Doug Goad Prepares To Drive The Car Into The Dark At Phoenix International Raceway (© Powell Motorsport)

Doug Goad and Devon Powell looked like they were set to take the win in the #11 Sunoco Encompass Corvette until the car suddenly quit late in the race. The culprit was suspected to be the same thing that took the #35 Phoenix American Corvette out during practice, a broken timing chain.

Doug Goad was driving at the time, and was just about to put the second place Zippo Saleen SR a lap down when the engine just quit. "Pop! and it was all over!" Goad reported, "The engine would crank but not fire."

"I suspect the timing chain broke," GM Racing Program manager Larry Kubes revealed, "that's what happened to John Heinricy's car in practice. We'll know more next week."

The Corvettes were looking for a good race too as they had just gotten a dry sump allowed to combat reliability issues that the wet sump system had caused.

" I know the dry sump was a big help for reliability," commented Powell Motorsport team tech leader Dave Stevenson after the race, " but this is racing and things happen. In '98 we ran ten races and finished every one in the top three with the LS1 engine. We'll sort out the timing chain issue, and be back at the Glen with a really perfect car for three hours!"