NHRA U.S. NATIONALS - FUNNY CAR NOTEBOOK
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MONDAY EARLY NOTEBOOK - DREAMERS WIN BIG, HIGHT FINISHES SECOND BUT JUMPS TO FIRST AND THE UNLIKELY CAPPS
NOTHING BUT DREAMING – Mike Ashley said he knew he had the car to beat in Indy, but a part of him couldn’t help but reflect to past Indy dreams.
After four rounds of grueling eliminations, Ashley drove the
special-edition Eric Blake Faulkner Foundation Tribute Car all the way to the
Winner's Circle and into second place in POWERade Championship points-race.
"This one is for the dreamers - because it's been a dream of mine to win
at Indy since we debuted two years ago," said an ecstatic Ashley.
"This means so much, not only for the team and for Evan Knoll, Torco, and
all our sponsors, but because of the Eric Blake Faulkner Foundation and how important
this win is to them."
and won here in Indy. I think that says so much about how we run this car - we
swing for the fences with every pass. Sometimes you strike out - like in
"It's funny, really. We DNQ'd in Englishtown and won the next race in Norwalk. And then we
DNQ'd in ReadingReading - and sometimes
you hit a home run, like we did here today at Indy.
"I can't say thank you enough to Evan Knoll, who two years ago said he
believed in me and let me do this, and this is exactly what I said I would do
for him - contend for the championship. Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald
[crew chiefs], Steve Boggs and the rest of the team - they all proved what we
have been talking about all year: that we have a commitment to winning the
Championship, and I think this really proved that today," he said.
Aside from the win at the U.S. Nationals, Ashley noted how the victory would
help bring awareness to the Foundation. After this one-race appearance of the
"Purpose beyond Reason"-titled car, it is being sent to Scottsdale Ariz.
where it will be auctioned off at the Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction
January 12-20, 2008, with all funds raised going directly to the Foundation to
support the Perinatal Loss Program at the St. Vincent Health System Hospital in
Little Rock, Ark.
The Foundation was created by Donnie and Hollie Faulkner in memory of their
son, Eric Blake, who was stillborn May 24, 2007, with the single goal of
helping other parents who suffer similar loss.
In addition to Evan Knoll who donated his sponsorship of Ashley's car at the
U.S. Nationals, support for the project includes Ashley, who is donating a
rolling chassis and coordinating the project; Jim Jannard, founder of Oakley
and Red, a sponsor of Ashley's and longtime friend of the Faulkners; Chip
Foose, the legendary auto designer who has directed the design and worked with
Mark Adkins and the team at Illusions Custom Paint and Body of Bristol, Tenn.
to create the one-of-a-kind paint scheme; Valspar, who has donated all the
paint for the project; MOPAR, who has donated the 2007 Dodge Charger R/T body
specifically for the project; Phoenix Custom Apparel; and MAC Tools, the
title sponsor of the US Nationals, who has donated a complete rolling toolbox
painted to match the original FOOSE design. Other contributors to the project
include Phoenix Custom Apparel and Impact Racing Products.
"It's really an awesome thing, to win the U.S. Nationals, and I couldn't
be prouder of all my guys," Ashley said.
The win catapults Ashley to second place in POWERade Championship points from
sixth where he started before the race.
CATAPULTING - Hight’s runner-up effort was good enough to propel the 2005 Auto Club Road to the Future Award winner (NHRA Rookie of the Year) to the top of the Funny Car point standings after the first of six races in the Countdown to the Championship.
“I'm excited to be leaving with the points lead. If we keep going to final rounds we’ll have this thing wrapped up,” said Hight, "but that is easier said than done. My confidence level is really high. The car is good and the team is good and we’ll just keep doing what we know how to do. I want to get in a roll like we did last year.”
Hight defeated two former Funny Car champions (Tony Pedregon and Kenny Bernstein) in route to his fifth final round appearance of the season. He took out fellow Countdown competitor Jim Head in their first round match-up, freezing Head behind team leader John Force, a non-qualifier at Indy, in the standings.
“We learned a ton this weekend about running on a hot track that is going to help us. Honestly, I have always hoped for cool conditions because this thing thunders when it is cool,” added Hight. “Now that we have a little bit of a handle on the heat it doesn’t matter where we are. We can beat anybody.”
LONGSHOT ODDS – Nobody gave Jon Capps much of a chance to succeed during Indy. Not only did he qualify, but also won the first round by eliminating Jeff Arend.
"This weekend is the kind of thing you dream about when you are a race fan as a kid," said Capps. "You dream about driving a nitro Funny Car and going to the biggest race of the year and actually qualify.
