2007 NHRA NATIONAL EVENT SCHEDULE
Listen to Trackside Interviews with Champions, Drivers and Crew Chiefs
Robert Hight
Hillary Will
Bob Vandergriff
Dave Connolly
Ed Iskenderian
Cory McClenathan
Robert Hight
Jim Yates
Tony Bartone
Hillary Will
Whit Bazemore
Byron Hines
| "News Bits" from the Checker,
Schuck's, Kragen Funny Car team. Wednesday - March 21, 2007 A Brief Visit To San Antonio Though he won't have time for a stroll along the lovely River Walk, and isn't planning on touring the historic Alamo, Del Worsham and his team have quickly drawn up plans to spend this weekend in San Antonio, Tex. After making the field at the AC Delco Gatornationals, but then losing to No. 1 qualifier Robert Hight in round one, Worsham decided to enter his red Checker, Schuck's, Kragen car in the IHRA Amalie Oil Texas Nationals. In addition to his crew, Worsham is also bringing along blue team co-crew chiefs Marc Denner and Chris Cunningham, to compliment the tuning concepts provided by Worsham and his father, Chuck. All four crew chiefs will spend the weekend analyzing the red car's performance, under real racing conditions. As Worsham explained it, "We've tested, and tested, and tested, this year but all those extra days in test mode don't replicate what you do on a real race day, so we're going over to IHRA to race, while we continue to work on our tune-up. I think it will help to have the energy and the pressure of race day to get our tune-up sorted out, but we can also enter the San Antonio event without worrying about points, since we are not going to be regulars over on the IHRA tour. It's highly likely this will be the only time we compete over there this year, as a matter of fact. We'll be in both test mode and race mode, and we hope it helps us sort out the mechanical gremlins that have been tormenting us." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That Glamorous NHRA Lifestyle... With the side trip to San Antonio now on his agenda, Worsham needed to work out a travel schedule for what had been an off-weekend on his calendar. The answer: Fly home to California on Monday night, do the laundry and catch up on paperwork Tuesday, then jump in the motorhome for the long ride back to south-central Texas on Wednesday. Along for the ride will be Worsham's wife, Connie, the couple's twin daughters, Kate and Maddy, as well as his dad, Chuck. "My dad and I will do the driving, and it should be about 28-30 hours, depending on how it goes. I meet people at the races who ask me if I have a plane, and I have to laugh. I might have a plane someday, I'd love to have that freedom and flexibility and I love to fly, but for now it's either flying coach on commercial flights or road trips in the motorhome. This will be a Chevy Chase trip if there ever was one, just hammer down from So Cal to Texas, with the girls running like crazy all over the bus. I hope we have enough DVDs to keep them entertained." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Family Nextel Cup Connection Team CSK was joined in Gainesville, on Sunday, by NASCAR Nextel Cup rookie sensation Jon Wood, who is gradually making the move from the Busch Series to the Nextel series behind the wheel of his family's famous #21 car (think Wood, as in Wood Brothers, one of the most historic racing families in the sport.) Wood was in the house to visit the world of NHRA POWERade Drag Racing with his new girlfriend, one Lacey Cunningham (think Cunningham, as in Chris Cunningham, one of the Team CSK crew chiefs.) Lacey's dad explained it as follows... "They met through mutual friends, not through any direct racing connection, so I think that's good. Even though I'm a drag racer, we do have lots of NASCAR connections, since my wife Sheila works at Evernham Motorsports, and we pay close attention to what those guys are doing over there. We had the standard 'Meet The Parents' dinner just a few nights ago, and got to know Jon a little bit. He's a great kid, and he and Lacey seem to be hitting it off really well. It's never easy being in a relationship with a racer, just ask Sheila, but I hope the two of them continue with it. I think he enjoyed his day at the Gatornationals, and I'll give him credit for not flinching at all the first time two fuel cars took off right next to him at the starting line. I've seen NASCAR veterans literally run away from the line, with their eyes as big as saucers." