Wed, 22 Oct 2008, 10:52 AM What Week Off?

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2008 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Bob meets "Bisbee Bill" New

If I got one I got a dozen calls last week asking me what I was going to do on my weekend off? Everyone assumed that since the NHRA POWERade season was taking a week off (two, actually), that I would be living the life of leisure for a couple of weeks, you know, doing the stuff that big-time drag racing announcers do when there are no races. Well, since I travel around during the year shooting segments for the "Inside Drag Racing" show, there really aren't a lot of weekends off in my world. This past weekend, for example, I traveled to Boise, Idaho to attend the Halloween Classic at Firebird Raceway. It was a very enjoyable weekend and I ran into a lot of drivers who were also racing even though it wasn't at a national event. Mark Faul and Brad Plourd were there and so was Aaron Marcum who was coming off a big weekend at the "Million Dollar Race" recently. All were enjoying the hospitality of the New family and the racing was very intense. Between rounds, families got to take their children trick-or-treating throughout the pits and visit the dozens of trailers that were specially decorated for the occasion.

Bob interviews "Bessie the Cow" also known as announcer Stevie Wong

When I asked Scott New about the idea for the Halloween Classic he quickly referred to the Bader family. "They really turned us on to this about fifteen years ago," Scott said. "We couldn't have done it without them." Well, if you missed the Firebird event you still have time to catch the original when Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, hosts the original K & N Halloween Classic this weekend. Actually, the event is underway already but it will culminate with the big show over the upcoming weekend. It is, by all accounts, a "must see" event and I hope you get to check it out on your weekend off!

Guger and Flynn

Even with the off-weekend from national event racing, there was a lot of news and most of it centered around crew chiefs and the movement that they are making next year. The first big story was from the Budweiser/Lucas Oil team of Kenny Bernstein. The "King" announced that his longtime crew chiefs and friends, Tim and Kim Richards, were retiring at the end of the year. That, of course, opened up a job with one of the top teams in the sport and it didn't take long for Kenny to fill that void. Rob Flynn, most recently with Rod Fuller and the David Powers team, will take over for the Bud team next year and he will be joined by Mike Guger, who actually began his fuel career with Kenny back in 1982. That, of course, opens up the question about who will fill the job on Rod's team next year, but I guess we'll have to wait and see since there hasn't been an announcement with regards to that yet.During his week off (this week) Rod Fuller is in Texas to do another display for the folks at Caterpillar, Holt Caterpillar to be exact. That Caterpillar sponsorship is a program that seems to be working for everyone involved, doesn't it? ...As much as the

Richards celebrates with Amato team.

speculation is running rampant about who will be the driver for Alan Johnson's dragster next year, he is in a completely different situation than a team that is looking for a good crew chief. Alan can almost name his terms for a driver, while a team owner looking for a really good fuel crew chief is in a tough spot. There are a lot of very good, very talented people working on fuel teams but not a lot of them with actual crew chief experience. And there are a lot of team owners who only want to go with a proven commodity as their crew chief as opposed to promoting someone from within which brings up the question, where do you find those people? Other than switching people around from one team to another, getting a good, competent crew chief is a tough proposition right now. I still think are some very talented people in the alcohol ranks, like a Bob Newberry or a Steve Boggs, who would make great crew chiefs in the pro classes, but how many owners are willing to take a chance on an "unknown commodity?" The answer is, not many. Anyway, Rob and Mike will do a good job with the Budweiser team next year while Tim and Kim will do, well, whatever they want to do next year. Hey,

Kim Richards

maybe they'll go to Boise or Norwalk for the Halloween races....There are a lot of people who are not drivers who are in the Drag Racing Hall of Fame and it would be hard to argue with the selection of Tim Richards to the Hall in the near future. Did you know that Tim has won national events with Chuck Etchells, Whit Bazemore, Joe Amato, Connie Kalitta, Kenny Bernstein and Brandon Bernstein? By my count that's seventy-seven national event wins in the fuel classes and, when you throw in the ones he won with Joe Amato in the alcohol dragster class you come up with over eighty national event wins as a crew chief. And that's just on the national event level, since Joe won a lot of divisional races with Tim as his crew chief the number is probably well over ninety wins. Good enough for the Hall of Fame? I think so. Did you know that, before he started working with Joe, Tim was a very accomplished driver in his own right? As a matter of fact, I announced at Atco in 1971 when Tim won his first divisional race in Super Stock. Tim beat the classic Chevelle of Ray Allen in the semi-finals before beating Ken Montgomery in the final round and he finished second in the Division 1 Super Stock standings that year to Tom Myl. Tim has always loved drag racing and the sport will certainly miss him when he retires..Kim (LaHaie) Richards also has a great resume and she bring talents as a tuner and a driver to the table. Of course she was instrumental in her dad's career, from UDRA

