NHRA U.S. NATIONALS - ASHER'S NOTEBOOK
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MONDAY NOTEBOOK -
DOUG HERBERT IS A PLAYER FOR THE COUNTDOWN - He’s big and tall and to some, far too big to be driving a Top Fuel dragster, but Doug Herbert, parts purveyor from North Carolina, has the trophies emblematic of an extremely successful career.
Considered out of contention for a position in the Countdown as recently as 30 days ago, Herbert never gave up on himself or his team. When you’ve got the likes of International Drag Racing Hall of Fame tuner Jim Brissette on your side, along with Wes Cerny, there’s no reason to ever throw in the towel. We caught up with Herbert on Monday morning for a little chat.
COMPPLUS: At what point did you figure you had a chance of qualifying for the Countdown?
HERBERT: Well, I guess I never really gave up hope, but, when we lost in the first round at Brainerd I thought, well, that might be it for us, but luckily, we ended up figuring that if we went to the next race and won we’d have a shot. So, now we’re in, and realistically, we’ve got as good a shot as anyone to win it. The car’s gone down the track on every run here. We have more of a ‘race’ car than we do a ‘qualifying’ car. The car doesn’t seem to qualify that great, but we’re working on that right now.
COMPPLUS: How do you explain your turnaround in performances?
HERBERT: The biggest thing is that Brissette is really gotten into it. I mean he’s gotten into it! I got him a little fired up by telling him that none of these guys were giving us a chance, and that just lit a fire under him, and it’s sometimes hard to light a fire under a 65-year-old dude, but he’s on it.
COMPPLUS: How about today?
HERBERT: We’re going to go up there an give it our best shot. We sent (Rod) Fuller home last week, and we’re planning on sending him home here.
That didn’t happen. Herbert had the superior Reaction Time with an 0.044 to 0.094 margin, but Fuller had the other numbers, 4.556 to 4.659
IS FULLER THE ONE? “Hot Rod” Fuller dominated the POWERade Series Top Fuel points list all season long, but after the Countdown field was locked in after Maple Grove, and the points were tightened up, his once considerable margin had been whittled down to almost nothing. Now, a few hours after Tony Schumacher won yet another U.S. Nationals title, Fuller finds himself ingloriously dumped to third place. But, not to worry, as he’s only 34 points out of the top spot.
We spoke to Fuller Sunday morning, and his confidence was obviously high. “We won the Full Throttle Challenge, which means we had the car that made it down the track the most consistently throughout qualifying. We weren’t the fastest car out there all week. On Saturday night the car was going to run a forty-eight or a forty-nine and actually, we had a freak deal and broke a chamshaft, so we had a fast car. Yesterday we ran a sixty-three and a sixty-five in the heat, and maybe sometimes in the past we’ve been too aggressive in smoking the tires, so we’re trying to get our car a little more consistent.
“Comin’ in to race day it’s supposed to be hot out there, so we’re confident we can get this thing on down there an go four rounds today and get my first U.S. Nationals victory.
Alas, Fuller’s chances went up in smoke against Larry Dixon in the semifinal round, but in truth, the race was lost considerably earlier, when his winning elapsed time in the second round was slower than Dixon’s. Unfortunately, if you lost lane choice, the odds were pretty heavy against you winning the race. The left lane was murderous to those who had to run down it all day long.
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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK
MUSINGS WITH MORGAN – LARRY MORGAN The driver of the Lucas Oil Dodge qualified for the first-ever Countdown, and also made the Indy show in the seventh position – quite a feat considering the conditions and the caliber of the competition. The Ohio engine builder’s Hemis are in high demand, although his own was the only to qualify for today’s eliminations.
With so much pressure on the Countdown competitors, Morgan may be the exception when he says about that supposed pressure, “No, I’m not feeling any at all. We came here and we’re going to do the best we can do. I’ve been doing this for a long time and if you put pressure on yourself you’re going to make a mistake. I just hope we don’t make any mistakes.
“We’re here to win the race, and we surely would like to do something in the championship. I think it’s great at this point. I just wish they had 10 cars in it. I think it would be more fair to have 10 cars in it. I know that they kinda got the concept fro NASCAR, and they started with 10 and now they’re at 12, I believe.
So, maybe since NHRA are followers, maybe they can follow that plan.
“I think we all knew going in that there was going to be no money for ninth and tenth place, but you’re still going to get your (show-up) money from POWERade if you’re in the Top 10, but ninth and tenth place, I don’t think it’s right. Actually, it’s more important to those guys down there than it is for the guys at the top because they have money. The guys down at the bottom are struggling to get through, and they can use anything that they can in terms of money.
“I think if you finished tenth last year it was a fair amount of money, so those guys are losing that. I feel bad for them, and if I was one of them I’d feel the same way they do, but you know what? NHRA needs to look at that and see if they can do something to help those people out.
“I can tell you one thing. There are enough teams out here that have three or four cars on a team, not so much in our class, but if they just take out guys who are in the hunt, it’s practically the same as the diving thing. I can remember back in 1992, I think, that Dale Earnhardt was trying to win the (NASCAR) championship, and I knew Neil Bonnett real well, and they put him out there just to help. Not necessarily to wreck cars for Earnhardt, but to keep those cars back. It’s not uncommon that that stuff happens.
“We’re talking about a lot of money here, and people do strange things for money.”
