EVENT RESULTS (SUN) EVENT NOTEBOOK (SUN) POINTS AFTER EVENT ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS SPORTSMAN RESULTS

FRI. GALLERY (POSTED) SAT. GALLERY (POSTED) SUN GALLERY

 

SUNDAY NOTEBOOK

NHRA FINALS AT SEATTLE RAINED OUT, MOVED TO BRAINERD, INDIANAPOLIS - Rain ushered in race day at the Protect The Harvest NHRA Nationals near Seattle, causing a 98-minute delay, then returned to Pacific Raceways just before Sunday’s final round, forcing a halt to the 16th race on the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event.

NHRA officials announced they have decided to complete the Top Fuel and Funny Car finals in two weeks at the Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd, Minn. The Pro Stock final round will wait until the Labor Day weekend Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.

“It would be really, really, really nice to get this race in right now,” Funny Car finalist Del Worsham said during the last rain delay, anticipating his showdown against NAPA Dodge driver Ron Capps. “I kind of want to finish what we started. We got a rhythm going. It definitely interrupts the momentum, but it’s the same for everybody.”

The DHL Toyota Camry driver for Kalitta Motorsports said he feels “like it’s been a turnaround race for us.”

He dominated qualifying and had the last word in a flurry of national-record runs. Worsham and JR Todd, both of whom clinched Countdown berths Sunday, are the only nitro-class drivers to reach the semifinals at all three Western Swing races this year.  Worsham also extended his string of consecutive 3.8-second elapsed times from four to six this weekend. He’ll be competing in his third final round of the season, and this 64th career final (53rd in Funny Car) marks back-to-back Seattle money-round performances.  

Points leader Capps, who recorded the second-quickest run in Funny Car history,is seeking his 50th overall victory and hoping to team with Top Fuel finalist Antron Brown to bring another double nitro victory to Don Schumacher Racing.

Brown (Matco Tools/Toyota Dragster) will race Steve Torrence (Capco Contractors/Rio Ammunition Dragster) for the Top Fuel trophy.

“I really wish we would have gotten this race in because I was really confident what we could have thrown down in the final,” Brown said. “We’re just going to go to Brainerd and give it all we got.”

Torrence said, “It’s pretty disappointing not to get this thing run today, but no matter when or where we finally run it, we’ve got a team and a hot rod that can win it.”

The Pro Stock final round has been pushed back to September to accommodate Aaron Strong’s schedule.

Strong, the Seattle-area class newcomer making his first final-round appearance, will put his No. 14-qualified A&J Furniture Camaro up against New Yorker Vincent Nobile and his top-qualified Mountain View Tire Camaro. Unlike Nobile, Strong is a part-time racer and had not budgeted an entry in the Brainerd race.

Some Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series (sportsman) finals will conclude in two weeks at the regional event that’s scheduled for Pacific Raceways in two weeks. The venue and schedule for the Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car classes are to be determined, according to Graham Light, NHRA senior vice-president of racing operations.

In the Funny Car class, Matt Hagan, Robert Hight, and John Force all secured a berth Sunday in the six-race Countdown playoffs that will start at Charlotte in mid-September.

COURTNEY FORCE ESCAPES SERIOUS INJURY FROM SEATTLE INCIDENT - NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series racer Courtney Force escaped serious injury after a racing incident in the first round of Sunday’s eliminations at Pacific Raceways. Force’s Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car made contact with the left guard wall. Force exited the vehicle on her own power and was checked by NHRA emergency services personnel before heading to Valley Medical Center in Renton, Wash., where she was evaluated for head, neck, knee, elbow and shoulder injuries.

“I am beat up pretty good. My arm, my shoulder, and my right knee are banged up. I am really thankful that the second I got out of the race car there was already a Safety Safari person right there to help me get down. I couldn’t put any weight on my right knee. I want to say thanks to everyone that was at the track who helped me. I got right to the ER and the doctor checked me out. I am extremely relieved nothing is broken,” said Force.

Doctors released Force from the hospital this evening but expect her to be very sore tomorrow. X-rays of her right knee, left elbow and left shoulder along with a CT scan of her head and cervical spine were negative. The tendon on the knee was intact but there was a contusion from contact with the steering wheel. Force will see a sports orthopedist in Lake Tahoe, Nev., where the family has a summer home for continued evaluation and to make sure there is not a partial tendon tear in the knee.  

“I have to thank everyone at Simpson Racing and their Stilo helmet for protecting me. To hit a concrete guard wall and move it two feet and not break any bones is a testament to their equipment and NHRA safety requirements,” said Force.

“I am going to see a physical therapist in Tahoe. Thankfully we have a weekend off. My goal is to get healed up as soon as possible. I want to say sorry to my team to have to witness that. We were planning on making a lot of changes to my car after this race and my dad joked that I gave them a head start,” explained Force. “I definitely feel bad we ruined the body and the chassis. Luckily we have some time and can get the car fixed up and my own body fixed up. I am looking forward to getting back as fast as I can. I want to thank all the fans for all their support.”

Force, the No. 3 qualifier, was racing Jeff Diehl in the first round when her Traxxas Funny Car smoked the tires. Force attempted to pedal her 10,000 hp race car before it made hard contact with the guard wall.

“I am really bummed out about the run. I am disappointed because I really wanted that win. I pedaled the car repeatedly hoping to just run him down but I got a little too aggressive. I think I hit the wall right where Ashley crashed a few years ago. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with this track since I have won here twice and have had two incidents but happy to be safe,” joked Force.

Force will focus on her rehabilitation with the goal being to race at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minnesota in two weeks.

 

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - PACIFIC RACEWAYS HANDLES TEEMING CROWD WITH APLOMB, WORSHAM RULES IN FUNNY CAR, SMITH TO TUNE LEE, CAPPS AND COURTNEY FORCE LAY DOWN STRONG NUMBERS, BATTLE FOR 10TH PLACE HIGHLIGHTS PRO STOCK’S FIRST ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS

 

John Ramsey wasn’t general manager at Pacific Raceways at the time, but clearly he learned from the Parking Debacle of 2002 – the Saturday afternoon that the facility and the NHRA were too good for their own good. He acted quickly this Saturday to make sure every fan driving through the gate – and he had a line of them – had a place to park for the Protect The Harvest Nationals at the suburban Seattle facility.

That August day 14 years ago, officials turned cars away – not fans, just vehicles – because of inadequate parking for the tremendous crowd their marketing had attracted. Once again, the marketing effort hit a home run, and the grandstands on both sides of the racetrack were crammed for the final day of qualifying.   

Today Ramsey, armed with a series of contingency plans, averted a 2002-like embarrassment, communicating constantly with police traffic-control officers and Pacific Raceways parking staff to accommodate everyone pulling into the gate.

“We’re getting everybody in. We’re squeezing ‘em in. We’re going to take every bit of real estate we have here to park cars,” a completely unflustered Ramsey said early Saturday afternoon. “Every spot that’s available we’re taking, whether it’s next to the dumpster or not. We’re basically using every piece of ground that we have to park cars. We’re going to get everybody in.”

Only half-jokingly, he said even the staging lanes wasn’t out of question: “That’ll be next. It’s a great problem to have.”

Ramsey said he believed several factors contributed to the gigantic audience – which was especially impressive this particular weekend. Seafair, Seattle’s aquafest that revolves around unlimited hydroplane races on Lake Washington, is in full swing and draws a huge crowd that is treated to the Blue Angels aerial performance. Moreover, the Seattle Mariners are expecting a packed house at Safeco Field downtown because they’re retiring the jersey of recent Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ken Griffey Jr., who is bringing his plaque from Cooperstown, N.Y., for the fans to pose with for photos. The Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro opened this weekend, as well.

“I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. We had a huge Goodguys show here a week ago Friday, and I think that just shows that if we do the right marketing and we get the place looking as nice as we can, people are going to come here,” Ramsey said. “And we’ve been working hard the last few years to make that happen. That, combined with the TV exposure that [the sport] is getting, we did more over-the-air advertising this year than we’ve done in the past. That’s all contributing. We’ve been doing live radio shows in the booth since yesterday, so that’s helping.”          