Spencer Massey

champion to NHRA champion, and she even tried driving for a while back in 1992. Together they formed a dominating one-two punch, and working together they tuned some of the best fuel cars in the sport to some of their brightest moments. For those of you who follow the wonderful world of stats you'll be pleased to know that Kim's first round of racing at an NHRA national event came at Phoenix in '92. Honest!!...Spencer Massey didn't take the week off, in fact, the young driver probably had the busiest and best week of his life. First it was announced that he had signed a deal with Don Prudhomme to drive for the "Snake" in 2010 (or earlier if something becomes available) and then he went out and won the IHRA World Championship. Spencer has a very bright future and when people think about his IHRA championship they should also think about the guy who tuned his car. That's Paul Smith,

Alan Johnson

isn't it? And then they should go back and read my earlier paragraph about finding a good crew chief....Someone called me this week and asked me if Alan Johnson had ever driven a car in competition. When I asked why, they said because he was going to drive his own Top Fuel car next year. After I stopped laughing I said that he had, indeed, driven the family's alky dragster years ago but with limited success. Did you know that "AJ" finished 16^th in the points in 1987 after finishing 39^th in 1984 and 49^th in 1985? He went to his only final round as a driver at the Division 4 points race in Dallas in 1987 where he beat Eddie Baumann and Amy Faulk before losing to Gary Travis. I guess, since I mentioned that I laughed, I should point out that Alan won both of those rounds on holeshots. Hey, maybe the idea of him driving isn't so far-fetched after all. I think the only way that Alan would drive the car next year would be if I weren't available to do it. There, now he can laugh, too.

Terry Haddock

Even though I mostly concentrate on the NHRA teams and races in this column, I have to take a moment to congratulate Terry Haddock for winning the IHRA Funny Car crown. Terry, whose early career in the Funny Car class made John Force's early years look like a walk in the park, clinched the championship in Rockingham last week. While John saw Elvis at 1,000 feet, Terry hardly ever made it to 1,000 feet in his early years. Terry has overcome so much in his professional and personal life and that has to make this championship even more special. With help from Mike Ashley (financial and emotional help) Terry won the championship and he adds his name to a long list of champions on the IHRA tour, a list that includes Dale Creasy Jr. who is still recovery from the injuries he suffered earlier in the year. The list also includes such greats as Del Worsham, Dale Pulde, Kenny Bernstein and Raymond Beadle. And no matter how you look at it that's a nice list to be on and this is a great accomplishment for Terry and his entire team and they all deserve a lot of credit....The Funny Car championship on the NHRA side of things may prove to

Pedregon vs. Beckman

be the most interesting of the pro classes this year. With Cruz Pedregon's win in Virginia we have five drivers within five rounds of each other and that could make for some interesting racing in Las Vegas. All it will take is an early stumble by either Tim Wilkerson or Jack Beckman, the top two drivers in the points, and the other three guys, Cruz, Tony Pedregon and Robert Hight could move into the lead. And we all remember what happened in Las Vegas last year, don't we? That's where Tony Pedregon won the race after the other top contenders all went out in the opening round and that gave Tony a huge advantage going into the last race of the year in Pomona. Could we be in for that kind of an opening round next week? Stay tuned.It was after the Vegas

Rendering of Hight's Dodger car.

race last year that both Melanie Troxel and Bob Tasca went out and made runs in Funny Cars during the Monday test session. Melanie got her FC license one year ago and Bob, who was running in Cruz's car, took a few more passes before getting the upgrade from the alky classes. Both have done well in their first full year in the class.There is a nice in-depth interview with Robert Hight in the current issue of National Dragster. Robert talks about being part of the Team Force operation and how he and Mike Neff often compare notes about driving. It's hard to believe that Robert is the second longest tenured driver with John's team, isn't it? I guess Robert will still be running the Los Angeles Dodgers tribute car at the last two races of the year. Robert is a life-long Dodgers' fan and he even got to throw out the first pitch at a game earlier this year. Robert and I made a little wager on the outcome of the Phillies-Dodgers series and he actually was text messaging me from the game last week, the last game for the Dodgers. I think the bet was for a new car but I could be mistaken. Robert says it was for dinner at the Waffle House. Do they even have them in California?...