TOBLER THE TUNER- Rahn Tobler has recently joined Cruz Pedregon’s Funny Car team, which is a major change for a guy who’s been affiliated with Top Fuel cars for almost his entire career. We don’t know what Pedregon’s expectations were for the Indy weekend, but with Tobler’s very recent arrival on the scene one would hope that the former Winston champion wasn’t expecting miracles. If he was, it didn’t happen, as the car ended up a distant 21st out of 22 entries.
As Tobler told Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com, “Anywhere you go it’s going to be new, whether it’s a Funny Car or a dragster. It’s always something new, and it’s a matter of learning how things are done, and trying to initiate some of the things that you want to do. It can be a very long process.”
We asked Tobler how long it might be before the fans would see the effects of what he’d like to do with Pedregon’s Chevrolet. “It could probably take the rest of the year. We only have six races left, so there’s not very much time. Ideally, we might have to do some things over the winter and come out for early testing and be able to have those 20 or 30 runs we might need to be ready to really run hard.”
When asked about the last time he worked on a Funny Car, Tobler burst into laughter. “It was briefly, in the early 70s, so not anything that really amounts to anything.”
He also acknowledges that there’s a considerable difference in working on the two different types of fuel burners. “You just can’t run the engine as aggressively and you can’t run the clutch as aggressively in the Funny Car. It’s going to be a matter of learning abort what you can get away with , and what you can’t. With the Funny Car the parameters are different, and it appears that you can get away with a lot less than you can with the dragsters. Here’s you’re trying to run 4.70s, not 4.40s, and I’ve got a lot to learn about the clutch and everything else.”
OKUHARA’S OBSERVATIONS Todd Okuhara has been with Don Schumacher Racing long enough to have carefully observed every Funny Car driver the Chicago-based team owner has utilized, from Whit Bazemore to Gary Scelzi, Ron Caps and now, Jack Beckman, the decisive winner of the Skoal Showdown on Sunday afternoon. We’d all like to think we can watch a car go down the track and know whether or not its driver is good, bad or indifferent, but the reality is that what we’re seeing is a land-locked missile blasting from one end of the track to the other. As log as the driver doesn’t run into anything, as far as were concerned, he got the job done. Tuners like Okuhara see things quite differently.
As he quickly said when asked if he was happy with the current arrangement at DSR, Okuhara said, “It’s been really cool working with Gary. I’ve been lucky because I got to work with (Ron) Capps, Gary and Jack Beckman. Not too many guys can say they’ve been able to work with guys of that caliber.”
We asked him to compare the four drivers he’s worked with – their styles, their driving and what it was like to work with them.
“Capps, Gary and Bazemore have great ‘feel’ for the cars. They’ll come back and tell you things that happened in the car before you can even look at the computer and you fid out, Wow, they’re right.
“Obviously Jack, with this being his first full season in a Funny Car, went through some learning curves, but he’s come along great, and he’s obviously doing great right now. He might not have the same kind of feel that Ron or Gary has because he hasn’t had as many runs as they’ve had, but he’s come a long way in a short time.”
Admit it. You just saw Jack Beckman win the Showdown, and you thought he was on the same skill level as Capps, Scelzi and Bazemore, but we’re wrong, and Okuhara is right. Beckman has an extremely bright future, and with more runs under his belt will undoubtedly develop the same ‘feel’ for the cars that the others have achieved.
KOMMENTS FROM THE KING - 
Kenny
Bernstein is arguably among the most important competitors on the NHRA
POWERade Series circuit. As the president of PRO he wields
considerable influence with both his fellow racers and the NHRA, and
his two decades-plus relationship with Budweiser can't be ignored. Last
year, for example, Bernstein was brought into the initial discussions
about the Countdown program with the NHRA hierarchy, although he was
sworn to secrecy. When his fellow racers found out he’d been involved
in the discussions from the very beginning, they weren’t happy until
they realized that it was better to have had at least one racer’s voice
of the panel than to have none at all. But, that’s not to say that he’s
totally pleased with the way the Countdown program has been structured
thus far.
We asked him if he’d like to see some changes for 2008, and he didn’t
hesitate in responding. “Absolutely I’d like to see some tweaking to
the system for next year. I would like to see, and I think all of us
on the PRO side would like to see something like this: A 10-car
situation instead of eight, maybe even 12, but 10, and run it from Indy
until the end of the year, with no more step-down with the four and the
two.
“We didn’t like that from the get-go, and even this early it’s already
proven to be a tough game. It puts undo pressure on the teams, undo
pressure on sponsors and if you go three or four years and don’t make
(the Countdown) deal and it’s going to affect you in the pocketbook
with your sponsors because they’re going to say either you make that or
we’re going to deduct some dollars, or if you haven’t been in the
championship hunt, we’re going to find someone who can get there.
“I don’t have a problem with a 10-car deal. Ten cars, starting at
Indy, going to the end of the year, I think that’s great, I think
that’s great for the sport. I think it’s phenomenal for the exposure
it’s gotten us, and will only grow over a period of time. Just take
out those last two steps.
Bernstein, among many other, is less than pleased about the addition of
a 24th race for next year at a time when many sponsorship agreements
have already been finalized based on a 23-race slate of races. “A lot
of us have three or four year deals. Mine’s done until 2009. I don’t
get to re-do my contract until 2010, so I’m in trouble. If they add
races it costs me more money, and there’s no more income. That’s what
I explained to NHRA that they have to be careful here.
