PRIVATE TESTING NOTES LIVE TIMING FROM 1320GO			THURSDAY GALLERY FRIDAY GALLERY SATURDAY GALLERY

 

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -

SCHUMACHER FRONT AND CENTER - Tony Schumacher led the Top Fuel contingent in the first of two public Saturday night sessions. Schumacher drove the U.S. Army dragster to a 3.778 second clocking at 321.19 mph. His was the only 3.7 second elapsed time and 320 mph speed. Terry McMillen, in the Amalie Oil/University of Northwestern Ohio Dragster, was close behind with a 3.828 second, 313.29 mph pass.
 
Antron Brown topped Schumacher's numbers in the final session of the PRO Winter Warm-up, taking his Matco Tools dragster downtrack in 3.775 seconds at 324.05 mph. Brandon Bernstein and Spencer Massey put on a terrific side-by-side exhibition for the crowd, which was substantially improved over Friday night’s attendance. Bernstein, in the Copart Dragster, recorded a 3.906/303.78. Massey rebounded from his earlier 5.176/136.14 (one of the few times all weekend he didn't get down the track under full power) with a 3.788/306.08 in the Prestone Dragster.

NEW GENERATION EAGER - If all the stars line up correctly, Austin Lambright, the 23-year-old car chief on Terry McMillen's Amalie Oil/UNOH Dragster, could make his driving debut as early as the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla., the second race of the 2011 season. The team plans to send the hauler home to Anderson, S.C., with crew chief Richard Hartman. McMillen is hoping he'll be able to give Lambright the chance to make his licensing passes at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga., which is about two hours from Hartman's home. If that can happen, McMillen said, he needs to see if the entry-list number cap will allow him to enter Lambright's car, the one McMillen drove last season.    

NO GHOSTRIDERS - Spencer Massey said he doesn't feel he has the ghost of Cory McClenathan riding with him this year as he replaces the veteran at Don Schumacher Racing.
 
He said that he, like McClenathan, understands the decision to make the swap was a business decision that has nothing to do with personal feelings ("Everybody wants to race, but it's a business ... Life happens - it is what it is"). Massey understands that he simply is, in NASCAR parlance, the "lucky dog recipient".

"Don Schumacher loves this sport; we're very blessed to have him here in NHRA drag racing," he said. Moreover, he said he wants to see McClenathan back out on the track, competing with him.
 
"It was Cory's car," Massey said, saluting the outstanding effort McClenathan made to coax the ultimate numbers and performance from the FRAM/Prestone Dragster. But he has become the steward of it this season, although he remains friends with, and respects McClenathan.
 
"I see him around town quite a bit. We talk. We hang out. I've always been friends with him," Massey said. "He's trying to work on some deals for himself, and hopefully he can get back out there. We need Cory out there. He's one of the hearts of our sport. I've watched him race since I was a kid, and I've looked up to him."
 
Massey, alongside tuners Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler, says he is ready to start the season.
 
In mid-December, when he made his first passes in this car, he ran a 3.79-second elapsed time at 324 miles an hour. After that visit and the first four days at this preseason test, Massey said, "We're almost running out of stuff to test. But it doesn't ever hurt to try to test to keep in the 3.70s. That's what we're doing now. I've had killer lights in the car."
 
Massey posted a 3.762-second elapsed time before the PRO Winter Warm-up officially began.
 
Last month's testing was geared to getting Massey comfortable in the car. This week, the focus has been "testing some newer stuff, trying different ways they might want to adjust the tune-up to different situations. We feel like we're ready to go to Pomona right now - today, especially with the way the car's running right now," he said. "The only thing we're going to test is make that car go as fast as we can right now and try to see if we can lower that bar for the record."

LAGANA PLUS FLORIDA EQUALS SUCCESS - Top Fuel driving brothers Dom and Bobby Lagana have been in West Palm Beach for about two weeks -- and they've had an undeniably successful stay.
 
For the second straight season, reigning International Hot Rod Association champion Bobby Lagana swept both Top Fuel titles at the Palm Beach Nitro Jam, the IHRA's season-opener. He recorded the best weekend of his drag-racing career, with two victories and four straight runs at more than 320 mph (including a career-best pass  last Saturday night). He had traveled at 320 mph only twice before.
 
