Del Worsham was lying in bed watching television when a commercial came on, advertising the upcoming In-N-Out NHRA Finals in Pomona, Ca.

It has been a short 32 years since the former bicycle racer who has never raced a car without burning nitro in the tank. He might have last raced full-time in 2017, but the fire never left the belly for the drag racing veteran who has tuned Alexis DeJoria for the last three seasons.

“I started looking through the social media, and seeing that commercial, I wanted to race again,” Worsham said. “I looked at my wife. She was good with it. I called Alexis, was my first call. She was good with it. I said, "All right, we'll make this happen. Let's have some fun."

Worsham is racing a spare Alexis DeJoria Funny Car, housed in a Brandon Welch Top Fuel hauler and serviced by the Beal Racing crew.

“This is just a one-time deal, with no plans beyond this,” Worsham said.

Pulling double duty might not be as efficient of a proposition as it was up until 2010, when he served as driver and crew chief. This weekend he’ll be tuning DeJoria’s entry as well as his own. Then he will climb behind the wheel of the CP Carillo Toyota.

Worsham’s first run on Friday, was his first in five years. He landed in the 12th spot with a 5.090, 147.28, but fell to No. 16 when he failed to improve in the Q2 session.

”I'm pretty fortunate to be able to have this opportunity to be able to pull a stunt off like this hometown race,” Worsham said.

”I don't feel old either, but I don't feel young. I remember when I was young. If I was young, I'd be doing a wheelie on my bike right here by you. You'd be chasing me on my bicycle.”

Sometimes like comes full circle, and it has for Worsham. Thirty-three years ago, the kid who had never run over 100 miles per hour, yet got his nitro driving credentials, has a bit of déjà vu’ going on.

”I entered this race as a 20-year-old kid, and I had to borrow a trailer,” Worsham explained. “And now here I am, 33 years later, I’m 53 years old, racing in Funny Car again with a borrowed trailer again.”