“Do I like the 24th race? I can't say I don’t like it in that sense,
but does it affect my pocketbook? Certainly, it does, and everyone
else’s out here, too. You’ve got to be very careful in adding races in
this arena because the dollars are still not at the level they should
be for us to do what we do, and even if they were at the correct level
for what we do, it still cuts into their pocketbooks and it costs them
money. And we have to go because our contracts say we do.
“I hope NHRA, and HD Partners in particular, because now the picture is
a little different, don’t add races because that’s the easiest way to
make more money. I hope they all understand that we all out here have
to survive, too.
“I guess if you’re an independent car, and don’t have a sponsor to
answer to, it’s possible that some cars might not go to the last couple
of races because there’s no possibility of them making any money other
than the race purses. I guess it’ll just depend on how badly you want
to race. I guess it will boil down to what a guy thinks he has to do.
Does he have anything going with a potential sponsor that he has to
show them something, things like that.
“The sponsored cars that are out here like us will have to be there,
and we want to be there, but that could affect things, especially with
the four and two thing. That really cuts it down. If you’re outside
the eight like we are, the best you could do is win races, but no
matter how well we might do, we’ll still be ninth, and there’s no bonus
for that. But I’ll still take those race wins if I can get ‘em!
“I fought against the four and two thing from the very beginning. I
told NHRA I thought the eight sounded great, but 10 would be better,
but the four and two was really tough. It was almost a deal where they
pretty much had their minds made up. I thought I could fight all day,
but they weren’t going to give in on that, but I was for the Countdown,
and I told ‘em I was for it, but that I had real concerns about the
step-downs at the end.
“I don’t think our sport can tolerate known laying down, which is why I
supported the Graham Light letter. I hope we won’t see that later on,
but I do know one thing. If it’s blatant and they announce it on
television, we can’t stand that in our sport, and something has to be
done. Otherwise our sport becomes like wrestling. It’s all fixed, and
you can’t have it that way. The sponsors won’t like it and the
community won’t like that, and the fans won’t like that. I understand
that there are team cars, but still, you have to have a degree of
ethics that’s important to the sport. If you’re going to do it, don’t
make it blatant and don’t announce it. I suggest don’t do it. I would
hope we would never go there.”
THE LATEST AS OF SUNDAY AFTERNOON ON THE POSSIBLE RETURN OF GARY SCELZI - We caught up with Pro Stock and Top Fuel team owner Ken Black to ask him
about the latest involving Gary Scelzi’s possible return next season.
He said, “Well, all I’m going to do for next year is that I’ve agreed to
fly him to and from about 10 races next year to help him spend more
time with his family For next year that’s all we’ve got going.
“Our other deal fell through, so we’re just pulling back and
regrouping. I met with Don Schumacher this morning and we discussed
it, and he’s willing to help me with anything he can in pursuit of a
Funny Car team that we’re probably going to put on hold until 2009.
That was my original plan.
“My understanding is that Gary will continue to drive for Don, with
Todd Okuhara tuning the car, and in the meantime we’ll try to put our
own team together for 2009 with Gary driving and a certain other party
as crew chief that fell through.”
Black admitted that Jimmy Prock had been the preferred tuner, but he
opted to honor his contract with John Force Racing, although Force did
apparently offer to release him if he wanted to go. Prock decided to
stay, and that sort of put everything on at least temporary hold.
“It’s no secret we were talking to Jimmy Prock,” Black said. “He
elected to stay with John, so we’ll pursue him for 2009. I’ve let
everyone know I’m still interested in him.”
So, utilizing one of the two Citation jets that Black and two other Las
Vegas businessmen share ownership in, he will transport Scelzi back and
forth to 10 races. The questions now include, what happens with the
other 14 races, and does that mean a part-time season for Scelzi. If
that’s the case, would Schumacher put someone else in the car for those
additional races, or would Scelzi be willing to fly commercial, thereby
spending more time away from home than he’s appeared unwilling to do
until now. This situation would appear to be far from concluded.
THE REAL WORLD - The Mac Tools U.S. Nationals isn’t a sprit, it’s a
marathon, and there’s still reality out there, lurking just beyond the
finish line. It’s time to find out what a few more of our friends
think about matters beyond drag racing.
NAME: Craig Hankinson, Pro Stock driver
WHAT’S THE BOOK YOU COULDN’T PUT DOWN? “National Dragster.”
OTHER THAN YOUR OWN TEAM, WHO’S THE BEST BOSS IN DRAG RACING? “Whoa, uh, it’d have to be (Connie) Kalitta.”
WHAT’S YOUR PREFERENCE, SOUTH PARK OR THE SIMPSONS? “I don’t watch either one.”
SHOULD HD PARTNERS BUY NHRA’S PRO RACING ASSETS? “No.”
WHO MADE THE LINE “ARE YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?” FAMOUS” “I don’t know!” (It was Robert DeNiro in the film “Taxi Driver.”
NAME: Dave Densmore, Public Relations Director, John Force Racing
WHAT’S THE BOOK YOU COULDN’T PUT DOWN? “I never read a book!” (Said with laughter.)
OTHER THAN YOUR OWN TEAM, WHO’S THE BEST BOSS IN DRAG RACING? “Well,
the best boss used to be Paul Candies, but he’s not in racing any more.”
