Wed, 28 Dec 2011, 12:49 PM
The Best!
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By Bob Frey
Photo copyright 2011 Auto Imagery, Inc.
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Bob Frey
Photo by Lewis Bloom
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Ok, so it’s the end of the year and everyone is making up
their list of the favorite, the best, the worst, the strangest, the most
surprising and all those other things from 2011, so I ask the question, who am
I not to jump on the bandwagon? National
DRAGSTER does it every year and they just came out with their list in the
latest issue. In the interest of fair reporting I should note that I submit a
ballot (if that’s the right word) for that list in DRAGSTER. Every year, after
I submit my list, I wait for the issue with the results to see if any of my
suggestions made the cut. Almost always I am surprised at some of the things
that I missed, but the DRAGSTER folks didn’t. Hey, I’m only one guy so how much
can I do (no comments, please)? So now, with a very quiet week in the sport, I
thought I would share with you some of my “Best Of” results for 2011.
As you probably know, any list of this sort is very
subjective, that is, a race, a racer or an event that I think is the “best” may
not even make your top ten. I suppose that’s why the folks at DRAGSTER ask for
input from a variety of sources. Other web sites run contests or fan voting, or
like NHRA, they run a contest on “Facebook” to determine certain “best of”
winners. Well, if you read National DRAGSTER and that wildly popular (my words,
not theirs) Bob-Tales column, you
know that I don’t do “Facebook” or any of those other social media things.
Maybe if I had a social media specialist (I wonder where you can find somebody
like that?) I could or would, but that’s another story for another day. So,
with all of that said, here are some of my picks for 2011.
Greg Stanfield defeated Kurt Johnson
in the finals at the Finals.
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In the “Driver of the Year” category it’s easy to pick any
one of the Full Throttle or Lucas Oil World Champions, after all,
they didn’t get to be champions by being lucky. But I took a look at some of
the stats (even though I don’t do social media I do do stats) and came up with
my Driver of the Year. Drum roll, please! Greg
Stanfield. Here’s a guy who has done so many great things over the course
of his career and who did more in 2011. Sure he didn’t win the championship,
but he did finish in the top ten again and his “Nitro Fish” car was very competitive. It was competitive for a
couple of reasons. First of all Greg’s team did a good job of preparing the
car. It may not have been the quickest or the fastest this year but it always
seemed to get down the track, and in drag racing that’s a good thing. Did you know that Greg finished
in the top ten again this year despite the fact that he didn’t qualify number
one, set low elapsed time or top speed in the entire season? In fact, he did
the same last year when he finished second, and that brings me to the reason
that he is my Driver of the Year. Did
you know that, in 2011, Greg won eight rounds on holeshots and he
didn’t lose any on holeshots? Now in my book that’s the sign of a good driver.
Spencer Massey
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Plus,
did you know that he was
first off the line an amazing 75% of the time in 2011 and he did it all with an
average reaction time of .025? If you can show me a better driver in 2011 let
me know about it....
Did you know
that Greg was one of only two Pro Stock drivers who finished in the top ten in
2011 who didn’t lead the class in at least one statistical category at a single
race? The other was
Shane Gray...On
a more somber note, Greg’s dad, Howard, is having some health problems right
now and I hope you will all keep him in your prayers. It really does put things
like top ten finishes and reaction times in perspective when you know what the
family is going through....Others who should be on the list of good drivers in
2011 would have to be
Spencer Massey,
Robert Hight and
Jerry Savoie, all who had very
impressive numbers in their respective classes. Oh yeah, that
Vincent Nobile kid wasn’t too bad,
either. With four holeshot wins and an average reaction time of .022, he left
first over 80% of the time and had a great year.
Jirka Kaplan
Photo by Rich Carlson
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There were a lot of great runs in 2011 and I guess you would
have to put Matt Hagan’s 3.99 pass
in Charlotte at
the top of the list, but not my list. Ok, so it was a “barrier-buster” and those
are hard to find anymore, but there were a couple of other runs that were noteworthy,
at least to me. Among them would have to be Eddie Krawiec’s monster 199.29 mph pass in Gainesville and Cruz
Pedregon’s stunning 4.09 in Denver, but neither of them are my “best of.” I
went with a sportsman run, the amazing 5.974 pass that Jirka Kaplan made at the Division 6 race at Mission Raceway early
in the year. After struggling earlier in the event, he unloaded that
spectacular run and it got everyone’s attention. A five-second run in Comp
Eliminator was really something special, and to me that was the “Run of the
Year.” Jirka would go on to win Indy in what some are calling the “Strangest Run
of the Year.” That’s the one where Brian
Browell appeared to have the race won when Jirka got out of shape right off
the starting line. But, as that old adage goes, “it ain’t over until it’s
over,” and when Brian shut off Jirka stormed by to get the win, the biggest win
of his career in one of the strangest runs of 2011....There were a lot of runs
by the Full Throttle drivers that could have made the list including Mike
Edwards 6.496 pass in Gainesville, the first 6.40 run in class history, or Del Worsham’s record-setting run in
Reading, while in the Lucas Oil ranks John
Mehovitz, who ran 1.187 under his index in Pomona also warrants
consideration.
Massey defeated Worsham
in the Reading final.
