Gary Stinnett will begin his NHRA Sportsman points season this weekend with the same confidence he brings to every season — he always believes he has a good shot at winning a world championship.
Stinnett has two of those in his long and distinguished drag career, and the Emporian knows exactly what it will take to win a third: a combination of having the right car, his driving ability and what he calls “that four-letter word: luck.”
“When we pull through the gate, we have the ability to win both classes everywhere you go to,” he said. “So it’s basically either the driver’s fault or bad luck that you don’t win.”
Stinnett’s quest to find the championship mix in 2009 begins today in Ennis, Texas, where he’ll race this weekend in both Super Stock and Super Comp competition in his first points-race action of the season. He won world titles in Super Comp in 1998 and 2005, and he’s coming off division championships in both classes last season, giving him 14 division titles since 1995. In the world championship rankings last year, he ended up third in Super Comp and 16th in Super Stock.
This weekend’s Lucas Oil Divisional race at the Texas Motorplex will begin a season with an outlook and focus that’s no different from any other. Stinnett will once again race his own rear-engine dragster in Super Comp and Dennis Musch’s 1992 Camaro GTA automatic in Super Stock, and go for the fastest runs he can put up. He’ll also compete in a few Stock Eliminator events in his 1969 Camaro SS.
“Same as every year — you’d like to win a world championship in one of the two classes,” he said. “And I have the cars to do it and the ability to do it.”
So what’s left is that final component he doesn’t have much control over: the L-word.
“The dragster, it was new a year ago, and it was one of the best cars on the circuit last year,” he said. “I finished third. I actually tied for second, but I lost the tiebreaker, so I finished third. And the difference between third and first was just like one round victory, so you could have been a world champ last year with just a little luck on your side at any race.”
Stinnett’s season in his two main classes will consist of eight division series races and eight national events for NHRA’s Full Throttle series. After this weekend’s competition, he’ll have three weeks off before he races at Great Bend for another divisional race on the weekend of April 25.
In addition to his 2005 title, Stinnett has come close in Super Comp in other recent years. He placed second in 2003, fourth in 2007 and third last year. He’ll do as much as he can to give himself another shot at a crown — while knowing there’s only so much that’s in his control.
“I mean, I can go out and have a stellar year, and if somebody has a better year, there’s nothing you can do about it,” he said. “Unfortunately, this is not a defensive sport. I can’t put the guy in the wall, like they can in NASCAR. All I can do is try to rack up as many points as possible, and then stand back and hope it’s enough.”