WHAT’S YOUR PREFERENCE, SOUTH PARK OR THE SIMPSONS? “The Simpsons.”
SHOULD HD PARTNERS BUY NHRA’S PRO RACING ASSETS? “No!”
WHO MADE THE LINE “ARE YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?” FAMOUS? “I don’t know.”
NAME: Mike Ferderer, Super category racer
WHAT’S THE BOOK YOU COULDN’T PUT DOWN? “Boy, I can’t remember because I can’t remember anything any more.”
OTHER THAN YOUR OWN TEAM, WHO’S THE BEST BOSS IN DRAG RACING? “It would be one that respected his people. Ya know, I’m Not doing well on this, am I?”
WHAT’S YOUR PREFERENCE, SOUTH PARK OR THE SIMPSONS? “I’d have to say the Simpsons.”
SHOULD HD PARTNERS BUY NHRA’S PRO RACING ASSETS? “As long as they continue to better drag racing. If they’re just buying it to break it up and get rid of it, no.”
WHO MADE THE LINE “ARE YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?” FAMOUS? “Al Pacino, wasn’t it?”
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -
THE MICKEY THOMPSON EXPERIENCE There are two Pro Stock Pontiacs bearing significant Mickey Thompson Tires signage on their sides competing at the Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals, but neither is actually running the tires, nor are they likely to at any time in the near future. Matt Scranton, a former Sport Compact racer of some renown, is driving a GTO that came out of the Greg Anderson/Summit Racing camp (and first competed at this year’s Gatornationals), with a second car being piloted by Bill Glidden, son of the 10-time Winston champion, Bob.
Jason Moulton from M/T Tires told Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com that “what we’re here to do with this new car (indicating Glidden’s silver GTO) is shake it down and get as much data as we can. Billy lives close to Indy, and it’s a little bit of an extracurricular activity, but we’re thinking we’ll be able to learn something and get our car ready to do our development program.
Moulton admits that the company is far from ready to introduce a new tire for Pro Stock, but that’s definitely their goal. “It’s going to be in the near future,” was as far as he appeared willing to go. “We don’t have our timeline figured out yet for the development of the big tire, but I know it will be soon. Mickey Thompson has been a part of NHRA (drag racing) for a long time and we want to increase or involvement.”
Bill Glidden hadn’t competed in an NHRA race in Pro Stock since 1995, which is an eternity by drag racing standards. There was no opportunity for testing the GTO that Glidden purchased from Mark Pawuk days before the race began. In fact, Glidden didn’t even have a confirmed entry before Tuesday, at which time he made a last second arrangement with engine supplier Steve Schmidt to utilize one of his powerplants. As Glidden said before Friday evenings pro session, “This will be the first hit with this car. I’m not nervous, I’m just waiting to see what degree of dumb-ass we look like out here.”
His concerns proved groundless after the car knocked out a 6.790/203.46 in the first session, and while that was good for no better than the Number 23 position, it was pretty darned impressive for a completely new combination. Worth noting was Bob Glidden’s pulling one of his son’s crewmen out of the way so he could properly position the car on the starting line prior to the run.
Glidden is, if nothing else, a realist, and had no major expectations for the weekend. “My goal was just to get here,” he said. “It was tough just getting an entry. After I had already written it off, which was late Monday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon I got a call (from NHRA), so before I even thought about it I said okay. I didn’t have an engine, and we didn’t even have the car together. I don’t have everything we need in here.” When asked what the biggest thing he was lacking, Glidden replied, “a week.” In other words, just more time to be better prepared.
As he said before climbing into the car for that first session, “If we can do a burnout and stage, then it’s official that we’re here to race. All of the talk that I’ve been hearing that I wasn’t allowed to race will then have to stop.
“There’s no way we can qualify, even with one of Steve’s motors. In fairness to Steve, I called him Tuesday afternoon, late in the afternoon. For the U.S. Nationals that was pretty short notice. I’m sure I don’t have (the kind of horsepower) he and Koretsky and some of those fellows have to race with, and they’ll have to make good runs themselves to get in and race, so it’s not likely.”
On Saturday morning Glidden improved with a 6.756/204.39, and then suffered tire shake in the evening session, so remains outside the field, longingly looking in. But, as he said, this is the beginning, and with M/T’s help there’s no telling what might happen somewhere and some time down the road.
For Matt Scranton the situation is somewhat different. His car has been campaigned before, and was ready to go when the gates, opened, but he, too, has struggled, and is mired in the 20s among the non-qualifiers with a best of 6.727. Scranton, like Glidden, hasn’t been able to test on M/T tires because they don’t yet exist. As he said, “This is strictly an advertising deal for the rest of the year. We’re not going to do anything until a tire is fully developed. We have a commitment to KB Racing (Ken Black) to got out and run the car the way it is. That’s the commitment we have to fulfill, with the Goodyear tires on it.”
Because of his experience in the Sport Compact series we asked Scranton’s opinion of how it’s working. “We didn’t give up on the Sport Compact series. It was just that we had an opportunity to come over here and run Pro Stock, and that’s what we decided to do for our future in drag racing.
“I think the costs of racing in the Sport Compact series has increased so much that to be competitive in the Pro Rear Wheel Drive class you’ve got to spend two or three hundred thousand dollars, and it’s hard to get sponsorship over there because, Number 1, the TV package this year is horrible. There hasn’t been a race on TV yet. How can you sell yourself to sponsors when it’s not even on TV?
