Tue, 6 Nov 2001, 05:58 PM
Great Finishes.
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By Bob Frey
If You Think This Year Is Close!!
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The Top Fuel point’s chase is coming right down to the wire this year, with both
Kenny Bernstein and Larry Dixon in position to win it. With 54 points between them,
it’s one of the closest battles in quite some time. But, you may ask, what were the
tightest point’s chases over the years? Well, I’m glad you asked.
Bernstein vs. Dixon
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Ironically, back in 1992, it was Kenny Bernstein who cam into the Winston Finals
trailing Joe Amato by 54 points, the exact, same margin that he leads Larry Dixon by
this year. Cory McClenathan was 696 points behind the leaders. Of course, at that
time, points were awarded a bit differently, with 200 points per round being given
out, and a driver got 100 for just showing up, as opposed to the 20 and 10 points
you get now. With that in mind, you can see that the race was, indeed, very tight,
at least between the top two guys. Most people had written Cory off. Well, Kenny
went out in round one, Joe lost in round two and now, all of a sudden, it was all up
to Cory. If he won the race and set the national record, he would be the champion.
But, when he failed to run quick enough in the semi-final round to either set a
record or serve as the backup, Joe Amato won the title. By the way, 1992 was the
year that Cory was running as an independent, and in order to save some money, he
skipped the Montreal race that season. If he had only gone to Canada and gotten the
100 points for showing up, he would have won the Winston title by eight points over
Joe Amato. Oh what could have been?
1990 was, perhaps, the best top fuel title battle of all time, because it came down
to the last run of the last race of the year. Plus, the last race featured the two
drivers who were in contention for the points, Joe Amato and Gary Ormsby. It was, to
date, the only time in NHRA history that the two, top drivers met in the final round
to decide the championship. As a prelude to Sunday’s final run, Joe and Gary met the
day before in the finals of the Budweiser Shootout, a race that Joe won. As far as
the points were concerned, the two came into the event 254 points apart, but Gary
trimmed 54 off of that in qualifying. He gained 4 points by out-qualifying Joe (#1
to #3), and had 50 more by setting low elapsed time. Of course, that 50 wouldn’t be
counted, technically, until after the race. So, it looked like they were 200 points,
or exactly one round apart, as they prepared for the final run of the year. A win by
Joe, and he’s the champ. A win by Gary (and that low E/T), and the two would be
tied, mathematically, but Gary would win on the tiebreaker. Well, Gary had lane
choice and was sitting in the water box behind the starting line in the left lane.
Then, all of a sudden, he switches to the right lane, the lane he had won from in
the semi-finals. With most folks figuring that the left lane was the better of the
two, Joe Amato’s team gladly traded sides. Then, after the burnouts, the two staged
and, before the green, Gary took off, fouling away his chances for the title (.336
reaction time). Joe, in addition to winning the race and the championship, did,
indeed, set low elapsed time in the finals, taking the extra 50 points away for
Ormsby. The points were fashioned in such a way in those days, that Gary could
actually have won the race, and lost the title at the same time. How? Well, if he
won it on a holeshot, and Joe set low elapsed time, Amato still would have been the
winner. Strange, but true. Also in 1990, John Force clinched his first Winston title
simply by qualifying at Pomona, while Darrell Alderman won the Pro Stock crown when
he won two rounds of competition. Bob Glidden, who started the race in
5th place, won the event and passed Larry Morgan, Jerry Eckman and Warren
Johnson to finish in the second spot.
In 1987, the eventual Top Fuel champion, Dick LaHaie, never led the points during
the entire year. Still, when he beat Joe Amato in the semi-finals, he took the lead
and the championship. Just like he would do in 1990, Joe beat his closest challenger
in the finals of the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday, and then faced him, again, on
Sunday. This time, however, the tables would be reversed, with Dick getting the win.
LaHaie would go on to lose to Darrell Gwynn in the TF finals on Sunday, a race that
he says, to this day, he never even wanted to run. "I was so emotionally and
physically drained from the championship run, all I wanted to do was go home,"
he said.
In 1981, three drivers all had a shot at the championship in Top Fuel heading into
the last race of the year at Orange County. Gary Beck, Jeb Allen and Johnny Abbott
could all win the title, but they all had different ways to do it. Beck and Abbott
both needed to win the race, set low elapsed time and top speed (you got points for
doing that back then) if they wanted to be the champs. Jeb Allen, who came into the
race with the point’s lead, just needed to keep pace with the other two and he would
eliminate them from contention. But, Jeb was stunned in the first round by Dwight
Salisbury in the "Fisher’s Fever" car. Now, out of the action, all Jeb
could do was sit and watch and hope that one of the other two didn’t sweep through
the field. Abbott, who had set both low elapsed time and top speed during
qualifying, looked like a sure bet to win it all. But, when he got out of shape in
the second round, Shirley Muldowney took advantage and got the win, ending Johnny’s
title hopes and keeping Jeb’s alive. Beck, meanwhile, who finished second in the
points the year before, made his way to the final round, with wins over Dick LaHaie,
Lucille Lee and Muldowney. Now, he would face Salisbury for all the marbles. Gary,
driving for Larry Minor, now had his fate in his own hands. He had to win the race,
run quicker than 5.641, and faster than 247.93 (Abbott’s numbers), and he would be
the champ. Well, as history shows, he didn’t do that, but he did accomplish two of
the three goals. He won the race, ran a 5.57, good not only for low elapsed time,
but it was also the quickest run in history to that date. But his speed, a good
245.23 mph, was two miles per hour shy of the required mark, and Jeb Allen won the
Top Fuel title by a slim, 31 points. At that same event, Lee Shepherd won the Pro
Stock crown when Bob Glidden was stunned in the second round by Mark Yuill. And,
Frank Manzo won his first, Alcohol Funny Car title when Gary Southern lost to Brad
Anderson in the final round. Gary needed to qualify in the top six places (he was
#1), and win the race to beat Frank in the points. Well, he almost did it all,
beating Frank in the semi-finals, but losing to Brad in the money run. How close can
a guy come to being the king?
There have been other great battles, like the 1980 Pro Stock championship that went
to Bob Glidden. Lee Shepherd, who led the points for 258 days, needed to go to the
semi-finals and he would be the champ. Well, the great driver for Reher &
Morrison won the first round, and then broke on the burnout in round two, ending his
title hopes and giving the crown to Mr. Glidden. Bob, himself, got a break in 1975,
when he fouled out against Paul Blevins in round one at the finals, a race he needed
to win to take the championship. But, Blevins was disqualified when he came up light
at the scales, Bob was reinstated and he went on to win the race and take the tile
by 294 points over Wayne Gapp who led by about 300 coming into the event.
Lots of the sportsman races have also come down to the finals, and they will again
this year. And, with the Top Fuel and all three Pro Stock titles still,
mathematically up for grabs, the 2001 AAA Club NHRA Finals looks like it will carry
on the tradition of great racing and great finishes that have made NHRA drag racing
so enjoyable over these 50 past years. You gotta love it!
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