2010 NHRA U.S. NATIONALS - FUNNY CAR
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FORCE HOOD REPEATS AS INDY FUNNY CAR WINNER - Maybe the mainstream media will take notice of Ashley Force Hood now.
Force Hood made history by becoming the first woman in NHRA history to win back-to-back Funny Car titles at the prestigious U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.
Force Hood’s latest Indy victory came at the expense of her father, John, a 14-time world champ.
Force Hood clocked a solid 4.141-second time at 308.07 mph to defeat her dad who slowed to 7.246 seconds.
“This just has been an amazing day, and this win may be even bigger than last year because we have struggled this season,” said Force Hood, who also is the only woman to capture the Funny Car crown in U.S. Nationals history. “Last year at this point of the season, we were on a roll, we had won some races and we were up high in the points. This year, we have struggled. We couldn’t get past first and second round, but we stayed positive. We were hating the point structure last year and we are loving it this year because you get a second start to the season to turn it around. This was just our day.”
Force Hood moved up from eighth in the points to fourth, while John Force remains in the lead, now over Jack Beckman. The second race in the Countdown to 1 playoffs is at zMax Dragway in Concord, NC, Sept. 16-19.
“When we looked at the video replay of the final round, the injector was the only part way open,” Force said. “It looked like I wasn’t stepping on the gas. It had broken off up at the injector. It was obviously bent on the run before against (Matt) Hagan, when I had to pedal it. The car was real weak when it went out there and it just shut off. The cameras showed that the injector that was attached to the throttle was broken. You can see it. It is just one of those things. What was really funny was that it was bent leaving, but it would let the injector open (slightly), which is why it was so slow leaving. Then it broke off.”
This is the second straight all JFR final at Indy. Last year Force Hood defeated Robert Hight. This also was JFR’s ninth win at Indy and sixth in the last nine years.
Despite the magnitude of Force Hood’s Indy success, she downplayed her place in the female racing world.
“There are so many different variables that go into a win,” Force Hood said. “Obviously, I’m a girl driver and I love girl power and all that stuff, but I have 12 guys who work on my team. They are just as important, if not more important to this win, as I am. They are the ones back in the pits who get this car together and get it consistent. I would not be here without my team. I’m just along for the ride and I’m lucky to be in this spot and in this seat. I think any driver who jumped in this seat would look good. I have been able to set a lot of first because I’m a girl, but it is kind of like a side note. Yeah, I’m excited but almost all my competitors are men, so that is not going to get me very far if I’m only worried about the girls and what we are doing. Melanie (Troxel) and I are out here to beat everybody, we do not care what gender they are.”
This is the 12th time Ashley and John have met in eliminations and each have six wins against one another. Ashley actually now has a 2-1 advantage over her father in final rounds. Ashley also beat John in 2008 at Atlanta, while John defeated her in the Four-Wide finals at Charlotte earlier this season.
“Today, and maybe people may not believe this, but the pressure is really off when you run your teammate in the final round,” Force Hood said. “We went up there and were having fun. Whatever happens, happens because we were going to be 1-2 at this race.”
Following her historic win, Force Hood and her father were lost in the moment.
“I didn’t really understand what he said to me,” Force Hood said. “There was just craziness going on, and Full Throttle was being splashed everywhere.”
Force Hood said defeating Jack Beckman in the semifinals was huge for her.
Ashley clocked a 4.156 seconds at 306.74 mph to beat Beckman’s 4.209-second performance.
“We were so excited to win that round and then to have dad win right behind us, that was really the final round for our team,” Force Hood said. “Jack (Beckman) was my teacher when I went to the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School when I was 16 and he taught me in a Super Comp car and he is a good family friend of ours. To have him and (Matt) Hagan, from Don Schumacher Racing, against dad and I in the semifinals, that was an ideal story and thing happened to fall our way today.”
MODAY QUICK HITS - RACE REPORTING IN RAPID FASHION
ROUND THREE LEADS TO ALL FORCE FINAL – Arguably the two most popular NHRA drivers are Jon Force and his daughter Ashley Force Hood.
Force, a 14-time Funny Car world champ, and Ashley, the defending U.S. Nationals Funny Car champ, meet in the final round Monday at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
Force made it to the finals by winning a pedal-fest over No. 1 qualifier Matt Hagan in the semifinals. Ashley had another consistent run at 4.156 seconds at 306.74 mph to beat Jack Beckman’s 4.209-second performance to set up the father/daughter battle for the title
The legendary Force made it to the finish line in 4.710 seconds to get past Hagan’s 5.302-second effort. Hagan’s loss was the first time his car smoked the tires all weekend at Indy.
The run for the title marks the 33rd time John Force Racing teammates have met in the finals.
John Force is 6-5 versus Ashley Force Hood in eliminations. They are tied 1-1 in final round match-ups. John beat Ashley in the Four-Wide finals at Charlotte earlier this season and Ashley defeated her dad to win the 2008 event at Atlanta.
ROUND TWO
DISPLAY OF FORCE – There’s was a time not long ago when John Force didn’t think he would have a chance to win a 15th NHRA championship.
This season, however, Force has had a revival and he came to the U.S. Nationals leading the point standings.
With Indy being the start of the Countdown to 1 playoffs, Force is seizing the moment.
Force advanced to the semifinals by defeating Cruz Pedregon in the second record. Force clocked a solid 4.143-second pass at 306.74 mph. Pedregon had motor problems as he came across the line at 5.758 seconds.
Following his win, Force had no shortage of words.
“I never forget who whooped me in ’92,” Force said. “Them Cruz boys have always done damage to me. This is what we fight for, there isn’t nothing personal. I gave Tony (Pedregron) a big ol’ kiss this morning and probably pissed him off. That’s what we do because I do love those kids. We have to race and one day I will be gone and they will be out here with my kids. All respect to them, good job.”
Cruz Pedregon won the 1992 Funny Car world championship over Force by winning five of the season’s last six races. Tony Pedregon, Cruz’s brother, won the Funny Car title in 2003 and 2007.
FORCE HOOD KEEPS ROLLING – Last year, Ashley Force Hood won the U.S. Nationals and nearly took home the world championship, finishing second.
This season, though, has been a tough campaign. Force Hood limped into the Countdown to 1 playoffs, finishing eighth in the regular-season points. She has lost in the first round seven times in 17 events.
Force has regrouped nicely at Indy, defeating Del Worsham and Paul Lee in consecutive rounds. Force beat Lee with a 4.137-second effort at 306.95 mph. Lee slowed to 4.446 seconds at 206.16 mph.
“We’re getting some good luck,” Force said after her victory over Lee. “This Mustang is just doing exactly what we’re asking it to do and I’m getting it down there as best as I can. We’re really excited and pumped.”
BEARDED WONDER – Matt Hagan showed up at the U.S. Nationals with a new look. He’s gone from clean-shaven at Brainerd, the last stop on the NHRA circuit on Aug. 15, to sporting a beard at Indy.
The new look has produced some positive results. Hagan won the pole with a track record time of 4.039 seconds. More importantly, Hagan beat Tony Pedregon and Bob Tasca III to reach the semifinals.
Hagan had trouble late in his win over Tasca, but his 4.119-second run was enough to get him a win over Tasca, who came in at 4.197 seconds.
“I do not know if I’m going to shave period if I win Indy,” said Hagan, who pilots the Don Schumacher Diehard Dodge Charger. “It is bringing me some type of luck. That thing went dead silent out there 200 feet before the finish line, so it was going to be make a really nice pass, and I do not know what happened.”
DSR officials weren’t immediately able to address what happened to Hagan’s engine in the win over Tasca.
FAST JACK DODGES WAY TO SEMIS – Fast Jack Beckman hasn’t lived up to his name Monday, but it hasn’t mattered.
Beckman, who pilots the DSR Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge, has made 4.512 and 4.205 second runs, and both were good enough for wins over Tim Wilkerson and Melanie Troxel. It helped that Wilkerson and Troxel came across at 6.167 and 4.893 seconds, respectively.
Beckman isn’t complaining. With those wins, he moved into second place in the season point standings.
“We have lack lustered our way into the semifinals, but it is round wins,” Beckman said. “With 8,000 horsepower, these things are always unpredictable. We were too aggressive first round and way too lazy that round (second) and we will try and throw the dart in the middle and hope it sticks against Ashley (Force Hood).”
ROUND ONE
LEE SHOCKS HIGHT – When Paul Lee pulled up alongside Robert Hight in first round, the odds weren’t in Lee’s favor. Hight, after all, was the defending world champ and second in the point standings.
