Lee Excited to Get Back On Track at Firebird

With back-to-back races to kick off the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season, race teams have a chance to redeem themselves if they turned in a less-than-desired performance at the season-opening Winternationals at Pomona last weekend. Such is the case with Funny Car veteran Paul Lee and the Jim Dunn Racing team as they prepare for this weekend’s 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway just south of Phoenix. Despite missing the 16-car field at Pomona, Lee, a first-year driver of the CANIDAE Pet Foods/Lucas Oil/WileyX Chevy, is confident the team can shake off the cobwebs and turn in a solid performance at Firebird.

“(Pomona) was just one of those weekends; pretty much if something could go wrong it did,” Lee said. “The first two runs were a little sluggish because of the fuel system, but once Big Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) got some of that down, the third run had a .910-second 60-foot time and should do that every time. If we can get the 60-foot times under control then we’re going to do good, and at Pomona we started to do that. So that’s a good sign and a positive we can take away from the weekend.”

The 52-year-old Lee is a four-time national-event winner in the Funny Car category, winning once in 2008 in the IHRA Nitro Funny Car class and three times in 2004 in NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car. The former CFO of Boninfante Clutches now owns McLeod Clutches, a California-based high-performance clutch shop.

“One of the things I brought to the team this year with Nick Boninfante was our clutch tune-up,” Lee said. “We said to Jon (Dunn) and Jim (Dunn) that part of the goal this year was to help the team with their short times. Big Jim has the other half of the track. He makes plenty of power and his cars always run fast at the top end. I think this is a good combination with this clutch tune-up and his power, so I’m excited to get back on the track at Phoenix.”

A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the NHRA Arizona Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD on Sunday, Feb. 21, beginning at 2:00 a.m. (ET). Coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD continues on Sunday, Feb. 21, when NHRA Race Day kicks off eliminator coverage starting at 11:00 a.m. (ET), and concludes with three hours of final-eliminations coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks