Wed, 21 Nov 2001, 03:49 PM
I Still Can't Believe It's Over!
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By Bob Frey
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As I sit here, just a day before Thanksgiving, I really can’t believe that the 2001
year is over. By that I mean, the NHRA Winston Drag Racing year. And, it’s also hard
to believe that the Winston era is over, too. I, for one, will miss a lot of the
great folks that crossed our paths over the years from R.J. Reynolds, Winston and
Sports Marketing Enterprises. If things get really quiet over the winter, maybe I’ll
break out some old pictures of
Jeff Byrd, Robbie Powell, Richard Dilworth, Mitzi
Richards and some of the other pioneers of the Winston program. Then again,
maybe I won’t, since they probably all have pictures of me in my ten-gallon hat at
one banquet, my swami outfit at another and more. Lots more, and none of them were
real flattering, if you get my drift. So that’s it, there will be no pictures, just
a lot of fond memories and lots of gratitude. Thanks, Winston.
Del Worsham
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Let’s wrap up a couple of "DYK" items from the season’s final event. Of
course you knew that
Del Worsham finished in third place this year, edging
Ron Capps for that
spot at the last race. Well,
did you
also
know that, with his win, Del moved into a tie with
Frank
Hawley and
Bruce Larson on the all-time win list? Well, you do now. All
three of them won seven times and are in 16
th place on the list. Of
course, the difference is that Frank won two world championships and Bruce won one,
while the third place finish is the best in Del’s career. Of course, other than some
rare moments, the other two didn’t have to battle
John Force for the crown,
either.
Did you know that John’s first, career appearance in the
Winston Top 10 at the end of the year came in 1983, the year of Hawley’s, second
title? John finished right behind some guy by the name of Bernstein that year. And,
as surprising as it may sound, John failed to crack the top 10 the next year, the
last time he missed it, when
Mark Oswald won the title. Oswald’s back to back
years of 1984 & ’85 kind of remind me of
Tony Schumacher’s last couple of
seasons.
Did you know that, after winning the championship in 1984,
Mark failed to win a single race the next year, and he didn’t go to even one final
round, and he dropped completely out of the top 10? That’s the only time in NHRA
history that that has occurred. While Tony didn’t struggle quite that badly this
year, it was stunning that he didn’t win a race. Of course, the numbers he put up at
the "Finals" should give him and the Army team some reason to be
optimistic as they look ahead to 2002.
Whit Bazemore
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Anyway, I digress. Congrats to Del and you’ve
got to admit, he’s in some pretty nice company on that list, don’t you think? And he
can only go up from here….
Dean Skuza, with his semi-final appearance, also
got by
Tommy Johnson, Jr. for the number nine spot in the points. Hey, it was
only by a point, but that’s enough….
Whit Bazemore, who certainly made things interesting down the stretch, had
the best second half of any driver in the three, major classes.
Did you
know that Whit picked up 1,069 points over the last, twelve races of the
year? That surge helped carry him from 6
th place all the way to the
runner-up spot. Whit’s point’s total compares to1,051 second half points for
Kenny Bernstein, 967 for
John Force and 654 for
Warren
Johnson. And do you know what’s interesting about Bernstein’s point’s total? The
1,051 that he earned in the last twelve races was exactly how many he had in the
first half of the season, 1,051. As I often say, what are the odds. Kenny’s grand
total of 2,102 points was split, evenly over the first and last 12 races of the
year.
Larry Dixon, meanwhile, actually lost ground to K.B. over the last half
of the year, and that’s surprising. Of course, that includes a couple of lead
changes, but who’s counting? Oh, that’s right, I am. Meanwhile, in the Pro Stock
class,
Bruce Allen had the best "back half," adding 820 points to
his earlier amount. Bruce, in case you’ve forgotten, came from 9
th place
at mid-season, to finish third. Nice going, Bruce.
Mike Dunn
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Mike Dunn, in the Gwynn/Steinbrenner/Yankees car, finished the season with 17
Top Fuel top speeds to his credit in his great, dragster career.
Did you
know that 11 of them came this year? Now that’s amazing. Mike, a "free
agent" as we speak, would love to return to the Yankees’ car next year and we
should all learn more about that by the time NHRA makes their announcement. You do
the math….
Von Smith, who won the Federal Mogul Funny Car class at Pomona,
became the latest driver named "Smith" to win an NHRA national event.
Did you know that 23 "Smiths" have now visited the winner’s
circle at national events, and that’s way more than any other last name. And, I know
what you’re saying, well no kidding, Bob, after all, Smith is the most common name
in the world. Well,
did you know that no one, as in no one, named
Smith has ever even qualified to run at the Indianapolis 500. Ever! Like I said,
what are the odds? Von also became the 69
th different driver to win in
the FMFC class (or Top Alcohol Funny Car), and the first guy named "Von"
to win in any class. By the way, there have been more national event winners named
"Bob" than any other name in drag racing, but there’s never been a
"Bob Smith." Hum….
Rick Santos
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Rick Santos, who ran that string of
5.36 clockings at Pomona (he made
four, 5.36 passes in eliminations), did so en route to his
36th
national event title….Bob
Panella, who handled himself with real class at the
award’s ceremony, became only the 9
th driver in the professional classes
to win three, consecutive championships. Let’s see how good you are, there are, of
course, the obvious ones, like Force,
Glidden, the
"Snake," Joe
Amato, Matt Hines and
Kenny Bernstein. Do you know who the other two are?
I’ll tell you at the end, but see if you can figure it out. Bob, by the way, from
what he told me, will be building some 500 cubic inch motors for some Comp cars next
year. Could that be a prelude to running in Pro Stock? We’ll see, but with his
family’s legacy in the sport, it sure would be a nice team to add to the field,
wouldn’t it?
Raymond Beadle
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There are lots of rumors floating around and, hopefully, I’ll be able to answer or
dispel some of them in the coming weeks. In the meantime, have a great holiday, and
don’t forget to keep December 3
rd open on your calendar, it’s bound to be
a real red-letter day in the history of our sport. Oh, yeah, in case you didn’t
figure it out, the other two drivers to win three titles in a row were
Raymond
Beadle and
Lee Shepherd, but you knew that, didn’t you?
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