All Lee did was post a 4.114-second run at 277.26 mph to defeat Hight who slowed to 4.473 seconds. This was only Lee’s fifth round win of the year in 14 attempts.
Lee drives the Canidae Pet Food Chevy Monte Carlo for legendary owner Jim Dunn.
“It’s always great (to win),” Lee said. “This is like the most fun I’ve had in my entire life. Big Jim Dunn brings some special parts for this race and he’s all jacked up as well as I am. This was an awesome job by our crew. No mistakes, and that is what it is all about.”
TROXEL SCORES UPSET – This season hasn’t been one littered with Funny Car success for Melanie Troxel. Troxel, who is competing in only her 10th race of the season, previously had won only three rounds. Troxel’s last victory came in the first round at Sonoma over Gary Densham.
None of those stats mattered Monday morning as she stunned Ron Capps in the Don Schumacher Racing NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger. Troxel clocked a 4.131-second run at 308.64 mph to get past Capp’s 4.165 effort at 302.75 mph.
“I can’t tell you how bad this team needed this,” Troxel said. “We got three round wins so far this year and that’s it. This is a team going through a lot of change. We brought Richard Hogan on to help Lance Larson and we knew we were on the cusp of figuring some stuff out and thank God it came first round. We needed a round win. All those Schumacher teams over there are tough and I can’t say enough about this team sticking together, doing whatever it takes to bring some round wins to companies like In-N-Out Burger, Red Line Oil and everybody who is standing behind us because we’re going to run all of those races next year and we’re going to be ready.”
HAGAN DERAILS T-PED – Moments after Matt Hagan watched his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps' upset by Melanie Troxel, Hagan didn’t let the losing streak continue.
Hagan, who won the pole, sped past Tony Pedregron with a 4.096-second effort, compared to Pedregon’s 5.075-second run.
“That was horrible (that Ron lost),” Hagan said. “Ron has a good car, I’m just really surprised that happened, but that is just racing. That’s why fans show up to watch. That car out there was a handful. It was left and right and everything but straight. I was praying and hoping that it would not come loose on me, and that we would turn the win light on. It is always a pleasure to run Tony and I’m just glad to go to the next round.”
PEDREGON CRUISES – Cruz Pedregon came away with a first-round win, thanks to a solid 4.103-second effort to defeat Jeff Arend. Arend was even with Pedregon at the eighth-mile before the car starting smoking the tires and slowed to 4.531 seconds.
“It’s just the combination,” Pedregon said. “The Snap-on was terrible early in the year and now it feels so good. Words can’t describe how proud I am of the team. Snap-on took a chance on me. I was pretty much done after the Advance (Auto Parts) thing. They came along and we do not quite have the budget we wanted, but I tell you what it sure feels good (to win). That was a great opponent. That Kalitta car scares me to death, we have raced him a few times. We just have a good combination, the car is balanced right. Things are going good.”
For his efforts, Pedregon faces John Force in second round.
FORCE ENDS BODE’S RUN – The clock struck midnight for Bob Bode Monday morning.
John Force, the 14-time world champ, ran past Bode with a 4.090-second time. Bode slowed to a 5.025-second run.
“Robert’s (Hight) car has been flying for him and Jimmy Prock and that Auto Club Southern California Ford,” Force said. “Ashley’s ran that 05 and boy that made me nervous because that is all we could run in the night session. Robert’s deal, I know they probably softened it, they must have had a malfunction. Jimmy Prock does not make mistakes like that very often. Robert’s mad, but he has test sessions and he’s going to hot lap it. My old heap, she’s out here. I got me a new Kymco motorcycle, I’m in green, Castrol colors, God bless them. I’m having a ball and drinking my Full Throttle.”
Bode was on a four-round winning streak as he stunned the Funny Car class by winning the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Aug. 15 at Brainerd, Minn., the last race before the U.S. Nationals.
BECKMAN CATCHES A BREAK – Usually a 4.512-second run will not get you a win light, but it did for Jack Beckman.
Beckman’s DSR Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger beat Wilkerson, who lost traction and came in at 6.167 seconds.
“I always think if it (the car) is in the groove, and moving, there’s not another car on the planet that can possibly keep up with us,” Beckman said. “Then, it just lit the tires out there. I thought any second I was going to see that Mustang streak past me.”
FORCE-HOOD ENDS FIRST-ROUND SKID – Ashley Force Hood posted a stout 4.059-second effort to blaze past Del Worsham who slowed in the right lane to 4.457 seconds.
This was the first time Force has made it past the first round since Seattle. She lost in the opening round at Sonoma, Calif., Denver and Brainerd, Minn.
“I have a stomach ache, I think I probably should not have drank a pumpkin-spiced latte and a Full Throttle before 11 a.m.,” Force said. “It also, I’m sure, is nerves. Just to finally to get a round win after the struggles we have had. Especially to have Del first round; that is not an easy team to have. My Castrol Ford Auto Club team is doing great and I’m just excited to be here at the Matco Tools U.S. Nationals with them and I’m even more excited because I’m going to the second round.”
TASCA MOVES ON – In an opening round loaded with upsets, Bob Tasca III kept himself from getting beat. Tasca’s solid 4.095-second run at 304.87 mph allowed him to get past Jim Head’s 4.233 effort.
Tasca’s round record improved to 22-16 with the victory.
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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - NO CHANGES UP TOP IN THE FLOPPERS; BIG NEWS ON THE NITRO TESTING FRONT
HAGAN HOLDS ONTO TOP SPOT - Despite a stout Funny Car field, no one could dethrone top qualifier Matt Hagan on the final day of qualifying for the U.S. 
Nationals.
Hagan’s blazing track record time of 4.039 seconds at 277.89 mph on Saturday night won him his first career pole at the U.S. Nationals.
“It’s huge to come out here and qualifying No. 1,” said Hagan, who is in his second season driving his Don Schumacher Racing Diehard Dodge. “I remember back when I was racing IHRA and I would come over here (to the NHRA circuit) and qualify No. 16 and that would feel like I won the race. In two years, to qualify No. 1 here (at the U.S. Nationals) is a huge step in the right direction for my career and I think for our whole program.”
Hagan, who is fourth in the point chase as the Countdown to 1 playoffs begin at Indy, was quick to credit his crew chief Tommy DeLago for his success. Hagan meets No. 16 qualifier Tony Pedregon in the opening round Monday.
“I owe it all to Tommy DeLago,” Hagan said. “This guy gets smarter every day. I just do not how he puts all of it together up there, but he does. He has some really cool ideas and we came out here and tested (last week) and it is definitely paying dividends back to us. The track has been great. I know last year it was a little different race track and the weather just kind of worked out in our favor (this year). It’s cool to have this caliber of a machine.”
This was the fourth pole of Hagan’s young career. Hagan clocked 4.107 and 4.094-second qualifying runs on Sunday, the latter was the quickest of the session. Hagan has earned seven crucial bonus points at Indy.
“I think it was definitely warmer Sunday and be that as it may, that kind of plays into (Monday) because it is supposed to be a little bit warmer if the weatherman is right,” Hagan said. “Tommy was kind of playing around a little bit (Sunday) trying some new stuff. He wanted to go up there and get a baseline, but he kind of already has one. It just really built on his confidence and my confidence to be able to go down the race track that many times and not smoke the tires and do anything crazy. I know we have been working hard at getting this car more consistent and this (Sunday) was a what can we learn today? I think Tommy was more massaging on what we were already working on for our morning and mid-day tune-ups.”
NHRA TESTING OVER UNTIL CHAMPIONS CROWNED - Since the middle of the 2010 season, NHRA has been testing different ways to reduce the power of 
nitro cars.
Initially, the NHRA was seeking to conclude data gathering no later than July. That deadline, however, has been extended. This past week at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Robert Hight and Antron Brown were doing some more testing for the NHRA.
“We tested a 413-inch engine and a 350 gear,” said Jimmy Prock, who is the crew chief for Robert Hight at John Force Racing. “We made two runs with it in Chicago and I made four runs with it here (at Indy). At Indy, it ran 4.16 seconds at 288 mph (at 1,000-foot).”
Depending on what the NHRA does, there is the possibility the sanctioning body might have the nitro cars return to traditional quarter-mile racing.
The NHRA has already tested the value of a smaller gallons per minute fuel pump.
“I have no idea if they (NHRA) are trying to use this (the 413-inch engine) for the quarter-mile,” Prock said. “That engine doesn’t have the power that ours has (now). We’re just trying to help them (NHRA) gather information, and they’re going to do what they want to do. I do not know what that is.”
