Tue, 27 Apr 2010, 08:18 PM It Can Only Get Hotter

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Kenney Goodell Photo by Steve Reyes

Before I get into this week's story I wanted to mention the passing of two people. Richard Parks sent along the information that his mother, Mary Mant Parks, who married Wally Parks in 1935 and was married to him until 1956, died earlier this month. Richard said that his mom met Wally when she was a waitress and he walked in and ordered a hamburger. "She told us she had a premonition at that moment that she would marry him," he said. "She was proud of everything he did and told everyone about him," he added. "Dad and mom used to take us out to the dry lakes to watch the cars run. It was an all day family trip over a lot of dirt roads." Mary was born in 1917 and lived through the Great Depression, World War II and the recovery that followed. "She knew a lot of the racers who were instrumental in creating both land speed racing and drag racing." Mary was 93 years old..Kenney "The Action Man" Goodell also passed away recently. Kenney, who ran a string of Funny Cars on the national and the match-race circuit in the 1970's, was one of the top racers from the Northwest and his cars were always among the best appearing machines in the country. A crash in 1976 kept him out of action for a while but he did come back to race a few years after that. As recently as 2005 Kenney was running an Anglia in some bracket classes at tracks in Washington and Oregon, and like all of the other cars he drove, it was immaculate. While Kenney was most well known for the string of Plymouth Funny Cars that he ran in the mid-1970's, he did run a very early Ford Mustang Funny Car back in 1967. Kenney was a fixture in the Northwest for many years and was always one of the most popular drivers on or off the track. The "Action Man" was 64.

I forgot to mention last week that I applaud the decision to return to the 4-wide format next year at zMax Dragway in North Carolina. That announcement was made while we were in Las Vegas (at another one of Bruton Smith's race tracks) and I think it's a good one. Now before I continue I have to state the obvious, nobody asked me my opinion nor did I expect them to, but it's been no secret that I liked the idea of the 4-wide racing when it first came up and I liked the execution of it. Was it perfect? No. Was it exciting? I thought it was. Can it be a real plus for our sport? Absolutely. Do we need to continue to do new things to make our sport better and more attractive to fans and sponsors? Of course. Now I'm not saying that racing 4-wide is going to take our sport to that proverbial "next level," but I will say that it's a good step toward getting more media exposure and attracting new fans to our sport. Sure, there were those loyal drag racing followers who didn't like it, and there were racers who didn't like it, but sometimes you have to look at the big picture if you want to grow your business. And, even though some loyal fans may not like it, sometimes you have to make decisions that are for the betterment of the sport that are not uniformly popular. Racing at 1,000 feet was such a decision and there are those who don't like that, but it was a necessary decision at the time. Racing 4-wide is different, certainly, but like the "Countdown" and the bonus points for qualifying and the twelve drivers keeping their times after qualifying on Friday instead of the traditional sixteen, these are things that have been implemented in an effort to make the sport better. Not everyone likes them, but I think everyone wants to grow the sport and you can't do that by doing nothing....Following the 4-wide race I spoke with a lot of people and heard from a lot via e-mail and phone calls, and from what I heard, the results were mixed. Several people really loved it and wished they were there to see it in person, while others said that it was hard to follow, and that included both those who were there and those who watched it on television. So, like I said, it's not perfect, but I do think it was exciting and interesting enough that it deserves another chance, and following the announcement, apparently so do a lot of other people.

Dixon at the ADRL race. Photo by Roger Richards

Las Vegas was hot, but as we all know, with the summer coming on it's only going to get hotter and that always makes for some interesting racing. Maybe not faster, but interesting. Over the years the race at Gateway International Raceway has been hot and only time will tell what the weather will be like this weekend..So what does the Top Fuel points leader do on his week off? Of course, he goes to a drag race. Larry Dixon, who took over the points lead with his win in Las Vegas, spent some time this past week in Valdosta, Georgia at the ADRL race. The fact that his car owner, Sheik Kahlid Al-Thani was there may have had something to do with it, or maybe Larry just likes eighth-mile racing. Gee, eighth-mile racing, now that would get a lot of the traditional fans up in arms, wouldn't it? Or would it?....Also seen in attendance at the Georgia track were Tim and Kim Richards who were also hanging out in the Al Anabi pit area. Let's see, Frank Manzo, Howard Moon, Alan Johnson and Tim and Kim all in the same pit area, now that hardly seems fair does it?....Larry and his Al-Anabi fuel teammate, Del Worsham, will head to St. Louis this week as the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing tour heads to Gateway International Raceway for race number seven of

