Tue, 29 Jun 2010, 10:18 PM What Record?

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc.

John Force at '87 Finals,

Before I get into the race in Norwalk this past week I want to mention the record-setting tennis tournament that was played at Wimbledon last week. By now I'm sure you have all heard about the eleven-hour marathon match, a match that set a record for the longest tennis match in history. Well, following that event sports reporters all over were talking about records that might never be broken. They mentioned Wilt Chamberlin's 100 point game in Hershey, Pennsylvania in 1962 and the ninety-two goals that Wayne Gretzky scored in the 1981-1982 season, a National Hockey League record. Also included was Cal Ripken's streak of 2632 consecutive games played as well as the 511 games that Cy Young won as a major league pitcher. And while they were throwing around these numbers and talking about which records would never be broken (and the answer is Johnny Vander Meer's back-to-back no hitters), I thought about our sport. Did you know that John Force once qualified for a staggering 395 races in a row? That streak went from the last race in 1987 until he failed to qualify at Las Vegas in 2007 and that's twenty years and that's a streak that will never be broken. When you consider that the next longest streak in drag racing is Warren Johnson's 303 races, and that it would have taken WJ almost four more years to tie John, I think Mr. Force's record has to be included in any discussion about unbreakable records.....For the record, did you know that the longest current qualifying streak in drag racing among active racers is Greg Anderson's 177? That means that Greg would have to qualify for every race for the next nine years if he wanted to tie John. Like I said, it's an

Chris Martin

unbreakable record. Any arguments?....Chris Martin passed away last week and that is a great loss to the drag racing world. Definitely a guy who marched to the beat of a different drummer (some say he didn't even hear the music), Chris was passionate about a lot of things, but none more than the sport that he covered for years as part of the National DRAGSTER staff. I certainly didn't know him as well as others, but I knew him well enough to know that he was, first and foremost, a drag racing fan. To sit and talk with him was to be amazed, not only at his knowledge and enthusiasm for the sport, but of his gift at telling a story. He wrote a book called the "Top Fuel Handbook" and it is one of the most complete books on the history of Top Fuel racing anywhere. I'm amazed at the work it took simply to research the book, but that's the kind of guy Chris was, and by that I mean that when he set out do something he did it all the way. Chris is the classic "one of a kind guy," and there will, literally, never be anyone else like him, and on behalf of everyone at DragRaceCentral.com, I send our best to his friends and family. The sport lost a lot when Chris passed away.

Wenzel celebrates win.

I normally don't begin talking about a race by mentioning one of the winners in the Lucas Oil classes but I have to this time. Ben Wenzel won Stock Eliminator in Norwalk and that breaks the longest drought in drag racing history, Ben's last, and only win before Sunday, came at the U.S. Nationals (before it was the U.S. Nationals) and it came back in 1967. Those who know Ben know the story, but for those who don't, his win is even more interesting because he won the Norwalk race in the same car that he won Indy with in 1967. When Ben won Indy in '67 they hadn't even begun giving out the "Wally" trophies yet. When he won in '67 the main car in Stock Eliminator was on Oldsmobile station wagon. Ok, so maybe it wasn't the main car, but there were a lot of Olds wagons in the field, and Studebaker's, too. In fact, the last car in the eliminator that wasn't a Chevrolet was Ted Harbit's Studebaker. In the end, Ben beat Ken Gunning's '57 Chevy station wagon for the championship, his only NHRA national event win until now. Did you know that Ben had been to two final rounds between 1967 and Norwalk? He lost to Kevin Helms in Topeka back in 2001 and he dropped a final

Wenzel vs. Rampy

round to Peter Biondo in Chicago in 2005. To get his win this year he beat Peter (who fouled out) in the semi-finals and then he beat David Rampy in the money round. It's interesting that Ben should break that long drought in Norwalk because that was the track where he got his very first win. Did you know that Ben beat Pete Chisholm in the Jr. Stock final at the Division 3 point's race in Norwalk back in 1964? I wasn't there to see Ed Sigmon break his drought of forty years and two months when he won at the Sportsnationals last year, but I have to say that being there to see Ben win and end a drought that was almost forty-three years long was one of the highlights of my career, and I mean that sincerely. Congratulations to Ben and his brother Dave . Nice job!!...By the way, since I mentioned record-setting performances, do you think anyone will ever break Ben's record of forty-two years and nine months between national event wins? And even if they do, nobody will do it with the same car.

