Tue, 21 Oct 2003, 10:33 PM It’s Put Up Or Shut Up Time!!

By Bob Frey Photo by:Auto Imagery, Inc.

Tony Pedregon

With two races to go, it’s time for Tony Pedregon and / or Whit Bazemore to put up or shut up, in other words, one of the two has to step forward and claim the POWERade Funny Car championship, something neither one has seemed ready to do over the last nine races. Did you know that, over that period of time, beginning with the Denver race and going through Dallas, Tony has won exactly 9 rounds and Whit has won 10? Since that time, when you figure in the qualifying points and the extra points for winning a race, and when you factor in Whit’s devastating DNQ in Pennsylvania, did you know that Whit has picked up a grand total of 29 points over those nine races and that’s with Tony averaging just one round win per event? Just for comparison, over that same time frame John Force has won 19 rounds, Dean Skuza has won 15 and Tim Wilkerson has won 12. It seems that the Funny Car Championship was there for the taking this year but no one seemed ready to take it!! With the difference being 114 points right now, Tony has to go two rounds further than Whit in order to clinch the title in Las Vegas or one round and a whole pile of qualifying points, while John would have to go about two rounds further than Tony just to stay in contention. Did you know that, if John gets eliminated from title contention this week, that it will be the earliest that he has been out of the title chase since 1989? Bruce Larson, the 1989 champ, wrapped up his title in Phoenix at the next to last race that year when he beat R.C. Sherman in the first round, while John was eliminated long before the tour even headed back toward Pomona. Everyone knows that John finished second behind Cruz Pedregon in 1992, but  do you remember where John finished in the points in 1989? How about 6^th?  He finished behind the champ, the “Snake,” the “King,” Mark Oswald and the “Ace” and just ahead of Tom Hoover, Art Hendey, Scott Kalitta and Mike Dunn but he had been mathematically eliminated a long time before then, in fact, when the tour left Maple Grove that year, John had no chance to catching the leader.

Whit Bazemore

How about this for a possibility this weekend? With a six round deficit and only eight rounds to go, what if Whit and Lee Beard decide to skip the first round of qualifying, or only make a half pass, and then they see where Tony is qualified. If the leader is in the top half of the field, the “Matco Tools” team then could try to get in the bottom half and maybe, I said maybe, get a first round meeting with Tony. Hey, it’s something to think about. Like at the last race, did you know that going into their final qualifying pass Tony Pedregon was qualified 5^th and Whit was qualified 12^th? In those positions it means that they could have met in the first round, so I wonder if the “Matco” guys ever thought about pulling out of line and trying to get Tony in round one? Probably not but something like that may be their only hope this weekend….Which ever driver wins the championship this year did you know that he will only be the 10^th different driver to win the FC crown since 1974? Amazing, isn’t it? And did you know that four of those previous champions only won the title one time, while the others all had multiple championship seasons? And the most amazing stat about the previous champs is probably centered around the 1984 champ, Mark Oswald. Did you know that Mark, after winning the championship in 1984, didn’t win a race, go to a final round or finish in the top ten the next year?...Ed McCulloch, who finished second to John in 1990, will be back with Bob Gilbertson this week and Bob will run the “Jungle Jim” gold car in Las Vegas. This is an interesting pair and I look for them to do well this weekend. Did you know that Bob’s last final round appearance came at Las Vegas in 2001 when he lost to Ron Capps and his crew chief, Ed McCulloch?...Ron’s “Skoal” team mate, Tommy Johnson has also won in Las Vegas but, as hard as it is to believe, did you know that Tommy’s last win came at the spring Vegas race in 2001? Now that’s amazing…..Arnie Karp could return to the FC wars this weekend if he gets everyone’s approval to do so. The driver of the “Artisan Home Entertainment” car is recovering from that knee injury that he suffered away from the track earlier this season and appears to be about 100%, which is more than we can say for the body on his race car. After that wild tire explosion in Dallas (with Cory Lee driving) the team had to get a new body and then letter it up in time for an appearance in Vegas tonight (Tuesday). Thankfully, the team was able to use the garage space of Pro Stock car owner and Las Vegas resident George Marnell in order to do some of the work. Nice job, George, I’m sure the “T-2” gang appreciates it, too.

