Tue, 28 Jun 2011, 10:52 PM
I See A Pattern Developing
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By Bob Frey
Photo copyright 2011 Auto Imagery, Inc.
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There was band for pre-race entertainment.
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I could almost write the opening line of this
article by simply repeating what I said last week. If you recall, I mentioned
the fact that races that end on the day they are supposed to end are good races
while the others are, well, not so good. We did complete the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals on
the day we were supposed to but not without a lot of sitting around over the
weekend. Rain on Thursday and Friday played havoc with the schedule,
and in the end the Lucas Oil classes
were finished well after the Full
Throttle champions were crowned on Sunday. That's always a shame because it
deprives the sportsman racers of a little time in the spotlight by running
their finals in front of a big crowd. But in the end, the champs were crowned,
all thirteen of them, and the NHRA tour will now move
on to Chicago
next week. Please, I ask whoever is in charge of the weather, no rain in
Chicago!...In Norwalk, Bill Bader
and his family always do a good job of
providing extra entertainment for the fans, but because of the weather a few of
those little amenities were lost. Rain forced cancellation of activities on
Bill Bader Jr.
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Friday and that meant that there were no fireworks and no Bob Motz jet truck, two things that are almost as much a part of
the "Norwalk Experience" as dollar-a-pound ice cream. Oh well, maybe next year.
I will say this, the Baders, Bill Sr. and Jr. and the rest of the staff did the
best they could and they were out at the gates at the conclusion of each day
greeting the fans and getting their feedback about the day. Good or bad, and
most of it was good, the Baders always like to hear what their customers have
to say and that's why they are so successful. Now if only they could get some
good weather for their event. A few sunny days wouldn't hurt the rest of us,
either.
Del
Worsham won again, and in the process he increased his
points total to 884 and that's the most for any driver in any of the Full
Throttle classes. Del
beat Spencer Massey in a very good
Worsham celebrates win.
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Top Fuel final round and he won for the fourth time this year and that's also
the best in the pro classes. Del
qualified number one and went on to sweep the event which is a rarity for him. Did you know that in his entire
career, and that spans 444 races, this was the first time that Del has been the top
qualifier, set low elapsed time and top speed and won the event? And, it's only
the second time in his career that he has won from the number one spot, with
the other time being in Houston
at 2001. It also marks the first time
this year that any Top Fuel driver has swept the event. Did you know that this was only the second time in his
career that Del
set all the performance marks at a race? In Las Vegas in 2004 he was also number one, set
low E/T and top speed but he didn't win the race. Del's
Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara
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win was the 29th of his career and that ranks him 13th
overall on the all-time nitro win list.
I don't know about you but I have to believe that Del is enjoying his stay in the Top Fuel
class. Del
has had a very good career but he hasn't experienced anything like the success
he is enjoying this year and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy..Spencer Massey
isn't doing too badly in his first year with the FRAM team and his runner-up spot has him in second place in the
points. One of the keys to his success is the very good and extremely
consistent car that his crew, led by Todd
Okuhara and Phil Shuler, are
giving him. I don't normally keep track of these things but I am told that
Spencer has now made 36 consecutive passes down the track without smoking the
tires. Now I'm not a fuel crew chief but I think that's a very impressive
number, don't you? Getting down the track on a regular basis is a great way to
win rounds and races and that's why the orange car is and will be a title
contender this year. If you make that many runs down the track in the "Countdown"
you're going to finish very high in the points. Besides getting down the track
on every run, and that's a real credit to the entire team, Spencer also does
his job on the line. Even though he left a fraction of a second after Del in the finals, did you know that Spencer has
Spencer Massey
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been first off the line 83% of the time in his Top Fuel career? Not bad, is it?
By comparison, Shawn Langdon, who is
generally acknowledged as one of the best in the class, has been first off the
line 77% of the time in his career. Even in his days driving a Top Alcohol
Dragster Spencer was very good and he left first 85% of the time in that class.
Let's see, a good car, a good crew and a driver who does his job, that's why
the FRAM car will be in contention all year long..It wasn't quite as strange as
the Bristol race where four drivers ran the exact same elapsed time, but in
round one in Norwalk four drivers ran 3.86. Antron Brown went 3.865, Del
and Larry Dixon in their Al-Anabi twin cars ran identical 3.866
elapsed times, and Spencer ran 3.869. As often as folks talk about the "good
old days" I can guarantee you that the competition was never this close at any
time in the Top Fuel class. Of course running at 1,000 feet will give you more
times that are closer together, just like you would have even more if you ran a
shorter distance. Still, there are a lot of really good cars in the class this
year and that's what makes the racing so exciting..Tony Schumacher went a couple of rounds on Sunday and that gives
him 817 rounds for his career and that ties him with Bob Glidden for eighth place on the list of most rounds raced in
NHRA competition.
