Wed, 5 Jul 2006, 09:11 AM Enjoy Your Time Off

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2006 Auto Imagery, Inc.

With two weeks off during the middle of the season most teams have a chance to re-group and, maybe, even relax for a while. But they better enjoy it because the famous "Western Swing" is coming up. That, of course, is the three week time when there are three consecutive races and it used to be so tough because it was one of the only times during the year when there were three races in as many weeks. But since we're coming off three races in the last three week span that "swing" probably isn't quite as scary as it used to be. Still, when the first race is in Denver it gets everyone's attention. We'll talk more about the Denver race next week but for now I just thought I'd pass on some mid-season observations.

Kalitta vs Troxel

At this point in the season Melanie Troxel is the POWERade points leader in Top Fuel while Doug Kalitta is in second place, but you knew that. But did you know that the last two years the driver who went into Denver with the points lead did not win the championship? And did you know that the driver who went into Denver with the lead the past two seasons was Doug Kalitta? In 2004 that was the only time in the entire season that Doug led the points and when Tony Schumacher went to the finals in Denver he took over the lead and never looked back. Last year Doug went into Denver with the lead and when Tony won the race he took over the lead, and then Doug regained it in Sonoma before Tony took it back for good at Indy..As good as we all know Tony Schumacher and his Army team can run and as hot as they can get at times, right now it sure looks to me like three teams at the top of the pack, Melanie, Doug and Brandon Bernstein are the ones who will make a serious run for the championship. Do the math, Rod Fuller is in fourth place and he is 235 points behind the leader, Dave Grubnic is in fifth place and he is 249 points back while the "Sarge" is in sixth place and he is a full 250 points behind Melanie. I'm not saying it's impossible, especially when you have four really good teams there, but it would take a tremendous second half of the year for those teams to catch and pass all three of the teams that are in front of them. Of course, if memory serves me correctly, didn't Tony, Alan Johnson and the rest of the Army team go to nine final rounds at the last eleven races last year to win the title?....

Cory McClenathan

Since I mentioned Doug Kalitta, did you know that Doug has twenty-eight national event wins and that is the most for any driver in the Top Fuel class who has not won the overall season championship? Cory McClenathan also has twenty-eight to join that club and the two of them are tied for sixth place on the all-time TF win list. Ahead of them are Joe Amato, Kenny Bernstein, Larry Dixon, Don Garlits and Tony Schumacher. For the record, Doug has been in the top five in points in each of the past seven years and he has finished second in the points twice. Cory, by the way, has finished second four times in his great career. In case I didn't mention it before, did you know that Doug will be going into Denver riding a 150 race qualifying streak and that is, by far, the best in the class?..It will be interesting to see how Melanie and her Skull Shine / Torco team handle the pressure the rest of the year, and as always, these next three races can make or break a lot of teams. If you haven't voted for Melanie for the ESPY awards yet make sure you do so soon. The awards will be handed out in Los Angeles next Wednesday, ironically at the Kodak Theater where the POWERade awards ceremony was held for a few years. Melanie's toughest competition should come from Annika Sorenstam and Tony Stewart in the two categories of "Best Female Athlete" and "Best Driver" respectively. Both Annika and Tony won this past weekend at very high profile events and that can't hurt their chances..NHRA.com is running a poll that asks about the Rookie of the Year and, right now, Hillary Will is the leader. JR Todd is in second place with Alan Bradshaw third and it will be interesting to see how that plays out. Hillary, the odds on favorite going into the year, has competed at all twelve races so far and has five round wins. JR, with his Skull Shine team, led by Jimmy Walsh, has been to seven races and he has four round wins while Bradshaw, who drives the Bill Miller Engineering car, has been to five races and has three round wins. Both Hillary and JR will be at all of the races for the rest of the year and that should help their chances while Alan will probably rejoin the tour in Sonoma. If all three keep performing well it could be one of the closest battles for the rookie honors in some time...In the next few weeks there will be some news about new teams that will be joining the POWERade tour in 2007, and maybe by the end of this year. Those announcements will include a couple of very talented young drivers who will be moving up from the ranks of Top Alcohol Dragster. Stay tuned.

Capps vs Force

If the Top Fuel class is shaping up as a three-way battle, it's beginning to look like the Funny Car class is a two car affair. Ron Capps and John Force are way ahead of the pack and it would take a real collapse by one or both of them and a sensational second half of the year by one of the other teams to keep Ron or John from winning it all. Ron, of course, is also focusing on his crew chief, Ed McCulloch, who is recovering from his cancer surgery this past week. It was at this same time last year when "Ace" was first diagnosed with cancer and he came through that in good spirits, if not a little tired from the ordeal. Ed has asked a lot of us who knew about his situation to "keep it quiet and not make a big thing of it" and we respected his wishes. For now, as he recovers at home, our thoughts and prayers are with him and we want him to know that there are more important things in this life than winning a Funny Car championship. Having said that we all know that he'll probably be back at the track in Denver leading the Brut team into the second half of the season..Like Doug and Cory in Top Fuel, did you know that Ron Capps and Del Worsham both have twenty-one wins in the Funny Car class and that's the most for any driver who has not won the championship? Ahead of them in the win column are John Force, Don Prudhomme, Tony Pedregon, Kenny Bernstein and Cruz Pedregon all of whom have won at least one season title. Like Doug and Cory both Ron and Del have finished second in the points (Ron has done it three times) and both are regular figures in the top ten in points. Del, by the way, will make his 2006 IHRA debut at Milan, Michigan this week.

