Tue, 22 Jun 2010, 07:54 PM In Proper Perspective

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc.

The NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals was a very good race, and based on my theory of what makes a good race, the fact that it ended on the day it was supposed to end is a good thing. If my memory is correct, this was only the third race of the year, along with Pomona and Atlanta, that wasn't interrupted by rain. But as good as the race was, and there was some very good racing, there were two things that took place over the weekend that put a lot of things in perspective. The first was the presentation that was made to Jeff Byrd on Sunday. Jeff, for those of you who may not know, has been involved with drag racing since the early years of Winston's involvement and he is universally well liked. After a long career with R.J. Reynolds Jeff went to work with Bruton Smith and he has been Mr. Smith's "right-hand man" for years. Earlier this year Jeff had some health problems and he is still in the recovery process, and it's the first time in years that I can remember not seeing him at the races. On Sunday, Graham Light presented a special helmet to Jeff's wife, Claudia, and his son, Christian, a helmet that was signed by every Full Throttle racer who has won at Bristol in the last ten years. The helmet, which was painted by Chip Foose, was beautiful, but it was the sentiment that made it special. While there isn't anything we can do to speed Jeff's recovery, we can let him know that he means a lot to all of us and that we wish him all the best in his recovery process. Jeff is one of the truly nice people in the sport and I look forward to the time when he is back presenting trophies to the winners at Thunder Valley....The second moment was the tribute that was made to the late Shirl Greer. Shirl, who won the NHRA championship in 1974, passed away earlier this year and there was a moving tribute to him on Sunday. In addition to being honored during the pre-race festivities, Shirl's name was added to the Legends of Thunder Valley, and that's very fitting since he was the first racer to ever make a run down the Bristol track when it was first built. I had the pleasure of knowing Shirl and he was a great racer and a wonderful man. Two of his sons accepted the award and they also had a special presentation of their own. Since John Force once said that he has won a lot of championships, but not the first, he always admired what Shirl did. Shirl's sons heard that and they presented John with a special trophy honoring their dad. The trophy, which included the actual steering wheel from Shirl's car, was given to John on Sunday and then he promptly went out and won the race. Jeff Byrd and Shirl Greer are just two of the people that make this sport great and I'm glad we were able to acknowledge them this past weekend....Just for the record, and so I don't get letters, while Shirl was the first driver to win a Funny Car championship under the Winston banner, or in the "modern era" as it is sometimes referred, the first person to actually be crowned Funny Car champ was Gene Snow in 1970, the first year that Funny Cars were part of the regular national event schedule.

Force vs. Wilkerson

As mentioned, John Force did win the race and this was John's class-leading fourth win of the season and it also moved him back into first place in the standings. Did you know that the last time John won four races in one year was 2005? The win was also his third at Bristol and that's the best in the Funny Car class. I said it earlier this year and I'll repeat it, John may be the most improved pro driver in the sport this year and he is a serious threat to win the championship, and that's something we haven't said about him in a long time. I'm sure you often listen to John's interviews and hear him talk about getting old, well that may be true chronologically, but it sure doesn't show on the race track. Did you know that John beat all four of his opponents off the line on Sunday? You will often hear drivers talk about the staging process and how it affects the reaction time, but, simply put, someone usually leaves the line first and on Sunday that was John. Did you know that for his entire career John has been first off the line 57% of the time, and this year he has been first off the line 82% of the time? I'm sure that the car has a lot to do

Tim Wilkerson

with those numbers, but let's give the driver some credit and let's give John and his team credit for winning on Sunday....Tim Wilkerson was the opponent for John in the final round and it looked like it would be a good match, after all, Tim had run 4.233 in round one and that was the low elapsed time for Sunday. But in the final Tim had troubles, John didn't and Team Force got another win.....Bob Tasca and Del Worsham, the finalists from the week earlier, both had a good weekend in Tennessee and both made it to the semi-finals and both look like they may be hitting full stride as we head into the "Western Swing" and then the "Countdown." For Del, his two round wins gave him 376 in his career and that ties him with Gary Scelzi for seventeenth place on the professional list. But when you take just the Funny Cars, did you know the Del is fifth on the list of most rounds won? The Al-Anabi team is running well lately and they could be a real surprise when they get to the "Countdown."

Schumacher celebrates win.

The winner's circle in Bristol featured all heavyweights when Tony Schumacher and Mike Edwards joined John on the podium. Did you know that this was the thirteenth time that Tony and John have won at the same race but it's the first time they did it since Sonoma in 2007? Did you know that when Tony won his first race back in Dallas in 1999 John Force was the Funny Car winner? And as surprising as it may be, at least to me, did you know that it is the first time that Tony, John and Mike all won the same race? Something tells me that it won't be the last...Tony, who just continues to set records with almost every win, was in his 100^th Top Fuel final and that's the most in the history of the class. The great Joe Amato appeared in ninety-nine final rounds, and for a while that number seemed unreachable. Unreachable, that is, until Tony and his Army team started doing what they do and that is winning races. With the four rounds that he won on Sunday Tony now has 529 in his career. Did you know that also moves him past Joe (527 round wins) and into second place behind only Larry Dixon who has won 568 rounds in his Top Fuel career? Tony's 529 rounds are also sixth best in the history of the top three pro classes....Antron Brown made it to the final round, his second of the year,