"I'm real proud to be able to make the show. A lot of big guys didn't make it and it makes you feel real good. We ran hard out here today and we had as good a shot as anybody in the heat. Paul Smith is definitely the guy you want tuning when you're running a Funny Car on a hot track.
"We don't get a chance to test a lot like the other guys," Capps continued, "and so we kind of went out there and tried something in the second round and we lost to Pedregon. Everybody over here on the Vegas Fuel team has every reason to hold their head high. With the associate support of VF Trucking, Paul Smith and the guys have done a great job and I look forward to a lot more round wins in the future.
"John Force told me this morning, 'alright kid, you've been waiting for this all your life, go out there and make some enemies."
Capps is well on his way.
BOUNCED - Ron Capps got a taste of how quickly
things can change today. After leading the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Funny Car category by as much as 154 points this season, he finds himself
fourth in the Countdown to Four playoffs (which kicked off today) standings
following his first-round loss at the U.S. Nationals.
Capps fell victim to Kenny Bernstein's excellent reaction time (.045) to his
own more-than-respectable .097 (.000 is perfect) and posted the fourth quickest
elapsed time of the round, but lost on a holeshot advantage to Bernstein.
Bernstein's 4.9221/307.16 beat Capps' 4.877/316.82 by a mere four feet.
With that, and Robert Hight's and Mike Ashley's march into the final round,
Capps fell to fourth in the re-calculated rankings and is just nine points out
of third, and 51 short of regaining the lead.
"Bernstein is one of if not the best at the Christmas Tree in the Funny
Car class," said Capps, who drove the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T
this weekend. "You talk to the other Funny Car drivers and they'll tell
you he's the guy that you have to have your act together for at the starting
line. And it just makes it that much worse when we know how good a run that was
for us. It would have given us lane choice for the second round (against Robert
Hight).
"I have to fix whatever I think is wrong. I really thought I had a good
light. With the way I was staged, I felt like it wasn't a bad light.
"Kenny Bernstein paid me a compliment after Vegas. I beat him on a
holeshot there, and then he beat me on a holeshot at Norwalk. He told me that he doesn't sleep
very good at night when he's going to race me the next day. That's a huge
compliment. I told him it was the same for me.
"It's very had to put something like that behind you," he continued.
"I wanted to throw up on the return road on the way back, just because of
how good that run was, and after yesterday I felt so confident this morning
that we were gong to have a great day. And we should have. The car ran great,
that's why it's disappointing for the team. I obviously didn't pull my part of
the rope. We'll just have to regroup and go to Memphis."
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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - FROM ROOKIE TO SEASONED VETERAN, ROOKIE SCORES BERTH ON MONDAY AND TEXTING AT THE TRACK …
365 DAYS TO THE KING - Twelve months ago Jack Beckman was a spectator at the US Nationals. Today he won the Skoal Shootout in the MTS Dodge Charger fielded by Don Schumacher’s DSR organization, beating teammate Ron Capps in the final round. Following the race within a race Beckman noted that he was very grateful for the fact that Don Schumacher put him in the car immediately following last year’s race, giving him the opportunity to accumulate enough points to qualify for the event this year. He was also cognizant of the fact that the tragic death of Eric Medlen early this year may have been the key to his making the 8 car cut for the shootout. Just a few events ago his team was struggling and a turnaround in their racing fortunes enabled him to accumulate enough points to make the cut.
GIMME VEGAS FUEL - The Paul Smith-owned Vegas Fuel Monte Carlo driven this weekend by Jon Capps made one of the few representative runs of the early qualifying session today. Capps was hanging on to the final qualifying position after last night’s action and in the early session today ran just a tad slower than Smith had hoped. With a 4.905 at 317.12 Capps was second on the speed chart to only Mike Ashley and then by a mere .07 mph. With Ashley and Capps’ brother Ron heading the elapsed time list from that session with 4.880 shots Jon’s run looked even more impressive.
When Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com spoke with Smith prior to the final session he noted that the car has made a total of approximately 20 runs this year and with so little data to tune from he is forced to make “safe” decisions. Smith showed us the pistons and rods from the run today and they looked brand new so the motor is obviously happy. In an effort to get the car to go from A to B on the hot track Smith also put all of the spoiler elements in their highest position and installed a set of clutch floater plates with additional grooves in an effort to get the clutch to wear more. That was effective with the clutch discs wearing .125” rather than the usual .095”.