Del Worsham

Did you know that Del is the defending IHRA Funny Car world champion? Del won the crown in 1992, the last year that IHRA ran the class at their races, and the Milan race will be his first back on that circuit since then. By the way, did you know that the 1988 FC champ on the IHRA tour was Ed McCulloch? And just for fun, did you know that when Ed won his title in '88 the tenth place driver in the points was John Force? Anyway.Ron and John should both be prepared for a great second half of the year and it should give the fans something to cheer about. Ron has already enjoyed the best first half of a season in his career while John has suffered through one of his worst starts, that is, if "suffer" is the right word. In 2003 John didn't win a race until the Denver event and he also didn't win the championship that year. In 2006 he has done better by going to six final rounds but his one win is still among his lowest totals during his long championship run. In addition to that 2003 slump, in 1998 John had five finals and one win going into Denver although he did go on to win the championship that year just beating out Ron Capps. Like I said about the TF cars, take nothing away from any of the other teams, but if anyone other than Ron or John wins the FC crown this year it will be the biggest come from behind win in the history of the sport..Look for a few major sponsor announcements coming in the FC class in the next few weeks and that will include announcements about who is and who isn't going to be on cars for the 2007 season. Some of them will be quite surprising.

Anderson vs Line

Pro Stock has always been a very competitive class and this year is no exception. At the halfway point Greg Anderson still leads the points but he is getting a serious run from Jason Line, his fellow Summit Racing Pontiac driver and at least four others. Dave Connolly, Jim Yates, Kurt Johnson and Mike Edwards all are close enough to make a run at the championship over the second half of the year. Mike, the most recent winner on tour, is in sixth place but he is only 120 points, or six rounds behind Greg. Did you know that Greg has led the points for fifty of the last fifty-five races? Right now it appears that all of the top six drivers have cars are that good enough to go the distance and the key may be which driver makes the fewest mistakes, and among those mistakes will be red lights and holeshots. A quick check of the stats finds that Greg has recorded low elapsed time at five races so far this year, while in his most dominating year, 2004 he had done so at ten of the first twelve races of the year. So it looks like the rest of the field had gained ground on him and it will be interesting to see what the second half of the year brings, but I will be surprised if we don't have at least four cars still in the hunt late into the season...Kurt Johnson, who is in fifth place about five rounds behind the leader, has thirty-four wins and that ties him with Jeg Coughlin for fourth on the all-time list and it also makes him the driver with the most wins without ever having won the championship...The switch for Erica Enders to a Dodge and the Don Schumacher camp is one of the big stories of the year in Pro

Erica Enders

Stock right now. Erica, who had a great start to the year, has fallen off a bit lately and she'll look for that renewed spark when she goes to Denver. David Nickens said on NHRA.com that he isn't worried about having enough good cars and engines for the new teams, which includes Gene Wilson driving a special one-race Scott Geoffrion tribute car in Denver, but I guess only time will tell. I don't know much about running a Pro Stock car but I do know that David will have his hands full in Denver and beyond. I also know that if anyone is up to the task it is David Nickens. ...I have said before and I'll say it again, I will be stunned if there isn't a Jeg Coughlin announcement soon about his future and his return to the Pro Stock ranks. Now that I've said that, Jeggie hasn't done too badly on the bracket racing circuit lately where he won a couple of big money events but I still think he wants to drive a Pro Stock car again and I think we'll see him in a car in the very near future..With all of the talk about Erica and her departure from the Victor Cagnazzi team let's not forget who is providing the power for Dave Connolly and his car this year. That's right, Victor and his guys back at the shop..By the way, in case you hadn't noticed, with his DNQ in St. Louis, the "Professor," Warren Johnson, has dropped out of the top ten in points where he has been replaced by V. Gaines.

Angelle Sampey

If red lights are going to be a factor in the car class imagine how important they will be in the motorcycle class for the rest of the year. Did you know that there have been more foul starts in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class already this year than there have been in the other three pro classes combined? Thirty fouls in the two-wheel class as opposed to twenty-eight in the other three pro classes. Something's got to be done about that. I don't know what or by whom it should be done but I know that it takes away a lot from the enjoyment of the class, at least for me....How about a three-tenths pro tree for the motorcycles? Just a thought..Angelle Sampey leads the way in the points but she is only about a round ahead of the defending champ, Andrew Hines, while Chip Ellis and Antron Brown are each within a hundred points of the leader. For the record, Antron has four fouls this year, Andrew and Angelle each have two while Chip only has one. Mark my words, the team with the fewest foul starts the rest of the way will win the championship..

On Thursday we'll take a look at the sportsman classes as we head into the second part of the season. For now, a big congrats to Frank Manzo and Spencer Massey, among others, who won Lucas Oil divisional races this past weekend.And I spent Saturday night at Atco Raceway shooting a segment for the NHRA 2day show next week. I have to tell you, the regular racers at Atco are as good as any that I've seen in my travels around the country over the past few years. If you want to try your hand at bracket racing, stop by Atco because if you can win there you can win anywhere.