Track operator Jason Fiorito said he knew his staff wouldn’t have a repeat of the 2002 situation, because Ramsey “is on top of it. He sees it coming down the road. He didn’t wait for a potential problem to happen. He is a GM who absolutely pays attention to details.” Fiorito said Ramsey had plans for what to do when his available parking spaces dwindled to 500, then 300, and that he had three contingency plans in case all marked spaces were filled.

TOP FUEL

STEP BY STEP - Little by little, Tony Schumacher has chipped away at the field.

A minor adjustment here, a little tweak there, until, finally, Schumacher earned his first top qualifier award of the season.

Schumacher broke through with his first win just two weeks ago in Denver, and continued that momentum with his first No. 1 in qualifying this season, taking the top spot Saturday at the 29th annual Protect The Harvest NHRA Northwest Nationals presented by Lucas Oil at Pacific Raceways.

Schumacher actually topped the charts once already this weekend, putting down the fastest run in session one on Friday, but he slipped to sixth later that night night before slowly inching his way back up the ladder. He was third after session three and, finally, blasted his way to the top spot in his final run with a track-record 3.686 at 323.58 mph.

“It feels good because of the amount of cars that ran 3.70 and 3.71,” Schumacher said. “There were a lot of good cars and we weren’t the last car. So we were expecting some people to go out there and go fast after us. Mike (Green) did a great job. We are just happy to go into race day as the number one qualifier. It’s been a long time.”

After a tumultuous season, Schumacher has finally started to find his groove in the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster, reaching three finals in the last six races including the win in Denver. His previous best in qualifying this year had been third way back at the season’s first two races, but he finally broke that streak as well on Saturday with his 80th career top qualifier award.

“I wouldn’t really call it peaking, we are just running a lot better than we were at the beginning. We have had some serious problems that we’ve had to work through, figure out, and once we did, it’s small moves that bring you to that 68 run,” Schumacher said. “That 68 run doesn’t win races, that 68 run qualifies you. You still have to go out there on race day in the middle of the day when it’s hot and race.” - Larry Crum

TWO ON THE OUTSIDE – Terry Haddock and Bill Litton missed the Top Fuel cut, while part-time local-area racer Ron Smith, of Kapowsin, Wash., slid into the field with the only 4.0-second elapsed time of the lineup (4.034 seconds).  

LANGDON DOWN THE LADDER – Shawn Langdon, driving the Sandvik Coromant / Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher Dragster, has two victories so far this year. Despite a respectable 3.751-second pass at 323 mph, he qualified 11th, earing a first-round date with No. 6 Brittany Force in the opening round of eliminations.

"It just goes to show how tough the competition is and how good these cars are running," Langdon said. "We had excellent conditions today and we ran back-to-back 3.75s. And by normal standards, those are not terrible runs. We just ended up 11th.

"There's a lot of good-running cars," he said. "We just have to step it up a little bit tomorrow. All in all, we are confident with our car. We were just a little behind in qualifying. We'll prepare tonight and go out there tomorrow and execute."

BROWN IN ATTACK MODE – Antron Brown claimed the No. 4 spot for his Matco Tools Dragster team. He ran a 3.717-second, 323-mph pass in Saturday's first qualifying session and used that for his best time. He’ll race T.J. Zizzo.

"We were going for it, that's all there was to it," Brown said.

His lone Northwest Nationals victory came in 2009, as he swept the Western Swing.

"We just needed to go a little bit harder early and that would've taken care of it. You're just on that fine line when you're trying to run .60s. We definitely weren't out there trying to run another .71. So, we had a great run the first run today and we have a great car for tomorrow. We learned something on that last run and know what we need to do for our first run tomorrow. We're in a good spot. We set ourselves up in a good position for race day and get into attack mode.

"Tomorrow is when the points count,” Brown said, “and we're still in a tight battle with [Doug] Kalitta. So our main focus is to just go on out there, play it one round at a time, and have fun with it. That track's going to be even better tomorrow. The sun's not even supposed to poke out tomorrow. When you get to tracks like that, it gets difficult, because you can't go out there and make an easy run. You've got to run hard -otherwise the track is going to eat you up. It's just as difficult to get down a really good track as it is getting down a really greasy track. So tomorrow we'll have our work cut out for us, but it's going to be fun, too."

FUNNY CAR

NO HARM, NO FOUL – Jeff Burghardt is the photographer whose FOX Sports debut came last Sunday at Sonoma as he happened to be on the other side of the guard wall from Alexis DeJoria and her Tequila Patron Toyota when she crashed.   

“I did my Hollywood stuntman role after attempting to dodge Alexis’ car. I didn’t do a very good job. It didn’t hit me, but she took a chunk out of the wall,” he said.

“I didn’t think it was that close when it happened. I really didn’t. I saw Mark Rebilas’ photo. Then I realized how lose it really was. It looks like it was about eight inches [from hitting him]. I’m very grateful for Alexis not pulling the parachutes and the automatic thing not shooting them out at me. That would have been a little more entertaining,” he said.

“I didn’t scrape anything – no sympathy scars, no bumps, no bruises. I tucked the camera in like a football,” Burghardt said.

He said he wanted to clear up one point: “Everybody thinks I ran. I didn’t run. I was trying to turn to go down and away from the car and then trying to see where Alexis was. The top half of my body was ready to move, but the bottom was not going anywhere. I was trying to get up. I thought I had a good reaction time, but I looked at the photo and I hadn’t even moved yet. I have a horrible reaction time.”

Burghardt said, “Alexis did everything she could possibly do. If she didn’t turn that car back the other way, I’m probably not talking to you. She did a heck of a job. There’s no other way to put it.”

Burghardt had his camera trained on John Force’s car in the opposite lane when DeJoria’s car made a violent move to the left and hit the wall directly in front of the young photographer from Oakdale, Calif.

“I was shooting Force’s car. The only thing I saw of Alexis’ car, out of the corner of my eye, was ‘Red Line Oil’ on the rear wing of her car. I thought, ‘That’s not supposed to be here.’ It was so quick. It was absolutely the loudest sound in my life. It was louder than all the fuel cars going by. I don’t know what she heard, but on the outside of the car, that was loud,” he said.

If he could send DeJoria a message, he said, he would tell her, “Get well and come back. We miss you and need you.”  And with a wink, he said, “And please bring more tequila next time.”

WORSHAM RULES IN RECORD-SETTING FLURRY – A flurry of national-record-setting elapsed times marked the final Funny Car qualifying session, with Del Worsham dominating with his 3.832-second blast in the DHL Toyota Camry for Kalitta Motorsports.

Actually, Worsham ran the two quickest Funny Car passes in NHRA history – the Q4 pass at 3.832 seconds and a 3.841-second run in the third overall session. With that, he preserved his No. 1 qualifying position – his second in a row, career-best third of the season, and third in the past five events. In each of his three final qualifying sessions, he lowered the track E.T. record. His back-to-back No. 1 starts are the first of his career.

He owns the national E.T. record for the first time since last fall at St. Louis. (He lost that one to Jack Beckman.)

“To do it now, in Funny Car, it’s an honor,” Worsham said.

He topped each of the four Funny Car qualifying sessions this weekend to earn the maximum 12 bonus points for the first time in his Funny Car career. And he said he told Jack Beckman the series title “could come down in the end to bonus points and mistakes – who gets the most of ne and the least of the other.”

“We brought out a new Kalitta body at Denver and it’s just been on fire,” said Worsham. “It’s coming together at the right time for the DHL Toyota Camry. I never imagined this [running a 3.83-second time] 12 months ago.  

“It’s hard to say what’s going to happen, but I’m pretty sure the fans are in for the race of their lives tomorrow, just like we are,” he said.

