ASHER'S POMONA NOTEBOOK
SATURDAY'S EDITION
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FRIDAY'S EDITION
UNDER THE WEATHER -
Jim Frizzell, a 40-year fixture at many NHRA national events with the
Safety Safari, has suffered a minor strokewhile at home in Montgomery,
AL. Frizzell (and his brother Don) both retired following last year’s
U.S. Nationals. You might not know Frizzell, but you’ll undoubtedly
recognize his description if you’ve ever attended Indy, Atlanta or the
Gatornationals. Wearing his racing pin-festooned cowboy hat,
Frizzell’s position near the starting line gave him an unprecedented
view of the track where his eagle eyes enabled him to spot and remove
the smallest broken bolt or errant part that might have impacted the
run of the next competitor. Frizzell will undergo exploratory surgery
later this month, so we’ll keep you posted on his condition.
WORDS WITH WORSHAM - Del Worsham had a forgettable 2006
season, and then had his reputation besmirched by an errant report on
another website that “accused” him of summarily dumping team driver
Phil Burkhart at the last second without sufficient notice. On the
contrary, Burkhart’s responsibilities to the team included the
acquisition of additional sponsorship, which he was apparently unable
to secure. When he asked Del and his father, Chuck, near the end of
the season – well in advance of the Auto Club Finals – if he was all
set for ’07 he was told that he wasn’t, that without the additional
funding he was charged with delivering they would seek a driver capable
of delivering what they needed. Jeff Arend got the nod when he was
able to secure the funding the Worsham’s needed to be competitive.
Worsham begins the year with a brand new, state of the art UltraComp
trailer and a new in-house-built front half of his existing chassis,
although a complete new car is already underway at the Worsham shop.
“Our performances should get better,” Worsham said, adding “And
hopefully, we’ll also have some better luck.” There’s also been an
almost total crew changeover, with only one man remaining from
lastyear’s team, Terry Snyder. The other four mechanics are all new to
the Worsham camp. “It was just time for a re-tooling,” Worsham said.
“I’m not blaming anyone for our lousy performances last year, but we
did need a change.”
Worsham also said that “in the past few years the costs of racing have
gone up about 40 percent, but sponsorships haven’t kept pace with
that. That makes it tougher and tougher to be competitive out here.”
NASTY NITRO -
A number of fuel teams have been working hard to deal with the residue
that’s resulted from the apparent disintegration ofthe liners in the VP
Racing Fuels-supplied drums of nitromethane.They’ve been reduced to
pouring every gallon of nitro through coffee filters or whatever else
they can find to trap the tiny particles before they reach the fuel
system. Driver Clay Millican and tuner Mike Kloeber report that
Thursday’s qualifying run resulted in a
dropped cylinder when “foreign” particles impacted the fuel nozzles
supplying that cylinder. This has apparently not been a problem with
other nitro suppliers, but VP’s exclusive agreement with NHRA forces
the teams to use only the “approved” fuel. Also worth noting is that
other suppliers sell drums containing 100 percent nitro, while
VP’sdrums are only 85 percent, meaning the teams are essentially paying
for nitro but are getting 15 percent of methanol in its place.
NICKENS NOTES - Tuner/engine builder David Nickens was spotted
lurking in Erica Enders’ pit area (as ultra-large Race Girl decals were
being applied to her Dodge). Although Nickens is committed to
assisting“newcomer” Roger Brogdon, he’s going to help Enders for “a
race or two,” in his words. We’ll see how that one goes.
MORGAN’S ELECTRICAL GREMLINS - Dodge
driver Larry Morgan and his team are fighting major electrical
problems, which have significantly slowed the car from its previous
pace. Now decked out in the red, white and blue colors of Lucas Oil,
Morgan says they’ve been unableto locate and solve the problem. “What
haven’t we changed?” he asked rhetorically on Friday. “The car acts
like it’s got the parachute out. It’s so bad that I even called (Bob)
Glidden for some advice!
”We’re not sure, but maybe it’s those glasses, Larry…
HAAS HAPPENIN’S - Chassis builder Jerry Haas has been the
subject of some rumors since he appeared to team up with Erica Enders.
On the contrary, Haas’s only role in the operation is that of truck
driver.“I loaned them my rig,” he said. “That’s the only deal we
have. I am definitely not involved with their race team in any other
way. I’m just temporarily helping them out.”
HE’S A CHANGED MAN - Kenny Koretsky’s life has changed dramatically since he sold all of his various race teams to others. Now “just a driver,” in his words, Koretsky is happy handling a GTO for owner Greg Hill. “This has taken a huge load off my mind,” said the man known far and wide as Caption Chaos.
