XPS’ Berner Comes Away Impressed With X-DRL Debut

The 2013 season is still young for the Summit Racing Equipment X-treme Pro Stock Team of standout Pete Berner. But after the X-DRL debut event this past weekend in Tulsa, Berner and team are methodically building the program for lasting success.

Arguably, few teams work as hard as Pete and his team, consisting of wife Cheryl, Crew Chief Tom Pierson, crew members Eric Flemming and Rick Varnold, as well as Mark and Sean Eckman who are new faces on the team this year and already provide great support. Jeff Perley also joins the team in a consultant role and Jerry Janota and Mike Slaviero head up the engine program. The amount of hard work, R&D, precision and effort that go into making each pass down the track is one of the little-known facts that racing fans are often oblivious to. For Team Summit, this is the only path to true success and even then a bit of luck is welcomed and perhaps even required.

At this past weekend’s X-treme Drag Racing League opener in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Berner and team had all of the ingredients for success, but luck wasn’t on their side. Throughout qualifying the Summit Racing Equipment Camaro made consistently good passes and qualified third with a 4.077 at 176MPH. However, in round one an engine backfire made it difficult for Berner to even keep the car running, resulting in a red light start. Still, Berner was pleased with the overall results of the weekend and is positive about the direction of his program.

“We’re very pleased with the results from our car after our second race. We still have a ways to go in getting absolute consistency, but I feel like we’re on the brink. It was unfortunate that we ran into problems first round because the car was running very well up to that point. We weren’t out there trying to overpower the track. We were focusing on making consistent runs and we were achieving that goal well. Overall the weekend had a positive outcome. We tried some new parts that showed promise and made some changes in our combination that also have great potential. We’ll continue building on this and move forward from here.

“I also want to commend the X-DRL on a great first event,” Berner continued. “I appreciate Jeff, David and Larry’s [X-DRL ownership] hospitality of having us. The track was in great condition and they had a good crowd of fans. They have a very nice base to build upon for this organization. I look forward to seeing where they advance from here.

“We’re looking to build upon what we’ve learned,” Berner elaborated. “Everything is falling into place and we’re pleased with the direction in which we’re headed. We’ll continue our ongoing learning process to make this team the best it can possibly be. With the awesome components of our sponsors like Summit and CarSafe, the top manufacturers and best crew I could hope for, we’ll be creating our own success and luck will just have to catch up to us.”

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