With Worsham’s feat in the third overall qualifying session, E.T. aficionados were licking their chops. They already had figured out that 3.841-second elapsed time is closer to a 3.79-second clocking than to a 3.90. Worsham said he, too, had thought about that.

“It’d be cool to be the first guy to run 3.79,” Worsham said. “It could happen this year. If you take everybody’s runs and you put them in a big mosh pit . . . take Matt Hagan’s 335 [mph speed, from Topeka] and Courtney Force’s 8.40 60-foot [time] and mash it all together, I think it’s possible.”

He said weather conditions will dictate the probability at each of the remaining stops on the Mello Yello Drag and that “it could happen anywhere. It’s just going to be a matter of what [weather] we have.”

Worsham recalled the heydays of Pacific Raceways / Seattle International Raceway, when records fell routinely here. The track for awhile morphed into disrepair and neglect and was a ratfunky track that racers considered themselves lucky to navigate without car damage. But Pacific Raceways has improved the racing surface. This marks the second year that the Funny Car class has produced eye-popping numbers in the final leg of the Western Swing. So Worsham said he wasn’t surprised that Seattle is the venue for the records-setting performances.

“Records got set here years ago. Back in the ‘80s they used to do it,” he said. “The weather’s got a lot to do with it. [Ideal] atmospheric conditions are here. This track has improved. They’ve made great gains. It happened. Here it is.”

He let Kalitta Motorsports teammate Alexis DeJoria know she isn’t forgotten – although she likely was itching to get in on the mind-boggling runs Saturday. “I’m kind of bummed. I feel bad for Alexis. She’s not here. She’s my teammate, and she’s been running well. I want her to heal up so she can come out and join us. This is some great running.”

CAPPS, COURTNEY FORCE STRONG, TOO – Ron Capps and Courtney Force were hitting ‘em over the fence Saturday evening, leading up to Worsham’s headline run.  

She owned the national record for awhile in that last go-‘round, with a 3.855-second run in the Traxxas Camaro, but by the time she made it to the end of the return road, it was gone.  Capps had covered the 1,000-foot course in the NAPA Dodge in 3.843 seconds.

After all, she said, “Conditions are prime.”

The final order saw Beckman take fourth place with the only 3.86 (3.861), and Matt Hagan followed in fifth place at 3.872. Six-thousandths of a second behind him was Tim Wilkerson, who is settling into yet another refurbished car.

John Force filed the No. 7 slot with a 3.893, and No. 8 Chad Head and No. 9 Robert Hight were one-thousandth of a second behind him with identical 3.894-second clockings.

“It was awesome to hold onto the record for a little bit for the Traxxas team,” Courtney Force said after posting her career-best E.T. that trumped her 3.871-second run from Topeka earlier this year.

“[Crew chiefs] Dan Hood and Ronnie Thompson have been incredible, and it’s pretty awesome what my Traxxas team has been able to accomplish. I’m really proud of them. It was really exciting for us to have (the record), even for a short period of time,” Force said.

SMITH REJOINS KALITTA TEAM TO HELP LEE – Todd Smith will tune Paul Lee’s McLeod Racing Toyota Camry Funny Car.

The crew chief who guided Jack Beckman to the 2012 Funny Car championship also has Top Fuel experience with the dragsters of Connie Kalitta, Scott Kalitta, and Doug Kalitta for five years in the late 1990s, and most recently Brittany Force last season.   

The team’s first race will be the NHRA Keystone Nationals at Reading, Pa., in October.

“I am excited to be back with Team Kalitta and to be able to work with Paul and the McLeod team on putting this new operation together,” said Smith. “Paul Lee is a talented driver and with the Kalitta equipment, I am confident in our chances to have success.”

Lee said, “I’m excited that Todd Smith has joined our McLeod Racing Kalitta Motorsports Funny Car Team. Todd is very experienced and is a proven winner. He has won races with many different teams and cars over the years, culminating with the 2012 Funny Car World Championship with driver Jack Beckman. Jim O [Oberhofer] is assembling an awesome team which will make our Funny Car a contender and capable of winning each time we pull up to the staging beams. I’m looking forward to working with Todd and our Kalitta Motorsports Team.”

Smith will join an elite group of crew chiefs at Kalitta Motorsports including Connie Kalitta, Jim and Jon Oberhofer, Nicky Boninfante, Tommy DeLago, Glen Huzsar, and Rob Flynn.  

“Todd has been part of the Kalitta Motorsports team in the past and I am excited that he is back with us,” said Jim Oberhofer, vice-president of operations for Kalitta Motorsports. “He is a championship-caliber crew chief and will not only add a lot to Paul’s McLeod Racing team, but Kalitta Motorsports as a whole.”

DENSHAM IN SAND AGAIN – Things have come full circle for Gary Densham this year. The Funny Car veteran wrecked his ride in February at the season -opening Winternationals when he put it into the sand trap at the end of the dragstrip and returned to competition at Las Vegas with help from John Force Racing, longtime sponsor John Lawson, Chris at Far West Freighters, and DCB Performance Boats.

Then Saturday afternoon at Seattle, in the first session of the day and third overall, Densham wound up in the sand at the end of the track again. His parachute deployed but the pilot ‘chute got caught on the brake line on top of the rear-end housing and wiped out his brakes. “I pulled on the brakes and no brakes,” Densham said right after exiting his car.

This time, though, the body wasn’t damaged. “Just a lot of cleaning,” Densham said as he prepared to bring the John Force racing-built Mustang back to the starting line for the final qualifying session. It was a triumphant return for the Lawson Rock & Oil, Inc. entry – Densham recorded a 4.036-second elapsed time, his best of the weekend.

Robert Hight had driven the car in three races, treating it primarily as a test car. So this is just the fourth event in which it has appeared.

PRO STOCK

 

DINNER TIME! - There’s blood in the water, and the Pro Stock field can smell it.

First it was a little wobble during an early qualifying session in Norwalk. Then it was a new man atop the charts in qualifying one race later in Chicago. By Denver, the vulnerability of the previously unshakeable KB Racing team was shining through as a new winner stood atop the podium.

On Saturday, that trend continued as Vincent Nobile, the man who first upset the applecart back in Norwalk, earned his first No. 1 qualifier award of the season at the 29th annual Protect The Harvest NHRA Northwest Nationals presented by Lucas Oil at Pacific Raceways.

“We’ve just been working our butts off. Not necessarily me, I just drive the thing, but the guys back at Elite, they have been working non-stop trying to find horsepower, changing the setup of the car, and it looks like we fell into something this weekend,” said Nobile, who earned his fifth top qualifier award of his career in the Mountain View Tire Chevy Camaro. “It is a combination of both things. The car is super consistent, super fast, and it couldn’t come at a better time. The Countdown is right around the corner and we are really looking forward to it.”

Nobile edged his way into the top spot Friday night and then bettered his time on Saturday, running a 6.527 at 211.49 mph in session three and holding that time through the fourth and final session. His 6.527 is the second quickest pass of the entire season.

“The weather got a little bit better and the track got extremely good, so if we didn’t improve our time, someone was definitely coming around us,” Nobile said. “Bo (Butner) ended up number two and he came really close. I actually know there was a little more in that run that we made today, which is definitely comforting. Being number one and knowing you can go a little bit faster is pretty cool.”

Nobile has consistently been fast throughout the weekend, running in the top three in every session including topping two of the qualifying rounds.

Just behind Nobile is the KB Racing trio led by Bo Butner, whose 6.530 at 211.73 mph placed him second. New points leader Greg Anderson qualified third with a 6.544 at 210.77 mph, while Jason Line qualified fourth with a 6.545 at 211.53 mph.

Nobile will receive a bye in round one and will face the winner between Shane Gray and Drew Skillman in round two.

