WORSHAM LEADS FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING ON DAY ONE AT SONOMA
Weather conditions were outstanding Friday night at the Toyota Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals, and reigning NHRA nitro Funny Car world champion Del Worsham seized the moment.
Worsham clocked a track record 3.868-second elapsed time at 327.43 mph in his Kalitta Motorsports DHL Toyota Camry to grab the provisional No. 1 spot at Sonoma Raceway.
“That was a pretty good run,” said Worsham. “We were trying to make our personal-career best as a team and that was exciting. It was a cool deal especially because we are sponsored by Toyota and this is their race. Connie Kalitta is back after not having him in Denver and our entire team is here and this was exciting to make this run.”
Worsham has claimed 18 No. 1 qualifying spots in his career and he has one this season at Norwalk, Ohio. His pass on Friday night had plenty of drama around the finish line.
“The car made a weird quiver and tried to move around and I just kind of willed it to the finish line,” Worsham said. “When I left the throttle and deployed the parachutes at that point I definitely knew there was a problem and the car was kind of out of control. I was glad to get it to a stop.”
The temperature is supposed to be warmer Saturday so Worsham is upbeat his ET will hold.
“You never say never, it’s possible, but it’s not very probable,” said Worsham, who has one career win at Sonoma in Funny Car in 2001. “It looks like it’s going to be pretty warm, so the conditions should slow down a little bit (Saturday). Those last 12 months starting at this race a year ago, Funny Car just been amazing and crazy and it has surprised me a million different times with ETs. We will wait and see, but I definitely feel pretty good about our chances.”
Matt Hagan set the track record speed of 330.15 mph, which didn’t go unnoticed by Worsham.
“Breaking the rules, cheater,” Worsham said with a laugh. “That’s a great run and he’s made some great runs all year and he’s definitely made some huge speeds. It’s a good run, but it drag racing we race with ET slips.”