Besides impressing Florida-based executives from car sponsor Service Central / Tire Kingdom with his feat and favorable media attention, he also warmed the car up for younger brother Dom, who will drive this car for seven races with Service Central branding, three year-end races with Lucas Oil livery, seven IHRA events, and a May 20 match race at Martin, Mich. (that is set to feature Bruce Litton, Scott Palmer, and Chris Karamesines).   
 
"This thing is a brand new car that was actually built for Dom, so I had to trim up just to get in the thing," Lagana told the IHRA's Larry Crum a week ago. Reflecting on that, he said Saturday, "We had a magical weekend."
 
And for the hardworking shoestring-budget team that isn't used to surplus funding for testing, this is a fresh experience -- much like Dom's final-round appearance at Las Vegas last Halloween and their Full Throttle Hardest-Working Top Fuel Crew Award.
 
"We're testing, which is really rare for us. We learned a lot today," Bobby Lagana, who's serving as his brother's crew chief, said following Dom's 4.017 second, 245.63 mph Saturday morning pass. "This will be our sixth run tonight. We've used up the budget for testing," he said. It yielded a 7.150 second E.T. (97.36 mph).
 
"We're having so much fun," he said. "I never get to listen to and watch run after run after run after run by these guys. They're awesome. The crews work so hard. I give them so much respect, all these guys on these teams. They just work and work and work. All the teams. Super-nice guys."
 
The Lagana family has received additional funding for its Twilight Zone Dragster. He'll carry the Lucas Oil colors. And he has received extra help, in the form of a new supercharger, from Alan Johnson Racing. Said Lagana, "We're just trying to understand the mechanics of it. What does it do differently? What's the right way to strip it and work on it?"
 
The Laganas have been busy on a number of fronts while they've been in Palm Beach.
 
"We're also trying to put together Paul Richards' Funny Car -- we have Scott Palmer with us. He's been here for a month, trying to finish up the Funny Car," Bobby Lagana said.
 
"We're IHRA. That's who we are. We love running over here with these guys. We love NHRA. But IHRA, If I could put it as my middle name, I would," Bobby Lagana said. "I'd do anything to support them. I want to see them succeed.
 
He recognized that the IHRA has taken criticism because new owner, Kenneth Feld/Feld Entertainment, has chosen to abandon the nitro classes and fashion the show more like an entertainment program, in the vein of its Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus property. But Lagana remains loyal to the Norwalk, Ohio-based IHRA, saying, "I think the program will grow to other people's liking. But in today's world, you can't please everybody. What [Kenneth Feld] is doing is keeping this thing out there. He's just trying to learn the business. I really think our performance last week showed a lot for the Top Fuel cars. They're the main attraction. I love all the other classes, but I think they're the main attraction."
 
NEFF SHINES - The ol' champion still has it. It's not John Force, the reigning and 16-time titlist, but rather his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang. Crew chief Mike Neff, who's still carrying his own tool box, took over the seat of the car in which Force earned the championship last November. And, Neff opened Saturday testing registering a 4.034 second, 312.06 mph run that had boss Force smiling. No wonder - it was the quickest pass of the preseason and second only to Jack Beckman's 312.42-mph speed posted last Thursday evening. Neff's second pass of the day wasn't as eye-popping - a 4.110 / 309.49 as the car wiggled its way down track.
 
Neff was one of four Funny Car drivers to dip into the 4.0s in Saturday's first night session. His other two John Force Racing teammates did so as well, Force at 4.092 seconds and Robert Hight with low E.T. of the session at 4.055 and top speed of 312.64 mph.

Johnny Gray ran a 4.083.

 

 
 
GAME PLAN SET - Jack Beckman's trip to South Florida has been a satisfying one. "We've learned enough," Beckman said, adding that he wouldn't have been worried if after the second day here at PBIR rain had set in. "But I'm glad we took advantage of going out every day," he added. "We didn't beat up the crew. At a certain point, we're just burning up clutch parts. I feel real good. That being said, there's five Funny Cars that are running real good right now. We just need to be consistently good and qualify high, and that's going to be a big challenge this year."
 