While Robert Hight and Prock were testing the smaller engine, Brown, who drives the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, also was testing a restrictor plate for the NHRA last Tuesday at Indy. Brown made four laps at Indy.
Brian Corradi, who is the co-crew chief of Brown’s dagster with Mark Oswald, said they also did some testing for NHRA in Chicago in June, making two passes.
“The restrictor plate we used at Indy was two square inches smaller than what we used at Chicago,” Corradi said. “The car had good ets (elapsed times), it just didn’t have good mphs. It is having a hard time above 8,000 rpms.”
Corradi said Brown’s dragster clocked a 3.89-second run at Chicago and a 4.95-second effort at Indy. Brown’s top mph with the restrictor plates was 305.
“We’re just helping the NHRA gather information, and it is not our decision whether the NHRA does that (use restrictor plates) or not,” Oswald said. “We just want to be part of the process and help out, so we’re not left out in the dark. My thoughts are if the NHRA goes to restrictor plates, we have run it, so we have a leg up, so good for us. I think it is just a matter that they collecting data for the future, so they do not ever get caught between a rock and a hard place. In case something happens and you have to make a move, you have data because you have tried things.”
Prock says he doesn’t believe the NHRA will make any major changes in the near future.
“I do not see the NHRA going and doing what we did right away because it is too expensive,” Prock said. “I just think they wanted to see what we would run (with that 413-inch engine). The gear does a good job of slowing the speed down. It ran 288 mph at 8200 rpm. I do not know if they (NHRA) have any other tests planned. You can’t change something like that right away, you have to give them some time. There’s too much inventory of parts. It’s not an unchangeable thing because a lot of it is expendable parts, but you can’t say you’re going to change that right now. You could not do that. You wouldn’t have enough parts. I think they (NHRA) are trying to look at different ways in case they need to do something.”
Graham Light, NHRA’s senior vice president, racing operations, said the sanctioning body isn’t in a rush to make any decision about engine combinations or reducing the power of nitro cars.
x“There’s no plan to make any engine changes for 2011,” Light said. “Something unforeseen could happen in a month and make a liar out of me, but at this point there’s no plan. We’re just gathering data and looking at a number of different combinations. We’re keeping accurate files and what we want to accomplish is have one or two combinations that have been well tested, have all the data on it, and have them on the shelf, so when the time comes for whatever reason that may be, we have some methods that have been well tested and we can share all the information with the race teams and make it as easy as possible for them to adapt to the change.”
Corradi says if the NHRA did utilize the restrictor plates at one point, it wouldn’t really impact a team’s budget.
“That would be more cost effective for restrictor plates for most teams out here because can just put it on our car without making a lot of changes,” Corradi said. “But, if you were to change the ring gear, change it to a 350 gear or change the engine combination to a smaller displacement, that’s going to be costly and you’re not going to have a lot of people out here racing. That’s what we need. We need people out here racing. Yes, we need to make the sport safe also, but it has to be cost effective.”
Light also is well aware of how possible changes might impact the pocketbook of teams.
“It just depends on the nature of the change,” Light said. “You could have a change such as what we’re testing with Antron’s car where it is a simple restrictor plate in between the injector and the blower and it does not require any new parts. They’re running a different gear ratio, so maybe it would require a gear ratio. Before we implement anything we would get with manufacturers and look at what their availability is to supply the teams. Obviously, the cost. A lot of these items on the cars are disposable products anyway. Crankshafts, pistons, and rods, they cycle through them in a very fast period of time. Some things aren’t. Depending on the nature of the combination change, that dictates the lead time that you need to give both manufacturers and racers to try and cycle through their existing inventory to make it as painless as possible. We have always been concerned about the economics to the race teams and we’re particularly concerned about the economics in this economy. The last thing we want to do is implement something if it causes us to lose those, some of those lesser-financed. That’s not the best interest of anybody. At the same token, we need to get ahead of the curve, we need to do a lot of testing. We need to understand the effects of different combinations. Whether it be small engines, smaller fuel pumps, smaller tires, downforce, I do not care what it is. Test them all. Some things will work very well and some will be huge failures. Maybe there would some advantages out of a different combination, that long term would be cheaper for the teams.”
Light believes smaller motors could make sense financially.
“It appears on the surface, a smaller motor because of the shorter stroke, the crankshaft life may live considerably longer,” Light said. “Crankshafts are expensive items and if they are having to replace them on a regular basis, so if they could double the life that may make it more affordable. Those are all the things you have to look at and consider. We’re not going to surprise anybody with a short notice change. We have been very open with all of the teams, sharing with them what we have been testing. Most of the teams have been there and watched either when Robert (Hight) has run (Tim) Wilkerson or Antron Brown. They know what is being done and the crew chiefs are being very cooperative working with Dan Olson and his people. Right now we have had a lot of cooperation from teams. Some of them have taken it as an interesting challenge. We’re learning a lot.”
Oswald says there are some other things to consider with restrictor plates besides its affordable price.
“The only issue with restrictor plates is what does it do in different altitudes,” Oswald said. “So, it probably should be tested in a higher altitude like Las Vegas, or a place like Bristol or Brainerd, versus a sea level place like Gainesville, you would need to know that information. A place like Bandimere may be a place where you take it (the restrictor plate) off. You might have three different restrictor plates. You might, we do not know that, that is what this testing is about.”
Light confirmed to Attitude's CompetititonPlus.com Sunday, NHRA will do no more testing this season in regards to reducing power in the nitro cars.
“The Countdown guys are in the championship mode, and there’s minimal time off, so we (the NHRA) will start doing some more testing in the offseason,” Light said. “I would have to talk to Dan (Olson) because he is heading that program up, but certainly we will do testing at Phoenix in the offseason, maybe even the latter part of this year and the first part of next year, and I do not know what else he has planned.”
Since the on-track death of Scott Kalitta, the son of NHRA legend Connie Kalitta and a two-time NHRA world champion, on June 21, 2008 during qualifying for the Lucas Oil SuperNationals Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., the NHRA has had both Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars race to 1000-feet, instead of the traditional quarter-mile (1,320 feet).
Del Worsham, who pilots the Al-Anabi Racing Funny Car, thinks the NHRA should keep the nitro racing at 1,000 feet.
“My personal opinion on it, which might not be the opinion of the team or of the class, is that I would stay at 1,000 feet and I would like to stay at the horsepower we are at,” Worsham said. “I would rather go fast to 1,000 feet than slow to a quarter-mile myself. I just do not think it is going to be exciting running 4.95 at 300 mph at a quarter-mile in one of these cars with the stability and downforce and the size of cars and bodies and tires we have today. It is just not going to be what we’re used to seeing - that’s Funny Cars that are loose and skating and possibly blowing up and smoking the tires. We might lose a lot of what we like about Funny Car racing and I’m afraid if we reduce the horsepower that might be where we are.”
Bob Tasca III, who is in his third year driving a Top Fuel Funny Car, concurred with Worsham.
“I fully support what NHRA is doing right now,” Tasca said. “It’s always a good idea to look for alternatives and look for a better way. But, my personal opinion based on two years of racing at 1,000 feet, is that racing has never been closer and parts life has never been better. From a safety standpoint, the greatest gift you can give a driver when all goes wrong is 320 feet. Distance is everything because eventually a car is going to stop. If every track were like Phoenix or places where you had an infinite shutoff, then lets race to 1,500 feet. Believe me, we are not afraid of going fast. The real issue is stopping when everything goes wrong. That’s where you have seen fatalities in the past and you have seen fatalities this year and you will continue to see fatalities. This is the sport we’re in. There are risks involved with it and you accept those as a driver, but clearly you want to give yourself every chance to survive.”
Worsham, who made his Funny Car debut in 1990, has no insight on what the NHRA will do when it comes to making changes in the interest of safety.
“I have no idea what the NHRA is going to do, and it matters to me what they may do because I like what we have and I like going quick,” Worsham said. “To run that extra 320 feet to me isn’t that big of deal. I know it is to some people, and I feel bad for that, but I feel right now in my 20 years of driving, that I’m driving the safest possible car I’ve driven in 20 years.”
Tasca also understands how some diehard drag racing fans want racing to return to the quarter-mile for nitro cars.