Larry Dixon

Larry Dixon, who turns 37 on Thursday, is looking to run his win streak to four at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Did you know that Larry hasn’t lost a round, much less a race in Las Vegas since Don Lampus beat him at the end of the 2001 season? Since then Larry has reeled off three straight wins and won twelve straight rounds of competition in Vegas, not bad for a guy who’s closest encounter with a casino is probably when he drives by them on the way to the track. Even though he has already wrapped up his second Top Fuel crown, there are a few things that Larry would like to accomplish before the 2003 season is over. With eight national event wins and 58 round wins, did you know that Larry could still set the record for the most Top Fuel wins in a season and that he could break the record for most round wins by a dragster driver in a single year? The record for wins in a year is nine (Gary Scelzi and Larry) and the round win total stands at 61 which was set by Kenny Bernstein in 2001. So, you do the math, if Larry wins out he’ll have ten wins and 66 round victories which would both be records. By the way, did you know that the single season record for round wins in any professional class is 65? John Force won that many rounds in his record-breaking year of 1996 and Larry could break that this year. I said could….By the way, least I forget, did you know that Larry hasn’t lost in the first round this year and that means that he has gone 21 consecutive events without dropping a round one match? His last opening round loss was at the final race last year, but when you put this current streak together with the 30 race streak he racked up in between 2000 and 2002 it’s easy to see why this guy and this team are the champions….David Baca will mark his one year anniversary in the TF class this weekend. Did you know that the Las Vegas race last year is the only race where David has failed to qualify? And is it me or are some of you surprised at the voting count on NHRA.com about the “Rookie of the Year?” With Brandon Bernstein and David being the only two nominated, the voters are overwhelmingly selecting David as the choice. Now there’s a great topic for debate, that is, does David get credit for running and doing well all year even though he hasn’t won a race or should Brandon be the choice because of his great start to the season, a start that included three wins? And your choice would be? By the way I should mention that David Baca will be in the Budweiser Shootout in Pomona in a few weeks and that’s great for a rookie driver, or any driver for that matter... Shirley Muldowney will make one of her last two starts this weekend and I know that I’m not alone in this when I say that it would be a lot of fun to see Shirley win a race or at least go to a final round before she ends her great career.  Did you know that, to this day, Shirley’s margin of victory over Pat Dakin in the 1977 Top Fuel battle is still the biggest single margin for any driver in TF history?...KC Spurlock will return to action this weekend behind the wheel of the “Western Rock” team machine. Did you know this will be KC’s first trip to an NHRA quarter mile since the end of the 1995 season?

Greg Anderson

Greg Anderson has something in common with David Baca. Did you know that Greg also failed to qualify in Las Vegas at last year’s event? Well, as one of only two drivers to make every field this year (Jeg Coughlin’s the other) don’t expect to see Greg on the sidelines this year on Sunday, at least not before the final round. Greg has only lost in the first round twice this year and the last time was in Bristol and that was fifteen race ago, so I like his chances of going rounds this weekend. Like Larry, Greg still has goals even though he has already clinched the championship. He has ten wins this year and the record is eleven which was set by Darrell Alderman in 1991. He has been to the final round thirteen times and the Pro Stock record is 14 (Jeg and Darrell), and he has 59 round wins and the record is 62 which was also set by Jeg Coughlin. Of course he’d also like to win in Las Vegas which is the home track for his car owner, Ken Black….Since I mentioned the “Rookie of the Year” award earlier, I should mention that Jason Line will make his fourth and last start of the season this weekend, because if he starts at five races in a single year he wouldn’t be eligible for that rookie thing in 2004…Warren Johnson will carry the AC Delco colors this weekend as that company, the sponsor of the event, will bring over 4,000 people to the track on Friday and Saturday. Did you know that of all the tracks on the current NHRA schedule, Las Vegas is the only place where the “Professor” has never won? And if you like numbers, and who doesn’t in Las Vegas, did you know that this will be W.J.’s seventh appearance at the Strip? Maybe seven will turn out to be his lucky number.

Geno Scali

Geno Scali could lock up the Pro Stock Bike title this weekend, too. With a comfortable 151 point lead on Shawn Gann, all Geno has to do is keep pace with Shawn round by round this weekend and the title is his. With only one first round loss this year Geno has been the picture of consistency and that’s what it takes to win the championship. Geno will replace Angelle Savoie as the champ and I guess when that happens you could then pencil him in as the champ for the next three years. Did you know that the last two champs, Angelle and Matt Hines, both won the title in three consecutive seasons before giving it up?....Lloyd Strauss will make his first start as part of “Team Infinet,” the team that is owned by Mike Ashley of Pro Mod fame. By the way, didn’t someone say that Ashley would be joining John Force’s team in the near future? What, you said that’s Ashley Force? Are you sure?