“The magazines also all quit covering it because they went to drifting. The magazines don’t cover drag racing any more like they used to, so when you go to a potential sponsor, they want to see return on investment. If you can’t show them that, they’re not going to give you any money.
“I think drifting is figure skating on asphalt. I don’t understand it. I ask a lot of questions (about it) and never get the same answer.”
STEVE SCHMIDT: ENGINE BUILDER OR RACER? Steve Schmidt used to be a regular on the NHRA circuit, but now makes irregular appearances based on the location of the event and the time he has available from his ever-expanding business ventures. Soft-spoken, yet not afraid to voice his opinion on the state of racing to NHRA officials, Schmidt has a loyal following of racers who utilize his engines with considerable success.
We wondered how his part-time schedule of appearances impacts his efforts, and weren’t at all surprised when he said, “It impacts everything. It impacts the crew. Not only that, we don’t have much time to test, so it impacts the whole philosophy of what you do. I just usually need a run or two, and I’m okay in the driver’s seat, but the problem is these other guys have literally 50 or 100 runs at every track they go to, and they can look back (at their records) for the air, the data on the track at some point when they raced or tested there, and it’s obviously a big advantage (for them), but that’s just the way it is.”
Schmidt has eight cars running his engines in Pro Stock, plus numerous others in Comp. The runners include Kenny Koretsky, Bob Benza, Rickie Smith, Bill Glidden, Bill Windham, Kevin Lawrence, Matt Hartford, and, of course, Schmidt himself.
As he said about his plans for the future, “I’d sure like to race full time next year if I could find some money. It’s the same old deal with everybody. I would have some advantage over other people because I do everything in-house, but I think to do any kid of real program and do an engine program you’d have to have $1.4 million, minimum.”
QUICKIES Jerry Haas is a busy man. He’s got new cars coming for the likes of Mike Castellana (’68 Firebird Pro Mod), Shannon Jenkins (“probably a Camaro, or a Firebird, one of the two”), Steve King (’68 Camaro already in the paint shop), Kurt Johnson (Cobalt Pro Stock), and a ton of others, including a new Mustang Pro Stock for Jim Cunningham. The Worshams are reportedly in negotiations for an extension of their sponsorship arrangement with CSK, but there could still be a glitch in the proceedings because of a reported change in senior management at the auto parts giant. With the announcement of a 24th race on the POWERade Series tour for next year there’s been considerable speculation as to where that post-Indy race will take place. Right now it’s located in the ever-popular TBA market (that’s To Be Announced). Rumors place the event at locales as diverse as National Trail Raceway in Columbus (unlikely due to the close proximity to Indy as well as a possible agreement with the Baders at Summit Motorsports Park to preclude just such an undertaking), Gainesville Raceway in Florida (which would face stiff competition at the gate from Sunshine State high school football to say nothing of the national champion Gators themselves), New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire just north of Boston (also seemingly unlikely, as the track is far from NHRA standards at present), and finally, Charlotte, North Carolina. Could Bruton Smith be putting the finishing touches on a track on or near the grounds of Lowe’s Motor Speedway? We’re hearing from usually reliable sources that there may be more to the absence of Erica Enders from the U.S. Nationals than simple sponsorship support. Our sources say there may be some conflict between Enders and engine builder David Nickens over who, exactly, owns what. All this may have stemmed from the departure of Enders from Don Schumacher Racing a year or so ago. Stay tuned to this web site for more!
IT’S ABOUT TIME! On Friday evening Larry Dixon, Jr. clocked the quickest run of his career in 4.481 seconds for the Number 2 spot on the list. He was unable to improve on that on Saturday, and while Toy Schumacher continues to be the man to watch, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme’s driver can’t be ignored.
“It felt like a really good run,” he said this morning. “it just felt really hooked up, and I could tell I wasn’t on last week’s race track (Maple Grove Raceway) ‘cause it was really nice.
“I’m thrilled for Donnie (Bender, crew chief). Gosh, everything that happens for us now, I’m happy for him because he's making a name for himself, and he’ll be able to have a career out here and really make god money for a long time. I think that’s awesome. So, I’m happy and proud!”
Dixon is as far ahead of some of his peers in his thought processes as one can possibly imagine. He has a plan for his career, and will undoubtedly follow it. He promises that he’ll race for no more than another 10 years, until he’s 50. By then he hopes to be a team owner and install a younger driver in his place. In working towards that goal he already owns two rental properties on the north side of Indianapolis, one adjacent to Prudhomme’s shop and the other nearby.
“Hopefully I’ll put somebody younger in the car and keep this thing going,” he told us.
Dixon believes that even if Skytel departs as Prudhomme’s team sponsor that they’ll be able to continue with fresh backing. The mere fact that he’s now openly acknowledging that possibility is telling.
Regarding the Countdown Dixon believes that it has created additional media attention for the sport. “It was a way to generate a lot of hype without spending a lot of money,” he said. “It worked. You try and create media hype by various means, and by restructuring the points we got a lot of bang out of it.”
Dixon also admits that “team orders have played out for a long period of time, and I don’t know why more or less attention should be paid to it now. If you had a car in eighth place last year and you had a chance to help your teammate, that’s what a teammate is all about. I would expect that. I don’t have any teammates, so I’m racing seven (other drivers), if I’ve got the best car I’m going to beat every single one of them, so I don’t care. Dive or don’t dive.”