Beckman reached a sobering conclusion; "You take the Force cars, the Schumacher cars, and the Pedregon brothers, and I guarantee you that one of those is going to be in the bottom half of the field, because that's nine cars right there. Then you throw in Bob Tasca, Melanie Troxel, Jeff Arend ..."    
 
HULL OF AN IDEA - Whatever floats your boat ... just might not drive your race car. But Bob Tasca and his Rhode Island business colleague Mike Fiore, from Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats, haven't scuttled their plans to introduce the seaworthy carbon-fiber/Kevlar hybrid experimental body to Funny Car racing. The developmental shell, which Tasca tested here earlier this week, has been shipped back to Bristol, R.I., for stress analysis.

 

 
  PACKERS OR STEELERS? - If you're looking for a rousing argument about which team will or should win the Super Bowl, don’t bother engaging Jack Beckman. He likes football enough but questions the unwavering mentality of superfans.
 
"People get so caught up in rooting for a team that they lose sight that maybe some of the individuals on that team don't represent the values that they do," he said, shaking his head at the notion that many say, "No matter what happens ... I'm always going to root for 'this' team." Said Beckman, "Maybe they're not the people you want to root for anymore."
 
He said he likely will watch the game but said, "I just want to see a good game. And if I'm home, working in the yard, that's fine, too."
 
GATEWAY NEXT ON LIST? - Although the PRO Winter Warm-up featured most of the top NHRA teams, Palm Beach International Raceway is an IHRA-sanctioned facility. Chris McMahan, the venue's director of race operations said Saturday that its owners are eyeing former NHRA-sanctioned property in the Midwest to complement its recent acquisition of Memphis Motorsports Park.
 
"The ownership is interested in purchasing Gateway right now," he said, referring to Gateway International Raceway at Madison, Ill., just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.  "The ownership is interested in buying multiple tracks but just one thing at a time. Memphis is the first piece to the puzzle."
 
He wasn't divulging what the entire puzzle will look like but offered a "No comment on that topic whatsoever" when asked if the PBIR ownership group is exploring making an offer to Feld Entertainment for the IHRA. Pressed whether a "no comment" might mean a possible "yes," McMahan replied, "Probably a no. Just the way we're wanting to go. There's a lot of things we're looking to do, looking at a different [business] picture, and taking the sport to a whole different level. There is a plan."
 
The short-term plan is to improve the Memphis facility that used to host the NHRA's Mid-South Nationals.
 
"The group just did a new design for the logo for Memphis," McMahan said. "Right now, the short-term focus is to get that up and running; just get some drag racing going on there again."
 
The Memphis racetrack will be an IHRA-sanctioned facility, and McMahan said that the ownership group would love to add a 2011 Nitro Jam event to the IHRA's schedule.
 
"That is in discussion," he said. "We would love to see that happen yet this year. We just don't know when it's going to fit in the schedule."

 

 

 

---

 

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---

 

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -

SPONSORS SUMMIT - Evidence of a successful business is growth even during what's considered a poor economic time. That's what multi-team owner Don Schumacher, the consummate entrepreneur, can claim, adding popular NASCAR sponsor Aaron's to his growing list of marketing partners.
 
The Aaron's executives were able to meet and discuss opportunities earlier this week with about 40 other individuals representing the more than 30 different companies that are marketing partners with Don Schumacher Racing's fleet of Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars.
 
In an effort to maximize his associates' investment value, Schumacher -- who lives in nearby Stuart -- invited them to Palm Beach International Raceway for a three-day event that combined business and pleasure.
 
Golfing at Indian River Plantation Mariott Resort, dinner, and cross-promotional marketing were at the top of the agenda Monday through Wednesday. Mike Lewis, Mike Geylin, Julie Moser, Keith Stein, Paul Mecca, Will Truitt, Ted Yerzyk were among those who handled the logistics and spoke to the gathering.
 
"I do what I need to do to assist my sponsors and assist my teams," Schumacher said. The business-to-business prospects include show-car, driver-appearance, and hospitality ventures.
 
