Keith Haney hoping to make sweet music at Memphis Drags

8/21/2015

Keith Haney

Keith Haney hoping to make sweet music at Memphis Drags

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Aug. 21) -- Keith Haney and his Keith Haney Racing team are ready for the other Pro Nitrous teams to sing the blues during the PDRA Memphis Drags this weekend at Memphis International Raceway.

Haney is coming off a spectacular performance in the Throwdown at T-Town last weekend at Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park, where his Lucas Oil/RacingJunk.com Camaro qualified No. 2 and raced to the final round. Now, he's looking to improve that by one spot in Memphis.

"We're ready for 'em," Haney said. "We've got a good hot rod and things are going our way. I've been having some good, consistent passes, and this Reher-Morrison motor is doing some serious mph. The team's doing great."

With a race car set up by Brian Switzer and chassis tuner Brandon Pesz, Haney nearly grabbed the No. 1 qualifying spot in Tulsa. Still, Haney knows he has a package that can compete for the victory in Memphis.

"Things are going really, really well," Haney said. "We had the Throwdown in T-Town last weekend, and we were the No. 2 qualifier. We would've been No. 1 but we broke a transmission in the best session, Q2.

"We had a consistent car that went down the track every pass, and we ran low e.t. every pass against the field."

In the final against No. 1 qualifier Jim Sackuvich, Haney left a tick too soon to red-light.

"I went .007 red," Haney said. "My average light had been a .012 during qualifying and racing. It was just a great weekend."

A highlight of the race weekend was a tribute to longtime track announcer Brian Olson by Haney and Sackuvich.

"We did a moment of silence, and Sackuvich and I did a half-track burnout with side-by-side backups," Haney said. "And we ran down the racetrack side by side. It was a nice tribute to Brian."

Haney is racing in Memphis without his family, who is back in Tulsa to watch son Logan play football Friday night. Haney will race three qualifying sessions Friday, with one more Saturday before eliminations begin.

"We did have one little issue during testing, but thank God for Lucas Oil," Haney said. "We left an oil-pump belt, and we went 3.90 at 196 mph with no oil pressure. Thank God for that new zinc Lucas Oil; if it wasn't for that, that motor would've come apart, but we didn't hurt a thing."