“I think the purist do not like 1,000 feet racing, but I do not think there is anybody who comes to a race that wants to see somebody get killed,” Tasca said. “If they do, I could care less if they ever come to a drag race. We’re here to compete and have fun, but we want to bring the drivers home. I compliment NHRA on continuing to look at alternatives whether it is to go back to a quarter-mile or go stay at 1,000 feet. Personally, I think what we are doing right now, I have never felt safer in my Ford. If you’re a drag racing purist, you’re a fan of mine. These are the people who are passionate about our sport and how can you not love those fans. At the end of the day, it’s about insurance companies because you can’t race without insurance. It’s about our sport and it’s not good to kill drivers. No one is going to say that’s a good thing, not even the purist. So, you have to take a step back and the sanctioning body has to save us from ourselves, me included, and we want to race. At the end of the day, we have to be safe. We’re on race tracks that were designed for 200 mph cars. That’s a fact and now we’re going 330 mph. I do not see a day that we go back to quarter-mile racing.”
During Worsham’s career he has seen the full spectrum of Funny Car racing.
“I remember when we raced more than the quarter-mile,” said the 40-year-old Worsham. “We ran 66 feet past the quarter-mile to get your speed. The speed traps were 66 feet in front of the quarter-mile and 66 behind the quarter-mile and we used to call that driving out the back door. When I first started driving, we had these big painted Xs out there and that was the speed trap you went through and it was fun. That was quarter-mile racing at 275 mph. Now, we run 313 mph at 1,000 feet. I really do not want to go back (to quarter-mile racing). I hope the fans accept 1,000 foot drag racing and I hope NHRA does.”
Tim Wilkerson, who finished fourth and second in the Funny Car points in 2009 and 2008, believes the NHRA shouldn’t tinker with how the racing is now.
“I think we’re pretty good where we are,” Wilkerson said. “The racing is close and the competition is good. I’ve got beat and won races this year closer than I ever have in my life. From a fan perspective, I do not know how you can beat what we’re doing now. I’m not in favor of going back and racing at a quarter-mile.”
Unlike Worsham and Wilkerson, veteran Funny Car driver Ron Capps is undecided about 1,000 foot and quarter-mile racing.
“One of the most fun times I had in a long time was driving Steve Plueger’s L.A. Hooker nostalgic car at the March meet in Bakersfield,” Capps said. “Going a quarter mile, we ran 5.60 at 250 mph, shifting a nitro Funny Car. The driving part was put back into the car, and a lot of that is taken away nowadays with these cars and going a quarter-mile was fun. Right now, we have a great deal for the fans, it is really the best racing we’ve seen. It’s more stress for the drivers because there’s less race track and reaction times are so much more important. It really brings much more emphasis on what happens at the starting line.”
Capps also is aware of the test sessions the NHRA is conducting as part of its ongoing power reduction program.
“I know they (NHRA) have been testing things with a restrictor plate and a smaller engine and Dan Olson (NHRA’s director of Top Fuel and Funny Car Racing) was happy with the test the other day with the smaller motor and the restrictor plate,” Capps said. “I just hope everybody is real educated on what they are doing. They have good people in Dan Olson and Graham Light (NHRA’s Senior Vice President, Racing Operations) and I just hope they’re making an educated move because I would hate to make our show not as good as it is for the fans. In this day and age, fans are tough to come by and we have the best fans in the world. NASCAR is NASCAR, and they have empty seats and their ratings are down. Indy Car still advertises that they’re the fastest motorsport in the world, which pisses me off because it is not true, and they have empty seats there (in Indy Car) as well. I’m proud when we do a burnout on Friday afternoon, the stands are full. Right now, things are good, the cars are safe and 1,000 foot is good on safety.”
Capps said there was a driver’s meeting for the Pro Nitro Group Friday at Indy where safety concerns were addressed. Capps and Worsham formed the Pro Nitro Group, for Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers only, following Scott Kalitta’s death.
“The emphasis on that meeting was drivers shutting their cars off on time and not relying on this automatic shutoff thing,” Capps said. “By no means am I putting myself above any driver and saying I’m better. I have had Graham Light come to me and mention names and I’ve watched the TV show and slowed it down and there are some drivers with the flames out of the pipes at the quarter-mile mark. If something goes wrong, then we’re put right back in the position we were before. If we concentrate on doing the best we can, we will keep it as safe as we can. If NHRA wants us to go back to quarter-mile and they develop something that will do that at a reduced cost for the owners, I’m all for it, but I also love what we’re doing now, so I see both sides of it.”
Capps says the point in forming the Nitro Group was to give drivers a voice to the NHRA.
“We address anything safety-wise to Dan Olson and Graham Light because some of us drivers aren’t owner/drivers, we’re paid, hired drivers,” Capps said. “The PRO (Professional Racers Owners Organization) has always been something that was an owner’s type of thing, and wasn’t reflected by what the drivers go through safety-wise. So, now with the group we have, if we have a Funny Car driver for example who has an issue with a track he will call me, I will go talk to (Bob) Vandergriff Jr. and Larry (Dixon) and we will have a discussion about it and go see Graham Light and Dan Olson and it will be addressed.”
Despite a stout Funny Car field, no one could dethrone top qualifier Matt Hagan on the final day of qualifying for the U.S. Nationals.
T-PED SURVIVES – Tony Pedregon was in the headlines last year at the U.S. Nationals for getting in a confrontation with his former boss John Force.
This year, he almost made headlines again, since he almost didn’t qualify for Monday’s race.
Pedregon clocked a 4151-second time to get into the field on his fifth and final qualifying run Sunday afternoon. Pedregon, who qualified for the Countdown in the No. 10 spot, faces Matt Hagan Monday in the first round. Hagan qualified first with a track record time of 4.039 seconds Saturday night.
“Tony is never an easy draw because Tony can leave on you,” Hagan said. “You never know what you’re going to get with that guy and he had our number last year. Every time we lined up against him, we could not get around him. This year, we have had a little bit better luck against him, but you never know. I know I’m going to put my game face on Sunday and go in there and pull the belts down tight and do what we do and I hope we can go some rounds Monday.”
BODE ALL SMILES – Bob Bode defined all the odds when he won the Funny Car title at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd, Minn., Aug. 12-15.
Bode, who is from Chicago, proved his performance was no fluke. Bode put himself in the U.S. Nationals field with a 4.109-second time at 298.14 mph. He qualified 12th on the ladder. Now, he faces 14-time world champion John Force Monday in the first round.
“I can’t quit smiling,” Bode said. “It is like way over the top winning a Wally. For us, we always hoped we would win a Wally and never knew that we would. So, when we actually stood there holding it, I think I will smile the rest of my life over that Wally.”
Although the U.S. Nationals is the premier event on the NHRA circuit, Bode was in no rush to get to Indy.
“We almost didn’t want it (the celebration) to end,” Bode said. “It has been the greatest two weeks of our life. The fans here (at the U.S. Nationals) have been very receptive that we won that thing (at Brainerd). I was laughing Saturday because I have never signed this many autographs or have that many people recognize me for racing as I had at this race. Being an independent, small team as they would call us, that win was a dream come true.”
Even Bode won at Brainerd, his team remains budget-conscious as he passed on his first qualifying run Saturday.
“We sat there until the last minute and if any one of the cars would have got by our 10, we were going to run,” Bode said. “We figured all those guys are pretty smart racers and if they didn’t figure out a 10 in the heat, we’re not going to either. We had all our good stuff on the car. Our good blower, our good parts, and we said if they are not doing it then we will just hold off for the night time round. We’re just hoping we got our hot-weather tuneup figured out Sunday for race day.”
Bode said getting back to basics has fueled his team’s recent success.
“Most of it is that we backed everything off,” Bode said. “It made the car run smoother. When we tried to go quicker, it upsets the car and it is not as efficient. We backed a lot of the stuff down and it just made it so smooth and work so much better.”
Following Indy, Bode says his team will compete at Charlotte (Sept. 16-19), Las Vegas (Oct. 28-31) and Pomona, Calif., (Nov. 11-14). Bode’s team is skipping the events at Dallas (Sept. 23-26) and Reading, Pa., (Oct. 7-10).
“Next year, we’re going to run the first six events of the season and we have a car in the Top 10, we will go the whole season,” Bode said.”The car will tell us if we’re going to go to more. Hopefully it tells us it wants to. If not we will just run 11 races that we had planned.”
AREND AIMS FOR IMPROVEMENT – Jeff Arend had hopes of winning a Funny Car championship just like any of his competitors.
However, that goal vanished when he failed to make the Countdown to 1 playoffs, finishing 11th in the regular-season standings.