Among the networking that Schumacher said makes him proud is enlisting his business associates in the Army Pays program. Each business in the program has made a commitment to grant a job interview to a soldier exiting the service who has expressed interest in the company. So broadening the chances for a soldier transitioning to civilian life is one example of the B2B model Schumacher is following. Schumacher arranged a sponsor summit once before, in Chicago.   
 
Aaron's has expanded its NASCAR investment to sponsor Funny Car driver Jack Beckman for 12 races (to complement Valvoline's 10) and serve as associate sponsor of Antron Brown's Matco Tools Dragster for three races.
 
"We're growing. It's pretty cool that with the way the economy is, we're growing," Brown said. "It's more than just putting the name on the car. You become part of this deal -- it's our family. And you get that sense. There are a lot of companies at DSR where they're able to do a lot of B2B deals. It makes it worthwhile for them spending dollars out here. They see a return [on their investments] right away. That's what's so cool about our DSR program."  

 

 
 
HAPPY TRAILS - Del Worsham and his Al-Anabi Top Fuel team didn't stick around for the PRO Winter Warm-up, finishing testing Thursday. But Funny Car veteran Cruz Pedregon, always used to counting Worsham among those he'd have to battle for event victories and championships, said he's going to miss him in the Funny Car ranks -- miss the competition, even though Worsham's return to a dragster might help his chances.
 
"I have mixed emotions about that," Pedregon said Friday during a lull in the action. "Del's definitely a tough customer. Top Fuel guys will have to worry about him now. He'll be tough." 
 
PREPARING RIGHT - The Mark Oswald / Brian Corradi-led Matco Tools team has been timing its passes for consistency, driver Antron Brown said, "so we're not testing the race track -- we're testing our race car. We're getting all of our new clutch stuff worked out. It's going well. We ran five runs [before Friday morning's pass], and we ran between a (4.)78 and 79. A couple of the runs were right there where we needed to be. A couple of them, we had something stupid happen, like on one we had a sparkplug fail. Another run we actually dropped a hole before the finish line and shut off and we still ran that fast. This morning we made a full-boogie run and everything worked like we wanted it to all the way down, and we went a (4.)76 with a 2 at 322.
 
"We're just trying to prepare right for the season," he said, "because it's going to be some stiff competition out there. We've got Spencer in the FRAM car. That's a great car, with Todd [Okuhara] and Phil [Shuler] turning the screws, and that whole team's phenomenal. You got the U.S. Army team with Mike Green and Neal [Strousbaugh] doing a great job. Al-Anabi's got two dragsters now [with Del Worhsam new teammate to reigning champion Larry Dixon]. Kalitta [Motorsports] has got both of the dragsters and they're running well. Brandon's [Bernstein's] car is running well. The Lucas cars are stepping up and running well. You've got a lot of good race teams out there right now. Dom Lagana is out here and his brother Bobby, too.
 
"The Top Fuel class is definitely going to be a top-notch class. There's going to be some head-to-head competition," Brown said. "Our goal is to go out there and be consistent and be as competitive as we can be. Our goal is when that Countdown comes to be in the top five. If you can be in the top three, you set yourself up in a good position [for a title]."
 
He said this, not the season-opening Winternationals at Pomona, Calif.,  is the starting point.
 
"It starts here at testing. We finished the season good. We really got used to the power combination. We're getting used to our clutch program, getting the car dialed in where we're comfortable with it," he said. "It's showing. We've built off where we finished the season. We've come out and the car's been really consistent. We've been very fast. It's been a good 60-foot car. The clutch is doing exactly what [Oswald and Corradi] want. Our mile-an-hour is getting up there with everybody else's. Now we're running 320, 322. We're just going to keep stepping up and see where we go."  
 
Brown said he has been thrilled with the track prep this week.
 
The track here and Chad Head, hat's off to him. They did a phenomenal job. He brought that track prepper like they built at Bandimere [Speedway, near Denver]. It just works awesome. Every racetrack should have one of those. It was the same kind that they guy built for [use] at  Bandimere. They can put the rubber back on the track like it ain't nothin' now."
 