“My business has grown so big that I just didn’t have the time to
devote to running a race team properly, so this was the right move for
me.” Koretsky’s son, Kyle, dubbed “Kid Chaos” by the old man and his
friends, recently got his Super Comp license at the Jimmy Harrington
Drag Racing School, and will make a limited number of national events
in Pro Stock in 2008,
with an eye towards a full season in ’09.
“For me racing’s not about money,” the senior Koretsky says. “It’s
about the people. I love the people we race with, and that’s what it’s
all about.
“We’re going to try and get Dave Northrop back out here in a third car
at some point this season,” he added, “with our second car, to bedriven
by Bill Windham, probably hitting the track by Phoenix orGainesville.”
Windham’s car will be sponsored by Big O Tires in what’s reported to be
a very significant deal.
FORCE “FACTS” - Budding journalists, here’s how to “properly” interview 14-time champ John Force: Shove the recorder in his face,say, “Hey, how ya doin’?,” stand back, and let him ramble. Here arejust a few of the things he blasted out during a three minute talk: “Me ‘n KB (Kenny Bernstein) are in the cellar. Our kids are doing better than we are. I’ve just got too much stress. I need signs around here telling me where everyone is so I can find ‘em. I’m not sure where Eric (Medlen) is or Robert (Hight). The next generation’s ready, so I’m heading to the Bahamas! Things are so tight I even quit drinking. Now that’s pathetic!” As we head into what’s supposed to be a rainy Saturday, Force has yet to make the field.
BICKEL’S BUSINESS - Chassis builder Jerry Bickel acknowledges
that the stranglehold he once had on NHRA Pro Stock has diminished of
late. He also acknowledged that chassis builders appear to dominate in
cycles. Today’s hot combination will be tomorrow’s Super Gas entry,
essentially. Team owner Richard Maskin has a new GTO coming, while
Dwayne Rice is already behind the wheel of a new Poncho. Arizonan
Gordie Rivera also has a new Bickel-built Pontiac, which was supposed
to debut at Pomona, but Bickel opines that “he must have had some
engine problems.” Also coming down the pipeline are a new Pro Mod
‘Vette for Rickie Smith and a new GTO for match racer Pat Musi,
whosecar will ultimately end up in Baharain, of all places.
WALSH WISDOM -
Tuner Jimmy Walsh, who guided young J.R. Todd to last year’s Road to
the Future Award (when will they just call it the Rookie of the Year
Award?), is ready for the full tour in ’07. “We don’t have a new plan,
we’re just going to pick up where we left off last year,” he told
Torco’s Competitionplus.com.
“We’re gonna run ‘emall, and if you can’t run better than a fifty-flat
(4.50) you’re notgoing to win this season. It’s going to be brutal out
here.”
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THURSDAY'S EDITION
THE WILD ONE RETURNS! - On Saturday afternoon Jerry Tolliver will announce his full time return to NHRA Funny Car competition. The man’s non-stop self-promotion and willingness to, well, say just about anything that pops into his head, will add another fan- and media-magnet to the NHRA POWERade circus.
While we’ve been sworn to secrecy, we can tell you this: At least
one racer in the class will find that his sponsor – who might’ve
thought they’d have a kind of “exclusive” presence in the field -- now
has competition for that all-important media exposure. Want another
hint? With Tolliver’s announcement there might’ve been three very
similar sponsors in NHRA drag racing. And we ain’t sayin’ another word!
DOING DOUBLE DUTY - Longtime
fans of the sport are quite familiar with Chris McNicol, an
accomplished mechanic who’s worked on a number of the top performing
fuel cars on the circuit. This year, as he did last year, McNicol will
provide part-time help to J.R. Todd’s Top Fuel operation – but not
during this year’s Winternationals.
For a guy who began working on Gary Beck’s Top Fuel car when he was
only 12-years-old (yeah, that’s right, we said 12-years old!), and
with 30 years of mechanical experience under his belt.
McNicol represents the kind of experienced help team owners pray for.
Far from being sent to the sidelines, McNicol is competing with his own
flawless dragster in Super Comp at Pomona, one of the toughest classes
in drag racing. You might think that the pro classes are the pinnacle
of drag racing competition, and in many respects they are. But when it
comes to absolute, pure driving skills, nothing tops the Super
categories, where everyone can cut zero-zero lights. We’ll let you
know how the erstwhile Top Fuel mechanic fares.
WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY - Torco’s
Competitionplus.com has reported extensively on Hillary Will’s testing
accident at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway a few days ago, so
there’s no reason to describe the accident again. We spoke to Will
prior to the first session at Pomona, and she was upbeat, positive in
every respect and ready to kick some serious butt on the track.