Now, at the U.S. Nationals, Arend is anxious to see what he can accomplish. He qualified No. 13 with a 4.11-second time. He clashes with No. 6 qualifier Ashley Force Hood in the first round.
“The mindset for Indy and rest of the year is to go win races like it always was, but now we can kind of go for it a little bit more because we were trying to be a little bit conservative to get in the Top 10,” Arend said. “Now, we have a great run at it.”
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN – There were 21 entries in the Funny Car field and Jeff Diehl, John Smith, Brian Thiel and Justin Schriefer all failed to make the show.
second place behind his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan. Racing the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger, he recorded a 4.049-second run at 309.77 mph, which was the second quickest of that round.
His other weekend passes included a 4.149/301.40 (No. 8), 4.111/300.66 (second quickest of round - No. 9), and 4.209/253.28 and 4.115/301.87 in today's final two sessions. He earned four bonus points for his efforts.
“This is a big race weekend with the U.S. Nationals and the first race of the Countdown to the Championship,” said Capps, who entered the playoffs No. 5 in points. “More importantly, these small incremental qualifying points that NHRA is providing have proven to be a real carrot hanging out there for a lot of teams. And we went for it last night, got the No 2 spot, and that kind of thing is a real ego booster for the guys on the NAPA crew.
“We worked to get in that position and be last pair and be able to watch cars go down the track. I knew when I saw Hagan in front of me go 4.03 that we had a shot at either going 4.03 or quicker. So, the 4.04 was nice. We thought it would run quicker than that, but to put Don Schumacher Racing cars one and two is awesome.
“And I tell you, to run that 4.11 in that last run in the fifth qualifying session in the heat shows that we have a good tuneup for race day because we know it's going to be hot and humid tomorrow.
“The NAPA team is pumped.”
Capps will face Melanie Troxel in the opening round of Monday's eliminations.
BECKMAN: SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT - Jack Beckman, driving the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car, claimed the No. 7 spot 
after the completion of five rounds of qualifying for the prestigious 56th annual U.S. Nationals and the first race of the Countdown to the 1 playoffs.
His quickest pass of 4.076 seconds at 302.96 mph was set in the heat of the day on Sunday in the fourth session, which was also the quickest lap of that round, earning Beckman three bonus points. His other passes from Friday to Sunday were a 4.525/189.10 (No. 13), a 4.136/303.16 (No. 9), a 7.170/90.07 (No. 7), and a 4.951/156.44.
“It’s so weird at Indy having five qualifying runs, it’s like it never ends,” said Beckman, who entered the Countdown No. 3 in the points. “Usually, we’d be finishing a race right now and we’re just done qualifying.
“We weren’t perfect, we 'front-halved' this chassis and right now it looks like it wants something a little different then it wanted up in Brainerd (the previous race in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series). The good news is we made two really good qualifying runs, low ET of the fourth session, and in this fifth session maybe we found just the other side of our boundary and maybe it was a little too aggressive. That’s not a bad thing if you’re safe one run and overly aggressive the next. It’s not that tough to split the difference for eliminations.
“We’re going to have a lot hotter race track tomorrow. We’re going to be a top-half car with lane choice. We’re racing another top-10 car and the round wins mean everything now. It’s not that they weren’t important for the first 17 races, but they’re triply important now. We have to win first round every time we go up there for the next six races. I’d like to win four rounds tomorrow and that’ll just start it off the right way.”
Beckman will face Tim Wilkerson in the opening round of Monday's eliminations.
GIVING AWAY "THE SCOOTER" - As one of the fan promotions within the 25th anniversary celebration of John Force Racing’s association with Castrol, Susan Porter of Cumberland Furnace, 
Tennessee drove away Saturday with one of the most infamous scooters in the history of NHRA drag racing, the actual scooter on which 14-time Funny Car champion John Force traversed NHRA tracks across the country for the first 17 races of the season.
Force presented Porter with the key to the scooter on which he has traversed NHRA tracks across the country during the 2010 Full Throttle series. The presentation was made at the John Force Racing sponsor midway trailer between Saturday qualifying rounds at the 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park.
“I’ve been a John Force fan for the last five years. My son Todd and husband Billy watched the races and the more I watched it the more I became a fan. John is like me, a blabber-mouth. I really liked him from the very beginning. I signed up for the Castrol promotion and I saw where you could win John’s scooter so one night I thought I’ll just register. I didn’t even tell Billy I signed up,” said Porter.
“My husband wants to put it in his car room but we are going to use it. I plan on riding it. We have a trip planned to Bowling Green, Kentucky for one of the Good Guys nostalgia events. Billy asked if we were going to take the scooter. I said of course. Then he wanted to know if he could ride it with me.”
Force has been chronicled riding his scooter at tracks as he supports his drivers on ESPN2 broadcasts as well as in National Dragster. A scooter that has that many miles on it has picked up some obvious signs of wear and tear but the various scratches and dings only adds to the mystic in Porter’s eyes.
“When I saw the scooter for the first time I thought it was nice. I am not worried about some of the scratches. I think it gives it some class,” laughed Porter.
“When I got the call that I won I was in my office I was wearing my phone headset but I was still jumping up and down screaming, ‘I won. I won.’ Before I got called by Castrol letting me know that I had won we had been out on Rt. 66 for vacation. I told Billy that next year our big vacation should be going to an NHRA drag race. Thirty minutes later I got the call from Castrol letting me know I won the scooter and was getting to come to the Mac Tools US Nationals. This is my first event to see in person.”
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -HAGAN ROCKETS TO THE TOP, REVISITING THE SCUFFLE "ONE YEAR LATER"
On more than one occasion, Funny Car driver Matt Hagan has talked about how his crew chief Tommy DeLago swings for the fences.
Saturday night, DeLago hit a home run.
Hagan blazed the Don Schumacher Racing Diehard Dodge to a track record time of 4.039 seconds at 277.89 mph to grab the provisional pole at the U.S. Nationals.
“Wow what a run,” Hagan said. “You know Tommy DeLago really knows how to tune these race cars up. He said if it makes it past 60 foot it is going to haul the mail. We pulled the belts down tight in there and it really left hard and I got somewhat of a vibration in there. I thought, man it is really going because it blurred my vision a little bit. I could see the groove pretty good, but it felt like it was getting towards the wall to me and I clicked it off a little early. Tommy thought the car might have been on a 4 flat run and it’s right there. We know what we need to do and I guess we didn’t show all of our cards.”
Hagan set the NHRA national Funny Car elapsed time record at 4.022 seconds during eliminations at the United Association Route 66 Nationals in Chicago in June. He has qualified on the pole twice this year at Gainesville, Fla., and Denver.
“This was just a great run Saturday night,” Hagan said. “The guys are doing a phenomenal job. The guys putting the car together this year have been flawless.”
Hagan, who is fourth in the points standings, did admit he would love to be the first Funny Car driver to make a 3-second pass at 1,000 feet.
“It would be huge,” Hagan said. “That is what we are all out here aiming to do, to lay that 3 number down. I think it is going to happen before the year is up. I know when we set the record, we looked at it and we were right there with it. I’m not promising anything, but if the conditions come around this fall everybody is going to see some 3 laps. I think the best times to do it here (at the U.S. Nationals) are already over.”
PEDREGON VS FORCE ONE YEAR LATER - Fireworks between drag racers is not uncommon, but last year’s confrontation between Tony Pedregon and John Force at the U.S. Nationals was plenty memorable.
Hight’s win against his father-in-law and boss, knocked Cruz, Tony’s brother and defending NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car world champion, out of the Countdown. Force beat Cruz Pedregon in the second round.
Hight’s win over his boss vaulted him past both Matt Hagan and Cruz Pedregon, into the Countdown to 1 as the 10th place points finisher. Hight then went on to win the world championship.
Following Hight’s win, Force and Pedregon were shown getting into a verbal confrontation at the top end of the track.
“He got in my face and I think he was trying to intimidate me, but I stand by what I say,” said Pedregon moments after the confrontation. “I’m just a competitor out here and I’m trying to make a living. This is an emotional business that we’re in. There are some ups and downs and there’s some adrenaline that takes place. Now, the bottom line is if I lay down for Cruz in Brainerd, he’s in the top 10. I race. I stand behind what really this sport is about. I made a comment and John wanted to know why I didn’t say anything to him. What good is that going to do me? That’s not going to accomplish anything. John knows what he does. John knows those decisions he makes. I don’t believe that everyone is that naive. I simply call it the way that I see it. I only say this, that it’s a shame that this sport that’s built on competition, I know that it has evolved into a business, but to me it’s still about the competition.”
