Toliver Hopes Denver Qualifying Position is a Lucky One

Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver hopes 13 is a lucky number for him as he qualified the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy 13th on the Funny Car grid for tomorrow's eliminations at the 30th annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway. Toliver drove his Jim Dunn Racing entry to an elapsed time of 4.269 seconds at 296.50 mph.

"The CANIDAE car is running good," Toliver said. "It's making some power and we're very pleased with it. I think after the first session today we had the second-fastest speed next to (No. 1 qualifier Ron) Capps, so that tells us this thing is making some power. My hat's off to Big Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn). We'll put it back in the box tonight and go run this thing tomorrow.

"Bandimere is one of those tracks where anything can happen on race day," Toliver said. "The tune-up on the car doesn't repeat itself anywhere, we don't run a mile-high altitude but once a year, the air is thin, so nothing you do here applies to what you do at any other race track. With that being said, it's also a great facility and the fans just pour in here. God Bless 'em yesterday with threatening weather, and then the rain, but they stuck around. Now we want to put on a good show for them tomorrow. It's kind of anybody's game up here. If you've got a race car that can get down a hot track, it's going to be interesting. "

In tomorrow's first round Toliver faces No. 4 qualifier Jack Beckman for the first time this season. Beckman's teammate Ron Capps is qualified No. 1 with a 4.121 elapsed time at 297.22 mph.