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Behind The Numbers Though the bottom-line result of a pair of first-round losses in Gainesville was what truly mattered on Sunday, a brief glimpse behind those finishes reveals a Team CSK blue car showing extreme signs of peppy life. Running in Gainesville as a special-edition K&N Filters Monte Carlo, instead of its normal blue CSK livery, the Jeff Arend-driven machine turned in its best qualifying effort of the short season, eventually landing 4th on the grid. Prior to the field being finalized, however, it was noteworthy to see Arend post the best E.T. of session No. 3, early on Saturday. While the vast majority of the Funny Car class struggled with traction issues, Arend's car streaked to the other end at 4.800-seconds. Then, in session No. 4, Arend came to the line and tore down the track again, this time in 4.774-seconds, vaulting him into the No. 1 spot at the time. Once the session was over, Robert Hight, Gary Scelzi, and Ron Capps had nudged Arend back into the No. 4 spot, but with three solid laps out of four in Gainesville qualifying, it was clear the blue CSK (aka K&N) car was very competitive. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two Nice Guys, Who Need To Stop Meeting Like This At the season opener, in Pomona, Del Worsham posted his best qualifying lap on his final attempt. The 4.797 remains his best lap of the year, and it would have assured him of a place in any field throughout the entire history of NHRA Funny Car racing, until Tim Wilkerson came to the line just minutes later. Worsham was sitting in the No. 16 spot on the grid, and Wilkerson was the only driver left with a shot at bumping him out (and making history, as Worsham's run had already reset the mark for the all-time quickest Funny Car field.) When Wilkerson tore down the track to a huge 4.723, Worsham became history's footnote, as the first driver to ever run in the 4.70s without making the show. In Gainesville, Worsham was again sitting 16th after his final run, and Wilkerson once again came to the line as the only driver left who could bump him out. This time, Wilkerson came up just 25-thousandths of a second shy of completing the act, and these two "nice guys" had swapped places. "Tim is well known as one of the great guys in this game, and we both have a lot of respect for each other," Worsham said. "He's a dedicated racer, and he does it the right way. Neither one of us likes to be in this position, but we're here to race and we have to do the best we can for our teams and our sponsors. We'd both just rather do the bumping against other teams, not each other. For some reason, it's happened twice in three races. Maybe we're over it now, and we can both just get safely in the field and let other teams worry about who bumps out who." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's All An Illusion More than a few fans dropped by the Team CSK pit area in Gainesville to say they thought the K&N Filters car featured "a really cool paint job." Through the magic of vinyl wrapping, what they were actually looking at was a fully concealed CSK blue car, clad in K&N clothing. There was no paint involved in the process. One of the blue team's standard Checker, Schuck's, Kragen cars was simply re-dressed in black, orange, and silver, with flaming K&N logos on the side of the car. The entire wrapping process, done by Square One Designs, was completed in about 8 hours. After the car runs again, in Houston, the K&N vinyl will be carefully removed, to reveal the standard blue CSK Monte Carlo underneath. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Impalas On The Horizon This reporter has been typing the words "Team CSK Monte Carlo" for so long it will take some adjusting, but the Worsham team's first new Chevrolet Impala is about ready to roll. Received about two weeks ago, Team CSK's first new Impala body is currently ready for the paint booth, and then will be clad in vinyl. A Las Vegas debut is planned for the red team's first new Impala, while the blue team's initial new piece will be ready shortly thereafter. A Las Vegas debut for both new bodies is possible, but not considered highly likely, though with talented fabricator and chassis man Grant Downing in-house, stranger things have happened. Odds are, the blue team will roll into Atlanta with their new body. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thinking Of Eric... Fellow Funny Car competitor Eric Medlen, who drives one of the four Nitro Funny Cars fielded by John Force Racing, was involved in a high-speed crash while testing in Gainesville, this past Monday. Medlen is currently in an induced coma at Shands Medical Center in Gainesville, while doctors work to relieve the pressure associated with a closed head injury. Every member of Worsham Racing, and all of our friends and families, hope for Eric's rapid and complete recovery. Get well, friend. |