Jeg Coughlin

Almost everyone that I have talked with this past week likes Jeg Coughlin's chances to win his second consecutive and fourth overall Pro Stock championship. Jeg has a seventy-four point lead over Kurt Johnson and that's more than three rounds with eight rounds of racing remaining. And, from what the experts that I talk to feel, they say that Jeg isn't the kind of driver who will make a mistake that will take himself out early at one or both of the remaining races. Plus, Victor Cagnazzi has surrounded him with a good team and given him a good car and that's a tough combination to beat. Having said all of that, Dave Connolly runs out of that same

Kurt Johnson

shop so you can apply all of those things to him, too. On the other side of the coin Kurt Johnson isn't about to go away and Greg Anderson is always a threat, so it should be a fun couple of weeks in Pro Stock..The one thing that surprises me about the class is that some of the top guys in Pro Stock, like Jeg, Kurt and Greg have not won a race in the "Countdown." You have to pencil one or two of them in for a win before the season is over, and if someone should be fortunate enough to win both races they could win the championship, and that could happen since it's hard to believe that three of the top four drivers in the standings will go through the "Countdown" without a win....Strictly by the numbers, Jeg has done the best job in the "Countdown" by posting nine round wins and moving from third place after Indy to first place after Dallas. Dave is next best with seven round wins while Kurt has recorded five round wins and Greg, three. Since all of those drivers have what it takes to put two wins together I still think this thing is wide open and I wouldn't be upset if I drew any of their names in our office pool.

Matt Smith

It seems like a long while since the motorcycles raced but they will return to action next week in Las Vegas. Matt Smith, the leader right now, has about a two round edge over Eddie Krawiec with eight rounds to go but the championship race is far from over, although it does appear to be a two-man race right now. In following the blogs on NHRA.com, it seems that Matt has been anything but bored over the past few weeks. He has raced at an all-Harley race and won that and then spent some quality time watching his dad, Rickie, race his wide variety of cars. When I interviewed Matt for the 2008 Year in Review DVD that is being put together (and it will be a really nice piece with a completely different format than last year's), I asked him who he would like to race in the final round with all the marbles on the table? You know, one run that you had to win for the championship. And without hesitating he said "Angie." Now why didn't I think of

Eddie Krawiec

that?...There is the possibility that Eddie could win the championship without winning a race. I'm sure he would rather put one in the win column before the end of the year but, if things fell in place for him, he could be champ without the benefit of a national event win. Admittedly it's a long shot, for sure, but stranger things have happened..Steve Johnson also hasn't been just sitting around. The rider of the Snap-On Tools, Wyotech Suzuki has been rubbing elbows with all sorts of people including several NASCAR drivers and the wife of presidential candidate John McCain. He did all that in Charlotte where he attended the NASCAR race and got to hang out with the drivers and celebrities who show up at those events. It must have been fun to watch him go from one star or celebrity to another because, as we all know, nobody works a room better than Steve Johnson.

Scott Benham

Mike Manners and Roger Bateman will have their names in the NHRA record and history books. Following their wins at the Division 4 race in Noble, Oklahoma, both Mike and Roger will go down as the first two drivers ever to win in the alcohol classes at a 1,000 foot race. It seems there were some concerns about the shut-off distance in Noble and, when notified, the Division 4 staff and the folks in Noble beefed up the restraining barriers at the end of the track, but when that still wasn't enough, they made the changes they thought they had to make to accommodate the racers. They had a huge turn out of alky cars and everyone seemed pleased with the results. A tip of the cap to all involved for working together to get the race completed....Scott Benham had a pretty good weekend in Noble. Scott not only won the race but he won the Division 4 Comp Cash Rewards program and that netted him a cool $25,000. Set up by Rodger Brogdon, the program requires drivers to run at least three of the D-4 races (or the Cajun Sportsnationals) in order to be eligible for the cash. From what I heard, there were twenty-three drivers eligible going into Oklahoma, eighteen showed up and four made it to the semi-finals. Scott beat Joey Tanksley in the semi-finals before beating Kevin Self in the money, and I do mean the money round. And, if you read my story two weeks ago I mentioned how Scott was a long shot for the Competition Eliminator World Championship and all he had to do, I said, was win his last three races. Well, that's one down.