Southern California is the cradle of drag racing, but the NHRA has grown up. It’s celebrating its 70th birthday this season. And the reality is that it is moving away from home.

With the sanctioning-body headquarters at Glendora for sale and operations shifting to the more centrally located Indianapolis bedroom community of Brownsburg and leaving just a handful of executives on the West Coast, the sport no longer revolves around Pomona, Calif. 

But Del Worsham almost is the Lone Ranger among Funny Car team owners, still operating his fulltime Bandero/ROKiT Toyota Camry entry with driver Alexis De Joria (and occasionally his family-owned vehicles) out of his shop in Southern California, in the Los Angeles suburb of Orange. 

So while Southern California remains the cradle of drag racing, Worsham – a champion in both nitro classes and a respected and popular crew chief in the pits – has seen the sport’s gradual migration. 

As the Camping World Drag Racing Series returned for a belated stop this weekend at its fabled Pomona facility for the historic (but incongruously titled) Winternationals, Worsham talked about the changing traditions. 

“When I started driving, nearly every Funny Car driver was based out of California and more specifically Southern California,” he said. “There were so many manufacturers there that if you were in the Orange County area, you could have a car built, your clutch built, an engine built. Basically, anything you needed was in Southern California.  It just made sense to have your Funny Car there. Everybody was here. Not as much today.” 

Adding to the sense of detachment is the fact that with tight COVID-related health restrictions, the NHRA was unable to host last November’s Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, and it had to reschedule the Winternationals for August instead of its familiar mid-February date.   

John Force, a Southern California fixture, has moved his race shop more than 2,000 miles away, to Indiana. But he said, “This race is home. We’re just down the way in Yorba Linda. We used to be completely based out in Southern California. Now there’s the museum, corporate offices, and where we run John Force RaceStation, as well as our rentals. There’s a lot of history in Southern California for me. Racing in Pomona, it’s a big event,” Force said of the Lucas Oil Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com. “Stands will be packed, even though it’s going to be warm. It’ll be a good summer show for them. I’m looking forward to getting in my PEAK Chevy at home.” 

So is Alex Miladinovich, who runs his Hot 4 Teacher Toyota out of Orange, as well. That’s where their Funny Car competitor Paul Lee is based, but his car stays at the Stringer Motorsports shop in Southern Illinois rather than Southern California. That makes Worsham’s organization the only fulltime Funny Car team to anchor itself here.

"Well, we don't race as much on the West Coast anymore,” Worsham said. “Logistically, it just makes sense to be more centrally located. Back then, the way race teams worked was we traveled race to race, including the drivers and the crew chiefs. You all got in the rig and loaded up your tow vehicle and drove to the next race, where you worked on your car in the parking lot. We unloaded, then ran our race. Besides national events, we ran a lot of exhibition races and match racing. You would run IHRA. You just did a lot of racing. You didn't spend a whole lot of time at home. 

“Then, as NHRA progressed and there were more events, it became obvious that you couldn't do the smaller side events and exhibitions. It just made sense to become more centrally located, where you could go back every week and re-load and re-stock and go to the next race,” he said. “That's when the whole Brownsburg thing came in.” 

The “Whole Brownsburg Thing” has changed the rather sleepy Indianapolis-area outpost into a hot new zip code for drag racers in the past few years. The State of Indiana, Hendricks County, and Brownsburg have been collaborating to establish a motorsports-centric community. Developing business relationships with the motorsports industry via attractive economic incentives, connections between the industry and schools, and growth initiatives is the top financial strategy. Because of its central location about seven miles west of the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the town has become a hub for race teams. 

Kasey Coler, manager at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, has served on the steering committee for the town’s Economic Development Strategic Plan. And the main arteries (for drag-racing teams) – Northfield Drive and Southpoint Circle – have taken on the nickname “Nitro Alley,” although it’s home to teams from other forms of motorsports, as well. 

Geographically and financially, the lure of Brownsburg makes sense. Just the same, Worsham is entrenched in California. 

“My dad [Chuck Worsham] first got involved around 1976 with a local guy from Southern California in an Alcohol Funny Car. My dad became his partner and eventually owned the car by the late ’70s. We did that all the way through the '80s, until about 1987. We were introduced to Art Hinde, who was a boat racer, who wanted to go Funny Car racing. He came on board as a partner, and he definitely upped our program,” he said. 

“My first race I ever entered was the Winston Finals in 1990 [at Pomona Raceway, known today as Auto Club Raceway at Pomona]. I qualified 12th and got beat by Ed McCulloch in the first round. Then in 1991, I started touring full-time. Then I won in April 1991,” he said.  

So it’s only natural that he would say, “Pomona is still a special place. It's awesome. Growing up, I'd miss school on those days to get to go to the races. I'd run around the track, taking pictures, like I did at Orange County Raceway . . . but those weren't national events. But Pomona is when you got to go to the Winternationals and see everybody's new stuff. 

“We didn't have the Internet or the media coverage we have today, so I'd be on my doorstep, waiting for the mailman to deliver National Dragster (the NHRA’s official publication) to see what was new, then get to go to the Winternationals and see all the new cars and see what guys like Kenny Bernstein and Don Prudhomme were going to bring out. It was exciting,” Worsham said. 

Worsham has won series championships in both Top Fuel and Funny Car (as one of only three to do so, joining Bernstein and Gary Scelzi) as a driver. But a Winternationals trophy is one he hasn’t snagged yet.  

“I've won Pomona multiple times in my career, but I've never won the Winternationals. I've runner-upped multiple times, so it would be really cool to win the Winternationals even as a crew chief,” he said. “Alexis is a Southern California girl. So we have huge ties to the area, and I think it would be a great place to get that first win.” 

De Joria, whose home base is near Austin, Texas, these days still is a Southern California girl at heart. Her old haunt is Venice Beach. And right at Pomona, as a teenager, De Joria fell in love with drag racing.  

“Southern California was always known for Funny Car racing,” the ROKiT Toyota Camry driver said. “I was born and raised in Southern California. The first time I ever went to the drag races was Pomona for the Winternationals. I knew right then that's what I wanted to do with my life is drive a nitro Funny Car. 

“Pomona's very special to the Funny Car class, which has always been very big in Southern California,” she said. “DC Motorsports is based in Orange, Calif., out of Del's shops, and we're the only ones left in nitro full-time.” 

California has allowed racetracks to re-open at Sonoma (last weekend) and Pomona for this race. The Finals are set to come back here in November. So their world once again is in its proper orbit.