Broken throttle cable leaves Scott Palmer and CatSpot team sitting on the starting line

ST. LOUIS – It was a frustrating Sunday for Top Fuel driver Scott Palmer when a broken throttle cable on his CatSpot Organic Cat Litter dragster left him stranded on the starting line during a Round 1 match-up with Leah Pritchett. Adding to the agony, Pritchett smoked the tires and drifted to a very beatable 5.568 at 125.37 mph.

“It’s the proverbial 50-cent part,” Palmer said. “It’s actually more than that but same difference. It’s a part you don’t expect to break but it did and we didn’t even get a chance to race. It’s a punch to the stomach.

“We had a very steady racecar all weekend and we definitely would have gone straight down the track if everything had held together. After running three 3.70s and a 3.80-flat in qualifying, we certainly had a handle on both lanes. It’s a pretty unfortunate deal for us.

“I feel bad for the team, the fans, our main sponsor Tommy Thompson, and everyone at CatSpot that came up from Sikeston, Missouri. All we can do is move forward from here and triple check every part and piece to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Palmer leaves Gateway Motorsports Park tied for ninth in the points.

The NHRA tour takes a weekend off before returning to action with the 33rd annual AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals, Oct. 4-7, at the Texas Motorplex just south of Dallas.