“With the car running as strong as it is, you really don’t want to change a thing,” Nobile said. “As long as the weather stays consistent and it is really close, we are just going to nickel and dime it. The car is on a rail, it’s really consistent and really fast, and if it stays that way, it’s up to me now. It is a little bit of pressure - everybody wants to be number one - but when you have the car, now it’s all on you.” - Larry Crum

 
GENERAL INTEREST

JOE SHERK RECEIVES MEDIA CENTER HONOR – Terry Blount, the NHRA’s vice-president of public relations and communications, and track operator Jason Fiorito announced that the Pacific Raceways press room has been renamed the Joe Sherk Media Center.

“We’re really happy to be able to do this Joe,” Blount said. “You’re a really important person in the history of the sport and especially this particular track at Pacific Raceways.”

After saying, “You got me,” a surprised Sherk, 72, former Seattle Post-Intelligencer sportswriter and retired public-relations representative, said, “I’ve never had to really work a day, because it was not work. I did it because it was something I thoroughly enjoyed and the people I worked with were absolutely incredible. When you find something that you can do and you enjoy the people around you, it’s not work. Those 32 years went by very quickly.”

Funny Car driver Ron Capps, on hand for the presentation, said, “Our sport has grown so much. When I came in, we had to go out in these small areas and get on our soapbox and preach about our sport and how much we want people to come out. We had a lot of fun doing it. I had Joe as a mentor. I got to hear some of the best stories. Anybody new in the PR ranks, the stuff that you could have learned from them. It was about taking care of the media. It was personal thing. We built relationships. Thank you, because there’s no way I’d be where I am today without everything you taught me.”

Blount, himself a longtime sports journalist, said his first drag race was in the late 1980s at Houston. “Joe took me out to the starting line, and I was wearing a white shirt. And I think he did it on purpose. That shirt, I threw it away after the night, but I fell in love with drag racing on that day.”

Brandon Mudd, of Performance Racing Network and High Side Media, came to NHRA drag racing from the NASCAR side of motorsports. He said, “I had never been to a drag race, and Joe never talked down to me because I didn’t know. You’re the reason why I fell in love with the sport, and now it’s what I do.”

Fiorito said, “Joe’s been around my grandfather’s track since its inception and not just with NHRA drag racing. When the Can Am cars and Indy Cars and Mark Donohue and Mario Andretti and Phil Hill were racing here, Joe was covering that. He’s been intertwined with Pacific Northwest Racing for the 56 years Pacific Raceways has been in existence, and it’s fitting that for the next 50 or 60 or 70 years your name’s going to be on the door, not only for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series but all the road racing we plan in the future. This room is dedicated to you from now on. I am humbled to be in the presence of a Northwest racing icon.”

Sherk was sports editor at the Bremerton (now Kitsap) Sun in the 1960s (assuming that role 51 years ago at age 21) before he left to cover prep sports, motorsports, and the Seattle Mariners for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Tacoma News Tribune. He also worked for the NHRA in the media relations department.

He became director of public relations for R.J. Reynolds/Winston's drag-racing involvement in 1981, then was a member of the NHRA Media Relations Department from 1983-88. He established Joe Sherk Public Relations. During the years he has represented such drag racers as Capps, Larry Dixon, Tommy Johnson Jr., Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, Warren and Kurt Johnson, Clay Millican, Doug Herbert, Cruz Pedregon, Gary Beck, Ed "The Ace" McCulloch, JR Todd, Steve Torrence, Kenny Koretsky, and Tony Pedregon.  

Sherk’s adult daughter Lynn shared Saturday that her mother and dad chose Wednesday, August 1 for her birthdate so it wouldn’t conflict with that other blessed event, 64 Funny Cars at this racetrack. “So Lynn literally has had to give up things for drag racing since the day she was born,” Blount said. Sherk’s public-relations colleagues and media members were on hand, along with his son, Neil, sister Sally Henning, and family friends Kathy Powell and Dale Osgood.

The project was the brainchild of Chris Horn, a former NHRA Top Fuel crew member, longtime fan of Sherk’s writing, and occasional Competition Plus contributor.

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK

TOP FUEL

PRITCHETT HOPES TO DELIVER WITH PAPA JOHN BACKING – No matter how you slice it, Countdown-hungry Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett is here to stay and contend for the Mello Yello championship, thanks to funding from Papa John’s Pizza. The nationally popular pizza chain will sponsor Pritchett for this Protect The Harvest NHRA Nationals and the next race, two weeks from now, at Brainerd, Minn.

She and her Don Schumacher Racing team announced the marketing partnership and unveiled the paint scheme that’s a tribute to Papa John’s founder John Schnatter and his gold muscle car that he reacquired. Back in 1984, when he launched his He sold the 1972 Z8 Camaro so he could buy $16,000 in used pizza equipment.

“This means so much to me, our team, and the sport of NHRA drag racing," she said before qualifying first at the time with a 3.78-second elapsed time at 319 mph. native of Jeffersonville, Ind. “We’re keeping it hot, just like that oven,” she quipped after her run. She closed the first session in the provisional fourth-place spot and settled into seventh place overnight.

"We are huge fans of Papa John's Pizza and are confident it will help fuel us to victory. My dream is one day to walk into a location and order a 'Leah's Nitro Pizza' on the Papa John's menu. One requirement - it has to be spicy!"

Schnatter, Papa John’s chairman and chief executive officer and native of Jeffersonvlle, Ind., visited the DSR headquarters at Brownsburg, near Indianapolis, a few weeks ago and got his first experience with nitro when DSR fired up Pritchett's dragster.

He said, "I am excited to add another quality ingredient to our Papa John's team with our sponsorship of Don Schumacher Racing and Leah Pritchett. Leah's passion for racing is like my passion for pizza-making; always looking for ways to improve and get better."

Team owner Schumacher said, "Our partnership with John is very, very exciting for DSR and the entire sport of drag racing. We're thrilled for Leah. Papa John's support for the next two races gets her closer to clinching a spot in the Countdown, which would have all eight of our teams running for NHRA championships."

A previous commitment from FireAde 2000 Personal Fire Suppression Systems to back her at the U.S. Nationals during Labor Day Weekend at Indianapolis means Pritchett will race in the last three events of the so-called “regular season” before the six-race Countdown to the Championship begins at Charlotte in mid-September.

Pritchett is trying to hold off Terry McMillen, who like she lost in the first round last weekend at Sonoma. They entered this event, the last of the three-race Countdown, with Pritchett leading McMillen by 32 points.

Said Pritchett, "Don [Schumacher] and I have been fighting to get the support to finish the regular season and get into the Countdown. Thanks to Papa John’s, Mopar, Pennzoil, FireAde, and Albrecht's Fast Track, we are getting a chance. And with all of the DSR crew chiefs doing what they can to help us, we are going to qualify for the Countdown and then challenge for the world championship.”

Todd Okuhara this week was named her crew chief, replacing Mike Guger and leaving Phil Shuler as the lone tuner for Shawn Langdon’s car.

Pritchett won an NHRA Nostalgia Funny Car trophy here at Pacific Raceways, and she said she has been excited "to go to a track where I've at least raced before."

TORRENCE MOTIVATED, ON A ROLL – For the first time since he missed the Norwalk, Ohio, event, Top Fuel driver Steve Torrence revealed this past week that what sidelined him was a heart attack and that the procedure he underwent back home in Kilgore, Texas, was the insertion of a stent. A blood clot in his aortic valve triggered the heart attack, which likely was a delayed side effect of radiation treatments he received 16 years earlier.

“All I knew was that I was in a bind,” the Capco Contractors / Rio Ammunition Dragster driver said, tracing the incident. “I had had some pain in my left arm and numbness a couple weeks before, but I just thought it was from pushing myself too hard. It was nothing like this.” So the 33-year-old drove himself to the hospital, where he described the pain as being like a spear running from back-to-front through his chest. He was soaked in perspiration, weak to the point he was unable to sign the required paperwork to check him in.

When he came back to competition, he vowed he would be attacking the championship chase furiously. He has, and he came into this race with the national elapsed-time record, a 3.671-second pass from last week’s event at Sonoma.