Tony Pedregon drove for John Force Racing from 1996-2003, winning the world championship in his final season with the team before leaving to start his own team in 2004.
Now, a year removed from the incident, Pedregon was reluctant to dig up bad feelings.
“I forgot all about that,” Pedregon said. “I think we’re way past it and I think that it is one of those things that we hope doesn’t become an issue. I’m not a whistle blower, and it was just one of those things where I got caught up in the emotion. It is a big race and I think the racers are impacted, obviously the ones that are affected by those types of decisions. Overall, as a whole, it is really not the best thing for the sport. It’s a year behind us and my daughter reminded me (of the incident) and she rolled her eyes and it is still a little embarrassing to me in one regard because we’re two grown men and we both just got caught up in a situation.”
Pedregon says he and Force have come to an understanding since the altercation in Indy last year.
“We have spoken quite a bit since then and we understand one another,” Pedregon said. “Hey that is what friends do, they work past those things.”
Pedregon admitted barely making the Countdown to 1 playoffs this year was more stressful than his spat with Force. This year Indy also is the first race in the Countdown to 1 instead of the final race of the regular season, as it was last season.
“The drama I went through hanging on to my position was probably worse than that little argument I had with John,” Pedregon said. “I think ESPN did what they’re supposed to do. They were looking for a story and that was a story. There were a lot of people who voiced their opinion and a lot stood behind John and a lot of people stood behind me. In my opinion, I probably earned a lot of new fans. In the end, it is one of those things where nobody is perfect and our system isn’t perfect.”
Force wasn’t interested in talking about last year’s Indy. His focus was on the present.
“I’m excited just to be here,” Force said. “This is the big daddy, the big race. I’m going to try to win this thing. There’s always drama. That’s what it is all about. We fight the fight and do what we do. Any man can win and I hope it is one of us.”
JOHN FORCE RACING FINED - The NHRA announced Saturday morning that it had fined John Force Racing $5,000 for a pit incident that took place on 
Wednesday, Aug. 24, at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.
The fine, which is payable immediately and not eligible for appeal, was issued after one of the Force Racing teams improperly operated their car in the pit area. NHRA rules specify that Funny Cars must be in a raised position, fully situated in its assigned space and utilize cradles and jackstand devices that attach to the frame when servicing or starting the car’s engine while in the pit area. The team must pay the fine in full before it can continue to compete in any future NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series events.
Force did pay the fine Saturday morning at the U.S. Nationals and said why NHRA imposed the fine.
“Let me clarify first of all, I’m trying to teach my youngest daughter Courtney and for two months we have been towing her in the Funny Car around at the shop at home, just so she can learn the visuals,” Force said. “We finally started her in the car and all went really well because she drove Super Comp and A-Fuel. All I did, this wasn’t a race, this wasn’t a test session, there was nobody here in the parking lot except my crew and there was a few people out here because they dug the track up. I just didn’t think anything about it, putting it on the ground, to let her back it up and come forward to teach her how to stage it and lift the body and the process. So, when we do take her out there, she knew it.”
Graham Light, NHRA’s senior vice president, racing operations, wasn’t thrilled when he received word of what Force did, and he met with Force on Friday at O’Reilly Raceway Park.
“When Graham came over he was very excited and he wanted to hear it from me,” Force said. “He said, 'John you’re the leader in safety and you’re one of the guys who preaches safety and you would do something like that.' I told him, Graham I knew it, I just made a mistake. I have already written a check for the fine. I can’t break the rules. I’m not beyond the rules and I just wasn’t thinking out here by myself. I told Graham I know the rulebook, but I haven’t seen that rule in over 20 years. That’s an old rule. I just never thought about it. I wasn’t at a race, there was nobody here and I put it on the ground. But, it is for the safety of the driver, too. You put a car on the ground, you have to take the drive shaft out of it and if you run it, it has to be on the jack stand. It was a bad mistake by me.”
Force says he’s going to give himself a refresher course on the rulebook following the U.S. Nationals on Monday.
“I told Graham I was going home after this race and I’m going to the rulebook to see if there’s anything else. I have to keep my mind up,” Force said. “That’s why they have us retake our test at the DMV every five years. To keep up with the rules. That’s an old rule and a John Force mistake. I want to apologize because I do not want anybody else doing that.”
Force said when Courtney was at Indy Aug. 24, she was practicing in her own Funny Car.
“We built her, her own Top Fuel Funny Car,” Force said. “It (the car) was in Indy so I flew her in here. In the old days, 30 years ago, we went down to the local Wal-Mart or Kmart and did burnouts and I was so excited with her (Courtney) and she was learning so fast and I was just loving every minute of it. I was like put her on the ground and let’s see what will happen. The minute I put her on the ground, the NHRA guy was over here and asking what am I doing? You can’t do that. He said, it’s our race track, we have the liability. They were more concerned about Courtney. They weren’t concerned about me running into somebody because there was nobody here. They were concerned about my kid. I was embarrassed. I want to apologize to everybody, I know better. I didn’t do it because I thought I could get away with something. It never crossed my mind. It was like I was in my own shop at home, but hell we do not start there either. We always take them to the race track.”
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - HIGHT STARTS OFF ON TOP
Winning championships is expected at John Force Racing, and the powerhouse team flexed its Funny Car muscles Friday night at the U.S. Nationals.
Robert Hight, the defending Funny Car world champ, captured the provisional pole with a track-record time of 4.055 seconds at 310.98 mph.
Hi everybody, Wilky here on Friday. Let me get one thing straight before I go any further with this. I'm getting some help on the typing end of this deal, but at least we're able to let you know what's going on here at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indy. First off, you already know that everything about Indy is bigger. It's Indy, and everything about it is just on a different scale than any other race. That includes the car counts, the crowd, the midway area, and the whole atmosphere of the place. We might worry about getting a few tickets for friends or sponsors at a normal race, but here we're on the hunt for dozens, and they're all for important people who don't want to miss this race.
For our sponsors (who are also important friends) we make sure we keep a printed agenda in the lounge, or it would be awfully easy to be a knucklehead and miss something we're supposed to be at. Today, we've already signed autographs in two different places for Mac Tools, and tomorrow we'll be working with them again, and Ford too. The big Ford display is right next door, so that's easy enough.
We also have a camera in our pit, looking right down on the car, so you might see that on ESPN this weekend.
So much of this sort of thing goes on here, you almost forget there's a race for us too, but once we make that first lap tonight the racing part of this race will get kind of fast and furious in its own right.
I'll try to come up with a few more ideas and we'll con the wife or the PR guy into typing it up for me. See ya!
“That’s the way to start the Countdown out,” said Hight, who has qualified No. 1 six times this season. “You know when you run a number like that you’re going to be qualified. You do not know if it is going to hold up for No. 1 or not, but we have the points deal where you get points for every run you make in qualifying. As you saw, I finished the regular season one point behind my boss John Force. So, every point you can earn is important and this is a perfect way to start this new season. From here forward, we have to be perfect and do our job because these guys are so good out here who are chasing us.”
When the points were reshuffled for the Countdown to 1 playoffs, Hight was seeded 30 points behind John Force.
“All three of the John Force cars are one, two and three in qualifying and we had a good test session here (at Indy) a week ago,” Hight said. “I was actually nervous about tonight because Jimmy Prock wasn’t happy about how we ran in testing and he’s never happy. He was back at the dyno and he has been working night and day to trying to figure out how to make this car leave better. Tonight, we had the best 60 foot (time) we’ve had in a long time and everything he did on the dyno paid off and that doesn’t always happen. Jimmy Prock, he’s a genius and I’m lucky to have him and he made all the right calls.”
Since making his Funny Car debut in 2005, Hight has had tremendous success at Indy. He won the circuit’s biggest race in 2006 and 2008 and he was runner-up in 2007 and 2009.
“This is Indy and there’s a lot of energy here and this is basically our home track,” said Hight, who pilots the Auto Club Ford Mustang. “Last year, we came to Indy with our fingers crossed hoping that we could make the Countdown and we got to our first final. Winning Indy never gets old and you have to focus on what you have done and what you know how to do.”
A year ago, Hight just barely qualified for the Countdown claiming the 10th and final spot by capturing a controversial win over John Force in the semifinals at the U.S. Nationals, before decimating the competition over the final six races.
BODE HAS STRONG SHOWING - Following his improbable win at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., Bob Bode proved his victory was no fluke.
