After two runner-up finishes at Darana Motorsports Park – Hebron, the former National Trail Raceway finally gave him something different. He left Sunday with a Funny Car trophy instead of another close call.
Worsham beat John Smith in the final with a 3.321-second run at 267.06 mph. Smith followed with a 3.594, but Worsham was out first and stayed there.
The win moved Worsham to eighth on IHRA’s all-time Funny Car wins list dating to 1971. It also pushed him into the points lead after Dale Creasy Jr. did not qualify.
He didn’t dress it up much afterward. He didn’t need to.
“It’s extremely special to get my dad back out here,” Worsham said. “You know, a year ago, I wasn’t sure what path or what direction he was taking. But we have a lot of people got to think right now. You know, tomorrow’s Mother’s Day so I want to say hi to my mom and happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there.
“And our partner, John Fink, who comes to all the races, he got sick and he’s in the hospital. He couldn’t come out this weekend, so say hi to him and Frank and my family couldn’t come. But you know, for all our sponsors, for Toyota, Richmond Gear, everybody IHRA, what they do for us and what they provide for us. I just can’t think of enough.
“This has just been a hell of a year, you know. It’s been a heck of a 12 months from when this started to where we are today.”
Worsham got there with wins over Jody Austin and Terry Haddock.
“The amount of work they do and the way they prepare a car and the kind of car they give me makes it really easy for me to go out there as a driver and just do my job and work hard at it,” Worsham said. “So I’ve got a shoutout to the crew.”
Gary Pritchett added another win in Top Fuel, and this one looked a lot like the last one.
Cameron Ferre left first in the final but lost traction almost immediately. Pritchett stayed in it and went 3.063 at 285.53 mph to take the win.
“This is a dream come true. I mean, we’re 3 finals now, two wins,” Pritchett said. “Just can’t believe it. It’s all because of the people that’s been in my corner my whole life. Cobra Enterprises is on here.
“Redline Oil and Singer Performance. United Garage Doors. We finally got Joe Clark a win in his company. This is their headquarters.”
Pritchett went through Scott Palmer and Lex Joon to reach the final. Three finals into the season, he has two wins.
Jason Harris didn’t need much in the final round, but he had already done enough to be there.
Jason Lee fouled, and the race was effectively over at the start. Harris still made the run, going 3.686 at 200.27 mph.
It’s his first IHRA Pro Modified win after finishing runner-up at the first two races of the season. That part had been hanging over him.
Afterward, he pointed somewhere else.
“I got to thank my crew. When you got a car like this, it’s your job to screw up and I hope I was there all day. Jason Lee and them are great guys.
“Everybody we ran today, super good competitors and you just got to do your thing and be up there and be on the wheel. And you know, it is what it is. And this is special.”
He came in as the No. 1 qualifier and opened eliminations with a bye. Wins over Peter Norton and Greg Belvins followed.
Matt Giangrande’s first IHRA final round came down to the start, and he didn’t miss it.
Facing Jerry Tucker in Mountain Motor Pro Stock, Giangrande left with a .01 reaction time and held the advantage to the finish line. Tucker ran quicker, 4.043 to 4.078, but the race was already decided.
It goes in the book as Giangrande’s first win and the 77th different winner in the division since 1977.
“I can’t tell you how bad we wanted to win one of these,” Giangrande said. “Enoch’s been trying a long time. Boy, this one’s for him. My team worked so hard.
“We needed to pull something out of our hat against Jerry, and we did. It looked like we had another holeshot win, but we’ll take them however we can get him. We didn’t want to go up there and red light and do anything silly, so we really want to make him earn it.”
Giangrande beat Brad Waddle, Dwayne Rice and Alan Drinkwater to reach the final round.
Bubba Stanton (Outlaw Pro Modified), Kyke Canion (Small Tire Bratz), Ryan Hill (Fuel Altered), Jordan Petersen (Nitro Harley), Joey Severance (Top Alcohol Dragster), Tony Bogolo (Top Alcohol Funny Car), and Taylor Dietsch (Factory Pro Stock) rounded out the professional winners.