Cory McClenathan

the year. Larry, on the strength of his three wins, holds a one point lead over Cory McClenathan and he is off to his best start since his championship years in 2002 and 2003. Could it be that it just took this team one year to come together and that now they will be the team to beat? That's a question that only time will answer but, from what I've seen so far this year, the maroon team is very solid and I wouldn't be too disappointed if I drew them in the office pool to win the championship....Speaking of drivers who are off to a good start, Cory and the FRAM team certainly are. Did you know that, after six races, Larry has a record of 15-3 and Cory has a record of 15-4? Running out of Team Schumacher, with Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler, Cory has a car that can run with anyone and there's no doubt that he'll be in the title chase all year. By the way, I wonder if Cory liked the 4-wide format?....Doug Kalitta hasn't won a race yet this year but he is still off to a very good start. Doug has won eleven rounds so far this year and that's much better than in recent years. Did you know that it wasn't until the Denver

Doug Kalitta

race last year that Doug won his eleventh round and in 2008 he didn't get round win number eleven until Indy? Whatever they have done in the Kalitta camp seems to be working and you can pencil Doug in as one of the ten who will run for the championship once the "Countdown" begins...If any of the top three points guys in Top Fuel have an advantage going into the weekend it would have to be Doug. Did you know that he has won the St. Louis race three times and neither Larry nor Cory have ever won at Gateway? In fact, of his twelve races there Cory has lost in the first round seven times while Larry has four round one losses and a DNQ there. Cory even had one year, 2006, where he didn't answer the bell for round one after a wild ride in his last qualifying session. I don't know if any of that means anything other than the simple fact that Doug has done well there while the other two have struggled. Let's see how it plays out this weekend.

John Force

John Force has won half of the races so far this year and he's going to a track where he has multiple wins. Of course John can say that about a lot of tracks and events. Did you know that John has won two or more races at twenty-two different events on the NHRA tour? And did you know that at twenty of those events he has won three or more times? Pretty impressive, isn't it? So is the way that John is running this year and his 25^th anniversary Castrol GTX Ford is a legitimate title contender. Did you know that John already has fifteen round wins and that it took him until Brainerd last year to win that many rounds? Now that's quite a turn around. I never thought I would say this but John could qualify for the "Most Improved Pro" racer this year. Besides his improvement on the track John also seems to have a renewed enthusiasm in his interviews and his overall approach to racing, and it took a big shakeup in his operation at the beginning of the year to accomplish those goals. I don't have any inside knowledge but it seems that everyone in the Team Force camp is happy and that's the

Ron Capps

kind of stuff that championships are made of...If history means anything look for Ron Capps to go rounds this weekend. The driver of the NAPA Dodge is currently in fourth place in the points and he's coming to a track where he has done well in the past. Did you know that Ron has more wins at Gateway than any other Funny Car driver and his win there in 1997, at the inaugural event, was his first win in a Funny Car? Actually, when you look at his career at Gateway it appears that it's either all or nothing for Ron. Did you know that of his thirteen trips to the Illinois track Ron has been to the final round four times, but he also has three round-one losses and a pair of DNQ's there, too? He also has been to the semi-finals on his other four trips to Gateway, so like I said, he either loses early or goes deep into eliminations....Dale Creasy Jr. will be in action this week and it's always good to see "Peanut" back at the track. Dale has competed at six races at his home track but none since 2003. Just knowing that he can race again after his accident a few years ago is good

Dale Creasy Jr at his first race in Brainerd 1997.

news. "Jr." is one of those guys that everyone likes and you always want him to do well. Did you know that, since his first race as a driver back in 1997, Dale has competed in over 150 NHRA national events? Dale's best showing came at the 1999 NHRA Finals when he beat Ron Capps and Frank Pedregon before losing to Jerry Toliver. It would be great to see him go some rounds this weekend, but after all he has been through over the past few years, it's just great to see him back behind the wheel and doing what he loves to do..This is one of the few tracks and one of the few races where a Funny Car driver has come from the sixteenth spot to win the race. Did you know that Del Worsham did that in 2003 when he beat John Force in the final round? That's the last time it happened and Del is one of only four drivers in the history of the FC class to win after qualifying sixteenth. K.C. Spurlock, Bob Gilbertson and Tom Hoover are the others..Justin Schriefer will also be in action this week and it's his first race since the death of his daughter, Ericka, earlier this year. Ericka was killed in a snowboarding accident in Colorado in January. It will be good to see Justin back in action, surrounded by his friends and we wish him the best this weekend....With AAA sponsoring the race this week it's no surprise that Robert Hight gets to throw out the first pitch at the St. Louis Cardinals' game on Wednesday night. The only thing that could be better for Robert would be if the Birds were playing the Dodgers. Robert loves the Dodgers.