Musi vs. Personnet

There was another winner in Norwalk who got my attention and that was Pat Musi. Pat, who has been racing for a long time, won the Get Screened America Pro Mod series part of the race, and in doing so, he picked up his first ever NHRA national event win. Did you know that it has been twenty-nine years since Pat was in the final round at an NHRA race? He lost to Frank Iaconio in the final round of Pro Stock at the Gatornationals in 1981 and that came right after he lost to Bob Glidden in the finals at the Winternationals that year, and those were the only two NHRA final rounds for Pat until now. While he hasn't been a regular on the NHRA tour for a while, Pat did run a lot of IHRA races where he went to nine final rounds in their version of Pro Stock. One of his biggest wins there had to be the 1977 Springnationals in Bristol where he beat John Brumley in the final round. When I spoke to Pat before eliminations he said that he was worried because he had hurt his 850 cubic inch motor. "But I have another one, a 903 inch motor, in the trailer if I need it." You have to love Pro Mods cars, don't you? Nice going, Pat, good to see you in the winner's circle.

Force vs. Bobby Hilton

I already mentioned John Force's incredible qualifying streak, and his final round from the number sixteen spot at Norwalk was also remarkable. Did you know that, in his entire career, this was only the third time that John had qualified sixteenth in the field? And did you know that it had been 534 races since the last time he did it? And did you know that two of his three number sixteen spots came in the state of Ohio? He was sixteenth at the fifth race of his career at Columbus in 1979 and again at Gainesville in 1982. At that Gainesville race he made it to the semi-finals by beating Bobby Hilton and Billy Meyer before losing to Frank Hawley....As good as John was on Sunday in Norwalk he wasn't good enough to beat Tim Wilkerson in the final round. Of course, no matter who you are, getting to the final after qualifying sixteenth isn't easy and winning is even harder. Did you know that in the 660 Funny Car races in history this was only the thirteenth time that the number sixteen qualifier even made it to the final round? And once getting to the final, the last qualifier has only won

Worsham celebrates '03 win.

four times with the last being Del Worsham in St. Louis in 2003. How about this for irony? K.C. Spurlock won the Winternationals in 1990 from the number sixteen spot, and who did he beat in round one, but the number one qualifier, John Force. Bob Gilbertson won the Houston race in 2000 from the sixteenth spot and he, too, beat John Force in round one. And when Del Worsham won in St. Louis in 2003, he didn't beat John in the first round but he did beat him in the final round. And where did John qualify at that race? He was tenth, just like Tim Wilkerson was in Norwalk. What are the odds?....Tim

Wilkerson vs. Force

Wilkerson's win was the fifteenth of his career and his second of 2010 and it came in a very convincing fashion. Tim beat Bob Tasca in round one and he had the second best time of the round, a 4.208, and only Robert Hight's 4.173 was better in that round. Next he beat Jeff Arend before stopping Del Worsham on a holeshot in the semi-finals. Tim then went 4.191, the second best time of the day, in the final round against John. Tim's Levi, Ray & Shoup car looks to be rounding into form right now and he will be a factor once we make the cut for the "Countdown.".While a lot of emphasis is put on qualifying, Tim doesn't seem bothered by where he ends up in the field. Did you know that six of his fifteen wins have come after he qualified in the bottom half of the field and that includes both of his wins this year? He's even won from the fifteenth spot and that's only been done four times in history. We have a lot of really nice people in the sport and Tim is certainly one of them. Now if he could only get some funding for Daniel's car and get him out there this season everything would be good in the Wilkerson household, if it isn't already.

Anderson vs. Coughlin

Greg Anderson had a big weekend, and I mean a big weekend in Norwalk. Greg won the K&N Horsepower Challenge on Saturday and then came back and won the race on Sunday. To do one of those things would be a good weekend, to do both of them is huge and to do them at the race that your sponsor sponsors is about as good as it gets. For Greg this was his first win of the season and that makes ten years in a row in which he has won at least one race. Greg won the race from the number nine spot and that's never easy because you have to face the top qualifier in round two, assuming that driver wins his first round match. Well, in Norwalk, Jeg Coughlin was the number one guy and he did, indeed, win his first round match, so it was Jeg and Greg in round two and Greg got the win and that was big for the Summit Racing team. Did you know that the last time a driver other than Mike Edwards won from the top spot in Pro Stock was at the last race of the year in 2009 when Greg did it? For Jeg it was the seventeenth time that he has been number one and that's the tenth most in the Pro Stock class. But, like a lot of drivers, winning from the top spot is not easy for Jeg. Did you know that he has only won four times from the top spot in his career? Not only did Jeg qualify number one but he also set low elapsed time but he didn't set top speed. Did you know that in his entire

Anderson celebrates double up.