BULLS-EYE - Back on the subject of Wayne Dupuy and Bob Bode, whose travails we chronicled yesterday, this morning Dupuy likened his efforts to those of an archer. He said that his first arrow went wide right and the second wide left. After those two runs he had more of an idea where the target was and the third shot hit the bulls-eye but did not stick in the target. That was last night’s run where the car went .906 to the 60 foot clocks but was starting to spin the tires .8 seconds into the run. In that case, the motor was too stout for the clutch combination after going to 8200 rpm at the hit of the throttle. With the sun beating down on the track today and ambient temperatures in the 90 degree range the car was about mid pack with the 60 foot number but once again came unstuck soon after.
It all finally came together in the final session with the car having respectable numbers to about the 900 foot mark, however the track surface had really gone away by 4 o’clock in the afternoon ending Bode’s weekend.
CRUZING - Over in the Advance Auto Parts camp of Cruz Pedregon, Rahn Tobler was fighting the same demons with a new and unfamiliar parts package, and in a funny car to boot as the long time dragster tuner ran a short wheelbase car for the first time. The extremely meticulous Tobler was working his way through the entire car to make sure that everything was to his liking while also becoming familiar with the crew. The team was fighting an ignition problem throughout the event and on the final run this afternoon finally appeared to have their problems fixed only to have the center blow out of a spark plug. Cruz told Torco’s Competition Plus.com that he drove the car to the finish line anyway, resulting in a 4.96 at 300.33 run.
Pedregon told us that despite the DNQ at what is arguably the most prestigious event on the Powerade tour he is happy with the direction that the team is taking since adding Tobler to the roster.
TEXTING - Del Worsham
and announcer Alan Reinhart text message each other constantly. Ron Capps is
also involved but does not feature in this story. It seems that
Alan: Yep
Alan: How do you know that I hear voices inside
STILL THE ONE - On the racing front it seems that when Jeff Arend held on to the #1 spot through three days of qualifying here it marked the first time ever that the C/S/K blue car had qualified at the head of the pack. That said, when Torco Competition Plus.com checked in at their pit early in the evening co-crew chiefs Chris Cunningham and Marc Denner were replacing most of the ignition components on the car. Cunningham commented that the car seemed to run correctly after dark but was dropping cylinders during the daytime runs. Yesterday the car dropped #5 at 2.5 seconds into the run and today #7 went out on both attempts. The first run today saw the cylinder drop at the step initiating tire shake. When the same situation occurred in the final qualifying session Denner was quickly on the radio telling Arend to shut the car off.
On the other side of the team Chuck Worsham was happy with the red car’s hot weather tune up as he carded a 4.868 lap in the final session, second only to John Force’s 4.856. He noted that the earlier run today was actually quicker to the point when the blower hold down studs failed to let the boost leak away.
MONDAY MORNING BLUES - The big story of qualifying was the fact that John Force failed to make the field at Indy for the first time in nearly 3 decades. He last missed the show in 1979 and was a victim of failed runs in both evening sessions. When the temperature topped 90 degrees today the chances of Force’s Castrol Syntec Mustang making the show were slim to nonexistent and although he made the best lap of the final session he fell short of making the show.
Bob Gilbertson’s best effort put him 17th in the final order,
followed by Force, Tommy Johnson Jr., Tony Bartone, Cruz Pedregon and Bob Bode.
CLEARING UP - On the subject of the recent change in crew chief assignments at DSR which saw Todd Okuhara replace Mike “Zippy” Neff as tuner of Gary Scelzi’s Oakley Dodge after Neff announced that he was going to the John Force camp, Beckman clarified the situation. While Phil Schuler is the nominal crew chief of his car the former situation has not changed as Okuhara still works with Schuler on the MTS car while also working with Aaron Brooks, assistant crew chief on the “O” Charger.
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - DUPUY SIGHTING, THE LIFE OF A ROCKSTAR AND DID THE TESTING HELP?
DUPUY SIGHTING - Wayne Dupuy parted company with Cruz Pedregon’s Advanced Auto Parts operation recently. We won’t use the hackneyed “left to pursue other opportunities” cliché as to put it bluntly he was fired and joins a long list of tuners to suffer that fate at Pedregon’s hands. The roster is not as long as the list of former drivers for Roland Leong but it is substantial. That scenario provides a couple of story lines.
This weekend Dupuy is working with Bob Bode’s team and trying to learn how to get the Plueger-chassied Monte Carlo into the show. Last night the car got up on the wheelie bar instantly and then smoked the tires. This morning the team made some chassis adjustments to try to limber the car up a little as Dupuy felt that it was a little too rigid to suit his tune-up. That aim may have been achieved but the car again smoked the tires this afternoon, a scenario that Dupuy attributed to a change in clutch lever profile. The fact that the car does not run the set back supercharger that is common on the front running teams is also a factor in the tuning equation. Tonight’s attempt was no better with the car again smoking the tires very early in the run.