TEAMWORK -- The ABCs of teamwork is visible at the DSR shop at Brownsburg, Ind. -- Antron Brown Cares. Just as in his DSR Pro Stock Motorcycle days, Brown is known for carrying his share of the load when it comes to teamwork. Even in the winter, he's in the shop three or four days a week, helping the Matco Tools Dragster crew as needed. He checks on the driver-comfort/-safety aspects of the car but said he's "there to dive in" if the crew need something done. "Putting DZUS buttons on or holding up fabbing or working on the windshield. There ain't too much I won't do or I can't do. I fill in as needed. It feels good to bond and work one-on-one with my boys. This is a team sport, and there's no one person on this team that's more important than another. We just help each other out to be stronger and better. That's the way our team operates."

 

 

 
 
A, B, C, D  . . . - QuickLane/Motorcraft Ford Mustang driver Bob Tasca III might be a tough negotiator, but wife Therase might be tougher.
 
"I told my wife I was only going to sign a five-year deal with Ford and see how things go. Well, obviously I found what I truly love to do," Tasca said. Then he signed a contract extension, and she called his hand on it.
 
"I guess I'm backpedaling on that promise," he confessed to the mother of his three little boys.
 
So she, who comes from a prominent Rhode Island hockey family, used the leverage to go on her own power play. She said, "Well, then I want to try one more time for a girl."
 
She really didn't have to twist his arm too hard. "Deal!" he said he told her. "So that's what I had to do to get my extension with Ford. My wife and I negotiated on another baby. Unfortunately she didn't get her girl, but fortunately the Lord blessed us with a beautiful, healthy boy -- Dylan Anthony -- December 7.
 
"I've got a whole pit crew coming here in about 15-20 years from now," Tasca joked, referring to sons Austin, Bob IV, Cameron, and now Dylan. "We have a newborn and 4-, 6- and 8-year-olds. It's fun to come home, for sure."
 
Tasca is close to having his starting hockey line-up.
 
"I've never been on the ice for any significant time. With racing, I need both my ankles. I watch the kids. They do a lot of falling. When you’re about 30 inches tall, it's not as bad as when you’re six feet tall. I'll leave the skating to the boys, and I'll do the driving," he said.
 
He won't play hockey, but Tasca will advertise it. On the rear of his Mustang this weekend is a sticker touting the "Providence Capitals" hockey team -- the one son for which Bob IV (called "The Fourth" sometimes) and Austin play.
 
CAR NEEDS CHARM SCHOOL - John Medlen is a friendly man. Now his job is to make Ron Capps' DSR-owned NAPA Dodge Charger friendly. And sometimes it has wanted to be a little anti-social.
 
"Our primary goal here in testing is to get the car friendly," the veteran crew chief said. It turns out it was in a nasty mood Friday night, refusing to yield more than 68.89 mph and an E.T. of 11.028 seconds.
 
"At the end of last year [after Capps won at Sonoma, Calif.], it became very, very unfriendly. Knowing what the issue was is a needle in a haystack," Medlen said. "We ran last year's car here. Then we brought this new car out. It's a different chassis. There's a lot of things we suspected might be the problem and we put it all into this new car. So far it's been good."
 
Capps undoubtedly was frustrated, and for good reason: he is a seasoned driver, crew chiefs Ace McCulloch and Medlen are arguably the best in the business, and DSR is one of the premier organizations in providing what's necessary to be a contender for championship.
 
"It's always things you can't see. It's things that you can't see that we really don't have a good way of testing," Medlen said. "We'll learn more and more about where the areas are for potential. We always think we know. We never take it to the starting line, saying, 'Well, I hope this works.' We always think we have a calculated analogy of what to fix, and we go about doing that. The odd thing is it'll throw you a bone for four runs and be OK, then first round do something completely different, which was the case at the end of the year.    
 
He said the team identified areas that could be troublesome and tried to address those on this new car. The old car behaved here just like it had at the close of 2010. "We brought this guy out," he said, referring to the new version, "and so far it hasn't surprised us."
 
