Scruggs Picks Up Pace to Finish New Corvette for Gateway Drags

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Jason Scruggs figured he would have plenty of time to finish his red ‘63 Corvette and didn’t put a timetable on its completion date.After a forgettable weekend in Houston, the Pro Extreme driver and his team were quickly handed a due date.Scruggs crashed in the third round of qualifying at the ADRL UTI Inaugural Texas Drags, not only ruining his weekend but taking his current ‘68 Camaro out of the equation for the time being.It also sped up the process to complete his new Garret Race Cars-built car in time for this weekend’s ADRL Hardee’s Gateway Drags III from Gateway International Raceway.“We started building it last winter and we were going to debut it a few races ago, but we decided to take our time,” Scruggs said. “When we wrecked in Houston, we had to get it fixed in a hurry. We had to burn some midnight oil to get it done.”The late-night process turned out to be a success, at least considering the circumstances.But given the short two-week turnaround from Houston to St. Louis, Scruggs didn’t get much time in the new Corvette.He made three test passes on a 160-degree track on Wednesday, which serve as the only runs for the car heading into St. Louis.“It’s going to be hard, but we’re going to make the best of it,” Scruggs said. “We should have went a few more laps in the car, but I think it’s going to be a good car.“We’re excited about it. Like I said, we would like to have a few more runs on it, but the car is showing a lot of potential.”Scruggs posted 60-foot times of .930 and .940 on two of the runs and the car stayed straight through each of the passes.But he’ll jump right into the fire on Friday with the first round of eliminations of the previously postponed Independence Drags IV.“We’d like to have 2-3 qualifying runs with this car, but that’s the way it’s worked out,” Scruggs said. “We’ll make the best of it. Hopefully we can win some rounds.”Scruggs also knows he can’t waste many passes after losing his second-place status in Pro Extreme due to the lost weekend in Houston.It only dropped him to fourth, but Scruggs wants to pick up some momentum heading into the final stretch of the ADRL season.“We’re a little behind the 8-ball after Houston, but hopefully we’ll work it all out, go some rounds and hopefully win a race,” Scruggs said.

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