Bode, who is not even listed in the 2010 NHRA media guide, qualified fourth on Friday at 4.109 seconds at 298.14 mph.Bode, a former national championship boat racer, upset Jack Beckman in the finals at Brainerd. Bode has been racing in the NHRA the past decade with a limited budget.
Heading into Indy, Bode has a 5-7 round record this season.
FORCE HOOD UNDER 500 - Qualifying well at NHRA national events has not been a problem for Ashley Force Hood this season. She has been first or second in the qualifying ladder eight times.
Winning rounds on Sunday, however, hasn’t come as easy. Force Hood has a 15-17 (.469 percent) round record this season, heading into Indy.
Force Hood has lost in the opening round at the last three races at Sonoma, Calif., Denver and Brainerd, Minn. Force Hood last made it to the semifinals at Chicago in June.
Force Hood qualified third Friday at Indy at 4.059 seconds at 310.98 mph.
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN - As qualifying resumes Saturday, Jack Beckman, Paul Lee, Bob Tasca III, Matt Hagan and Del Worsham all were sitting outside of the top 12.
Of those four drivers, Lee is the only driver who is not in the Countdown to 1 playoffs. What’s more, Tony Pedregon, who is 10th in the Countdown, is sitting in the No. 12 position posting a qualifying run of 4.334 seconds at 214.59 mph.
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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK - FLOPPER DRIVERS PREPARE FOR CHALLENGING COUNTDOWN BATTLE
COUNTDOWN LAUNCH AT INDY EXCITES HIGHT - It is recognized as the biggest and most prestigious race on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. This year the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals will also take on an additional importance as the first race of the Countdown to 1 playoffs.
As if there wasn’t enough pressure to win one of the most historic races now driver’s turn up the heat to start their championship dreams on the right foot with a win at O’Reilly Raceway Park.
Robert Hight, the defending NHRA Funny Car champion, has a comfortable and excited feeling entering Indy this year.
“I’m definitely excited about going into the Countdown this year,” Hight said. “Last year, I just barely made it and I still really believe we owe that to John Force and his making a lot of changes with our team right at the end before the regular season was over. He shuffled things around, it got the crew chiefs’ minds right and we went back to basics. We used the ‘One Ford’ approach and got all the cars on the same page and working together and we carried that philosophy into this year.”
Last year, Hight grabbed the 10th and final starting position on the final day of the regular season before going on a three-wins-in-six-races rampage that delivered a 16th Funny Car championship to John Force Racing, Inc.
This season, Hight won four regular-season events, but came up one point behind his boss in the point chase before the reshuffling was done to begin the Countdown to 1. Hight is now 30 points behind John Force.
“John moved Mike Neff around, put him in charge over there,” Hight said. “They basically duplicated our Auto Club Mustang and as you can see the first 17 races, John and my car, we won four races each and ended up one point apart. I think we learned a lot. That one point also makes us think that in the next six races, every run we make, every qualifying run, there’s points available and we have to make the most of everything if we want one of these Ford Mustangs to win. I still owe it to John Force for making all of this happen and shuffling people around and making the right calls.”
Hight also is upbeat about the Ford Mustang he’s competing in at Indy.
“We also have the 2010 Ford Mustang body that I believe is definitely more efficient aerodynamically,” Hight said. “John and Ashley have both gone 316 mph this year, so we owe a lot to them and their engineers for giving us the best equipment to go out there and compete with. I’ve been in finals at the last four Indys so I’m looking forward to going back to Indy this year.”
For Hight starting the Countdown in Indy is something that he is looking forward to because of the history of the event.
“This is biggest race we have all year long. This is the grand daddy of them all,” Hight explained. “We’ve all had good luck here. It was exciting racing Ashley in the final last year. It doesn’t get much better than that, to have two Force Ford Mustangs in the final. Don Garlits once told me that because I had won Indy I could retire now. I want to win championships though. I want to win more Indys and more championships. This is a great place to start the Countdown and we have had good luck there.”
Hight also is aware that his JFR team can’t waste any runs at Indy.
“The Mac Tools U.S. Nationals start out Friday night, one run under the lights and you have got to get that run in and you have got to be quick,” Hight said. “You are going to see less than a tenth of a second from No. 1 to No. 16 in Funny Car at the U.S. Nationals. Every run counts. It is an exciting time for us. On Thursday we have an all Ford car show at the shop in Indy, an open house to kick off the US Nationals. It is going to be very busy the next week and a half for John Force Racing.”
Hight has appeared in the past four finals in a row at Indy picking up wins in 2006 and 2008. John Force Racing has had tremendous success at O’Reilly Raceway Park. If the pattern holds true it could be a successful start for one of the three John Force Racing drivers.
For the past decade a JFR driver has won the U.S. Nationals on the even numbered years, John Force (2002), Gary Densham (2004), and Hight (2006 and 2008).
LEGENDARY JOHN FORCE ROLLS INTO INDY - Qualifying for the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, drag racing’s marquee event, has been feast or famine for the sport’s marquee personality, John Force.
Although the driver of the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang has started from the No. 1 qualifying position 11 times, more than he has in any other event in the Full Throttle Series, he also has failed to make the starting lineup four times, most recently in 2007 and 2008.
What’s more, Force hasn’t won the Labor Day event since 2002 when he needed all his starting line skills to beat Tommy Johnson Jr. on reaction time.
This season, Force is a legitimate championship contender for the first time since winning his 14th title in 2006. After a debilitating 2007 crash followed by two mediocre campaigns, the 61-year-old has appeared in a category-high seven final rounds this year with four wins in a revitalized Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang.
Force’s U.S. Nationals highlights include “double-up” victories in both 1993 and 1996, years in which a Funny Car bonus race was contested at ORP in conjunction with the Labor Day classic.
In addition to his four U.S. Nationals titles, Force won six times (1987, 1990, 1993, 2000, 2006) in the Funny Car bonus race that began life as the Big Bud Shootout and ended in 2008 as the U.S. Smokeless Showdown.
The entire JFR racing organization actually has had good success at Indy. In addition to John Force, Gary Densham won at Indy in the Auto Club of Southern California entry in 2004. Hight won twice, in 2006 and 2008, in the Auto Club of Southern California Funny Car and Ashley Force Hood was the champ at Indy in the Castrol GTX Top Alcohol Dragster in 2004 and in Funny Car last year.
FORCE-HOOD RETURNS TO INDY - Last year, Ashley Force Hood became the first woman in Mac Tools U.S. Nationals history to win the Funny Car championship as well as the first to win the world’s largest, richest and most prestigious event in two different categories.
Back in 2004, Force Hood won her inaugural NHRA national event when she took home the crown at the U.S. Nationals in the Top Alcohol Dragster class.
Force Hood, also is hoping to follow a similar path to the championship as her fellow driver and brother-in-law, Robert Hight, did last year. Force Hood, who has yet to win a race this season, begins the Countdown from the No. 8 position – 90 points behind her father and 60 back of Hight.
WILKERSON READY FOR INDY - Tim Wilkerson, owner/tuner/driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang Funny Car, knows all about Indy.
He knows the town, since he makes the 430-mile round-trip regularly from his Springfield, Ill. shop, to take care of a variety of racing-related business.
He knows the race, the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals (otherwise known as “The Big Go”) and he prepares for the marathon nature of it by prepping his team and his parts for an annual epic battle.
He even knows the winner's circle, having claimed his second career national event win at Indy in 2003, thereby earning Bob Frey's accolades for an entire calendar year, during which Wilkerson never came to the starting line at any race track without being referred to as “your defending U.S. Nationals champion” by the sport's most famous public address announcer.
Unlike any other NHRA Full Throttle event, Indy has five qualifying runs spread over four days of pro racing with eliminations taking place on Monday.
Also, if Indy needed any more build up, is the first race in the Countdown to 1 Championship Playoffs.
“It's a huge race anyway, no matter the year or the situation with the playoffs,” Wilkerson said. “If you went to Indy in 1975, it was a big deal. Before the Countdown, no matter how many races were left on the schedule after Indy, it was a big deal. Now, it's really a big deal. A lot of guys used to try to downplay it, maybe just to calm themselves down or something, by saying Indy was just another race. I don't think you can do that this year, with it being the first race in the playoffs. Every lap is going to mean a little bit more, and whichever Countdown team comes out of Indy with the most round wins is going to have a leg up.
