Phoenix Tests Leave the AJ/Al-Anabi Team As The Funny Car to Beat …

Del Worsham is reveling in the fact the only pressure on his shoulders now is driving the Alan Johnson/Al Anabi Funny Car and even then, that’s doesn't appear to be much pressure.

Instead of constantly keeping tabs on the bottom line from a team owner’s standpoint and making the tuning decisions as the self-imposed crew chief, he’s now challenged with the one task that has always appealed to him the most – driving.

“I’m really enjoying myself a lot,” Worsham said. “It’s different, a lot of the pressures I had with my own team are gone now and it’s great. It’s cool. It’s everything I expected it to be.”

Phoenix Tests Leave the AJ/Al-Anabi Team As The Funny Car to Beat …

Del Worsham is reveling in the fact the only pressure on his shoulders now is driving the Alan Johnson/Al Anabi Funny Car and even then, that’s doesn't appear to be much pressure.

Instead of constantly keeping tabs on the bottom line from a team owner’s standpoint and making the tuning decisions as the self-imposed crew chief, he’s now challenged with the one task that has always appealed to him the most – driving.

“I’m really enjoying myself a lot,” Worsham said. “It’s different, a lot of the pressures I had with my own team are gone now and it’s great. It’s cool. It’s everything I expected it to be.”

Worsham has had plenty of time to prepare. He's known since last September he would be the driver of Alan Johnson's hot rod; working alongside tuner Aaron Brooks.

Worsham piloted his family owned Checker, Schucks and Kragen for 12 years before the auto parts chain was purchased by O’Reilly Auto Parts and opted to not renew the longstanding relationship.

Brooks was one of the best kept secrets in the tuning community although talk of his talents was on the increase in many circles. Prior to joining Worsham, Brooks was tuning for Frank Hawley on the R2B2 Motorsports team. In that short stretch, Brooks and Hawley combined for a final round appearance and one low qualifier despite running a limited schedule.

Worsham anticipates a comfort level growing between driver and tuner in the months to come. He’s already seeing the positives permeating into his mindset.

“Aaron’s a great guy,” Worsham added. “His positive attitude is a big part of why I’m enjoying this so much. I really didn’t know too much about Aaron until he started this project here. Everybody on this team has a positive attitude and I just love it.”

The positive spirit has yielded the best Funny Car times in both major tests this season, West Palm Beach and Phoenix.

Worsham adds that a portion of this early success can be attributed to familiarity. The chassis cloaked by the Toyota Funny Car body was built by Grant Downing, his longtime chassis builder dating back to his days with the CSK entry.

Without that common starting ground, Worsham can’t help but wonder if he’d be in a world of hurt when analyzing the new testing regulations imposed by the NHRA last week.

Teams are limited to four testing days all season and those outings are counted whether a team makes one or one hundred attempts. That’s the only problem Worsham has with the new policy. If he’s got any say in the matter, he’d prefer to see the NHRA limit testing based on runs and not days. The uncontrollable variables are what concerns him.

“I’d hate to pick a certain day to go test and there be a whole lot of oil downs or weather and everything and only get one run in,” Worsham admitted. “That’s the only problem I have with that along with not being able to run IHRA for testing sessions; that’s not a problem for me but it is for some people. I understand what they’re doing and I’m all for saving costs.”