Tue, 17 Feb 2009, 04:46 PM Let's Pray For Sun Or At Least Dry!

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc. & BME Photography

Line and crew celebrate win.

After the marathon event that was the Winternationals, a trip to the desert is exactly what we all need, although, if memory serves me correctly, we have had a few days of rain in Phoenix over the past few years. Let's hope that doesn't happen this week. Three good, dry days should produce some excellent racing and get the 2009 Full Throttle drag racing season back in high gear, literally and figuratively. Doug Kalitta, Ron Capps and Jason Line all come to town on modest, one race winning streaks and they'll look to go two-for-two in Arizona. Of course, winning the first two races of the season isn't easy.

Doug and Connie Kalitta

For Doug Kalitta, the win in Pomona was big for a wide variety of reasons. First and foremost is the fact that the win was the first in the year in which Connie Kalitta is celebrating fifty years in the sport. Todd Myers wrote a story about Connie that appeared in a recent issue of National Dragster and it's something that everyone should read. Nice job, Todd. For a man who has done it all in drag racing, and who scaled back his operation this year for the first time in recent memory, for Connie to win the Winternationals had to be something special. Add to that the fact that this was Team Kalitta's first win since the death of Connie's son, Scott, last year, and the Pomona victory had to mean more to Connie than almost any other win, and he's had a lot of them. Now, Connie, Scott and Doug have all won the Winternationals, one of drag racings historic, longest-running and major events. Some day before I retire (and that's not in my immediate plans), I would love to see some races designated as "majors," just like they do in horse racing or golf. Pomona, Gainesville, Indy and the "Finals" could all fall in to that category and a driver who wins two or more of them would get special recognition, Win all four, the "grand slam" of racing and you get a million dollar bonus. Hey, it could happen and it sure could give all of the races in that group a real boost. But that's wishful thinking, although maybe I could talk the Full Throttle folks into doing something like that. Hey, a guy can dream, can't he? And before I get letters (or e-mails, nobody writes letters anymore), Englishtown could also be in that

Shawn Langdon

group.... Doug's win was the 31^st of his career and that moved him into the top ten on the all-time nitro win list. Doug is also sixth on the Top Fuel win list and he is within striking distance of Don Garlits and his thirty-five wins. The race in Arizona will be Doug's 255^th and, assuming he qualifies, it will be the 250^th start of his Top Fuel career. Universally respected by his peers, Doug has already had a great career, and based on what we saw in Pomona, it's a long way from over....Even though they lost in round one I was impressed with what I saw from Del Cox Jr. and Shawn Langdon. Both drivers made the field even with the one-shot qualifying, which can be tough on anyone, let alone a rookie driver. Shawn will be on tour for the entire season while Del is scheduled to run in Arizona and then decide what to do after that. I spoke with Del before the race and he really was excited about the opportunity to race in Top Fuel and I certainly hope he gets to run more races this year. Del and Shawn are just two of the many former Jr. Dragster drivers who have moved up to the big cars and that speaks well of the Jr. program, doesn't it?

Del Cox Jr.

Hey, it's like a kid playing in the Little League World Series and then making it to the "big show." Did you know that it took fourteen years after the formation of the Little League before one of its players made it to the major leagues? Joey Jay signed with the Milwaukee Braves in 1953 after playing Little League baseball. Just thought I'd throw that in since I may never get a chance to use it again. I know, I need to get a life....In addition to the Jr. Dragster guys and gals doing well in the pro ranks it should be pointed out that a dozen of the drivers who qualified for the Top Fuel field in Pomona had previously run in the sportsman ranks. Ironically, the Top Fuel winner wasn't won of them.... Even with the one round of qualifying I certainly expected to see Larry Dixon in the starting lineup, and I'm sure that's not the way Alan Johnson and Larry expected to start the season. Now Larry is coming to Phoenix, the site of his first national event win in 1995, and I'm sure he'll make the field this time around. Larry won the race in his first year of TF, 1995, and

Larry Dixon

last year and he has another pair of final rounds at the Arizona track. Did you know that Larry has been to the finals in Phoenix in three of the last seven years...Tony Schumacher didn't make the finals in Pomona and that's noteworthy since it's been a long time since he hasn't been to a final at consecutive races. Tony, who didn't make the finals at the last race of 2008, isn't used to not being around at the end of the day. Did you know that you have to go back to the Houston and Las Vegas races of last year to find the last time the "Sarge" wasn't in a final round at back-to-back races? Tony is also coming to a track that he likes, since this is where he shattered the 330 mile per hour barrier in 1999. Did you know Tony is the only Top Fuel driver to ever win this race three times? Anyone want to bet against the Army team this week?

Ed McCulloch in '85.