The health scare, Torrence said, “definitely has redirected my focus to live every day with purpose. It was a wake-up call that I need to always have intent with what I’m doing and trying to accomplish.”

One of this weekend’s goals is to record his second victory here. He shared the historic day in 2012 with Courtney Force, Erica Enders, and Megan Ellingson in the winners circle alongside him.

He has the quickest time in 11 of the last 13 qualifying sessions and started this event in the tentative No. 2 spot, just seven-thousandths of a second off Ton Schumacher’s early pace of 3.773 seconds.

Torrence also aims to add to his impressive qualifying performance. The Winternationals and Summernationals winner has qualified No. 1 at eight of 16 races so far this season, including four of the past six. Of the 56 qualifying rounds he has made this year, he has been quickest in almost half (26). Moreover, the last time he failed to qualify among the “Quick 8,” which assures lane choice in the first round, was at this race in 2015, a 23-race stretch.

“My guys give me a great race car every round. All I can do is screw it up,” Torrence said. “[Crew chief] Richard Hogan, Bobby Lagana, A.J. [tuning consultant Alan Johnson], everybody.  They have the same passion for this that I do. We’re a one-car family team racing against the sport’s big dogs, and it’s very rewarding to be able to have some success at that level with so many great drivers and teams out there.”

He’s third in the standings.

LUCAS PLAYING, POLITICKING – Morgan Lucas, making only his third Mello Yello Drag Racing Series appearance of the season, is here both for fun and business this weekend.

He’s driving a dragster that promotes Protect The Harvest. The foundation seeks to inform American consumers, businesses, and decision-makers about threats posed by animal-rights and anti-farming extremists. The organization works to protect citizens' freedoms by creating lasting legal safeguards for farmers, ranchers, hunters, anglers, and animal owners. It responds to the activities of radical groups primarily by opposing efforts to pass laws or enact regulations that would restrict citizens' rights and  freedoms and hinder access to safe, affordable food.

“It’s a big deal for us," Lucas said. "It's my dad's legacy, and we want to make sure we go up and represent him well and try to spread the word of what the mission is: Preserving rights for people and to keep food on their tables. He's really passionate about it. We're trying to get people to do some homework on it, and this is a great opportunity to do that." He encouraged people to check out www.ProtectTheHarvest.com.

The 12-time winner and wife Katie welcomed their second son, Austin, in May. Lucas said Hunter’s little brother “is a big, happy, blue-eyed, awesome baby. It's been great getting to watch him grow the first couple of months. Now it's time to go have some fun and do it at the Protect The Harvest Nationals. I'm very excited to drive again."

Lucas said his older son approves of the dragster’s paint scheme: "The good thing for me is my son, Hunter, loves the color blue. We have a considerable amount of blue on the car, and it will make it fun for him to watch on TV."

CONSISTENCY PAYING OFF – SealMaster Dragster JR Todd has advanced to the final round at three of the past four races for Kalitta Motorsports. Finally, last week, he parlayed that into his first victory since last year’s race here.

The eight-time winner said, “It is always nice to return to a race you won last season.”

He said he was hoping this weekend’s weather will allow him to use his logbook, because “we have a great set of notes for the weekend that hopefully will allow us to run strong again this season. We are making good, consistent, clean passes that have been in the top five of the class most times we go down the track.”

Team owner Connie Kalitta and James Riola have started seeing that consistency, for Todd has four total final-round appearances this year. He’s in sixth place, trailing Tony Schumacher by 74 points.

“The goal is to get this SealMaster team into the top five before the Countdown begins after Indy,” Todd said. He has this race and two more, at Brainerd and Indianapolis, to do so.

“In 2014, I came from 10th to second, but you have a much better shot if you start near the front of the standings.”

“Our team morale is very good and continues to get more positive as we keep going consecutive races with round-wins,” Todd said. “The Western Swing is one of the hardest parts of the season, and if we can keep doing what we are doing, I am confident going into Indy and the Countdown for the Championship.”

CRAMPTON TRYING EXTRA-HARD – Richie Crampton, last Sunday’s Top Fuel runner-up at Sonoma, knows this race and the next one are key events at which he wants to perform extra-well. Both carry title sponsorship from his bosses, Forrest and Charlotte Lucas: the Protect The Harvest Nationals and the Lucas Oil Nationals.

Although his final-round loss to JR Todd ended his streak of consecutive final-round victories at seven, Crampton was making his first final of the season.

"It just wasn't enough in the last round, which is where it counted, but all in all it was a good, get-healthy weekend. If losing a final round doesn't sting, then something's wrong, but all things considered, to get to the final round was just awesome," Crampton said. "We've been having a rough year, but we knew it was going to come good at some point, so here we are. It's looking good. That's a good sign for the rest of the season."

Crampton won five races and finished third in the Top Fuel standings a year ago, and he’s hoping he can climb back into the thick of the fight this fall.

"We have just been digging deep, and (crew chief) Aaron (Brooks) and the boys have been working hard," Crampton said. "They have made some pretty big changes to the race car and we've seen some very positive signs. Obviously, the changes have worked, so that's exciting for me as a driver.

"Forrest, Charlotte, and Morgan Lucas gave me this incredible opportunity to live my lifelong dream and drive a Top Fuel dragster a few years ago, and I can't think of a better way to tell them 'thank you' than by winning their title race," Crampton said. "We've been lucky enough to earn seven trophies since I started, but right now the only one we're focused on says ProtectTheHarvest.com and Lucas Oil on it."

"Forrest is extremely passionate about Protect The Harvest, rightfully so, and to use an NHRA national event that's going to be live on the FOX network and our race cars to alert people to the cause is huge for this organization he cares so deeply for," Crampton, from Adelaide, Australia, said. "Australia is a huge agricultural country, much like the USA, so everything Protect The Harvest stands for rings true. We want to raise as much attention as possible by performing well, so coming into this race fresh off a runner-up result in Sonoma (Calif.) on Sunday is a big boost for us. I think we've got the momentum we need to do what we need to do in Seattle. All of sudden this event has become a very big race on our calendar."

He said he’s thrilled to have boss Morgan Lucas back on the track with him: “Morgan and his team, we can bounce a lot of information off of them. Having a two-car effort helps us. I think the MLR camp is going to have a productive weekend in Seattle."

MO’ MO FOR ZIZZO – T.J. Zizzo’s best Friday effort, a 3.794-second elapsed time, was just two-thousandths of a second slower than his career-best E.T. from last weekend in Sonoma. So he really took advantage of his ability to stay out on the road, away from his hometown of Lincolnshire, Ill., and build some momentum during this Western Swing.

"It's not like we all have to go back to the shop and wait a month or two until our next event,” the part-time competitor with the Rust-Oleum Dragster said. “So now we've got momentum. We've had momentum ever since we started testing in June. This is really only our second race of the year, and we're running within .05 seconds of most of our competitors. "I would say that's pretty damned stout for a group of guys that love to do this and volunteer their time and efforts."

Zizzo’s  3.7-second run was the last in the lineup so far, with two Saturday qualifying sessions remaining. Seventeen drivers are vying for the 16 spots in the field. But Zizzo was ninth, relatively safely in the field and certainly in the top 12 who get to keep their Friday times as a baseline rather than having to start from square one Saturday.

He’s optimistic about his future here because he relishes the past. "Good memories," Zizzo said of Pacific Raceways. "We went to the semifinal round in 2013 and beat The Sarge [his former neighbor and lunch buddy Tony Schumacher], beat Antron [Brown], and lost to Grubnic when the throttle cable came off. We got some good information from Sonoma."

Moreover, the privateer said he likes quirky Pacific Raceways.

"This track is always a great equalizer by the fact it's not a super track," Zizzo said. "It's a good track but not a super track. We race during the day a lot out here, and I know guys ran in the .70s out here last year and it took mid- to high-.70s to win. These are all good things for Zizzo Racing. The Rust-Oleum Rocket is going to charge down the race track!" Eight others did that quicker than he did Friday, so if he can break into that top eight Saturday when the field is set for elimination Sunday, he can enjoy first-round lane choice.