Dupuy was replaced at the Pedregon operation by Rahn Tobler who has been a short term member of several teams since parting company with the Kalitta organization. Tobler was not present when Pedregon’s team finally made it to the test session on Thursday last week and his long time friend Dickie Venables filled in as Cruz’s car was set up to duplicate brother Tony’s which is tuned by Venables and Kurt Elliott. Cruz has yet to complete a run under power at this event and currently sits 20th in the order with a 6.181 best.
IT’S DOING WHAT? - Jerry
Toliver’s Rockstar-backed Toyota is looking strong this weekend despite some
niggling troubles. The team has been experiencing a problem with the front
fenders flexing ahead of the front wheels recently and one crew member has been
repairing the fracture at the lower spill lip following each run, effecting a
patch on Friday afternoon.
The car has the same fender brace package as the Solara being run by Scott Kalitta, but is the only Toyota experiencing the problem. Following yesterday’s run the flange area again fractured and this morning more carbon fiber and epoxy were being applied with an underlying strip of aluminum riveted in place. The apparent solution has been the addition of a triangular tubular structure with a pad at its outer extremity supporting the fender when the body is closed and latched. Of course when the body is on the pole in the staging lanes the car appears to have a pair of heavy duty curb feelers.
Last night’s run also saw the sleeve in cylinder number two split at the upper register, allowing the combustion gasses to torch a trough in the block. Luckily the split itself was very narrow and the damage to the block was minimal. Remarkably neither the gasket nor head was damaged.
DID LAST WEEK’S TEST HELP? - Scott Kalitta failed to make a full pass at last week’s test session here at ORP but stepped up this weekend with a good lap in the opening session. Crew chief Glenn Mikres told Torco’s Competition Plus.com that he hoped to run a mid 4.80 in today’s early session and would be shooting for a 4.70 tonight. Both runs were a bust with the car spinning the wheels before the 330 timers in both cases.
Over in the Brut camp last weeks test went well as did Ron Capps’ initial effort last night as a 4.77 landed him in the 4th spot in the initial order. Crew chief Ed McCulloch was planning to run a race day setup this morning and then try for a big number tonight. He suffered the same outcome as Mikres as the car failed to make it on either run. The evening run came close as the car was third quickest of the session to half track but then the tires broke loose. Part of that team’s problem may be that they had only run the recently front halved chassis at Reading and the test. They also have a new wide cage car in the trailer with a yet to be determined debut date.
Tony Pedregon missed the test session due to the protracted event a Maple Grove and crew chief Dickie Venables struggled on the first two attempts, telling Torco’s Competition Plus.com that he was just over center with the tune up. He got things right tonight with a respectable 4.786 that put the Quaker State car at the bottom of the top half of the field.
John Force also missed the test session for the same reason as Pedregon, but his team has yet to get the car from A to B at a competitive pace, being bumped out of the show by Tim Wilkerson’s third round shot. Wilkerson is still precariously close to Jon Capps’ last place 4.826, running just a thousandth of a second quicker and it will be interesting to see who can make competitive runs tomorrow with warmer weather expected.
Jimmy Walsh is starting to get a handle on Kenny Bernstein’s Monster Energy funny car even though he is still learning how to make the short wheelbase package work. When he started with the team the chassis were slip joint configuration and he soon welded up the slippers. His latest move is to a conventional chassis that made its seventh attempt and first “full pull” on Friday evening with a 4.809 that placed KB 11th at the end of the day. On that run the car was running a stout 263 mph at half track and even though the Dodge smoked the tires early in the first session today, tonight’s run saw a slight improvement to a 4.803 with a 262 mph half track speed. The trick now will be to get it from end to end in the less conducive daylight weather conditions.
Not directly related to this event but a great story anyway is Grant Downing’s account of his mid-year trip to Alaska with his Silver Fern funny car. Grant is the fabricator for the Worsham family’s Checker/ Schucks/ Kragen team and he is on hand here as an additional crew member for the drawn out Indy slog. Downing, a native of New Zealand as is his wife Lynn, hauled the car part of the way to the event before completing the trip on a ferry. The race took place on July 4th at Alaska Dragway, about 40 miles from Anchorage. With almost 22 hours of daylight at mid-year there is no need for track lighting, however the facility does have another expense. The first 300 feet of the track surface is heated to a constant 78 degrees and that, combined with an air temperature in the low 50’s, made for some stout early numbers. The lack of powerful vehicles running at the facility meant there was not much grip past the heated surface but Grant still managed to lower the track record to 5.32.
