BAKER'S CINDERELLA STORY CONTINUES
Fri, 2008-03-28 07:23
Cinderella received her second chance at
greatness when the clock struck midnight. For Jegs NHRA Pro Modified
driver Joe Baker, the night is still young. He’s entering this
weekend’s NHRA O’Reilly Springnationals in Baytown, Texas armed with
another load of good fortune thanks to the team he knocked out in the
opening round of the NHRA ACDelco Gatornationals in Gainesville,
Florida.
The experience is mind-boggling for the current points leader and Gatornationals champion who originally didn’t have an invite to the race he won. Baker will drive for Gotham City Racing this weekend, filling in for Roger Burgess, who has business commitments.
“I was very fortunate the way the situation worked out,” Baker, a former Top Sportsman standout, said. “The way things worked out, I was in the show for the first Pro Modified event and then I wasn’t when the sponsorship of the series changed. Then, Roger and Mike asked me to drive at certain events and then the invite for Gainesville came though after I'd agreed to their request. All the planets were in a row for sure. Cinderella received her second chance at greatness when the clock struck midnight. For Jegs NHRA Pro Modified driver Joe Baker, the night is still young. He’s entering this weekend’s NHRA O’Reilly Springnationals in Baytown, Texas armed with another load of good fortune thanks to the team he knocked out in the opening round of the NHRA ACDelco Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.
The experience is mind-boggling for the current points leader and Gatornationals champion who originally didn’t have an invite to the race he won. Baker will drive for Gotham City Racing this weekend, filling in for Roger Burgess, who has business commitments.
“I was very fortunate the way the situation worked out,” Baker, a former Top Sportsman standout, said. “The way things worked out, I was in the show for the first Pro Modified event and then I wasn’t when the sponsorship of the series changed. Then, Roger and Mike asked me to drive at certain events and then the invite for Gainesville came though after I'd agreed to their request. All the planets were in a row for sure.
“This experience has been a roller-coaster of emotions for me.”
This time Baker enters a Jegs ProMod event with a healthy abundance of Chuck Ford horsepower unlike Gainesville where he was the sixteenth, the final seeded entry into the field. The Baker storyline takes several other twists such as his status as test driver a week earlier for Gotham City Racing, ironically driving the car that qualified on the pole and he inevitably defeated in the first round.
Baker drove by a tire-shaking Mike Ashley in the first round before stopping Scott Ray in the quarters. He then beat Kirk Kuhns before being declared the winner in a sordid Gatornationals final against Raymond Commisso.
Commisso was en route to a clear victory when his car got out of shape and made contact with the retaining wall and crossed the center-line.
“I probably should have gone to Las Vegas,” Baker said, as he laughed. “Someone was definitely on my side that week. You do get breaks from time to time in this sport. I figured I’d made enough deposits into the lucky breaks bank that I was due to make a withdrawal.”
Baker’s latest withdrawal will be this weekend when he fires the Corvette normally driven by Burgess. Burgess gets a hearty laugh out of the set of circumstances facing Baker. He shakes his head in disbelief.
“Before the Gainesville event, I asked Joe if he wanted to drive my car in Houston,” Burgess admitted. “If I hadn’t already promised it, I might be taking the offer back. He’s is a very good driver and with my car he’ll be a handful in Houston.”
For Baker, he’s focused on the big picture.
“You couldn’t ask for any better than Chuck Ford and Howard Moon,” Baker said. “Those are two of the best out there. This team that Mike and Roger have assembled is first class.”
The experience is mind-boggling for the current points leader and Gatornationals champion who originally didn’t have an invite to the race he won. Baker will drive for Gotham City Racing this weekend, filling in for Roger Burgess, who has business commitments.
“I was very fortunate the way the situation worked out,” Baker, a former Top Sportsman standout, said. “The way things worked out, I was in the show for the first Pro Modified event and then I wasn’t when the sponsorship of the series changed. Then, Roger and Mike asked me to drive at certain events and then the invite for Gainesville came though after I'd agreed to their request. All the planets were in a row for sure. Cinderella received her second chance at greatness when the clock struck midnight. For Jegs NHRA Pro Modified driver Joe Baker, the night is still young. He’s entering this weekend’s NHRA O’Reilly Springnationals in Baytown, Texas armed with another load of good fortune thanks to the team he knocked out in the opening round of the NHRA ACDelco Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.
The experience is mind-boggling for the current points leader and Gatornationals champion who originally didn’t have an invite to the race he won. Baker will drive for Gotham City Racing this weekend, filling in for Roger Burgess, who has business commitments.
“I was very fortunate the way the situation worked out,” Baker, a former Top Sportsman standout, said. “The way things worked out, I was in the show for the first Pro Modified event and then I wasn’t when the sponsorship of the series changed. Then, Roger and Mike asked me to drive at certain events and then the invite for Gainesville came though after I'd agreed to their request. All the planets were in a row for sure.
“This experience has been a roller-coaster of emotions for me.”
This time Baker enters a Jegs ProMod event with a healthy abundance of Chuck Ford horsepower unlike Gainesville where he was the sixteenth, the final seeded entry into the field. The Baker storyline takes several other twists such as his status as test driver a week earlier for Gotham City Racing, ironically driving the car that qualified on the pole and he inevitably defeated in the first round.
Baker drove by a tire-shaking Mike Ashley in the first round before stopping Scott Ray in the quarters. He then beat Kirk Kuhns before being declared the winner in a sordid Gatornationals final against Raymond Commisso.
Commisso was en route to a clear victory when his car got out of shape and made contact with the retaining wall and crossed the center-line.
“I probably should have gone to Las Vegas,” Baker said, as he laughed. “Someone was definitely on my side that week. You do get breaks from time to time in this sport. I figured I’d made enough deposits into the lucky breaks bank that I was due to make a withdrawal.”
Baker’s latest withdrawal will be this weekend when he fires the Corvette normally driven by Burgess. Burgess gets a hearty laugh out of the set of circumstances facing Baker. He shakes his head in disbelief.
“Before the Gainesville event, I asked Joe if he wanted to drive my car in Houston,” Burgess admitted. “If I hadn’t already promised it, I might be taking the offer back. He’s is a very good driver and with my car he’ll be a handful in Houston.”
For Baker, he’s focused on the big picture.
“You couldn’t ask for any better than Chuck Ford and Howard Moon,” Baker said. “Those are two of the best out there. This team that Mike and Roger have assembled is first class.”
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