Mike
Neff
is amazing. That's it, he's just amazing. As the crew chief on the car and the
Mike Neff celebrates win.
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driver he is doing things that we haven't seen in quite some time in the Funny
Car class. He is also the first to acknowledge the rest of his team and the
great job that they do. As the driver, it's easy for everyone to see what Mike
does behind the wheel, but as a crew chief it's not as easy to see everything
he does behind the scenes. He was the one who decided to take the left lane in
the final round against Ron Capps
and that had to surprise everyone. I know it surprised me, and when I asked him
about it after the race he just said that his car seemed to run well over
there. "It worked out," he said, "but if it didn't I would have looked pretty
foolish." Mike hasn't looked foolish for a while and he padded his lead in the
Funny Car class, a lead that is now 124 points over Jack Beckman. Did you know that's the biggest
lead in any of the four Full Throttle classes?...The win was the fourth for
Mike as a driver and that ties him with another member of Team Force, Ashley Force, in the Funny Car win
Ron Capps
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column. Some other notable Funny Car drivers with four wins are Jim Epler, Jim White and Tom McEwen..Did you know that the win was the
199th for Ford in the Funny Car class and the seventh for Team Force
in 2011...Ron Capps had a good, if
not a wacky weekend. The NAPA Dodge
made it to the final round and that's the first time this year Ron has had a chance to run for the money. I say Ron's weekend was wacky because he ran 4.559 to beat
Jack Beckman in round two and 4.818
to beat John Force in round three,
and nobody figured those times would be good enough to beat those two drivers,
but they were. The win over John had to be especially good for Ron since "The Champ" has had Ron's
number throughout their careers. Did
you know that those two have met 65 times and John has won 42 of those
races? The 42 losses are, by far, the most by Ron
against any other driver, with Tony
Pedregon having the second-most wins against Ron
with 27. So you see, beating John is big for Ron,
but then it's big for every Funny Car driver, isn't it? Ironically for Ron, beating John in the semi-final round has been
his toughest job. Did you know
Tim and Kim Richards
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that the two have now met in 22 semi-final rounds, and with his win in Norwalk Ron has won five of those races? The final round
appearance was Ron's first since the
Sonoma race last year and that had to be good
news for everyone in the Napa
camp. Tim and Kim Richards seem to be getting a feel for this Funny Car class
again and I look for more good things from them as we head toward the
"Countdown.".Even though he has gone a while between final rounds, this was Ron's 64th final in a Funny Car and
that's very impressive. Did you know
that Ron's 64 finals tie him with Cruz Pedregon for third place in the
Funny Car ranks? Only John Force (213) and Tony Pedregon (76) have been to more
final rounds in the class than Ron
has. Just for the record, Ron's
first FC final came at the St.
Louis
race in 1997 when he beat Cruz Pedregon.
I don't know who gets the most credit for the
weekend in Pro Stock, Vincent Nobile
or Larry Morgan? Vincent won the
race but Larry took his Ford to the final round and that hasn't happened in a
Nobile celebrates win.
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long time. I don't mean it's been a long time for Larry I mean it's been a long
time for Ford. Did you know
that the last time a Ford was in a Pro Stock final round was in Columbus in 2003 when Scott Geoffrion lost to Greg Anderson? And forget about the last time a Ford won
because that was sixteen years ago, or when Vincent Nobile was three years
old..Vincent's win came in his fifth final round this year and that's exactly
half of the races that have been run so far. The Mountain View Tire Dodge is running so well and Vincent has moved
into third place in the points. Could this be a repeat of what we saw last year
with LE Tonglet, a rookie of the
year candidate and a Full Throttle champion? Don't bet against it.There were
lots of other exciting moments in the Pro Stock class including Greg Anderson winning the K & N Horsepower Challenge for the
fourth time. Did you know that
ties Kurt Johnson for the most wins
Kim, Greg and Cody Anderson
celebrate K&N Horsepower Challenge
win.