Mike Edwards

Nobody from the number sixteen spot has ever even made it to the final round in Pro Stock at St. Louis, so good luck to whomever the number sixteen driver may be this weekend. Of course, having to run the top qualifier in the first round is never easy and it's really tough this year the way Mike Edwards is running. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not awarding Mike the top spot just yet, but if I were a betting man I'd probably pick him to be number one in St. Louis. Hey, it's not like I'm going out on a limb here, is it? Oh, by the way, lest the sixteenth qualifier feels all alone, did you know that nobody who qualified seventh, ninth, twelfth, fourteenth or fifteenth in Pro Stock has ever made it to the finals at Gateway, either? So there!!...Speaking of Mike, here's an interesting little tidbit, at least I thought it was. Did you know that in his previous twelve races at Gateway Mike has more DNQ's than he has qualifying spots in the top half of the field? I find that amazing. Four times he has failed to make the field in St. Louis while he has only qualified in the top half of the show three times. I fully expect him to make that four times this week. And how about this? Did you know that in those twelve years at Gateway Mike has won a grand total of five rounds of racing, and none

Steve Schmidt

in the last three years? Gee, based on all of that I think Mike should just skip this event....There are twenty-eight Pro Stock cars entered for the weekend, and while you think you may know who some of the qualifiers will be you certainly don't know all of them. The class has a lot of cars that are right on the edge of breaking into the field and that's what makes qualifying so interesting. Jim Cunningham, Erica Enders, Mike Trumble and Steve Schmidt are among those who could grab a starting spot this week and that could mean trouble for some of the tour regulars. Steve is one of the few guys who qualified sixteenth in the field and actually won a round at Gateway. Did you know that in 2006 he was the last guy in the field and then he beat Greg Anderson in round one? See, it can be done, it just can't be done four times, at least not in St. Louis. How about a Steve Schmidt - Mike Edwards final round? If that happens I'll buy all of you a steak dinner on Sunday night.

The bikes are back in action and there are twenty of them entered for the weekend. Among them is Wesley Wells who was last seen hanging out (in the rain) at the Division 3 Lucas Oil Drag Racing event in Indianapolis this past weekend. Wesley, who works for Ray Skillman, was helping Ray with the debut of his new Ford SS/B Cobra Jet Mustang. I'll have more on Ray later this week in my "From The Tower" column.

David Hope

You know, the column you all look forward to reading on Thursday....David Hope will also be in action and David has been running very well this year. How cool would it be for him to win his first race in front of his home fans this weekend? Carrying the banner for the Mohegan Sun, David has a very good bike and he's riding well and I look for him to make a final and win a race before the year is over..The bikes have been a part of the show at Gateway since the first year of the event in 1997, and if you think winning from the bottom half of the field is tough in Pro Stock, try doing it on a motorcycle. Did you know that in the previous thirteen years only three times has a rider from the bottom half of the field even made it to the final round at Gateway? Three!! GT Tonglet did it in 2001 after qualifying thirteenth and he won the race, and then he made the finals again in 2003 (12^th spot) and Michael Phillips did it in 2006 (9^th). Sounds like a top half qualifying spot is a must if you're racing on two wheels in St. Louis.

Kristen Wootton Photo by Robert Grice

Two Lucas Oil division races were completed this past weekend while the D-3 event in Indy got rained out. Congratulations to Kristen Wootton who won the TAD class in Dallas in just her second NHRA race. Did you know that Kristen raced at the Houston national event this year and that was her only NHRA race before her win in Dallas? Could be another rising star on the horizon in the alky ranks.Jim Whiteley won the TAD class in Great Bend, Kansas and that might not have been the most exciting thing that happened to Jim over the weekend. His son, Steven, took his Camaro to the final round in Top Sportsman before losing to Doug Woody. Sounds like a fun time for the Whiteley clan in Kansas..To give equal time, Keith Raftery won the Top Sportsman class at the D-4 event in Dallas. In the short time that Top Sportsman has been a class, very few drivers have been more successful than Keith. Nice job.