MIKE EDWARDS “I WANT TO BE OUT THERE”
Pro Stock competitor Mike
Edwards said he did the best thing he knew to do to fix his DNQ situation – he
stayed home. The 15-time NHRA national event winner and driver of the Young
Life Pontiac has been MIA on the tour since the rescheduled Bristol event.
Fans of Edwards can
breathe a sigh of relief. He hasn’t quit. He’s just sorting through his
problems by testing. Once he’s done, he’ll return.
“Maybe Reading, but Indy
for sure,” Edwards said. “We are just struggling in the engine department.
We’re not competitive, so what’s the sense in going to the races if you can’t
qualify? I just don’t see the need in wasting the effort and the money it
takes. I want to feel that I have a halfway chance. I really want to be back
out there.”
Edwards has been testing
at Tulsa International Raceway, but the extreme temperatures gripping much of
the country in the last month have limited his efforts. Lately, he has limited
his testing to the early morning hours.
“We’ve made a little headway, but we’re not sure if that is what it takes to qualify,” Edwards said. “We’re just going to keep working at it.”
Pro Stock competitor Mike
Edwards said he did the best thing he knew to do to fix his DNQ situation – he
stayed home. The 15-time NHRA national event winner and driver of the Young
Life Pontiac has been MIA on the tour since the rescheduled Bristol event.
Fans of Edwards can
breathe a sigh of relief. He hasn’t quit. He’s just sorting through his
problems by testing. Once he’s done, he’ll return.
“Maybe Reading, but Indy
for sure,” Edwards said. “We are just struggling in the engine department.
We’re not competitive, so what’s the sense in going to the races if you can’t
qualify? I just don’t see the need in wasting the effort and the money it
takes. I want to feel that I have a halfway chance. I really want to be back
out there.”
Edwards has been testing
at Tulsa International Raceway, but the extreme temperatures gripping much of
the country in the last month have limited his efforts. Lately, he has limited
his testing to the early morning hours.
“We’ve made a little
headway, but we’re not sure if that is what it takes to qualify,” Edwards said.
“We’re just going to keep working at it.”
Edwards conceded prior to
his sabbatical from the tour that his chances of making the Countdown to the
Championship were slim to none. He’s in preparation mode now, working towards a
more prosperous 2008.
“We just get a chance to
go out there and evaluate what we have for 2008,” Edwards said. “That’s all we
can do. The points aren’t a factor in this. We are just trying to get
competitive again. We are so far behind now that we’re going in a new direction
to see if things we are trying will be better for us in the long run.”
Edwards isn’t certain
where things went wrong, but he has an idea.
“We just got into a bad
situation with a ring package,” Edwards said. “We just got going in the wrong
direction. We feel we are headed in the right direction now, though.”
Edwards said he wanted to
apologize to his sponsors and fans for taking this route. He said he had to do
what was right to correct the problems.
“I feel really bad for
those who have supported us,” Edwards said. “Pontiac, ART, Mac Tools, Ferguson,
Murengo, and Young Life … have all been understanding with our situation.”