SCHUMACHER IN A HAPPY PLACE – Denver Top Fuel winner Tony Schumacher said, “At Seattle, we’ve probably had more success than the first two races [of the Western Swing] put together. We have a great car at this place – very fast – and the crowd seems to be building here. Hopefully, we can go out and win it and go off and be in position to win a championship. Seattle is a fast racetrack and there’s good side-by-side racing. It’s the end of a grueling part of the schedule, so you can be the team that’s not thinking, ‘˜Let’s get this over with,’ but thinking, ‘Let’s close this out and do it right.’ ”

The U.S. Army Dragster driver appeared to be doing everything right for the start this weekend. He led the class in the first session with a 3.773-second elapsed time. He improved in his evening run, but his 3.745-second pass left him sixth, as Brittany Force and Clay Millican made huge gains and Antron Brown and Doug Kalitta also found more power. But no one could top Steve Torrence.

Schumacher said he was disappointed with his loss at Sonoma “because we had a chance to do something nobody's ever done before.” That is sweep the three-race Western Swing twice. “But life goes on,” he said. “The good that we take away from [Sonoma] is that this U.S. Army team operated like a machine all weekend long. We got down the track all four times in qualifying and each run was faster than the one before. Then we came out and laid down our best lap of the weekend in the first round when we really needed it. I think we're moving in the right direction at the right time of the year.

“It’s very comforting. The most comfortable part about it is the changes we make reflect in what the car does going down the track. We’ve had stretches where we’ve made changes and it does the opposite, and you’re fighting that for a long, long time. Right now, it seems to be when we do something to the car, it is fairly predictable. When we miss it, we miss it by just a little bit and that’s usually when we’re trying to go faster and we have the opportunity to do that,” he said. “It’s a great time to start getting really good. The end of the year is the premier time to peak, and it’s incredibly comforting heading toward the Countdown with a good car.

“Driving well gives our team, our engineers Mike Green and Neal Strausbaugh, confidence to go into Brainerd and Indy. We understand what it’s like to get there, how big those moments are and how good you’re going to have to be in those moments. That’s how you win titles, going into it knowing you can do it,” Schumacher said. “You show up knowing we’ve done this before and you just try to be a machine. We’re in the position to fight for it, and that’s all you can ask for, to be in the position for the battle. I couldn’t ask for any more. I just have to go out and do my job, because the car is running well and I don’t want to be the weak link.”

DOWN TO THE WIRE AGAIN – Terry McMillen opened the weekend by claiming the 11th spot in the order, then closed the day by improving to the No. 8 position overnight with a 3.792-second pass next to Brittany Force. And being in the mix and picking up some rounds in these next three race days if he is to make the Countdown to the Championship for the first time.

"We have to pick up our game. We have to pick up the pace if we're even going to be a contender for the top 10,” he said.

"I don’t mind the drama going into it, like Grubby [current crew chief Dave Grubnic] and I did a couple of years ago, several times. It was worth every bit of it for both of us, for the TV, and for the fans. But I want to be in that playoff, and I want that opportunity more than anything. Once you get there, it's anybody's game,” McMillen said.

“Big teams, they test their stuff and they've got their combinations. Then they set all their clutch discs to the side, because they know they're going to make it, and they pull them out when it comes playoff time. We don't have that luxury,” he said, “but our persistence will help us accomplish our goal. I think this is the year we make the top 10."

McMillen, the Gainesville runner-up, has been recovering financially and performance-wise from his wall-tagging accident at Houston.

"Ever since the crash, we've been behind the eight-ball, just trying to pick up the pieces and parts and go forward. At the end of the day, I'm blessed to be out here with Amalie Motor Oil and Rush Truck Centers. We're getting there, just not as quick as I want. And every year you hope for better. We started out well this year. We've been running OK this year. We won as many rounds to date as we did the entire year last year.”
 

FUNNY CAR

 

IT TAKES A VILLAGE OF SAINTS . . . – John Force's opportunity to become the first NHRA racer to sweep the Western Swing twice is one of the key stories of the weekend.  Who knew it would involve St. Christopher?

The PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy Camaro driver and 16-time series champion said he won’t make any predictions about whether he’ll pull that off. But he said it’s possible “if we can run like we did in Denver. We thought we would stick with the pace and everyone appeared to be off a bit, but [Del] Worsham was right there with us. Our cars were pretty consistent, and as you have noticed the past year, we have been playing catch-up. I had a meeting with our team Saturday night [at Sonoma] and told them after qualifying last year and I had a knot in my stomach because those guys were running 80s and we weren’t even in their ZIP code. We had to go to work. We knew what had to be done, we knew where we were going, and that is what we worked on for the last year. You have to look at we put the big clutch in over a year ago and it helped. We were short on money, short on testing, and we’ve always had the heart to go after a championship. But anytime we want to test, now is when we do it. We tested all last year and now it is starting to pay off.”

Said Force, “I can’t make a call on the Swing. I’m going in with three Funny Cars that are going to try to defend it and if any of us get a win, the win is what is crucial. Do I want to get the Swing? Without a doubt. I talked with Austin Coil and he was congratulating me. Said I drove like I drove 20 years ago when we started beating them and when we were first winning. He can see it because he taught me. Now I got a young generation, Mike Neff, teaching me things. I’m so bullheaded when I drive. I was hurting myself there for a while with that new Chevy. I wasn’t believing it was me not lining up straight. I said I don’t care if it was crooked, I will drive out of it. When the car washes out I will fix it. Nobody tells me.

“Lanny [track specialist Miglizzi] he came to me and said Neff and Schaffer were right and asked if I could look at the track marks on the ground and said, ‘You used to be a machine, and now you are a little screwed up here.’ Boy it opened my eyes. I said we are going straight to Indy, get the race track and we are going to get a sight. Kelly Antonelli and Guido Antonelli know I always wear a St. Christopher medal and I used to have them on my car, painted on the side. They put a big St. Christopher medal –  they had the machine shop at Indy build a thing to hold it - right out there. Now I have a sight to line ‘em up. Now I got that ol’ camouflaged Realtree [paint scheme], I was supposed to be running PEAK blue but the body was coming apart that we already crashed. We fixed it twice and it just keeps coming apart and I can’t run it. We got a new body and trying to get it mounted because we are just starting to get bodies in. So I got to talk to PEAK since Realtree was a one-race deal, even though they are a partner to ours, but now I have to run it in Seattle. These things have a little magic sometime,” he said.

Getting back to the question, Force said, “My chances to win the Swing? As good as anybody else’s. I like Seattle – good air, good race track. The fans are great. Let’s see if we can go give them a show. That is what we are trying to do. I want to win championships. People are saying, ‘When you get on the podium or an interview, why do you bring Ron Capps into the interview?’ and ‘How come you don’t talk about you winning?’ Because first off, the minute you go open your mouth, Ron Capps will knock you off. What I’m trying to do is grow the sport. He is a future driver. When I was his age, I was getting into my run of being good. He is a champion to me. I have my work cut out to me to grow the sport and the opportunity to take advantage of it. We have to grow the sport with FOX, take it to the next level, and our race teams.”

At this Seattle event, Force owns eight victories in 10 final rounds and a 55-19 record. His last victory here was in 2014, from the No. 1 position.

He dropped from fifth place to 10th Friday, so he’ll have to reverse his direction if he’s to earn his seventh top starting spot at Pacific Raceways, where he has qualified in the top four fourteen times. Since 1979, he has qualified in the bottom half only twice: in 2002, when he was No. 13 and lost in the final, and 2012, when he was No. 10 and lost to daughter Courtney in the semifinals.

RAIDERS VISIT INSPIRES PEDREGON – Cruz Pedregon is competing this weekend in his 500th Funny Car event. But he’s more animated about stopping at the Oakland Raiders training camp at Napa, Calif., this past week on the way from Sonoma to Seattle.

