One year ago, on this same weekend, longtime nitro crew chief Dickie Venables felt the best situation for him was to take a trip to his favorite fishing hole. He’d just resigned his position as crew chief for the points leading Funny Car driver Tony Pedregon and hadn’t settled on a future plan.

Fishing was the escape he needed to clear his head enough to make the right decision for his future. A year later, Venables is grateful for a relaxing day of casting and reeling.

He, and assistant crew chief Kurt Elliott, are coming up on their one year anniversary tuning the Al Anabi Funny Car driven by Del Worsham, managed by tuning legend Alan Johnson.

“It certainly worked out for Kurt and myself,” said Venables. “It worked out for Tony. We couldn’t be happier to be able to come to a deal like this, with all the resources. I feel very fortunate.”

When the phone rings off the hook with job offers, it’s bound to make even the most seasoned veteran smile.

“It did wonders for my confidence,” Venables admitted. “After leaving Tony, there were a couple of weeks where I had time to think. I was beginning to wonder if I had made the right decision. After a couple days, the phone started ringing. I just had too much time to think. I had several deals to pick from.”

Having time to think allows for second guessing, however having Elliott at his side helped him to weigh his options carefully.

“Kurt had worked with Alan before,” Venables said. “He had always told me how much he enjoyed working with Alan and how he ran his programs. He couldn’t be more right.”

Venables brims with excitement at the opportunity he’s been given since joining the Al Anabi group.

“We’ve got everything we need right now,” he said. “We’ve got Alan. To me he’s the best guy out here. How could you go wrong? It was an easy decision for me.”

Even though he’s now in what he deems a great place, Venables admits the transition hasn’t been without challenge. His talents were enough to put him and his previous driver atop the playoff seeding last season but adjusting to a new combination with the Alan Johnson-managed team forced him to learn a host of new tricks.

He’s confident the toughest part of the curriculum is behind him.

“It has been a crazy year, it has,” admitted Venables. “We’ve been playing catch up. The performance hasn’t happened as fast as we’d like. It’s coming together really good and I feel good about this being the last race before the Countdown to 1. Going into Indy, we’ve put it right on the edge. We’ve got a good car. It just took a lot longer than we expected. All of these things are different and we’ve just been picking away at it. It looks like we are finally getting there.”

The learning part hasn’t discouraged Venables in the least. He believes this is a valuable part of the occupation. If you’re not willing to learn and be taught, the road can be a rocky one, filled with potholes.

“I’ve always approached being a crew chief as a never ending learning process,” Venables said. “I’ve been very fortunate to work with good people in my career. Alan is another one to learn a whole lot from.”

Venables learned a lot from Johnson when it came time to abandon the combination he’s learned and developed while working for Pedregon. He had to learn a completely different combination than he’d been previously accustomed.

“All you know is what you have done in the past,” Venables said. “We tried to run this car like we ran Tony’s car for a long time. Finally, we drew the conclusion that was not going to work. For whatever reason, it doesn’t matter. The funny thing is I don’t think I could take Tony’s car and run it like I used to. Everything changes out here and you have to adapt. You can’t keep going back to what you used to do. You have to be able to adapt. You have to do what the car is telling you.

“It has been a learning curve and I think I am finally up on it.”

Venables says time off can be refreshing for a crew chief, however it can also put him behind the eight ball.

“You can talk to some of the guys out here and if you miss a few races, a couple months or so, it can get away from you,” admitted Venables. “You have to be around the car all of the time. It’s always changing. When you think you’ve mastered it, it will remind you that its boss.”

And for the other boss, Venables is firm in his belief that the way you leave an employer can either come back to you in a positive way or a negative. He refused to participate in any negativity over his split with Pedregon.

“A valuable lesson is to never burn a bridge,” Venables said. “This is a small community and you never know where you are going to end up. Never burn bridges.

“I only want to know how these cars run. I don’t care about driving. I just want to know what makes them go fast and win. I’m always looking at how can I make myself better. It’s all about being around the right people and I have it here.”