Tue, 18 Nov 2003, 09:47 PM The State of The Top Fuel Union

By Bob Frey Photo by:Auto Imagery, Inc.

Bruce Larson

Before I get into a quick look back at this year’s Top Fuel wars I wanted to say thanks to the former Funny Car Champion, Bruce Larson (you thought I was going to say John Force, didn’t you?), for the really nice open house that he had this past weekend. Called “Drag-Fest,” the affair brought together hundreds of drag racing fans who talked about the good old days, told a few lies, I mean stories about the past, looked at Bruce’s incredible collection of cars, including his original “Dragonsnake” Cobra that he ran in the 60’s and generally had a good time. In addition, a couple of original paintings were auctioned off and the proceeds from that went to DRAW, a very worthwhile charity. I’d like to thank my good friend Mike Goyda for buying the beautiful picture of Bruce Larson behind the wheel of his USA #1 car for $500, money that DRAW can put to good use. It was a nice day, I got to talk to a lot of great east coast racers, including Tom Sneeden and Bill Stiles, renew some old friendships and generally enjoy myself. You should watch for it next year and try to make it for the 2004 version of Drag-Fest. It’s worth it just to see Bruce’s barn, if nothing else.

Next up, no, I don’t know who’s going to drive for John Force next year and neither does anyone else and that includes John. The champ is going through what must be a rather lengthy process that will have to come to fruition before too long, after all, the season starts in a few weeks. Well at least the testing does. All I can say is good luck to all of the applicants, and there must be hundreds of them…..Next, the announcement by the Quaker State folks at the PRI show will include both sponsors, teams and drivers. And contrary to what you may be hearing or reading elsewhere, the new car will be “green all the way,” which means no other major sponsor will be involved….The proposed and much talked about sponsorship with a major telecommunications firm seems to be headed down the home stretch and you could have some announcement on that front before the PRI show….And look for

Rickie Smith

Rickie Smith to be driving for engine wiz Richard Maskin next year and that’s a team that I think could surprise a lot of folks. Rickie can drive a car, we all know that and Richard certainly has a great history of making power so they could hit the ground running…Speaking of running, the first official tests of the new wheels that are mandated by NHRA for the Pro Stockers should take place down south somewhere next week. It won’t take place as far south as Florida nor as far north as the Carolinas, but somewhere in between (you can figure it out, you look like a bright crowd). From what I hear the new wheels really won’t affect the cars that much, maybe a hundredth or two according to my Pro Stock guru who lives out west somewhere, not as far west as California and not as far east as New Mexico, but somewhere in between (you can figure it out)….The Peter Lehman team has added Lance Larson, the new slim, trim Lance Larson to their team and that should be a real plus for them. Boy, wouldn’t it be great to see the Werner Enterprises team (or the 104+ Octane Boost team) at all of the NHRA events in the near future?

Dixon, LaHaie, and Prudhomme

Now, to the Top Fuel winner this year. Did you know that Larry Dixon and the “Miller Lite” team have been to 26 finals in the past three years? That’s 52% of the time that they go to a final round, and when you throw in the minimum number of first round losses that they have (4 total in the last three seasons), it’s easy to see why the blue car is the champ. Now, having said that, they also do well against the other big teams out there. Did you know that in 2003 Larry’s record against the Kalitta’s, the Bernstein’s and Tony Schumacher was 13 – 10? With his eight wins this year that means that Larry only lost to five other guys all season, and none of them beat him more than once. Doug Herbert, Jim Head, Darrell Russell, Paul Romine and Clay Millican all beat Larry once, and that’s it. Another reason why he is the champ is the fact that Larry hardly ever beats himself. Did you know that with all of the talk about the new LED lights this year Larry still hasn’t fouled out since the Bristol race in 2001? The team qualified #1 at four races this year, set low elapsed time at the same four races and recorded top speed at six events and that includes their sweeps of the Topeka, Denver and Seattle races and they qualified in the top five spots at twenty one of the twenty three race this year. Pretty impressive, huh? Now that’s the stuff that champions are made of. Throw in the fact that Larry is a genuinely nice guy, with a great family and a real love for the sport and its history and you have someone who can represent his team, his sponsors and his sport extremely well. Plus he’s got a really cool room downstairs in his house with his trophies and drag racing memorabilia along with several nice tributes to his dad that every drag racing fan should get to see. Of course Ali may have something to say about all those fans coming through her house but I’m sure we can work that out. Or maybe not!!

The Top Fuel class can only get better next year with the two Kalitta cars and Tony Schumacher appearing to be the top threats for Larry’s title along with, of course, Brandon Bernstein. The way the Budweiser car ran over the last couple of races this year only served as a notice that Brandon should be a real factor in ’04. When I was at Bruce Larson’s shop this week I couldn’t help but look at his championship car on the wall and see the name Tim Richards on it.

Tim and Kim

Tim has to go down in the all time list of tuners and crew chiefs as one of the very special ones in the history of the sport. He and his wife, Kim, and the rest of the Bud crew are the main reasons why Brandon should come to Pomona with as much chance of winning as anyone out there. Of course it looks like it’ll take 4.40 power next year to compete and that is the one thing that Larry and the Miller car didn’t do this year. But then they did win the title so I guess it’s kind of like golf, where you drive for show and you putt for dough. Did you know that Doug Kalitta recorded low elapsed time at ten races this year and he set top speed at ten, too?  And did you know that Doug won just two of those races? With the addition of Rahn Tobler to the Kalitta team they may have just what they need to be a real force in the 2004 TF battle, that is someone who is not afraid to “calm it down” once in a while which can be a very good thing on occasion. Doug’s five first round losses really hurt this year and if they can solve that problem, look out. Right now it’s a real battle between Connie and Alan Johnson to see who’s making the most power in the class, but like golf, you qualify and set the big numbers for show, you go rounds for dough.

Alan Reinhart called to tell me that he was with Alan Johnson this past week at the annual Blaine Johnson Memorial Golf Tournament and that they raised over $35,000 with the tournament and the auction that followed. All of the money will be put to good use as part of the Blaine Johnson Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Alan Hancock College a charity that has been near and dear to the hearts of the Johnson family for a long time. It’s great to see everyone chip in and help out and it’s especially nice when the Johnson family is involved because they are such great folks and have done so much for and meant so much to the sport for a long time…In that same train of thought, I will make my one “winter appearance” this weekend in Florida at the Darrell Gwynn charity golf tournament. No, I don’t play, but I do talk and I will be there to host the dinner after the tournament and help Darrell raise money for his foundation. I’ll have all the details next week. By the way, with the holiday season rapidly approaching, you may want to go to Darrell’s web site (darrellgywnn.com) and check out some of the great items they have up for bid, or just order one of Darrell’s books for yourself or a friend. My wife, Diana, read it and it brought tears to her eyes as she realized what Darrell and his family have been through and what they have overcome. Check it out…