“It’s an honor for me to come out here to the Raiders’ training camp, and I really appreciate them having us,” Pedregon, driver of the Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry, said. He was including Top Fuel’s Leah Pritchett, a fellow southern Californian, who also was a guest.

“I’ve been a Raiders fan since I was a teenager in Los Angeles, and I came to love everything they were about. It’s a pleasure to see all that these guys do to prepare for the season. It reminds me of sitting at the starting line during a drag race, getting ready to launch.”

Pedregon and Pritchett met Head Coach Jack Del Rio, whose uncle Wayne won best-appearing car at the 1971 NHRA Winternationals. They also visited with head coach Jack Del Rio, whose uncle Wayne won best-appearing car at the 1971 Winernationals. some of the Raiders players, including quarterback Derek Carr.

“As a Raiders fan, I was really happy to meet Derek and coach Del Rio,” Pedregon said. “Derek reminds me of the driver and Coach Del Rio as the crew chief, orchestrating the whole run. It was great to talk with them and compare sports, from everything that goes into a run down the dragstrip to everything that happens in one play on the football field.”

The drivers also challenged some of the players to a friendly reaction-time competition on a Christmas

Tree simulator and were pleasantly surprised the Raiders could hold their own on a Chris’as Tree. Four-time Pro Bowl fullback Marcel Reece, kickers Sebastian Janikowski and Giorgio Tavecchio, punter Marquette King, long snappers Jon Condo and Andrew East, and offensive lineman Austin Howard went head-to-head with the two racers.

“Anyone who follows drag racing knows I’m the biggest Oakland Raiders fan in the NHRA,” Pedregon said. “So I’m pumped after being out there with my team.”

Pritchett said, “These are some bad dudes right here at training camp. I’ve got furious power on the track and they’ve got furious power on the field. These guys really gave us a run for our money on the Chris’as Tree, but being the athletes they are, that’s no surprise. I’m really happy the Raiders invited us out here to catch some fresh air after a weekend of nitro.”

Pedregon, who’s clamoring for a spot in the top 10 so he can pursue a third championship, said he and his crew have been working to keep the engine from dropping cylinders and thinks he sees some progress.

“We’ve seen the motor produce more power than it has in the past year, and we’re feeling good about it. I’m working with the team now to look closely into the fuel line, so we can beat this cylinder-dropping issue,” he said before landing mid-pack, at No. 8, after Friday’s two qualifying sessions at Seattle.

Car Chief Chris Kullberg said, “We’ve been hustling to address the fuel line and cylinder issues.  Even with the motor doing its job, we’ve got to get these other issues in check to get Cruz that elusive first win of the season. He’s been a runner up in Seattle before, so it’s time for him to be a winner in Washington.”

DEJORIA RESTING BUT HOPING FOR QUICK RETURN – Alexis DeJoria remains on bedrest at her Austin, Texas, home, recovering from a broken pelvis. She was hurt when her Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry took a hard left into the guard wall in the opening round of eliminations last Sunday at Sonoma.

Surprisingly, she said in a prepared statement Friday that ideally she wants to return to the racetrack at the Brainerd, Minn., race. That’s perhaps an over-ambitious timetable, but she said she is concerned about qualifying for the Countdown, and only three races (including this one) remain until the cutoff. Besides, she has a hard time sitting still or being spectator.

“The goal right now is Brainerd. I’m going to do everything I possibly can to heal properly,” DeJoria said. “I’m on bedrest for the time being, and then I start physical therapy on Monday [August 8th]. I want to get back in the car and need to get back in the car as quickly as possible. I’m a fighter. The cutoff to qualify for the Countdown is coming up, and we need to secure our position.”

She grudgingly is accepting reality.

“I realize that at this moment I have to rest in order to better the healing process, but it’s hard for someone like me to be stagnant. I’ve never missed a race in my NHRA Funny Car career thus far. However painful it will be to have to watch the NHRA Northwest Nationals from my bed, rather than be there at the track, I’ll be cheering on my Kalitta Motorsports teammates.”

Kalitta Motorsports Vice-President Jim Oberhofer said, “That’s up to her. She’s the toughest driver out here. But we don’t want to rush her back. Her car will be ready for her. Until she’s ready, that car will sit.”

The team’s press release reinforced that. It said, “Substitute drivers for the Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry Funny Car will not be considered in the event of any unexpected setbacks.”

The impact of her car crashing into the wall caused what’s called a “high-energy fracture” to the left side of her pelvis – technically, her left iliac wing.

Said DeJoria, “I’ve experienced different types of crashes in my race car, from going off the end of the track to blowing up to scrapes with the wall, but this one was different. I felt the car make a move to the right. I corrected it, and then the car traversed laterally and smashed into the wall. All four wheels were sliding, and no matter what I did with the steering wheel, it wasn’t responding to any of my movements.

“I knew right away I had hurt my back. All I wanted to do was get the car stopped,” she said. “Once I had it safely stopped, I pushed myself out of the car, and as soon as my feet touched the ground, I felt pain shoot straight into lower my back. My adrenaline was rushing. When these things happen, I tend to get angry. I’m a very competitive person. I never want to go out like that, obviously. My No. 1 concern is always to keep myself safe, as well as the driver in the other lane. There were a lot of emotions when this happened, but I was very grateful that it wasn’t worse.”

She did not have to undergo surgery, but she said she still is experiencing extreme pain and has been left temporarily immobile.

What’s making her fret is the fact she’s in 10th place. Trailing her are Chad Head and Cruz Pedregon, who entered this race in 11th and 12th places, respectively, and Head needing just 150 points to close the gap. He leaped from 13th in the order to second in Friday’s lineup. Pedregon came into Seattle 190 points behind her. Pedregon is eighth heading into Saturday qualifying.

DeJoria expressed thanks for the outpouring of support from the NHRA community following her wreck and injury.

“Thank you to all of my fans, sponsors, friends, and the racing community for their caring words and support! I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel of my Patrón Toyota Camry and resume my quest for the 2016 Funny Car Championship.”

LOW 3.90S ARE NECESSITIES – Jack Beckman, driver of the Infinite Hero Funny Car, was stunning NHRA observers this time last season by ripping off one 3.9-second pass after another. Today, Beckman said, “you're just not going to win without running low 3.90s, even in the heat of the day, anymore. One of the tough parts about that is when the track heats up and you pull the tune-up back just a bit, it's hard to trying to keep all eight holes [cylinders] lit.

"It's frustrating,” he said. “We're hanging tight in the points. But man, we need to be moving up, and we're running out of time to do that before we go into the Countdown for the reset of points after Labor Day.”

Beckman did his part Friday, starting with a 3.918 in his Don Schumacher-owned Dodge Charger. He remained seventh after the evening session Friday.

He’s third in the Funny Car standings, and he said, "Right now, in the regular season, it's just trophies. All you're after is just trophies. Once you go into the Countdown, the reality is round-wins are what's most important. Yes, getting a trophy gets you the most round-wins but, you could runner-up at every race of the Countdown and probably win the championship.”

Before he arrived at Pacific Raceways, Beckman said, “It's not that we need to be any more motivated or determined, but I think when we roll into Seattle, we'll have burned up a lot of notepads and calculator keys trying to figure out exactly what this car wants. You just want to be standing there at the end of the day Sunday and have the fans say, 'Wow! What a perfect day!' So that's our goal in Seattle – perfect Sunday."

 

PRO STOCK
 

 

 

 

STILL LURKING - They are still out there, just waiting.

They in this sense, is KB Racing.

Flagship driver Greg Anderson sits second with a 6.560 at 210.01 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro. Anderson, the Pro Stock points leader, has raced to seven victories in 2016 and has already clinched his spot in the Countdown. He is a three-time Seattle winner.
 
In third is Bo Butner in his Jim Butner Auto Chevy Camaro with a 6.565 at 210.11. 