Dixon, like others we spoke with, would like to see the Countdown tweaked a little before next year, which appears to be a very real possibility. It’s worth mentioning that with all of the other announcements that have come out of Indy thus far there’s been nothing about the Countdown, and our sources inside NHRA have indicated that there may be some changes on the way.
From Dixon’s perspective, “We’ve got a Top 8 now, but we still pay attention to the Top 10, although we don’t pay the Top 10. Maybe we need to do away with nine and ten completely and not pay any attention to them, or you open it up to the Top 10. It would be neat to see it more consistently.
“I’ve said it before. I’m not the Ringmaster. I’m the guy that gets shot out of the cannon. I’ll leave those decisions to (NHRA).”
THIS MAY NOT BE GARY SCELZI’S LAST U.S. NATIONALS. Okay, this should have been Gary Scelzi’s last Nationals, but when we broached the subject with him Saturday afternoon we were stunned by his response.
Now, given the circumstances, everything we’re about to report here could become so much babble by Sunday afternoon, because the situation is extremely fluid, and a number of parties have to come to an agreement before the grand plan to keep one of the most colorful and competitive drivers out here racing becomes a reality.
In response to our question about whether he was feeling anything special about what could be his last U.S. Nationals, Scelzi stunned us by saying, “No, because there’s a lot of things that have come up that could keep me out here for another year and beyond.
“I talked to ken Black about doing some things with him. Ken owns a jet and lives in Las Vegas. He’s become a big supporter of mine, and if it will keep me out here, he’s willing to fly to Fresno and fly me to events and get me home to sleep in my own bed Sunday nights.”
Scelzi would continue to drive a Funny Car for Don Schumacher and continue to work with tuner Todd Okuhara, with whom he’s managed to strike up a very good working relationship. But it’s all dependent on a number of parties, including Schumacher, sponsors and Black, reaching some sort of workable agreement.
“I talked to Ken 30 minutes ago,” said Scelzi, “and he’s open to suggestions. He wants to see the new schedule, and Todd and I have been talking about what test session we’d want to run. You know, on Mondays after some of the national events. If the car has performance problems we’d obviously do some testing in between, too.
“For all I know, Don might say, “I’ve already got a replacement, you’re leaving, and I don’t care if you’re flying in or not.’ That’s also an option that could happen.”
Scelzi says he hasn’t gotten that far along with his discussions with Black, but he does believe that if things don’t work out with Schumacher that Black might be willing to field a Funny Car for him. “The main thing right now for me is to try and get transportation to and from,” as Scelzi has committed to providing more help to his brother in running the family business.
“Todd and I have started to click right away, from Brainerd on, and we don’t want to go all the way to the end of the year and have them have to train a rookie driver or put someone else in the car who wouldn’t click with the team.”
J.R. TODD TELLS ALL – AND IT AIN’T MUCH! On Saturday morning another web site published a story linking the futures of Top Fuel driver J.R. Todd and team owner Kenny Bernstein together. Unfortunately, according to Todd no one involved in the publishing of that story had spoken with either of the individuals mentioned. That further helped to stir the pot regarding Todd’s future with team owner Dexter Tuttle, so there being no better source than the man himself, we sought out Todd for his version of what’s going on.
“I got a call last Friday that the sponsor was pulling out and that Dexter was going back to part-time racing, and that he was looking at Alan Bradshaw to drive,” he said. “Ever since that words gotten out the rumors have been flying
“I myself don’t know what I’m doing next year, but everyone else seems to know, so whoever’s got the answer should come and tell me.
“I’ve been in talks with (sponsor) Evan Knoll and Latrell Preston. We’re working on some things and hopefully, we’ll know more after this race.
“I don’t know why Evan is pulling out. I don’t have a problem with either he or Dexter. I’m perfectly happy here. I just wish that we could come to an agreement to keep things here, but it is what it is. I’m glad that Evan and Torco Race Fuels want to stick by me and that were in it for the long haul.”
COMPPLUS: If Evan were to put together another team would you go there?
TODD: I can’t answer that because I haven’t sat down and talked with Evan about that this weekend. I just know that there are some possibilities out there. I’d say there are two or three deals out there, but I can’t speculate on what those are. Hopefully I’ll know later this weekend.
Todd is an exceptionally talented young driver with plenty of charisma. Regardless of these current difficulties, that would appear, at least from the outside, to be more a lack of communication than anything else, this young man will not be without a ride in 2008.
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SATURDAY - OFF THE BEATEN PATH
THE REAL WORLD - BOB GLIDDEN
There’s a real world out there completely unlike the fantasyland that is drag racing. It’s a world in which people have bills to pay, jobs to go to and concerns often far more important that the next four second run or round of eliminations. We visit that world when we’re away from the track, but some of us are so wrapped up in what we’re doing that what’s taking place in homes all across America sometimes escapes our notice.
Let’s find out what some of or friends think about other than drag racing.
NAME: Bob Glidden, 10-time Winston Pro Stock champion
WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST? “Biscuits and Gravy at Hardees.”
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MOVE FROM THIS SUMMER? “I haven’t been to a movie all summer.”
IF YOU WEREN’T RACING, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING? “Tryin’ to learn how to hit golf balls.”