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There were a lot of great performances in 2011 in every
class, so selecting the “Best Race of the Year” wasn’t easy. The Matt Hagan –
Robert Hight race at the Auto Club
Finals was outstanding, and for that matter, so was their final round
encounter at the Winternationals. The Del Worsham – Spencer Massey run at the
“Finals” was spectacular and so was the all Summit Racing team final in Gainesville,
the one where Jason Line beat Greg Anderson 6.554 to a 6.545. But in
the end I had to go with that great final round between Spencer Massey and Del
Worsham in Reading.
After all, how many times does a dragster driver make the quickest run in
history, set the record and lose the race? That’s what happened to Del in Reading, but then
he rebounded and won the championship and Spencer didn’t qualify at the Arizona race. Still,
when all was said and done, that was a great race, and in my mind it was the
“Race of the Year.”....Since I did pick a Lucas Oil race earlier I have to
mention that Super Comp final round at Gainesville.
The folks at National DRAGSTER pointed that one out (I told you they were
good), the one between Tom Dauber
and Edmond Richardson. Tom was .007
on the tree and Edmond
was .009 and then they both ran 8.900. In poker that’s what they call a “bad
beat,” in drag racing it’s called a Gatornationals’ championship for Tom. And
before you feel too badly for Edmond,
believe me, he has given out his share of “bad beats” over the year....lots of
them!!
Bob Vandergriff vs. Spencer Massey
in the final at Dallas.
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There is always a discussion about the “Most Improved” racer
in a given year and 2011 was no exception. For my money, and for what it’s
worth, I picked Bob Vandergriff. Not
just because of the win he had in Dallas,
but because he had a very good season overall. Sure, he didn’t make the top
ten, but all season long I kept watching him and his team as they made little
changes here and there and kept running better everywhere. In the end, that Texas win may have
pushed him over the top but it was just one race in a season-long effort that
saw him and his C & J Energy
team improve almost every week....For the last part of the season the “Most
Improved” would probably have to be Johnny
Gray. After missing the “Countdown” and a shot at the championship, Johnny
and his Service Central team got
hot, really hot in the playoffs and they looked like they had the car to beat
at all six of those races. The big question will be can they maintain that
momentum when 2012 begins, and from what I saw this year the answer would have
to be yes...In the Lucas Oil ranks there were several teams who seemed to
improve and the one that I thought did it the most was Fred Tigges. Fred, who has been racing for a number of years, made
some changes to his car and set-up and the results were very positive. He ran
well, made some career-best passes and made it to the final round at Indy. Ok,
so he lost to Frank Manzo there, but
who hasn’t? Congrats to Fred and his team for a nice job and for some major
improvements in 2011.....By the way, I nominate and select Frank Manzo in every
category. There, ‘nuff said!!
Jeff Arend vs. Mike Neff
in the final at Houston.
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There are some surprising races every year, in fact, there
are almost surprising races at every event, so to pick the “Upset of the Year”
is not easy. Certainly Bob Vandergriff’s win in Texas had to be considered an upset, although
if you put him in the “Most Improved” category like I did, maybe it wasn’t such
a surprise after all. I thought that Jeff
Arend winning in Houston
was an upset, not because the DHL
team wasn’t capable of winning, but because of the fact that they didn’t have
the best car there and they still won. Did
you know that Jeff started eliminations from the number ten spot in the
field? To win in any of the Full Throttle classes from the bottom half of the
field isn’t easy, and to do it in the Funny Car class, with all the talent in
the field, is really tough. Did you
know that in the entire history of the Funny Car class, and that spans
692 races, the number ten driver has won just twenty-one times? Even though it
might not be considered the greatest upset of all, when you’re starting from
the tenth spot and you win the race, that’s impressive. And did you know that Jeff had the slowest
winning time in every round of racing in Houston
and he still won the race?...Since I like to include a sportsman race or racer
in most of these categories I would like to nominate Kris Hool for winning in Brainerd as the “Upset of the Year.” Even
though there were only nine cars there and Frank wasn’t one of them, Kris and
his brother did a good job of winning rounds and claiming their first NHRA
national event win. Plus, they beat Paul
Gill in the final round, and even though he doesn’t have the pedigree of a Frank Manzo (but then, who does?), he
still has a very fast car and that was a nice win for the Hool family...Like
National DRAGSTER I have to admit that Eric
Dillard winning the Get Screened
America Pro Mod title at Indy was huge and a big upset. I wonder if Eric
knows who Marvin Graham is?
There were lot of other big stories this year and I’m sure
that the Del Worsham retirement, the Kenny
Bernstein retirement, the Larry Dixon whatever it was, the 60th
anniversary of the NHRA and others all merit consideration as top stories and
all made 2011 a very exciting year. So did Jackie
Alley winning a national championship and the great battle for Rookie of
the Year (which you could debate forever) between Vincent Nobile and Hector Arana
Jr.. And how about the “Sarge,” Tony
Schumacher, not winning a race in 2011? That was a surprise, an upset, the
story of the year and more....But all of that is behind us and by the time I
write my next column it will be 2012 and we’ll be looking ahead to the stories
of the new year. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the off-season and have a
Happy New Year!!
NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]
May 21- TOPEKA - Pro Mod Championship Points
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May 21- TOPEKA - Monday Pro Mod Wrap Up
May 21- TOPEKA - Monday Wrap Up
May 21- TOPEKA - Championship Points
May 21- TOPEKA - Summary of Eliminations in Top Fuel
May 21- TOPEKA - Summary of Eliminations in Funny Car
May 21- TOPEKA - Summary of Eliminations in Pro Stock
May 21- TOPEKA - Summary of Eliminations in Pro Modified
May 21- TOPEKA - Summary of Eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car