CRUZ ON CRUISE? - Not exactly, but Snap-on Tools Toyota driver Cruz Pedregon said he's "as excited as I've ever been for a season. I probably feel as good as I did in '08, our [second] championship year."
 
Why? Partly because of the 4.040-second run at 310.48 mph that was quickest of the weekend so far.
 
But even before that clocking, Pedregon was buoyed, saying, "We had a good off-season and kept our core guys together. We had a strong car when we parked it at the end of last season.
 
"There's no reason but to feel optimistic and be able to be out here testing, thanks to Snap-ons of the world," he said. "We think it's important to be here to get ready for the season, not that we've changed much but just to get back in the groove, shake the cobwebs off. We have a couple of new guys on the team."
 
He said he'll be announcing a new associate sponsor in the next few days.
 
It appears Cruz Pedregon has his program headed in the right direction. Although he missed the Countdown, he won two of the first three playoff races.
 
"We rose from the dead last year," he said. "We were maybe not on life support, but pretty close. In Charlotte, we didn't back our way in. We dominated.  Even in my heydays with my good cars, I don't know that we dominated like we did at Charlotte. There's definitely reason for my excitement and my optimism.
 
"We just got our act together. We hated for the season to stop. I didn't like the fact we didn't accumulate enough points to get into the Countdown, but it gave us something to work for, gave us a look at what we can do, and gave us some confidence," he said. "We fell off at the end of the year, and we feel like we know why the car fell of the last two races. Those tough losses are what teach you you need to figure out what to do so you can relive the Charlottes and the Readings.
 
"Our car is a machine. It only does what you tell it," Pedregon said. "Some things slipped through there, and we'll address them."
 
He said he isn't aiming to "set any records here" in testing. "If we go down the track a few times, great. If we don't, we'll learn. I'm not planning on running it too many times to the finish line. What we're here to learn is going down the track and some different things between the cones."
 
He ran a 4.090-second full pass at 289.57 mph Friday as the last driver before the PRO Winter Warm-up program officially began.
 
"We'll see what we have in Pomona," Pedregon said. "We're in it for the long haul. It'd be great to start off strong, but we're looking for consistency and long-term results. I've missed that Countdown two years in a row, and I'm going to be doing everything I can and then some to make sure we're in it solidly."
 
He said he really isn't sure what the competition will be like this year. "We'll see what the troops have" at the Feb. 24-27 Winternationals, he said. "We'll go out there and try to race smart and definitely try not to beat ourselves . . . do what we did -- it worked. Lately here, I've been feeling, next to [John] Force, like the old veteran here. I'm not used to that too much, but I think the knowledge from doing this for as many years as I have is really an advantage.
 
"I feel good," he said, enjoying the sunshine in his pit. "I don't have anything but good, positive energy."     
 
HAGAN MOVING FORWARD - Matt Hagan, who led the standings late last year and waged a war of strategy with eventual champion John Force down to the final day of the season has converted his disappointment into motivation. And with Friday's night's 4.051-second blast at 311.70 mph in the first round of the PRO Winter Warm-up, Hagan showed he means business when he said he plans to "keep up on the wheel, keep your head down, your ears pinned back, and stay hungry" this year.
 
His elapsed time was best of the evening, and his speed was just a shade off teammate Jack Beckman's 312.42 mph the previous night (in a 4.060-second run). John Force ran a 4.072 / 310.20 before an expectedly sparse audience.  
 
"We has a great season. We came in last year, trying to win our first race, and almost won our first championship. That in itself was a huge accomplishment," Hagan said. "We ended up with three [victories] and two world records. How could you say you had a bad year? You couldn't. We've definitely grown as a team. I've grown as a driver. And Tommy DeLago has grown as a crew chief. The team left no nut unturned. They were flawless. That made my job easier and Tommy's job easier. We didn't have to worry about the car going up there and having something fall off of it.
 
"Leaving some unfinished business has kind of left me a little bit more motivated. I don't want to leave anything on the table," Hagan, who has lost about 23 pounds during the winter, said. "I want to come in here lean and mean this year and go out and kill it.
 
"I've still got a lot to learn, and I'm going to make plenty of mistakes along the way. I don’t think I'm ever going to have this Funny Car thing conquered. It's still a very humbling experience."
 