Ron Capps, Ed McCulloch and the entire Napa team got off to a great start with their win in Pomona and now they'll look to put back-to-back wins on the board. Did you know that Ed was part of the field at the very first national event at Firebird International Raceway? In 1985, when the race was run in the fall, Ed qualified eleventh in the field, a field that also included John Force (#2) and Gary Densham (#11). Ed lost in the second round to John Collins, who then went on to beat John in the final round. That was one of the few times that John got to the final round in Arizona and didn't win the race. Did you know that John has been to a dozen final rounds at Firebird and he has won eight of those finals? His eight wins are, by far, the most by anyone at Firebird, in fact there is only one other Funny Car driver who has won more than once there and that's Del Worsham. Fourteen

Jim Head

other drivers have won it once and, included in that group is Ron Capps....You have to be impressed with what Jim Head has done over the past few years. Even though he doesn't run all the races, or at least he didn't last year, Jim always seems to be a factor and it looks like he will be again this year. Jim ran seventeen races last year including the Phoenix race where he made it to the semi-finals. Did you know that Jim has participated in 413 NHRA national events, 260 in Top Fuel and 153 in Funny Car? He is one of the real veterans in the sport and, in my opinion, he has never run better or more consistently than he has the past two years.....The cold and tricky track conditions in Pomona certainly seemed to make for an all-or-nothing scenario in the pro classes, especially in the first round. Since a lot of the pro teams tested in Phoenix a few weeks ago we shouldn't have those problems this week. First of all, it probably won't be cold, and second, the teams should have gained some knowledge from all those test runs they made there. Or at least you would think that they should. If conditions are right this week you could see the first Funny Car run under four seconds at the 1,000 foot distance. You could. Did you know that in each of the last two years the low elapsed time in Phoenix has been quicker than the one in Pomona?

Robert Hight

Based on that, it won't take much of an improvement over Robert Hight's 4.037 in Pomona to see someone break into the three-second zone, and based on what he has done in the past I wouldn't bet against Robert being the one to do it....Last year it was Tim Wilkerson who set low elapsed time at the first two races of the year and I can guarantee you that Tim would like to be the quickest car in qualifying this weekend. Actually, after that little non-qualifying glitch in Pomona, Tim probably doesn't care about the numbers as long as he makes the field. One of the many things that I like about Tim is the fact that he never blames anyone else when things don't go his way. He is the consummate professional and that's why he is such a fan favorite, and even though he is off to a slow start (if one race can be called a slow start), look for him to rebound this week. Of course, with the "Countdown" system in play, missing a race here or there isn't as damaging as it may have been under the old points system.

WJ at Pomona.

It's been two full years since Warren Johnson won a race and that's the longest drought of his career. WJ won the Arizona race in 2006 and, other than a final round at Atlanta last year, the past two seasons haven't been among his best. Flying his new K& N colors last week Warren looked like he had a car that can compete this year and I expect to see him in the winner's circle before too long. Really. Warren, who has been working with the K&N folks on several research and development projects for a few years now, has a good car and, from what I saw in Pomona, a renewed enthusiasm for the season. Warren and I spoke for a while at the Winternationals and I just sensed something about him that makes me think he'll be much more competitive this year than he has been in the past two seasons. If he is it will make for a very interesting year in Pro Stock. Did you know that both Warren and Kurt Johnson have won the Arizona race three times and that's the most in Pro Stock? Warren

WJ at Phoenix in '85.

was part of the class of '85 in Arizona, a class that included Mark Yuill, Mark Rodenburg and Dempsey Hardy among others. Even though WJ has three wins in Arizona it took him fourteen trips to Firebird before he was able to close the deal. He finally won it in 1998 and has added two more wins in 2001 and 2006, with the '06 victory being the last time that Warren was the last man standing at an NHRA event....Allen Johnson won in Arizona in 2005 and he looks like he has a car that can run with anyone. Some guys just seem to like certain tracks and Phoenix is one that AJ enjoys, so maybe he'll put another win on the board early in the

Allen Johnson

year.....With no sponsor, again, to start the year, what's a Pro Stock driver to do? Well, if you're Dave Connolly you answer a call from Vinny Barone to drive one of his Comp cars at the Division 2 Lucas Oil race in Bradenton, Florida this past weekend. Along with Anthony Bertozzi, who was driving Vinny's other car, they make up what might be the best one-two punch in Competition Eliminator history. Let's hope Dave is back in a Pro Stock car soon, and I know I speak for all the fans and every Comp racer out there.

As good as they are neither Dave nor Anthony won the race in Florida. Anthony went two rounds and Dave lasted three while Arnie Martel took Competition Eliminator honors at the first

Dave Connolly

divisional race of the year. Arnie almost pulled off the very rare divisional double when he also made it to the final round in Super Stock where he lost to Joe Teuton Jr....John Finke and Mickey Ferro grabbed the alky class honors, John in the dragster class and Mickey in Top Alcohol Funny Car.....I was in Phoenix this past weekend for the National Open at Speedworld Drag Strip and I have to say what a pleasure it was. Bill Botelho who operates the track and Bernie Longjohn, his manager, plus a very good staff, run a great operation and it was easy to see how much the racers appreciated the way they were treated. The racers out there (Division 7) have a busy couple of weeks coming up, with the "Open" race this past weekend, the national in Phoenix this week and then divisional races at Firebird Raceway and Tucson. A good three weeks could make a driver's season and go a long way toward deciding the national champions. Of course, the racers down south have the same opportunity with the Bradenton, Gainesville and Orlando division races along with the Gatornationals. That's a lot of good sportsman racing and I hope you get a chance to catch the action at one of those Lucas Oil races....And our prayers go out to Toby and Jody Lang this week. Their mom, Janet, a familiar figure at the races and on the starting line for so many years, passed away this past week. She was a wonderful lady who really supported her sons and we'll miss her at the track.

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