Downing is only one of several expatriates from “down under” involved in the funny car action this weekend. His sister does the clutch on Gary Densham’s Racebricks Impala while working with a pair of Australian crew members and in the alcohol ranks a pair of Queenslanders are competing. The now Georgia-based Steve Harker has been one of the hitters with his Monte Carlo of late, winning a number of events against some stout local opposition while Brownsburg, Indiana’s Jeff Burnett was third in Division Three last season.
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -
STAYING BUSY - Jeff Arend has been busy of late. The Checker/ Schuck’s/ Kragen team stayed at Reading and tested on Thursday following the conclusion of the race there. He then won the World Series of Drag Racing event at Cordova last Saturday, played golf at Indy’s Crooked Stick course with Bob Vandergriff during the week and also got to drive John Fink’s vintage tank at Auburn, Indiana.
The early shut off test shot at Maple Grove showed that the car had the potential to run low 4.7’s and Jeff was confident in Chris Cunningham and Marc Denner’s tune up. That confidence was borne out by his effort tonight and the team has a great baseline for the rest of the weekend.
GILBY RETURNS - Bob Gilbertson is back on the NHRA tour this weekend after taking a recent sabbatical. Most recently the team has been running at IHRA events that are generally closer to their North Carolina base. Crew chief Tommy Delago told Torco’s Competition Plus.com that he now has to get the car back to a low 4.70 pace following a number of events where he was simply trying to run consistent 5.0’s. Early this year the team changed from Brad Anderson cylinder heads to those manufactured by Alan Johnson and also switched to a 6 disc clutch. The team missed the set up tonight and ended up in the 17th spot with an off pace 5.639.
LOW ON TEST TIME - Due to the drawn out aspect of the Maple Grove event, of the three Force cars only Robert Hight made it to ORP for last weeks test session and he only made one attempt. That run came in the chassis that he crashed at Topeka and was front halved at builder Murf McKinney’s shop. The car also sported a brand new body for this weekend with the latest version of the team’s constantly changing parachute mounts. The qualifying effort was pretty much what the team was shooting for although the fact that it threw the rods out when Hight stepped off the loud pedal was a negative factor. The change to the repaired frame was the result of Hight’s tire shaking early exit at Reading which damaged that chassis to the point where it too had to be front halved.
HONORING ERIC - John Force was also sporting a different body as he is honoring the memory of Eric Medlen by running Eric’s Castrol Syntec color scheme this weekend. Force’s car burned some pistons and ended up towards the bottom of the field with an off pace 4.88 at only 264 mph.
LOOKS GOOD, RUNS FAST TOO! - Ashley Force led the Castrol contingent with a stout 4.754 at a slowing 309 to be second in the final order tonight. The run matched the elapsed time of Jeff Arend but was relegated to second by the lesser speed as Arend carded an impressive 327.51 mph. Again the run was what tuners Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglass were looking for.
THE OTHER ASHLEY AND THE OTHER FC FEMALE - Mike Ashley revealed today that he and Melanie Troxel will be teammates next year in a two car funny car team backed by Evan Knoll. The announcement did not come as a surprise to insiders in the sport as Troxel made a couple of exploratory laps in Ashley’s car as reported here last week. Ashley noted at the press conference that his team would have a different approach to the team concept but declined to elaborate. On the subject of “diving” for the benefit of the team he commented on the NHRA edict that the practice would be frowned upon, stating that it was probable that one team member may smoke the tires if the crew chief tried to run big numbers on a 130 degree track.
Melanie noted that before committing to the ride she discussed the matter with husband Tommy Johnson Jr. with respect to marital harmony if they met in eliminations. They both felt that they would be OK with the situation and made the decision to add another distaff member to the flopper ranks.
REMEMBERING ERIC BLAKE - Ashley unveiled a unique, Chip Foose-designed tribute
car that he will drive only at the U.S. Nationals and then the car will be
auctioned off at the Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. All of the funds raised will go to support the Eric Blake Faulkner Foundation.
The Foundation was created to help parents who suffer the loss of a child before
or just after birth.
“There’s nothing more tragic to lose a child, and
my friends Donnie and Hollie Faulkner had to deal with that recently. Evan
Knoll, my sponsor, called me and asked if I would run a special car for this
race as a way to help the Foundation, and, of course, I didn’t hesitate to say
yes.
“It’s amazing, really, to see how many people have gotten together
to help – people like Evan and Jim Jannard of Oakley, Chip Foose, Mark and Allan
Adkins of Illusions and so many more. This truly was an emotional outpouring of
love and support, and it’s an honor to be carrying the banner for them,” he
said.
After the unveiling, Ashley proceeded to run a straight shot down
the left lane and post a 4.804/324.67 to take a provisional No. 9 spot after the
first day of qualifying at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park
just outside of Indianapolis, Ind.