WHO HAS LESS CHANCE OF MAKING A COMEBACK, MICHAEL VICK’OR LINDSAY LOHAN? “Michael Vick.”
ARE YOU A FAN OF THE NEW COUNTDOWN POINTS SYSTEM? “Not really.”
NAME - Austin Coil, Crew Chief, John Force Racing
WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST? “An omelet with sausage,cheese, tomatoes and onion.”
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE FROM THIS SUMMER? - “I haven’t had time to watch a movie this summer.”
IF YOU WEREN’T RACING, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING? “Ridin’my motorcycle.”
WHO HAS LESS CHANCE OF MAKING A COMEBACK, MICHAEL VICK’OR LINDSAY LOHAN? “Well, Michael Vick’s got a tough road to go.”
ARE YOU A FAN OF THE NEW COUNTDOWN POINTS SYSTEM? “Yes I am!”
NAME: Jon Knapp, Public Relations Manager, AC Delco/GM Performance Parts Racing
WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST? “Raisin Bran, some fruit and Coffee.”
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE FROM THIS SUMMER? “The Rocky Balboa movie.”
IF YOU WEREN’T RACING, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING? “I’d probably still be a purchasing agent at Union Carbide.”
WHO HAS LESS CHANCE OF MAKING A COMEBACK, MICHAEL VICK OR LINDSAY LOHAN? “Lindsay Lohan has a better chance of making a comeback, for sure.”
ARE YOU A FAN OF THE NEW COUNTDOWN POINTS SYSTEM? “On the one hand I am because it enabled our two cars to climb back into the championship chase. On the other hand, I liked the old system. We had two great finishes in the last two years in Funny Car and Top Fuel. It’s trying to create something we already had.”
NAME: Paul Yates, truck driver and clutch man for Larry Morgan’s Pro Stock Dodge
WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST? “Bacon and eggs.”
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE FROM THIS SUMMER? “I didn’t have time to watch one!”
IF YOU WEREN’T RACING, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING? “I’d be workin’ on my Corvette.”
WHO HAS LESS CHANCE OF MAKING A COMEBACK, MICHAEL VICK OR LINDSAY LOHAN? “Michael Vick.”
ARE YOU A FAN OF THE NEW COUNTDOWN POINTS SYSTEM? “I am now (that Larry’s in it).”
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -
QUESTIONS FOR CORY - Cory McClenathan has had one heck of a season – and some of the headlines he’s made haven’t been on the track. At one point a hired gun for Scott Griffin, Cory took control of his own destiny a while back when Griffin ran into financial problems, but for all intents and purposes, the car he’s driving here at Indy is identical in appearance to the one he drover earlier in the year. Of course, with vinyl wraps any car can appear identical to another in a matter of hours, so we caught up with McClenathan to find out exactly what’s going on.
COMPPLUS: Is this car the Schumacher car, or one you got from Scott Griffin?
MC CLENATHAN: This is one of the cars that Don had over at his shop (in Indianapolis). Scott has all of his own cars, trucks trailers, parts and pieces. This is all new stuff. Basically we have a front- and back-halved car, and then another front-halved car upstairs (in the transporter). They’re both (Brad) Hadman-built cars. The big difference for us is that these cars have TFX engine blocks and we usually run Brad Anderson’s stuff. Other than that it’s all stuff we’re used to using, or stuff that Keith used to use.
COMPPLUS: What’s the plan for next year?
MCCLENTHAN: The plan is to keep going the way we are, but what I plan to do is work out a lease-to-own kind of deal (with Schumacher). At this point the smart thing to do was come in an lease everything, which is what we’ve done. Everything was sitting there within four or five days of being able to be raced. The biggest problem we had was that this trailer had never been down the road, and it was a huge undertaking to get it ready to go. The guys worked really hard last week to put together a spare car. The first couple of races we only had two or three motors. Now we’re back up to pace. We have six motors.
COMPPLUS: Did you supply the motors, or did they come out of Schumacher’s?
MCCLENTHAN: A couple of them came out of his shop, but then I started ordering parts on our own so that we could be competitive and on our own.
COMPPLUS: Are you going to be funded well enough to do this on your own next year?
MCCLENTHAN: Yes, I believe so. Fram is definitely looking at doing a two year contract with a third year option. I’m talking right now with Jeg’s and Nordic Boats, Mac Tools and GMC, and so far everybody is totally on board with it. I think the biggest thing for me is peace of mind and knowing where everything’s going and not having to worry about who’s paying who, and who’s not paid. I’m more in control of my own destiny, so to speak.
COMPPLUS: Let’s turn the page a little bit and talk about diving. Do you think that, even if no one will admit it, we’re liable to see that coming down the stretch?
MCCLENATHAN: I’m afraid so. I think nobody will cop to it. I think we’re allowed to do two things. We can go up (to the starting line) and make it look like i(a fair race is) going to happen, or we’re allowed to go up there and make it blatant. That was one of my biggest concerns with Don (Schumacher) when I came into this deal. I told him right then that I didn’t want to have to take any dives for anybody, and obviously he has a car in the top eight that could become a problem if we had to race them. We dispelled that rumor right away at Brainerd when we had to race Tony (Schumacher) in the first round, and they smoked the tires, so they would have gotten beaten anyway. We ran a fifty-nine, which was, I believe, third quickest of that session. That showed everyone that we’re truly independent, and that stuff’s not going to happen with us, or Don. Everybody knows I don't take dives for anybody, period, and that’s the way it’s going to be over here. But there are teams out here that I understand their theory and their point. The problem is, I’m of the opinion that if you can't work for it and earn it on your own, you didn’t deserve it to begin with.