“Even off the track, everything about the Indy weekend is different,” Wilkerson said. “Sponsors definitely treat the race differently, so there's always a lot of extra stuff to do and places to be, and with us being a Mac Tools team we want to make sure we do all we can for those folks all weekend. I know Dick Levi and the LRS people consider it a big deal, too, and we'll have plenty of them with us this weekend, so the mission is to make sure we give them a great time and a good car they can cheer for. When you add in an extra day, the whole Indy experience really isn't just another race. It's the biggest.”
The added length of the event also has an impact on the racing, barring any cancellations caused by bad weather.
“If you give us all five good shots at the track, the best teams will generally figure it out and be at the top,” Wilkerson said. “At other events, if it's really hot out you might only get one decent shot at the race track, on Friday evening, but in Indy we get night runs on Friday and Saturday, and even a late-afternoon run on Sunday, along with the two other daytime runs. It's hard to imagine the Force cars and the Schumacher cars not figuring it out with that many shots at it, so the rest of us have to really be on our game.”
Wilkerson says one key for his team is being on target from the first run on Friday.
“Getting a good one on the board on Friday night really helps, but you also don't want to go out there being greedy and overpower it, so you still have to be smart,” Wilkerson explained. “Week in and week out, we're not a real ‘home run’ kind of team in qualifying, so that's just us. I think the best we've done all year is a No. 2 and a No. 4, with everything else being sort of middle-of-the-pack, and I think we actually lost in the first round at both of those races where we were up high on the ladder, so I don't know what it all means. I guess we'll just have to see if the added run helps us or not, but one thing I know is that we can't come out here and just throw the playbook away by trying to be big heroes. We have to do what we do best, and that's get it in the show solidly and then capitalize on race day. I almost said 'Sunday' but race day in Indy is on Monday. See, it's all bigger in Indy.”
CAPPS WANTS FIRST INDY WIN - While his mentor and former crew chief (now Don Schumacher Racing team consultant) Ed “Ace” McCulloch has won the U.S. Nationals six times in his driving career (once in Top Fuel, five in Funny Car), Ron Capps is still looking for his first.
And, with the Countdown to the Championship also beginning this weekend in Clermont, Ind., there's an air of awe, yet confidence, in the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Funny Car camp as Capps and the team target their first NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series crown.
“I'm always very confident coming into a national event,” said Capps, who starts the playoffs from No. 5 position in points. “Even in the past when we would arrive at the U.S. Nationals, the biggest race we have on the NHRA schedule, I have always felt I was in the best possible place to win Indy for the first time. But, for whatever reason, I always fell short.”
Capps also realizes what a win at Indy would mean for his career.
“If you talk to any race car driver or any athlete, he or she will tell you it's the big moments that you want to be a part of, those moments that define you as a race-car driver and a competitor,” Capps said. “And you can't deny the fact that winning Indy is almost as important as winning a championship. This race is always challenging. I look at Ed McCulloch, who has been my mentor and has won Indy six times, and my DSR teammate Tony Schumacher (eight times), and they're almost nonchalant when they talk about winning it that many times. And, here I am, willing to give almost anything to be able to win it. It's difficult sometimes when you start putting yourself in the position of saying to yourself, 'Boy, I need to win it, I have to win it,' because it's such a big race.”
What’s more Capps knows Indy will hold even more importance based on its slot in the NHRA schedule.
“So, whenever you get to Indy you can say what you want, you can say it's just another race - a driver can talk himself almost into anything – but, the fact is, Indy is huge,” Capps said. “And this year it's bigger than it's ever been because it's our first race of the Countdown. You have to get off to a great start. You don't use any mulligans for this Countdown. You have to come out of the box swinging. Oh, and by the way, it's the U.S. Nationals. Everything is elevated, teams bring out new paint schemes, major announcements are made, and it's probably as big as it has ever been in my career.”
Capps comes to Indy 60 points behind points leader John Force.
INDY EXCITES BECKMAN - Everyone who knows Jack Beckman knows he analyzes just about every possible aspect when it comes to competing in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. He is true to form as he prepares to race the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car in this weekend's 56th annual U.S. Nationals, the first event of the six-race Countdown to the Championship. 
During and after a productive test session at O'Reilly Raceway Park last Thursday, where the U.S. Nationals will be held this weekend, Beckman, the 2008 U.S. Nationals runner-up, took notes and came up with a fluid scenario for a successful weekend.
“The truth of the matter is, big numbers in testing are awesome but they don't give you points or trophies for testing,” Beckman said. “We only made four runs, while a lot of teams made five, six or even seven. We didn't run once it cooled down because we're very confident with the way our car runs on cool tracks. We smoked the tires once, and made two planned half-track shutoff runs. One would have been a 4.08 (second run) or a 4.09, so we were right there. And then we went out in the heat and ran 4.16 at 301 mph, and we were pleased with that.
“This is the first year that Indy is actually going to be a Countdown race, and this event is so big that it if you did nothing else all year and you won Indy it would be a year you would never forget,” added Beckman, who enters the Countdown third in the standings. But, now, the points are reset and it's like the start of a new season. There are 10 of us who have tightened way up in the points and have a shot at the crown. For our Valvoline/MTS team, if we win this race, we will come out of it in first or second place.”
Although some drivers aren’t into crunching numbers, Beckman is.
“To say that we don't care about points right now wouldn't be completely accurate because, yeah, we want to win the race and the points will handle themselves, but NHRA kind of threw a wrench into the works last year adding these extra bonus points for qualifying, and the way the points reset for the Countdown, all the cars are within a half a round or one round of each other (round wins earn 20 points),” Beckman said. “Well, that means if you can pick up one point in qualifying relative to the other cars, it's huge at the end of the season. It's absolutely enormous. It's not that we don't try our best in every qualifying session, but right now you have to try to get at least one point, as the top three cars will get three, two, or one point in every single qualifying session. If there's no weather-related issues, we have 25 opportunities during the Countdown to earn qualifying bonus points (Indy has a fifth qualifying session). That means there's potentially 75 points available if you’re quickest each round through the end of the year, not even counting regular qualifying points. It's important to grab as many of those as you can.”
Beckman also is well aware of how important a quick start at Indy can be.
“Indy is also unique that it's the only race where you start out qualifying with a night session,” continued Beckman who has never won the U.S. Nationals in his nine career victories in 21 final rounds. “And it would be fantastic to run quick out of the box, make a statement early, and try to get some of those bonus points on Friday. In addition, we have many cool things going on this week in Indianapolis that will keep us busy, including a visit to the Riley Hospital for Children on Wednesday and the Don Schumacher Racing Open House on Friday. The event is a day longer than any other event, but they give away the same-sized trophy. The finals are on Monday instead of Sunday, and I'd love to be standing there holding that trophy on Monday afternoon.”
HAGAN ANXIOUS FOR INDY, COUNTDOWN - Matt Hagan, who was an NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year contender in 2009 and just missed getting into the top 10 for the Countdown to the Championship, plans to enjoy his first time in the playoffs as they begin this weekend at the 56th annual U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind., just outside of Indianapolis.
Last year's fresh-faced rookie has turned into a fierce competitor who's given NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series veterans a run for their money this season driving the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing. He's won two national events in as many final rounds, was low qualifier twice, set a national elapsed-time record (4.022 seconds) and battled with John Force, Robert Hight and his DSR teammate Jack Beckman to the end of the regular season, ending up fourth in the standings.
“I'm very, very excited,” said the 27-year-old Angus Cattle farmer from Christiansburg, Va. “We have such a quick race car and we came off such a great test session last week at ORP. These 8000-hp cars can be extremely humbling - you never know what you're going to get - but I am more than excited just to be a player in the Countdown. And, starting the playoffs at our biggest race of the year, the U.S. Nationals, heightens the level of excitement.
“You have to be in it to win it - sorry for the cliché - and I think that all of us on the DieHard team have put ourselves in the position to have that chance to win the championship. But, like (crew chief) Tommy DeLago said, we're just going to play it race by race, lap by lap and not get too far ahead of ourselves, because it's so easy to put pressure on yourself and get caught up in all the hoopla. I'm super-excited, but not overly confident.”
At last week's NHRA open test session at ORP, Hagan posted a 4.094-second elapsed time at 300.20 mph, good for second quickest of all Funny Cars testing there.
“The DieHard car went down the race track,” he said. “It's one of the best test sessions we've ever had. We didn't smoke the tires a lot and we learned a lot. I think Tommy went away from the test pretty happy and, since it's the same race track we'll compete on this weekend, the data we gathered is invaluable. I think Tommy's got a good baseline for hot and cool weather, so everyone on the DieHard team is really excited and looking forward to this event.”
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