GRAY POISED TO ‘BUST THROUGH’ – In his typical laid-back fashion, Shane Gray reckoned, “One of these days we'll bust through and get us a win."

Like everybody in the Pro Stock class except the Summit/KB Racing tandem of Greg Anderson and Jason Line, Gray has been scratching his head since the fuel-injected era of the class has been thrust upon him. His two rivals have hogged 14 of the first 15 trophies this year. But the Valvoline/Nova Services Camaro driver is among a handful of challengers who could knock Anderson and Line off the puck.

He was lurking in fourth place at the start of Saturday’s final two qualifying sessions.

"The switch to EFI and the limitations in RPM and length of the wheelie bars that we all must adhere to this year definitely changed the dynamic of the class," Gray said. "But the way I look at it is if those guys at KB Racing have figured it out, then the rest of us should be able to, as well. There are no excuses in drag racing. We've been hard at it trying to catch those guys and put forth a competitive race car at every event. It seems we're creeping up on them,” he said.

Gray is enjoying a streak of nine top-half qualifying efforts, which has helped move him up five spots in the standings, to seventh place. What he wants to do next is secure a berth in the six-race Countdown to the Championship.

"Anyone that knows me will tell you we don't really watch the points and the standings too much," Gray, a New Mexico native who lives in Denver, N.C., said. "Of course, you hear about it in the media and such, but we just like to keep our heads down and work hard. If you do that, the points and the wins will come. We had a strong car in Sonoma and reached the semifinals there, so there's no reason to think we can't do better at Pacific Raceways. It's a great track in a beautiful part of the country. And although it's about as far from home as we get on the tour, the fans here always make you feel at home."

Gray’s Sonoma finish was his fifth semifinal appearance of the season, all in the last eight races. He chose to skip the Phoenix race, the second event of the season, and took over seventh place at Sonoma last weekend.

"We've been knocking on the door a lot lately, but it's time for us to kick it down. I know that if we keep doing what we've been doing, we'll kick that door down. Maybe we can do that in Seattle," he said. "I knew from the beginning of the year that we had plenty of horsepower and that it was just a matter of using it the right way."

AGGRESSIVE APPROACH – Elite Motorsports driver Jeg Coughlin had decided to become more aggressive this weekend with his set-up on the Magneti Marelli offered by Mopar/JEGS.com Dodge Dart. But so far it has kept him right smack in the middle of the field. He was stuck at No. 8 in the order after both Friday sessions.

"Our goal is to try and be a little more aggressive earlier in the weekend and give ourselves some real momentum going into Sunday, no matter where we end up qualified," Coughlin said. "Quite honestly, we were never really quite there last weekend in Sonoma (Calif.), and in our postrace shakedown we have decided we are just going to try to prepare a little more aggressively and take our chances.

"Both of these Dodges (Coughlin's and teammate Erica Enders' Dart) really showed some life two weeks ago in Denver, and we'd like to take that forward," he said.

So five of the team's engines were trucked back to the shop at Wynnewood, Okla., so engine builders Nick Ferri and Jake Hairston could freshen them completely and have time for a few dyno pulls.

"We had two different groups running motors back to Oklahoma,” Coughlin said. “The first left Saturday with three engines, and Erica and Richard [team owner Freeman] and a couple of the crew guys left with two more on Sunday. Jake and Nick [flew] back to get there as quickly as possible.” Then, of course, they had to haul those engines back here to the West Coast.

In the meantime, Coughlin, wife Samantha (a successful sportsman racer), and their year-old daughter, Carly took in the scenery in their RV as they drove to Seattle.

"I get guilty of saying, as we prepare for various events, that this is one of my favorite tracks or that's one of my favorite tracks, but you know, Pacific Raceways really is a tremendous place," Coughlin said. "It has a ton of history, a ton of heritage, and the backdrop with Mt. Rainier and the other mountains and the pines lining the road course is just simply amazing. I always take time to walk around on Fridays and Saturdays and even Sunday mornings getting ready for race day, walking the road course by myself, and you're reminded of this track's beauty. It's a fun race. Plus, we get a lot of our friends from up north of the border there on the West Coast of Canada, so it's an all-around good time."

Coughlin won here in 2002. And he said he considers his runner-up finish here last season as a highlight of his three-race debut with Elite Motorsports.

KEEPING EYE ON TOP BUNCH – Allen Johnson slipped Friday into the early-weekend lineup in seventh place, three-thousandths of a second quicker than Jeg Coughlin. But the Marathon Petroleum Dodge Dart owner-driver said his real mission this weekend and at the next two races “is to try to get closer to the front two or three cars before the Countdown starts.”

Johnson, who has been in the finals three times at Pacific Raceways and won here in 2006 against Tom Martino, has a strong chance to do that.

“I always look forward to racing in Seattle,” Johnson said. “It’s one of our favorite places to go and we always seem to do pretty good up [here]. Our goal is to keep our momentum from our Denver win and maintain lane choice every round on Sunday. If we could’ve kept lane choice on Sunday in Sonoma, we would’ve had a better outcome.”

GENERAL INTEREST

NHRA WEEKEND PROVIDES $83,000-PLUS – Charitable events combined to raise more than $83,000 for Northern California non-profit groups during last weekend’s Toyota Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway.

The proceeds from the majority of events will benefit Sonoma County youth organizations through the Sonoma Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities, the charitable arm of the raceway, which has distributed more than $5.1 million to qualified youth groups since 2001.

Fundraising kicked off on Thursday, July 28, at the 10th annual Eric Medlen Nitro Night, which raised more than $41,000. The evening honors the memory of Medlen, a native of Oakdale in the San Joaquin Valley. He who succumbed to injuries sustained from a testing accident in 2007. All proceeds from the evening benefit SCC in Medlen’s name. Since its inception, this event has raised more than $240,000.

A number of popular NHRA personalities highlighted the evening, including Jack Beckman, Ron Capps, John Force, Courtney Force, Ashley Force Hood, Scotty Pollacheck, Tony Pedregon and J.R. Todd, as well as Funny Car legend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme. More than 100 attendees turned out for the dinner at Bay Club Stone Tree Golf club in Novato, Calif., including Medlen’s mother, Mimi, and his father, John.

Highlights of the evening included a wine and hors d’ oeuvres reception sponsored by First Republic Bank, and a Texas Hold’em-style charity poker demonstration, presented by McDonald’s and the Costa Organization. The evening closed with a live auction for a custom, engraved wine bottle, a custom Medlen-themed helmet and signed case of Patron tequila, which netted more than $19,000.

The traditional Eric Medlen Ice Cream Social that Sunday, July 31, following the final round of eliminations raised more than $1,400 in donations. Fans were invited to enjoy a free scoop of ice cream, compliments of Save Mart Supermarkets, and make a donation to SCC.

Throughout the weekend, more than $4,700 came from two interactive fan booths. Clay Millican sponsor Great Clips set up a mobile salon in the paddock and raised more than $4,000, and the SCC “Little Wheels, Big Fun” raffle brought in nearly $700 in ticket sales.

The first-ever Speedway Children’s Charities NHRA online auction, which featured race-weekend experiences and NHRA collectibles, raised another $1,000 for Sonoma County youth groups. In addition to the proceeds generated for SCC, Levy Restaurants, the official caterer of Sonoma Raceway, hosted seven local non-profit groups to support concession stands around the facility. In return for their hard work, Levy gives back a portion of sales to support those non-profit organizations. These groups, including California Martial Arts Institute, Fairfield Falcons Youth Football, Native Sons of the Golden West, O ’Hana Wa’a outrigger Club, Petaluma High School Cheer, Rancho Cotati High School Cheer and Vallejo Raiders Youth Football, received a total of nearly $35,000 from the NHRA weekend. Levy Restaurants also donated nearly 2,000 pounds of food to Food Runners, a San Francisco-based non-profit that collects and distributes quality, perishable and prepared foods to those in need.  – From Sonoma Raceway