Pro Stock career, as good as he has been, Jeg has only recorded top speed three times?...Greg's win and double-up paid a very nice bonus and it made Greg only the second Pro Stock driver to achieve the rare double-up twice. Bob Glidden did it back in 1987 and again in 1988 and Greg did it in 2004 and again this year. Anytime a Pro Stock driver can have their name mentioned in the same sentence as Bob Glidden it's a good thing....Mike Edwards had one of his very rare off weekends, and by that I mean he didn't dominate the race, win it or even score in any of the statistical categories. Mike's twelfth qualifying spot was his lowest since he was thirteenth at Maple Grove in 2008, a span of forty-four races. Last year he didn't qualify any lower than fifth and this year he had been either first or second at every race What do you know, Mike is human after all..Allen Johnson continues to run well and he has done everything but win a race this year, but that will happen and probably sooner than later. He was number two qualifier in his Dodge and made it to the final round against Greg, but he slowed to a 6.982 and that wasn't nearly enough to handle the Summit Racing driver. Even so, with his performance, Allen earned enough points to clinch a spot in the "Countdown" and he will be a factor once the race for the championship enters its second phase.

Johnson qualified No. 1.

One of the biggest surprises of the weekend had to be Steve Johnson's number one qualifying effort. Steve, who has participated in 289 races, qualified at the top for only the second time in his career. The other time was back in Atlanta in 1995, and that was 222 Pro Stock Motorcycle races ago. Did you know that there were three other riders in that 1995 Atlanta field who were active in Norwalk? Michael Phillips was the number four qualifier at that race (and he beat Steve in the semi-finals), Gary Tonglet, who was helping is son "LE" in Norwalk, was the seventh qualifier and Hector Arana was number ten in that field..Steve has had a good bike all year and it has been especially fast the last few races, but a red-light took him out of competition in the second round in Norwalk. In addition to the number one spot in Ohio Steve also recorded low elapsed time and that, too, was the second time in his career that he has done that. But while you may think that his other was at the Atlanta race in '95, it wasn't. In Atlanta Dave Schultz set low elapsed time while Steve's only other one came in Virginia in that same year after Dave had qualified number one..While Steve was setting the performance mark, Matt Smith was winning the race. Matt picked up his second win of the year and he jumped to second in the points behind only Hector Arana. Matt's win gives him more wins in 2010 than he had in the entire 2009 season, and while it looks to me like the Suzuki's may have a little edge in performance right now, Matt isn't far behind and he should be a real contender for his second championship once the "Countdown" begins.

Dixon vs. Schumacher

Larry Dixon ran his 2010 record in final rounds to an amazing 7-0 when he beat Antron Brown. That means that, thirteen races into the year, we still have had only three drivers win in Top Fuel, Larry, Tony Schumacher and Cory McClenathan. Larry ran the table, and by that I mean he was the top qualifier, set low elapsed time and top speed on his way to winning the event. Did you know that this was the second time this year that Larry has swept a race and that it is the eighth time in his career that he has done that? In addition to being perfect in final rounds this year Larry also hasn't lost a round after qualifying number one. His four wins from the top spot are the most for him in any year of his career and that's saying a lot....Antron Brown has to be thinking what do I have to do to win a race. For "AB" this was his fourth final round of the year, his third against Larry and he's still looking for that first win. Even so, the Matco Tools car is running well and Antron should be a factor in the "Countdown."...Larry met and beat Tony Schumacher in the semi-finals and that was their eighth meeting already this year. Larry leads the head-to-head series this year 5-3 while the "Sarge" leads overall 35-32. That is and will continue to be one of the best rivalries in recent years. This was also the sixth time in the last seven races that they have faced each other and that means the fans at those races have seen two of the best ever in the class go head-to-head and that always makes for some good racing.

In addition to all the racing this weekend there was also a very nice fundraiser that took place in the Tony Pedregon pit area. Tony's wife, Andrea, had arranged an auction with the proceeds going to Smile Train, an organization that helps children who were born with cleft lips or palates. It's an organization that I have supported for a while and I was pleased to be the auctioneer. In the end, over $21,000 was raised and I want to thank everyone who stopped by, helped out, contributed items or bid on them. Since I am afraid that I may leave someone out I won't mention names, but it was a fun night and, in the end, a lot of children were helped.

One last thing, since I mentioned record-setting streaks, how about this one? Did you know that when Frank Manzo won the race it was the 28^th consecutive final round that he has won? And that streak is on-going.