Antron Brown

but he couldn't close the deal, which means that we still have had only three drivers win in Top Fuel this year. Antron did qualify number one for the event and that's the fourteenth time he has done that and that ties him with Mike Dunn on the Top Fuel list. Did you know that Antron reached his fourteen number one spots in just sixty races while Mike competed in one hundred seventy TF events? Antron's Matco Tools car has been running well, but just like every other dragster driver this year, beating the "Big Three" is easier said than done. Tony, Larry and Cory McClenathan have won every race this year and it will be interesting to see which driver breaks that stranglehold this year.....Antron's number one spot, and Ashley Force's in Funny Car, were good ways for those drivers to start the weekend, but if past history is any indication, they knew the excitement wouldn't last for long. Did you know that between the two of them they have qualified number one two dozen times, and between them they have won one race from the top spot? Antron won in Denver last year after qualifying number one and that's his only win from the number one spot. Ashley, meanwhile, qualified at the top for the tenth time in her career and she has yet to win from that lofty starting position. That will change, but as they go into Norwalk, Antron and Ashley may want to think about letting someone else have the number one position.

Warren Johnson

The final spot in the K&N Horsepower Challenge has been decided and it went to Warren Johnson. Now I know there will be those who think that maybe there was some fudging of the votes since K&N sponsors Warren, but I can't believe that for a minute. The fan voting was a great part of the program and if WJ is who the fans want in then so be it. Besides, what is K&N supposed to do, take Warren out of consideration? I love the fan voting and I applaud all the drivers who went out of their way to encourage participation. Erica Enders, for example, talked about it on her Facebook page and she almost got the last spot, but not quite. Hey, even Mike Edwards said a few weeks ago that he would vote for Warren, because as Mike said, "He deserves it." Mike got his wish and now he will get the "Professor" in round one of the "Challenge." Did you know that Mike's first appearance in this special race was back in 1997 and his first round opponent was,

Edwards vs. Johnson in '02 Challenge final.

you guessed it, Warren Johnson? And did you know that when Mike went to the finals in 2002 his opponent was none other than Warren Johnson?...Warren qualified for the Bristol race in the sixteenth spot, and did you know that in his entire career Warren has only been sixteenth eight times and that three of them have come this year?...Mike Edwards ran his win streak to four in a row when he beat Rickie Jones in the final round. Mike's win, the 28^th of his career, ties him with Darrell Alderman for sixth place on the all-time Pro Stock win list. Once again, just to put this into perspective, did you know that Mike has competed in 303 races to get his wins and Darrell's victories came in 270 races?...Allen Johnson looked like he was ready to break his Bristol jinx when he qualified number one, but, like Antron and Ashley, that top spot is like kryptonite to Allen. Did you know that this was his ninth number one spot and he has only won once after having the quickest car in qualifying? Allen's qualifying run of 6.722 on Saturday was very impressive and it shows what kind of power Allen has in his Dodge.....Vinnie Deceglie broke a long dry spell and he finally won his first

Deceglie vs. Anderson

round after twenty tries and he did it on a holeshot. Vinnie qualified eighth and then beat Greg Anderson in round one to pick up his first Pro Stock round win. Too bad he didn't have a monkey like Terry McMillen did earlier this year, because it must be nice to get that off your back. With help from Allen and Roy Johnson, Vinnie certainly has a good car and I think the round wins will come a lot easier now....Speaking of Roy, his new Dodge was selected as the Best Appearing Car at the race and then he made it all the way to the semi-finals in Stock Eliminator before losing to the classic Ford of Russell Johnson....Rickie Jones, his dad and their entire team did a good job just to get to the

Roy Johnson

finals after they broke an engine in the semi-finals against Allen. Rickie had been to two finals prior to this one but he fouled out in the money round, and that's a shame because Mike had problems of his own in the other lane. Let's face it, if you tell someone that Mike is going to run 7.57 against you I'm sure that you have to like your chances of winning. I don't think Rickie fouled as much as he rolled through the beams, but the end result is the same, a red light and a loss. Rickie is now 0-3 in final rounds and he joins a group of five other drivers, drivers who were 0-3 in their career. That list, by the way, includes Arlen Vanke and Dave Kanners, a couple of very good racers. Like Vinnie and his round wins, Rickie will get that first win and once he does, look out, because he will be tough. One of the really impressive things about Rickie's weekend is the fact that it comes after a pair of DNQ's in Chicago and Englishtown. Nice rebound, team!

It was another impressive performance for the Get Screened America Pro Mod cars and the Bristol fans loved them. In the end, Von Smith, the hottest driver on the circuit, won his third race of the year when he beat Jay Payne. Von and Jay have raced each other a lot in their Top Alcohol Funny Car days and they are carrying that

Smith vs. Payne

rivalry over to the Pro Mod cars. Did you know that Jay holds the edge, 8-4, over Von in the alky cars but he has yet to beat him in Pro Mod. Sure, they have only met twice, but still it's Von who holds the edge there. With the win Von extended his lead to ninety-two over second place Danny Rowe, while Jay is in third another five points back..The alky cars return to action this week and Frank Manzo may get a test, and I say that because Mickey Ferro and Steve Harker are both entered in the event and they are the next two best cars, performance-wise, to Frank. Also, Todd Veney, in Jay Blake's Follow A Dream car, and Brent Henry in the Parker family car, will also be in the field and they are very good cars, too. Throw in Clint Thompson, who is continuing his world tour, and Andy Bohl, the local favorite, and you have one of the best fields of cars in the class in a while and that should make for a very interesting weekend..Just for the record, Frank won the Norwalk race last year but in his first two trips there he didn't get out of the second round. Let's see how he does this time around.

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