By Dave Stephens
Staff Writer

With the whining sound of 10,000 chainsaws, Purdue's first 27 Grand Prix pole positions were finalized for Saturday's race.

Time trials ended last night for the 43rd annual Grand Prix race. James Weida driving the number 22 car of Weida Racing sits atop the pole position with a two-lap time of 45.72. Adam Cassock for Delta Chi and Eric Goginsky of Phi Sigma Kappa are in the second and third positions.

Apparently the early bird got the worm this year; after last Saturday's time trials, only two teams were able to make a fast enough time on Monday and Tuesday night. Andy Oswalt, senior in the school of Technology, made the field with a time of 48.06 with about 15 minutes left. Oswalt, driving car number 31 of the Technology Education Collegiate Association, said, "I feel relieved. I didn’t mean to wait until the end to qualify. I guess I wanted to provide a little drama."

This year's qualifying times are about a full second faster then last year's times. Ben Megel, scoring director and a sophomore in the school of Technology, attributed this to having more practice time this year and very few rain days. "The cars have run really well, we have a solid younger group of drivers which should make for a great race," Megel said.

Brett Foster, race chairman and a junior in the School of Agriculture, also commented on the number of young drivers. "These guys will make the race exciting, they have a lot of experience. They may be rookies to Grand Prix but they are not rookies in general. Many of them have been racing go-karts for years," said Foster.

There has been some concern that this year's Grand Prix attendance would be less than previous years due to the start of finals on the following Monday. Foster said he believes otherwise. "Grand Prix has always been backed by the students very well. It will give them a break from studying, and Grand Prix always draws a large amount of support from the community," he said.

Those drivers who did not make the first 27 positions for the big race still have a chance to qualify by racing in sprint races before Grand Prix on Saturday. The sprint races will send the top three drivers from each race to the actual race.

The pits will open to the public at 9 a.m. on Saturday. After 50 minutes of go-kart practice, the three sprint races will take place every 15 minutes. A bed race will take place at 2 p.m. and the 160-lap race will start at 3 p.m.