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in the specialty event? On the other side of the coin Mike Edwards was the runner-up and that makes eight appearances in
the "Challenge" without a win for Mike. Did
you know that the record is nine and that is held by Jerry Eckman and Mark Pawuk? K & N did a great job with the event and Harold Goldberg, who was selected as
one of the eight fans who had a chance at winning the new Ford Explorer, cashed
in when Greg turned on the win light. Thanks to K & N for a great program,
all the money and the world's coolest trophy...People often forget how long
Larry Morgan has been doing this Pro Stock thing so let me remind you that he
has been at it for a long time. His final round appearance was the 33rd
of his career which began in 1987 and has included 664 rounds of racing. Did you know that Larry's final
Harold Goldberg with his new Ford Explorer.
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round numbers are 14th best in the history of the class? And to be
competitive now with a Ford is something that the class has needed for a long
time..Erica Enders is going to win a
race real soon. She qualified at the top of the pack in Norwalk but was an upset victim in round one
when she slowed to a 6.77 and lost to Greg
Stanfield. Did you know
that is the second time this year that the 16th qualifier has beaten
the top qualifier in Pro Stock? It's also happened once in Top Fuel and not at
all in Funny Car this year. Still, Erica has a good car and it's only a matter
of time before she gets that elusive, first national event win in Pro Stock..Ron Krisher set top speed in the class and
that's the first time this year he has done that and only the second time since
the end of the 2002 season. He also recorded low elapsed time, and as hard as
it is to believe, did you know
that's the first time he has done that since the Atlanta race in 2008?
Eddie
Krawiec became the first Pro Stock Motorcycle rider to win
more than once this year when he beat Matt
Smith in the final round. The bike class, more than any other, really had
some strange moments in it, like Karen
Stoffer losing fire and not racing in round one and Hector Arana Jr., the number one qualifier, losing to GT Tonglet in round one. Of course
Krawiec celebrates win.
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nothing was more surprising than the reigning champ, LE Tonglet, not making the field. With a history of great champions
in the class, like Dave Schultz, John Myers, Angelle Sampey and others, riders who never missed a field in their
careers, it shouldn't come as a real surprise that LE is the first reigning
champ to miss a field in twenty-one years? "Pizza"
John Mafaro, the 1989 champ, failed to qualify at Columbus in 1990 and
that's the only other time a current PSM champ has failed to qualify for an
event..Like the car class, this was the second time this year that the top
qualifier lost in round one. Hector Arana Jr., who grabbed his first number one
spot, had mechanical troubles in the first round and exited early. The 16th
qualifier had only beaten the number one rider three times in the last three
years in the bike class and it's already happened twice in 2011. It looks like
all of the Full Throttle classes are evenly matched and that makes for some
great racing on Sunday. I hope the fans enjoy the racing, the surprises and the
upsets as much as I do...When Jr. grabbed the top spot he became just the 33rd
rider in 312 Pro Stock Motorcycle events to be number one. Others who did it
just once include Jim Bernard, Tom Bradford and Byron Hines.
The top qualifier made it to the final round in the
Pro Mod class but, once again, failed to close the deal. The class, which
continues to produce some very exciting action, has only had the top qualifier
win once in the two years that it has been an official NHRA category. Danny Rowe, who was number one, lost to
Mike Castellana in the final round
and that was Mike's second win of the year. Danny moved into second place and
Castellana celebrates win.
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Mike is now fifth while Khalid Balooshi,
who got off to a great start this year, is still at the top of the points..Rickie Jones made his NHRA Pro Mod
debut and it was a rousing success. Driving a Summit Racing-backed car, Rickie qualified second and made it to
the semi-finals before losing to Mike. I hope we see him on the tour again
because he provided a lot of excitement to the class.
Of special note in the Lucas Oil classes was the final round between Fred Hagen and Todd Veney.
Both are second-generation racers whose fathers used to race against each
other. Did you know that Fred Hagen Sr. beat Ken Veney at a Division 3 points race in 1984? Ken went to his first final round in
1973 and Fred went to his first final in 1980. It was great to see these two
families square off in the final round and a big congratulations to Fred for
getting his first NHRA national event win..I have to mention that Frank Manzo lost in round one only
because it is so unusual. Did you know
that the last time Frank didn't get out of the first round was 52 races ago at
the Chicago
event in 2005? Amazing, isn't it?...And
congratulations to Bob Marshall, the
Super Stock champ. Did you know that
this is Bob's first NHRA win in over 24 years? He won at Maple
Grove in 1986 and now in Norwalk.
There must be something about that track since Ben Wenzel broke his long drought there last year, and like Ben,
Bob won in Norwalk
in the same car that he won with 24 years ago.
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