“It was a good, clean run, just a
little soft,” Ashley explained. “We wanted to put down something like a ’77, but
we didn’t hit it hard enough. No matter, though, it was a great baseline for the
rest of qualifying, and will be something we can improve on tomorrow and
Sunday.
“I can’t remember when I’ve had so much to do at the racetrack
in one day, but, like I said, it was a great day, and I’m so glad to be back
here at Indy, where it all started for me in Funny Car.”
BACK FOR ANOTHER SHOT - Jon Capps is back in Paul Smith’s car this weekend with backing from Vegas Fuel. The Monte Carlo that was most recently driven by Phil Burkhart at Reading had the graphics changed yesterday with the VF Trucking logo prominent on the rear quarter panels as Vince Ferrone continues to support Smith’s operation. While we were catching up with the changes in the Vegas Fuel camp former Smith shoe Jeff Arend’s wife Windy stopped by with their daughter Jenna who wanted to greet “Poppy” Smith. For those who are familiar with the sometimes irascible Smith, the idea of a small girl labeling him “poppy” is a little off the wall.
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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK - CAPPS HAS AN ACE UP HIS SLEEVE, THE MAGIC INDY NUMBERS OF FORCE AND BATTLING FORCE (NOT THAT ONE) THROUGH SPEED...
ACES WIN IT - Even leading the point standings doesn’t provide enough security in their quest for a championship.
Every driver has to have a trick.
Ron Capps is no different and he’s admittedly got an "Ace" up his sleeve. That's crew chief Ed “the Ace” McCulloch, who has won more U.S. Nationals Funny Car titles than any other driver. McCulloch had claimed five Funny Car victories (1971, '72, '80, '88, '90) and one Top Fuel win (1992) at this prestigious event before he retired as a driver at the end of 1993. Both Capps and McCulloch have competed in seven Showdown bonus events. This weekend will mark Capps' eighth appearance in the Showdown.
"I've talked time and time again about the approach that a veteran racer like Ed McCulloch has," said Capps, a three-time winner this season. "Not just counting how many times he's won Indy, but the intensity of how he approaches race days.
"It's such a fun, intense moment to go to battle with him at every drag race. I really can't tell you how much I enjoy racing with him and learning from him. And I try to take that with me when I go to the starting line at big races like this and coming down to the championship. I so badly do not want to let him or the Brut crew members down. He's been through so many high-pressure situations in the past as a driver and now as a crew chief, I want the best for not just the whole team but for Ace."
STAT MAN FORCE - When you’re John Force, the statistics are your best friend.
Over the course of his remarkable career, Force has started a Castrol GTX Funny Car from the front of the pack a record 131 times.
He's qualified No. 1 at least once in every season since 1985 and, at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.
In fact, beginning Friday, he'll try to make it five straight No. 1 starts in the world's oldest, largest, richest and most prestigious drag race. Appropriately, he has qualified No. 1 more often at the U.S. Nationals than at another other event in the POWERade Series.
That said, if he can't sustain his qualifying dominance this week at O'Reilly Raceway Park, there's a good chance his streak of No. 1 starts will end at 21.
Last year, his only No. 1 start came at ORP and while he has bolstered his Countdown stock by reaching the winner’s circle in three of the last six tour events, his overall qualifying performance this year in the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang has been anemic.
Not only has the 58-year-old icon failed to start a race from No. 1, he's qualified ninth or worse seven times, eight if you count his jaw-dropping DNQ at last April's SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a stumble that ended a record streak of 395 consecutive starts dating back to 1988.
Never has the 125-time tour winner qualified so often at the back of the pack. In fact, only one other time has he had as many as five starts from outside the quick eight (1984) and during the course of his career he has qualified fourth or better almost 65 percent of the time (315 times in 491 races).
SPEED OVER FORCE - En route to his sixth-place finish in the regular season, regular top speed phenom Mike Ashley re-discovered the difference between power and force, and the benefits of power versus the detriments of force.
"If you are attempting to push or force something to happen in your life there is definitely something pushing or forcing back, and I think the highlights of our season came when we we're operating from a power mental standpoint while our DNQs came when we we're forcing things," Ashley said.
"We were pushing so hard to keep our number three spot that we lost sight of some simple mental mechanics, and it bit us. As a team, we've decided that our power to win comes from the team we've built, and that our successful results come when we allow our focus and skill to shine."
Ashley’s production provides substance to supplement his claims.
Ashley has delivered for sponsor Evan Knoll and Torco Race Fuels with two event wins, three final round appearances, six semifinal appearances, six track speed records (including the fastest run in Funny Car history), five number one qualifiers, and four DNQs.