However, he said, "I feel like I'm very focused. I have a goal in mind where we want to be. The team's working hard to get us there, and I'm going to work hard to get us there. You lead by example. If you keep a positive attitude, it carries to your guys and everywhere else. You've got to keep I lively. You've got to keep everybody's spirits high. We've just all got to meet at the end and hopefully it will come together for us," he said.
 
"We want to put ourselves in the situation to have that opportunity again, if not this year, somewhere close in the future. It's such a competitive class that you never know when you can get back there again. So you've got to just continue to work hard and hopefully that hard work will pay off," Hagan said.
 
Bob Tasca was the one who ended Hagan's championship hopes at Pomona in November. But Tasca had nothing but high praise Friday for Hagan and Die Hard Dodge Charger crew chief Tommy DeLago.
 
"Hats off to Hagan and his guys. They had a great season. I've got the ultimate respect for Tommy DeLago and Matt. They really, really, really have done a great job," Tasca said. "Obviously, our excitement was their disappointment, but in that moment you're focused on what you have to do. I was excited to [help] Ford and John [Force], but that's history and we're here, worrying about 2011. Hopefully this is our year to win a championship."
 
Not if Hagan has anything to say about it. The cattle farmer from Virginia has a brand-new car, from which he shaved off three hundredths of a second Friday while testing new combinations and applying some R&D work from the Don Schumacher Racing shop at Brownsburg, Ind. Before Friday night's pass, Hagan said he didn't think he had "made any killer runs" but had established a satisfying baseline.
 
WHAT SNOWSTORM? - Cruz Pedregon said the frigid Indianapolis temperatures and icy snowstorms didn't paralyze his Brownsburg-based team. "We're spoiled. Are you kidding me? We have heated shops. The other day it was warm in our shop. I was peeling off clothes," he said. "We'll be complaining here soon how hot and humid it is."
 
The moderate Florida weather with temperatures in the upper 70s this week has made preseason testing more pleasant but more productive, as well.
 
"In years past, we would go down to Phoenix and Vegas. You just fight the conditions there. You don't really have conditions that are applicable, for the most part," Pedregon said. "You've got to be good everywhere, in all conditions, but we see more of this than we do the other."
 
Fellow Funny Car driver Matt Hagan, who said the thermometer at his home near Christiansburg, Va., read 26 Thursday, said basking in near-80-degree temperatures wasn't such a tough task this week: "It's nice to get away from some of the cold weather a little bit, soak up the sun."
 
TARGET: TASCA - John Force has said his own teammates might just prove to be his stiffest competition. But he identified Bob Tasca III as one he especially needs to look out for as he tries to repeat his title and go for a 16th.  Tasca downplayed that Friday, saying, "Certainly there are some frontrunners out there. We're going to take it one race at a time, one round at a time, and see what the good Lord has in store. But this will be our first full year with the BOSS [Boss 500 Ford engine] platform. Everybody came back. As a driver in my fourth year, I'm not in the ranks of Del Worsham or Tony Pedregon or Cruz or John, but I've got a lot of seat time in one of these cars now. So it should be my best year behind the wheel. There are a lot of good things pointing in our direction, but we've got to go out there and do the job. We'll see how we did."
 
STILL A MYSTERY - It's no secret that Tony Pedregon, despite two Funny Car championships, is working hard to secure enough marketing partners to fund his 2011 racing plan. But even brother Cruz Pedregon said he can't divulge Tony's plans -- because he isn't sure his brother even knows his own future.
 
"I don't think Tony even knows his schedule," Cruz Pedregon said. "He, like a lot of racers who are struggling with that, is optimistic, I'm sure. I know he's got his team. They're full speed ahead, from what I've seen. They have equipment over there and a team that's working away like nothing's changed. I have no reason to not think he's going to be racing."
 
Said Cruz Pedregon, "We used to think jumping in the car and trying to tune it was the hardest thing. But the toughest thing is finding the financing to do it. Tuning it isn’t the hardest thing, in the grand scheme of things."

 

 

 

 

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---

 

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

 

---

 

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---

 

 

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---