IN THE JIM DUNN CAMP - If you want to hear the unvarnished truth from a 50-plus year competitor, there’s no better person to ask than team owner Jim Dunn. Often considered a “low buck” racer, Dunn pulls no punches when discussing any aspect of drag racing. At his age, he shouldn’t have to.
When we asked him about the letter sent out earlier in the week by NHRA vp Graham Light discussing the possible penalties for diving, Dunn replied with a hearty laugh. “They had to do that to get pressure off their backs,” he said. “When we were in the Fire Department (Dunn retired from the Los Angeles County Fire Department) and we got women fire fighters in there, we all had to get sensitivity training so if the Department got sued they could say, ‘Well, we did our part. It’s Dunn’s fault as an individual.’ NHRA got a lot of bad press and they had to cover themselves.
“They can’t control it. I told them, ‘If you want me to leave on time, fine. I’ll just look over (at the other car) at the three quarter mark, and then I’ll cross the centerline.’
If (diving doesn’t go on), they’re stupid. Formula 1 makes no bones about it, and neither does NASCAR. You don’t pass (Michael) Schumacher unless he’s breakin’ down, then you can win the race. What’s the difference between that and here, especially now with the Top 8 deal.
“During the year, yeah, you can race for it, but now you’re talking about a half a million bucks.”
WARREN’S NOT WORRIED Back in the mid-90s Warren Johnson came into the U.S. Nationals as a serious championship contender. Every single point was precious to him, and with good reason. At the same his son, Kurt, was not only not a factor in the points chase, he was campaigning an Oldsmobile that lacked major sponsorship support. During an early round of eliminations on that Labor Day Monday the two faced one another, and there probably wasn’t a fan in the house who didn’t wonder if the fix was in as the two cars staged. When the light went green all doubt was erased from their minds as KJ cruised off the starting line, and WJ blasted down track.
A chorus of boos chased KJ down track, but a funny thing happened on the return road. As his car was towed in front of the stands Kurt held up a large hand lettered sign reading, “I Still Had A Job.” The boos suddenly became cheers, and the Johnson clan found themselves with hundreds of new fans. His public acknowledgement of going in the tank for his father struck a responsive chord with the spectators, not because it happened, but because they acknowledged it.
As Warren said on Friday afternoon, “It’s the same old thing, just a different day. I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do with this damn Countdown thing. How NHRA is going to enforce this no diving thing is impossible. If you break a crank, or ‘Golly, I accidentally put an extra 20 grams on the clutch and it shook the tires.’ I’d like to see how they’re going to enforce that. I’m sure there are teams out here that will do whatever it takes to get into the championship position. They do it now.
“Personally, if they can get their cars there, and it doesn’t hurt the show, so be it.”
Warren is actually unsure of his plans for next season, although he has another year on his contract with GM. “If (NHRA) adds more races, I’m not sure what I’ll do. My contract is for 23 races, and that’s what I’m going to do, period.”
At this point in his career WJ is turning more and more of the physical work on the car over to his crew. As he says, “I was born handicapped. I only have two hands, and the work load gets greater every day, so obviously, you have to share those challenges with your employees. If I have to look over the shoulders of the people working for me to check on them, I shouldn’t have hired them in the first place.”
MINUTES WITH MIKE (EDWARDS) Mike Edwards did something few racers have the courage to do – he skipped races at a critical time during the season. It’s not uncommon for Pro Stock teams to bypass the Mile-High Nationals in Denver because the altitude is not only difficult to overcome, it’s a costly exercise. But Edwards went several steps further. Realizing he had no chance of making the Countdown, he and his team worked long and hard to develop more horsepower from their Frank Iaconio-built powerplants, but did so back in their shop in Oklahoma rather than on the POWERade Series trail.
A popular driver with a surprisingly humorous personality, Edwards was missed by the fans when he was away, but he’s back with a vengeance. That was evident by his out-of-the-box 6.699/205.19 on Friday evening, which placed him in the eleventh spot.
“We’re just going to continue working on our motor program for the rest of the season,” he said. “I’d like to have an impact on who wins this thing, but we’ll just have to see.”
JOHNSON’S READY – STEVE JOHNSON, THAT IS! Saturday morning Steve Johnson’s Snap-on Tools Suzuki will face off against Angelle Sampey in the first round of the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle. He’ll have his hands full, as Sampey is a very tough racer. Johnson appeared in the final round of the first-ever “special” Pro Stock Motorcycle race, and while he’s appeared in nine of them in all, he’s never made another final round appearance.
He also fought long and hard to make the first-ever Countdown, but he missed the cut by one position. Now he has other goals, which include the Battle and just winning races, because that’s all he can do at this point.
“In the Battle it’s really another qualifying run, which is what you’ve heard forever,” he says. But, realistically, we can win the race. The first round is the most important. If we can get around first round, we have all the chances in the world. But, we have to make sure the tune-up is right for the track and the conditions.
We were here testing, and we feel like we have a little bit of an advantage ‘cause we know the track and we know the conditions. A long as the driver leaves the line – and the clutch works with the driver – we’ll have a fast motorcycle.”
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