"For us, DNQ really means 'Do Not Quit,'" Ashley said. "Ours were a symbol of the way we approach things - going for it with everything we've got. A mark of courage, so to speak - kind of like Babe Ruth, when he set the home run record, he also set the strike out record.”
PRACTICE SQUAD SUPERSTAR - Gary Scelzi is stoked following three days of solid testing. He’ll need it based on his previous Funny Car record headed into Indy.
In his five full seasons in the Funny Car class, the driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T has not won the Skoal Showdown in his three appearances in the $100,000 bonus event held at the U.S. Nationals. And he does not count the U.S. Nationals as the site of one of his 10 victories in the Funny Car class. He has, however, won in Top Fuel at the U.S. Nationals, in 1998.
"I don't think I've ever been past the second round in the Showdown," said Scelzi, who joins his DSR teammates Ron Capps and Jack Beckman in both the Countdown and the Showdown contests.
"I feel really good about going into the U.S. Nationals right now because (crew chiefs) Todd (Okuhara) and Phil (Shuler) have done such a great job with the Mopar/Oakley Dodge. In testing last week, the car would go down the track whenever they wanted it to go down the track, which is exciting. Then when they wanted it to go quick and fast it was able to do that too.
"We've got a pretty wide range on our tune-up. And every time we made a run, Todd just got a big grin on his face and said, 'OK, now it's doing what it's supposed to be doing.'
"As a driver, when your crew chief shows confidence, it makes you feel really good."
JUST ONCE – Just one might satisfy Kenny Bernstein. At least for now, it might.
A victory is what the six-time NHRA world champion Bernstein seeks.
Bernstein has finished runner-up twice this year since his return to NHRA competition as driver of the Monster Energy/Lucas Oil Funny car. He was within a nanosecond (four thousandths of a second to be exact) from defeating John Force in a thrilling final round at Brainerd, Minn.
“This Monster Energy/Lucas Oil team is right on the edge of a victory,” said Bernstein. “The Mac Tools U.S. Nationals is the most important race in our sport in terms of legend and history. It would be a significant accomplishment if we could pull off a win in Indy.”
Bernstein’s career is full of firsts. He is perhaps most well known for being the first to surpass the 300 mph barrier, a feat he accomplished in 1992. But another of his accomplishments was the first to claim double up victories at the U.S. Nationals and the Bud Shootout specialty race on the same weekend in Indy. That achievement went in the record books in 1983 when he was driving the Budweiser King Funny Car.
A FEATHER IN THE HAT - Cruz Pedregon is a three-time winner in Indy.
“I’ve had three great victories at this track and many round wins here; probably more than at any other facility,” said an appreciative Pedregon. “You know, I am just fortunate to have done well here. This is a first-class, big-time event and I appreciate all the hard work that goes into making it a success. It’s the U.S. Nationals and I really get up for this event.”
Pedregon said he hopes that newly appointed crew chief Rahn Tobler can provide a positive spark for the team.
“Rahn is the new head coach for the Advance Auto Parts Funny Car team,” said Pedregon. “We appreciate Dickie’s [Venables, crew chief for Tony Pedregon] and Kevin’s [Butterfield, assistant crew chief for Cruz Pedregon] efforts the past two events. We are encouraged by our progress so far, and with Rahn, we have a guy who will focus 100 percent on the Advance Auto Parts Funny Car and that’s just what we need going into the biggest race of the year.”
Pedregon is encouraged by his progress, but cautiously optimistic about his chances at a fourth trip to the winner’s circle at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.
“This year is really no different than any other,” Pedregon said. “We are bringing a car that is capable of winning the event- it’s essentially the same car that Tony won with last weekend in Reading. But, hey, we still need solid runs from A to B, then qualify and race hard on Sunday. Here we have an extra qualifying run and two night sessions which evens the playing field for all of us. Now it’s just getting Rahn familiar with the Funny Car which I think he’ll do in a short period of time.”
BACK FOR MORE - His first time racing a nitro car in Indy was a blast. It was so much fun for Jack Beckman that he’s giving it another go-around.
"This is the second time I'll compete at the U.S. Nationals in a nitro class. I've raced Super Comp, Top Fuel and now Funny Car. And it's definitely my best chance of leaving with my first U.S. Nationals win and we even have the potential to double up." A $50,000 double-up bonus will go to the Funny Car driver who wins both the U.S. Nationals and the Showdown.
"Not that we need any extra incentive and not that any round is more important than another one, but now we've only got 16 rounds left to make the Countdown to Four, so every round is important. You can't afford any slipups," added Beckman. "We had 68 rounds to make the top eight, and everybody in the top eight had at least one DNQ, so back then you could make a mistake and still have a reasonable shot at making it. Not so anymore.
