yates in last year's final round for
his first win in nearly four years. Edwards visited the winner's circle again
at St. Louis and also had runner-up finishes at last year's season-opener at
Pomona (Calif.) and Dallas.
In this era of multi-car teams and well-funded racing budgets, NHRA Pro Stock
driver Mike Edwards seems to quietly be leading the charge as a one-car wonder
in his class. As a single-car team, Edwards finished fourth in the final NHRA
POWERade points standings last year, and the Oklahoma native is coming off a
semifinal appearance at Gainesville (Fla.) two weeks ago and sits third in this
year's early points standings as he prepares his Young Life Pontiac GTO for this
weekend's 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park on
March 30-April 1. Edwards is the defending event champ at Houston as he
narrowly defeated fellow Pontiac driver Jim Yates in last year's final round for
his first win in nearly four years. Edwards visited the winner's circle again
at St. Louis and also had runner-up finishes at last year's season-opener at
Pomona (Calif.) and Dallas.
"We were extremely pleased with the year we had last season," Edwards said. "I still have a hard time believing that we finished where we did. We finished ahead of a lot of good teams who I have a tremendous amount of respect for. It's going to be even tougher this year. There are more good teams coming in with good drivers and that's only going to raise the bar even more in NHRA Pro Stock. Our job is to keep working hard to meet the challenge. It's nice to get off to a good start like we did last year. Believe it or not, that was what propelled us through the entire year.
"The fact that we qualified for every race is what probably pleased me the most. To finish in the top five was awesome, but you have to qualify to actually put yourself in a position to finish that high, and to be one of only four teams to do that says a lot about this program. You travel to 23 different events and face 23 different sets of variables from air temperature to altitude to track conditions, going from Denver where the corrected altitude can be up to 10,000 feet at times, and then racing two weeks later in Sonoma where you're competing again at sea level. That's a pretty big feat in itself and I'm pretty proud of that."
Edwards is in his sixth year associated with Young Life, and he and his wife Lisa have established an inspiring program with the youth ministry organization to help mentor young kids by hosting a group in nearly every race market on the 23-race NHRA circuit. Every round win by Edwards also results in a kid being able to attend a Young Life camp.
"Last year was the second season that we did the 'Send a Kid to Camp' program," Edwards said, "and with the help of various race teams and sponsors, we were able to send about 175 kids to camp. That's really incredible when you sit down and think about it - 175 kids that got to go to camp that otherwise wouldn't have, spending a week in a positive setting where they are the top priority. To give that many kids that opportunity is quite a feat. It's been an awesome deal and we would like to keep that program growing every year. Lisa started it a couple of years ago and now it's really taken off. We would like to get more teams and more companies involved. Lisa has actually attended a Young Life camp and has seen just how outstanding they are
"We were extremely pleased with the year we had last season," Edwards said. "I still have a hard time believing that we finished where we did. We finished ahead of a lot of good teams who I have a tremendous amount of respect for. It's going to be even tougher this year. There are more good teams coming in with good drivers and that's only going to raise the bar even more in NHRA Pro Stock. Our job is to keep working hard to meet the challenge. It's nice to get off to a good start like we did last year. Believe it or not, that was what propelled us through the entire year.
"The fact that we qualified for every race is what probably pleased me the most. To finish in the top five was awesome, but you have to qualify to actually put yourself in a position to finish that high, and to be one of only four teams to do that says a lot about this program. You travel to 23 different events and face 23 different sets of variables from air temperature to altitude to track conditions, going from Denver where the corrected altitude can be up to 10,000 feet at times, and then racing two weeks later in Sonoma where you're competing again at sea level. That's a pretty big feat in itself and I'm pretty proud of that."
Edwards is in his sixth year associated with Young Life, and he and his wife Lisa have established an inspiring program with the youth ministry organization to help mentor young kids by hosting a group in nearly every race market on the 23-race NHRA circuit. Every round win by Edwards also results in a kid being able to attend a Young Life camp.
"Last year was the second season that we did the 'Send a Kid to Camp' program," Edwards said, "and with the help of various race teams and sponsors, we were able to send about 175 kids to camp. That's really incredible when you sit down and think about it - 175 kids that got to go to camp that otherwise wouldn't have, spending a week in a positive setting where they are the top priority. To give that many kids that opportunity is quite a feat. It's been an awesome deal and we would like to keep that program growing every year. Lisa started it a couple of years ago and now it's really taken off. We would like to get more teams and more companies involved. Lisa has actually attended a Young Life camp and has seen just how outstanding they are
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