In his second race of 2017, Australian Pro Stock racer Shane Tucker came into raceday No. 13 at the 37th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals. Although that No. 13 seed was his best qualifying position of his season, Tucker fell in the first round of eliminations.
First round, Tucker took on Pro Stock World Champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. Tucker and the Auzmet Architectural/Rob Tucker Racing team did an engine-transplant the night before eliminations in hopes of gaining an edge on Coughlin. Tucker launched in his Chevrolet Camaro and went straight down the boulevard at Atlanta Dragway but at the top end, he had to shove in the clutch because of an engine malfunction. Tucker coasted to a 7.236, 144.03 and Coughlin’s 6.560, 211.26 advanced to the second round.
“When you’re running a limited schedule, every run counts,” Tucker said. “We don’t test either, so you really put yourself behind the eight-ball because you really need every run you can get out here. We just finished our new motor and didn’t have a chance to dyno it properly, so we were going to use it for Q2 through 4. As it turned out, we had to put it in for first round because we bent an intake valve on our first motor. We had a positive weekend all around. We’ll be back in Epping.”
– Shane Tucker media release.
