Bill Reichert Gainesville preview

Reichert looking to kick off Championship defense in Gainesville

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Defending Two-Time NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster Champion Bill Reichert will kick off his Championship defense during this weekend's AC Delco Gatornationals at the famed Gainesville Raceway. Reichert hopes to start the year where he left off in his Rislone Engine Stabilizer A/Fuel Dragster after closing last year with a win in Pomona, Calif.

Reichert, who runs the family business, Reichert Racing Engines, in Owosso, Mich., hopes to use the same formula this season that proved successful the past two seasons.

"We don't have any major changes planned," said Reichert. "We're definitely hoping for the same result as the past two years; hopefully we can do as well. Gainesville has always been a good track for us. The track and the conditions usually let us run pretty fast. It's a nice place to race and we enjoy going down there."

"After Gainesville, we're pretty much going to run the same schedule we always do," Reichert continued. "We're going to have to make a couple of changes since they've moved a few races around. We have good data for the tracks we've run at the past couple years, and we're keeping our fingers crossed we can have another great year. Bar's Leaks the Monkey will be riding on board again as well."

After resetting both ends of the national record in the class in Houston last season with runs of 5.10 seconds at over 284 mph, Reichert cites it will be difficult to exceed those numbers this season due to NHRA reducing the percentage of nitro the A/Fuel Dragsters can run from 97% to 96%.

"It's hard to say how well we can run this year," commented Reichert. "Each time they take a percent away, it definitely takes power away. We're giving it everything we got; we don't have anything up our sleeve. That 5.19 we ran in the final at Pomona was pretty stout. The car was working pretty hard to run that."

"It's really been a dream come true to win these two championships," added Reichert. "We've worked so hard for so many years and came close so many times, to finally win it, and to win it with my longtime sponsor Rislone and Bar's Leaks, it really feels good. We'll be flying the Rislone Engine Stabilizer colors this year, so hopefully we can represent them well. The car really looks good with the new logos. We run Rislone Engine Stabilizer in our engine every run and it works well, too."

Qualifying begins on Friday for the alcohol cars with two sessions, followed by one final session Saturday morning. Eliminations begin Saturday afternoon and final eliminations will conclude the event on Sunday.

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Contact: Will Hanna/ Pro Race Communications
Email: Will.Hanna@InsideTopAlcohol.com