She told us that on the run when she crashed “The car didn’t feel
smooth all the way down the track. It was moving around and I was
trying to steer it back into the groove, but it just went to the right
and I couldn’t stop it. We have lots
of spare stuff, and the guys worked non-stop to get us ready for
Pomona. We’ll be just as good as we were before the crash. In a funny
way I feel like I’ve got more confidence now than I did before the
crash.” Although there’s been no official word from Goodyear, the team
has indicated, and the photos seemed to confirm, that the tire
delaminated at about half track. Will also said that owner Ken Black
was more than a little upset by the incident. “I think he quit, like
four times in about 15 minutes afterwards,” she said. Obviously, after
he was assured Will was all right his enthusiasm for being a Top Fuel
owner quickly returned.
BACK IN ACTION -
During Kenny Bernstein’s championship years Mike Guger was one of his
trusted mechanics. Working under the direction of All-Star Drag
Racing Team Ollie Award winner Dale Armstrong, Guger grew from being a
gangly kid into an incredibly talented adult. But, for the past nine
seasons Guger’s charges have been going around in circles or turning
into tight street course corners as he spent his time on both the Champ
Car and IRL circuits, working for the likes of Patrick Racing and
Fernandez Racing.
He’s returned to the quarter-mile wars as the assistant crew chief for
the Hot Rod Fuller-driven David Powers Motorsports entry tuned by Rob
Flynn. As we’ve herd from other mechanics who have tried “both sides
of the street,” Guge reports that “there’s a lot less camaraderie over
there than there is in drag racing. Everybody’s incredibly secretive
about what they’re doing, and there’s not much visiting between the
teams.
It’s a lot more fun in drag racing.” Guger also said that the reason
Fuller’s car isn’t running the monostrut rear wing assembly at Pomona
is that there’s no SFI spec for it yet. “Besides,” he added, “we need
more testing time before we’re ready to just come out here with it.”
WEISS IN, COWIN OUT - Tuner Lance Larsen reports that Scott Weis
will replace Australian Andrew Cowin in the Scott Griffin-owned Top
Fuel car that made limited outings in 2006. Their schedule calls for
appearances in a dozen NHRA POWERade Series races ad two additional
outings in IHRA, including both of the Rockingham Dragway events.
Barrett Union Carpenters, Weis’s primary backer, will provide support
for the operation, although Larsen reports that additional sponsorship
announcements are already in the pipeline.
SWITCHING SIDES - Eleventy-five
time IHRA Top Fuel World Champion Clay Millican (okay, we exaggerated
about how many times he’s won that title) and tuner Mike Kloeber have
had to completely change their approach to the NHRA POWERade Series now
that they’re going to run the full tour. In past years they came to
the NHRA races hoping to run well and, if the luck was running their
way, perhaps pull out an occasional victory. This time around
everything’s different. As Millican put it, “We used to come to these
races kind of testing for the IHRA events. Now we’re flip-flopping and
going all out to win. But when we run the IHRA races this year we’ll
actually be testing for these events.” When asked how many IHRA races
the plan on entering this year Millican would go no further than to say
“a few.”
PRO STOCK NOTES - Mike
Edwards has a brand new paint scheme, a brand new Jerry Haas-penned
Pontiac GTO and a stunning new Volvo tractor trailer rig. The only
problem, he says, is “It’s the same old me, the same old loser.”
Self-deprecating to a fault, Edwards is a winner in anyone’s eyes.
Warren Johnson is running the same GTO he debuted at last year’s U.S.
Nationals and says he has no plans for a new car until late in the
year, when he’ll debut the first of the Pontiac G-6s, which will be the
replacement for the GTO. Chassis builder Rick Jones has got a ton of
cars competing at Pomona, with more on the way.
Allen Johnson’s Dodge is fresh off the jig, with a car for Richie
Stevens coming shortly. Other Jones customers include Tommy Hammonds,
who decided to skip Pomona after failing to perform up to expectations
during the Pontiac Super Bowl of Pro Stock at Las Vegas last week
(“There were absolutely no fans,” reports Edwards. “It was very cold
and windy out there.”), Kenny Koretsky, Justin Humphreys, Jason Line
and Greg Anderson. When asked what was new, Allen Johnson replied,
“I’m a year older and I’ve got more gray hair!” There was a fairly
contentious PRO meeting on Friday afternoon featuring all of the
organization’s Pro Stock members. An effort was made to get the
membership to support a movement to get NHRA to close up all the
loopholes in the Pro Stock rules in an effort to hold down costs. Our
multiple sources report that two team owners with deep pockets and a
willingness to dig into them, vigorously opposed the concept. We’re
loathe to name names, so we’ll just leave like this: Both men own
multi-car operations – and their cars flat fly!
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