"Winning the U.S. Nationals would be huge," said Beckman. "A lot of people say it's a career-making deal. Growing up on the West Coast, the Winternationals (at Pomona, Calif.) was always the biggest race for me, but now that I've been exposed to more of the tour by going to other tracks, the prestige that goes with Indy is absolutely second to none."
NEW THEME – Beckman’s Mail Terminal Services will feature Camp Diamondback this weekend at the U.S. Nationals, in its "Mail from Home" program. Postcards will be available to send to this war-zone camp at the Don Schumacher Racing hospitality area as well as at a kiosk in the U.S. Army "Racing Zone," the U.S. Army Interactive area located in Nitro Alley.
STILL MOTIVATED - Del Worsham had the drag racing community’s attention for a few rainy days in Reading as he launched his improbable assault on the final spot in the NHRA Countdown To The Championship.
Worsham nailed four out six necessary steps. While he was close, he got no cigar. But it was entertaining nonetheless.
Worsham had out-qualified Jim Head by the requisite number of spots (and had earned his fourth career No. 1 spot while doing so), had seen Head lose in round one, and had won two rounds himself. He needed to win the race to pass Head for the No. 8 spot in the playoffs, and seemed to be on a roll during eliminations on Monday, but when more wet stuff pushed the third round back by nearly 48 hours, his momentum was lost, and so was a spot in the Countdown.
Worsham will admit disappointment over his current 9th place standing, but for him it's business as usual for the rest of the 2007 campaign, and there's no better place to get back to business than Indy.
"Since I started driving in 1991, we've only come into Indy as really serious contenders for the championship a couple of times, even though we've had some great seasons over all the years," Worsham said. "Usually, we've come to this point in the season just thinking of winning the next round, or winning the next race, and we'd let the points thing take care of itself. The only thing that's different this year is that we know we can't finish any higher than 9th on the points sheet, so basically we're just not even going to worry about that. We're going to show up at every race, with the same strong race car we've had for the last couple of months, and try to beat everyone.
"I have a ton of respect for all the Countdown drivers, but this is all business and it's our job to try to beat them all. In other sports, they call the non-playoff teams 'the spoilers' so I guess that's what we are, and we'd like to spoil the fun for as many of the playoff teams as we can. I guess the best sign of how well we're doing will come from the other teams themselves, once they know they have to run us in any given round. I want them to think it's the worst possible situation when they have to face the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen team with so much on the line. We're disappointed we're not in it, and as the hours and days went by in Reading it was pretty easy to really begin to think we might pull that miracle off, but we're going to Indy to prove we're as good as any of those other teams."
NEW ROLE – Ashley Force will be competing for the first time in Funny Car at Indy.
Her assignment is different than in 2004 when she first burst onto the national stage as a Top Alcohol division rookie.
The second-generation Force is in her rookie season and although she failed to earn a berth in the NHRA's Countdown to the Championship playoff system, she’s ready to win some round and help John Force Racing put a car into the next segment of the championship chase.
"Since we're not in the Countdown, no one really expects us to do anything," she said, "but we still have a job to do. With Robert (brother-in-law Robert Hight) and dad racing for the championship, our job is to line up against Ron Capps and Gary Scelzi and Tony Pedregon, our former teammate, and beat them whenever we can. That's what being a team is all about."
As the first female Funny Car driver since Cristen Powell in 2000, she twice has reached the semifinals. Furthermore, at Norwalk, Ohio, she earned the highest starting position ever for a woman in the Funny Car class when she qualified second behind Hight.
YEAH, THAT’S IT -- Nothing validates a career like winning Indy. Winning it a second time only adds an exclamation mark.
Tim Wilkerson and his crew are fired up for the opportunity to make it happen.
"I know the guys are pumped up," said Wilkerson. "They get down when we don't do well, but the two semi-final rounds we were in and our No. 1 qualifier in Bristol, added to the way the car is responding, makes all of us secretly harbor thoughts of a win this weekend.
"But we're also looking beyond this race. I guess you can say we're planning for next year already. Since we know we didn't make it in the Countdown, we can now look to the future. I feel confident that we're on the right track and maybe next year we won't get ourselves in the hole we got into this year. We have another blower coming that we need to test and so if I can get it ironed out like I have our other one, we'll be pretty happy with that. And our clutch program is coming along. We have a new disc coming and hopefully we can get our clutch pack set-up. If this new disc works out, we'll have a clutch pack for next year. We'll have enough clutch discs to run all of next year. That will be good because it really mucks things up when you take a clutch pack in and out. It takes me at least six to 10 runs to get the thing figured out. So, along with doing our best this weekend in Indy, we're working on doing our best in the future."
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