Better
Conditions Result In A Good Day Of Qualifying In
Las Vegas
Photos by Jon Asher
Remember
the old song,
What
a difference a day makes?
Twenty-four
little hours…
We’re not
sure if you can see it, but check out the flash of flame in the hood scoop of
Larry Morgan’s Dodge as he clears the finish line during qualifying.
No? Never heard that one? Ah, you’re just too darn young. Anyway, that’s what happened in Las Vegas,
only it wasn’t 24 hours, it was something like 16. Whatever.
When dawn broke there was no wind, the skies were clear, and the
temperature climbed just enough to make it a very comfortable day for the fans
who poured into The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Yes, the
crowd was certainly better than Friday’s but even LVMS employees acknowledged
they were a bit disappointed in the turnout.
However, considering the circumstances, it was actually pretty
good. The real problem this facility faces is the horrendous construction
mess on Interstate 15, and this is no joking matter. LVMS is one of the few facilities in the
nation with its own Interstate exit, and with Las Vegas a destination city,
i.e., it attracts a tremendous number of out of town visitors who aren’t
familiar with the place other than the “real” Strip where all of the big hotels
and casinos are located, so getting around on surface streets can be
daunting. Ironically, those very surface
streets provide excellent access to the track (Las Vegas Boulevard – the Strip
– literally runs south to north, from the concentration of hotels right to the
back door of the facility), so if you’re willing to deal with a few traffic
lights, access is surprisingly easy.
Never, ever forget the back-breaking, thankless
work done by the Safety Safari. From
putting out header fires to towing cars off the track to literally saving
drivers from injury to cleaning the track, these men and women do it all. They deserve our praise.
As the NHRA
Full Throttle Series progresses we’re beginning to see one trait – there are no
constants, at least thus far. There’s
absolutely no domination, by any driver, in any pro category, and we love
it. We hope it continues throughout the
season, with different winners crowned at almost every race from now until the
Finals at Pomona in November. It’s great
for the fans to have favorites. Heck,
even though we’re supposed to be journalists without favorites, we’re honest
enough to acknowledge we have ‘em too.
But when one driver dominates it might be great for his team and
sponsors – and his fans – but that can be a negative in the sense that after a
half dozen wins or so people start hating the guy just because he’s winning so frequently.
That doesn’t look like it’s going to be a problem in 2009.
For years
it’s been said that there are few activities in which you can go from hero to
zero quicker than in drag racing, and we’re darn sure not going to argue the
point. Consider, for 6.782 seconds, the
case of Pro Stock driver Ron Krisher.
This is the guy who won in Houston, fer cryin’ out loud. That was just one week ago. Uh, he’s a DNQ
here in Las Vegas! Go figure – and he’s
trying too, take our word for it.
Yesterday
we said Mike Edwards was on to something, and today he proved it, clicking off
a 6.656 for a new track elapsed time record and, of course, the Number 1 spot. Right now – and it’s real early, and we know that, we like Edwards for the championship if, brother, and that’s a big if, he can get it together behind the
wheel.
Okay, it’s
a little hazy, but look beyond the scales and the Full Throttle Tech Center rig
and there, right before your eyes, is the real Glitter Gulch.
Tony
Pedregon’s Monte Carlo – lookin’ darn good in Hertzog colors – ran a stout
4.100 on Saturday, making him a solid favorite to win it all on Sunday.
Now take
the case of Shawn Langdon. Here’s a guy
with an impressive resume in the Sportsman ranks, but come on, he’s a darn
rookie in Top Fuel. So what does he
do? You got it. He takes the Number 1 qualifying spot with a
3.874/311.41 in the Lucas Oil Treatment car.
Now, before we start throwing bouquets, let’s put this in perspective. Langdon, with two Sportsman championships
under his belt, can obviously drive, but it seems to us that there’s a heck of
a long distance from an 8.90 Super Comp dragster to a three second Top Fuel car
– but apparently not to Shawn. Okay, the
young man can drive. But the real credit for today’s performance goes
to John Stewart, crew chief on the car.
He’s the one who correctly figured out the track and made that car
stick.
With 17
Funny Cars on the grounds someone was going to have to be disappointed, and
that man was Jerry Tolliver in Jim Dunn’s car.
Barely acing him out for the 16th and last spot in the field
was Del Worsham in the Al Anabi Toyota.
But fair warning: This car is
going to win races before the year is out, and if they were taking action on
that here in Glitter Gulch, we’d bet on it.
Alan Johnson Racing is peopled with talented tuners, designers,
tinkerers and mechanics, and when they figure this thing out we’d suggest you
get the heck out of the way, ‘cause they’re gonna be storming the winner’s
circle. With that said, for all we know,
it could be tomorrow!
Del Worsham
has been struggling with the Al Anabi Toyota, but don’t count on that
lasting. He’s a twist of a wrench away
of putting together winning elapsed time and speeds – and they could come
Sunday afternoon.
But, for Mr. Worsham to get to the big
money he’s going to have to win four rounds of racing, and the first one’s
going to be against Tony Pedregon. That
will not be an easy chore because Pedregon’s freshly liveried Monte Carlo
thumped out a 4.100 this afternoon – a full .178 seconds quicker than Worsham.
Sunday’s
eliminations racing – heck, it’ll probably be today before you read this.
Wait a second. What day is
today? Aww, man, I’m confused. And here I was, thinking I oughta be serious
about this reporting stuff, but ya know what?
I think reading about drag racing ought to be fun, so if you want to
read about every driver’s elapsed time and speed, I can assure you, you are never going to see that in anything I
write.
Where was I? Oh, yeah.
About tomorrow. Forget it. Let’s just say about Sunday and be done with it.
It’s going to be a very good race.
I’m not talking “valuable Full Throttle points” (I’ll let others use
those tried and true sayings), and I’m not talking about bragging rights,
because ya know what? Drivers don’t brag
about their victories. They’re
realists. Sometimes they’re good, and
other times they’re lucky. Take, for
example, Krisher. Supposing he’d gone
around with an inflated ego after winning Houston last weekend. Imagine how his peers would be lining up at
his pit area to put it to him this evening.
Nope, it’s not happening. Instead
they’re commiserating with him, feeling his pain, because they’ve all been
there themselves.
The racing
is going to be really great, and as I finish this story I’m bummed out about
one thing and one thing only. It’s a l-o-o-o-n-g 14 hours until the first
round begins!
Allen
Johnson’s Dodge continues to be the best of the breed – but it was only good
enough for the fifth spot in Vegas, more than four hundredths behind the top
spot. That’s an eternity in Pro Stock.
Antron
Brown drove the Matco Tools car to the second spot and then graciously accepted
the cheers of the fans. Mark Oswald
& Co. are doing an excellent job with this car, and Antron could be headed
to his second win of the season tomorrow.
Larry Dixon
won the Gatornationals. Do not be surprised if he wins the
Summitracing.com Nationals.
Mike
Edwards has the numbers. Now he has to
prove he can use them to carry him to victory.
So, how do
ya think Ron Krisher feels right now?
This guy dominated at Houston just one week ago, but he will not be
racing in Las Vegas on Sunday. Such are
the vagaries of drag racing.
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