CANNISTER: WE’RE STILL FOCUSED
Thu, 2008-09-25 12:29
Two weeks have passed since Laurie Cannister officially clinched the
IHRA Alcohol Funny Car title and she’s kind of at a loss
of what to do
with herself.
Sure, she still has a focus on racing.
There’s no longer a reason for them to make fifteen calls back and forth with husband/tuner Dale Cannister passing along ideas as to what could make the Kevin and Wendy Sims Alcohol Funny Car run quicker.
They only need about nine to get the job done.
“We’re still very much focused,” said Cannister, who stands as the only IHRA professional to have clinched a championship prior to next month’s World Finals in Rockingham, N.C. Two weeks have passed since Laurie Cannister officially clinched the IHRA Alcohol Funny Car title and she’s kind of at a loss of what to do with herself.
Sure, she still has a focus on racing.
There’s no longer a reason for them to make fifteen calls back and forth with husband/tuner Dale Cannister passing along ideas as to what could make the Kevin and Wendy Sims Alcohol Funny Car run quicker.
They only need about nine to get the job done.
“We’re still very much focused,” said Cannister, who stands as the only IHRA professional to have clinched a championship prior to next month’s World Finals in Rockingham, N.C.
“I’m a little more relaxed and not so tensed up about the whole competitive thing. We are going into Rockingham all out and gunning to win it. The intensity is definitely there. It’s a sigh of relief that we don’t have to worry about the points anymore.”
When one has a 188 point lead with only one event remaining in the season, the pressure tends to subside.
Cannister’s points gathering spree began with a victory at the season-opening IHRA Texas Nationals in San Antonio, Tex., and that was the start of what has become a five win season (out of nine events). She holds a 20-4 win/loss record headed into the final event.
So dominant was Cannister’s performances that she drove undefeated into the fourth race of the season before losing in the final round at the IHRA Motor City Nationals in Milan, Mi., to Tom Carter.
“You remain so focused throughout the year because you know what you want so badly and when you finally get it, now we can go test without worrying about losing our edge,” Cannister said. “We were more than determined to make this championship happen. Thankfully we were able to have all the right pieces to put it together and the great crew to make it happen.”
Cannister gives a great deal of credit to crew chief Mike Couch for putting her in the position to even drive again. It was Couch who provided the call she’d waited five years for, enabling her to return to driving again.
Couch called on behalf of the Sims.
“He asked me if I was interested in driving and I said, ‘of course I am, I’ve been waiting for this call for five years,” Cannister recalled. “For all of this to have evolved from that just amazes me. It was the call of a lifetime.”
Bear in mind, 2008 isn’t the first time Cannister has won a world championship. She was the last driver to claim a Pro Outlaw world championship in 2000 before the class was disbanded.
“That one was a hard-fought and intense situation because it went down to the wire,” Cannister admitted. “We won it by six points. I remember that championship being a constant panic.”
Cannister said she was just as much focused for this season’s championship as when she won her previous title eight years ago because as she so simply put it, “We don’t know any other way to be.”
The reality that she’s going to carry the No. 1 on the Sims’ Kalbones Grill’n Sauce car is just hitting her.
“It’s all starting to sink in,” Cannister admitted. “I can tell you that realizing we won the championship is not a feeling that’s getting old. In fact, it’s exciting.”
of what to do
with herself. Sure, she still has a focus on racing.
There’s no longer a reason for them to make fifteen calls back and forth with husband/tuner Dale Cannister passing along ideas as to what could make the Kevin and Wendy Sims Alcohol Funny Car run quicker.
They only need about nine to get the job done.
“We’re still very much focused,” said Cannister, who stands as the only IHRA professional to have clinched a championship prior to next month’s World Finals in Rockingham, N.C. Two weeks have passed since Laurie Cannister officially clinched the IHRA Alcohol Funny Car title and she’s kind of at a loss of what to do with herself.
Sure, she still has a focus on racing.
There’s no longer a reason for them to make fifteen calls back and forth with husband/tuner Dale Cannister passing along ideas as to what could make the Kevin and Wendy Sims Alcohol Funny Car run quicker.
They only need about nine to get the job done.
“We’re still very much focused,” said Cannister, who stands as the only IHRA professional to have clinched a championship prior to next month’s World Finals in Rockingham, N.C.
“I’m a little more relaxed and not so tensed up about the whole competitive thing. We are going into Rockingham all out and gunning to win it. The intensity is definitely there. It’s a sigh of relief that we don’t have to worry about the points anymore.”
When one has a 188 point lead with only one event remaining in the season, the pressure tends to subside.
Cannister’s points gathering spree began with a victory at the season-opening IHRA Texas Nationals in San Antonio, Tex., and that was the start of what has become a five win season (out of nine events). She holds a 20-4 win/loss record headed into the final event.
So dominant was Cannister’s performances that she drove undefeated into the fourth race of the season before losing in the final round at the IHRA Motor City Nationals in Milan, Mi., to Tom Carter.
“You remain so focused throughout the year because you know what you want so badly and when you finally get it, now we can go test without worrying about losing our edge,” Cannister said. “We were more than determined to make this championship happen. Thankfully we were able to have all the right pieces to put it together and the great crew to make it happen.”
Cannister gives a great deal of credit to crew chief Mike Couch for putting her in the position to even drive again. It was Couch who provided the call she’d waited five years for, enabling her to return to driving again.
Couch called on behalf of the Sims. “He asked me if I was interested in driving and I said, ‘of course I am, I’ve been waiting for this call for five years,” Cannister recalled. “For all of this to have evolved from that just amazes me. It was the call of a lifetime.”
Bear in mind, 2008 isn’t the first time Cannister has won a world championship. She was the last driver to claim a Pro Outlaw world championship in 2000 before the class was disbanded.
“That one was a hard-fought and intense situation because it went down to the wire,” Cannister admitted. “We won it by six points. I remember that championship being a constant panic.”
Cannister said she was just as much focused for this season’s championship as when she won her previous title eight years ago because as she so simply put it, “We don’t know any other way to be.”
The reality that she’s going to carry the No. 1 on the Sims’ Kalbones Grill’n Sauce car is just hitting her.
“It’s all starting to sink in,” Cannister admitted. “I can tell you that realizing we won the championship is not a feeling that’s getting old. In fact, it’s exciting.”
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