Thanks to the increase and improvement of top talent in Pro Nitrous, Steve Vick is driving the best car he’s ever had in his career.Thanks to the class-wise development, that career-best car is still looking to cement a spot in the LenMar Motorsports World Finals VI.Vick and his ‘68 Camaro is performing better than it ever has, but Vick is still sitting in ninth in the points standings in Pro Nitrous, another testament to how good this class has become in 2010.“A lot of new people have come in, there’s a lot of new money coming in, and there’s a lot of things happening, no doubt,” Vick said. “It has made a lot of people step up their game, including me. “This is the best car I’ve ever had.”The North Carolina native is just 90 minutes from Rockingham Dragway, meaning Simpson Dragstock VII on Sept. 10-11 has been marked on Vick’s calendar all year.With the way 2010 has gone, he might have added some underlines and a couple more circles around that date.Only two races remain before “The Battle For The Belts” in October and Vick (pictured) knows he must perform well at his home track to break into the top eight.“I’m looking to do good these next two races and get back in that top eight,” Vick said. “I’m feeling real good right now and I hope we feel as good when we leave (Rockingham).”Minus a first-round exit at the Hardee’s Gateway Drags earlier this month - Isais Rojas had a near-perfect light to win - Vick and his team appears to have solved a clutch issue that led to inconsistency, frustration and first-round exits at ADRL races in April, May and June.Vick had a strong weekend in Houston in late July, advancing to the semifinals at both Dragpalooza and the Texas Drags.He went 3.93, but lost on a holeshot to Johnny Pilcher by a mere three feet at the Texas Drags, and couldn’t get his car fixed in time after it smoked in a second-round win at Dragpalooza.“We found our problem we had the first of the year,” Vick said. “We changed our clutch and it’s made a huge difference.“It seems like we’ve got a good hold on it. In Houston, we had eight back-to-back runs without any issues and we had four good runs in St. Louis (during qualifying).”But it still hasn’t been enough to get in the top eight, though he’s just 91 points behind Pat Stoken.Vick’s current spot in Pro Nitrous, though, is likely more an example of the category’s rapid ascension as a whole.“It’s always competitive now,” Vick said. “If you show up at a race and there’s 25 guys there, there’s probably 23 that have the car to get into the field, and there’s probably 12 of them that are good enough to be in the top eight.”Vick is currently among that group, but he doesn’t want to be on the outside looking in come October.He estimates he’s passed out more than 4,000 tickets for Rockingham, and, in two weeks, he’ll be looking to make it worth the trip for all those fans.“A lot of benchmarks have been set at Rockingham and there’s going to be a lot of fast times this year,” Vick said. “Hopefully I’m part of them.” (Photos by ADRL/Richards)
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Can Career-Best Car Lead Vick Into Top 8 in Pro Nitrous?
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