Wed, 19 Oct 2011, 08:32 AM That Was Hot In More Ways Than One

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2011 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Nobile and Arana Jr. Photo copyright 2011 NHRA

I don’t know who made the decision to move the Phoenix race from early in the year to the end where it would be part of the “Countdown” but I want to thank them. Besides the obvious fact that it was hot, like one hundred degrees hot, the action that the fans saw was also hot, and in the end we saw a new point’s leader in Funny Car, a great battle in Top Fuel and a two way fight for the Pro Stock Motorcycle crown. We also saw the very rare occurrence of a driver winning one race and then not qualifying at the next, and that was even more surprising when that driver was Spencer Massey, the points leader in Top Fuel coming into the race. Oh yeah, we also saw the two drivers who are vying for the Rookie of the Year honors both win the race and one of them is in title contention. Like I said, it was hot and I hope the fans that were at Firebird Raceway enjoyed themselves because I know that I did.  

Spencer Massey Photo copyright 2011 NHRA

I guess the best place to start is Top Fuel. Following his impressive win in Reading two weeks ago Spencer Massey and his FRAM team sure looked like the team to beat down the stretch. After all, they had been making one good run after another all year long, had picked up an emotional win over Del Worsham in the final round at Reading and didn’t appear to have any weaknesses. Well as we often know, as quickly as a team can stumble on a good combination they can lose it, and for whatever reason that’s exactly what happened to Spencer. The team never got untracked in Arizona and they missed the field, earned the minimum of ten points and saw their lead slip away. Now make no mistake about it, they are still right in the title chase but a race like this one has to hurt. Following the race Spencer dropped to third place, twenty-five points behind the leader Antron Brown. Twenty-five points is a little more than one round, and if you told Spencer earlier in the year that he would be within one round of the lead going into Las Vegas he probably would have been ecstatic, but when you go to Vegas after a DNQ it has to change your mindset, doesn’t it? To show you how good that team has been all year, and how stunning the DNQ was, did you know that Spencer had qualified in the top half of the field at every race but one this year? Only a thirteenth spot at the 4-wide race marred his qualifying record this year and that’s why it was such a shock when he didn’t make the show. Spencer’s DNQ, coming on the heels of his win in Reading, puts him in a very small group, a group that I’m sure he would rather not be in.  Did you know that since we went to all sixteen car fields in 1986 Spencer

Dixon wins his second race this season.

is just the eighth Top Fuel driver to win one race and then fail to qualify at the next one?...Larry Dixon, who came to Phoenix in fourth place, took advantage of Spencer’s problems by winning the race, earning 123 points and pulling to within one round of the leader. The points are so close now that if Larry had lost the final round he would have left Arizona in fourth place instead of second. “This is why they started the ‘Countdown,’” Larry said after the race. “Love it or hate it this has created excitement in the class.” Yes it has, and Larry and his Al-Anabi team are going to be part of that excitement for the next two races. Larry won the race by doing something that he has done several times in his career, he swept the race. Did you know that when he qualified number one, set low elapsed time and top speed on the way to victory it became the eleventh time that Larry swept an event? Larry’s win was his third at the Arizona track and that ties him with Cory McClenathan and Tony Schumacher for the most Top Fuel wins at Firebird Raceway. Speaking of Cory, did you know that besides Larry he is the only other Top Fuel driver to sweep the Phoenix event and he did that in 1994?...Del Worsham, who drives the other Al-Anabi dragster, is now in fourth place fifty-one points back while Tony Schumacher is in fifth place and he is ninety-one points out of first place. As close as the points are and with five top quality teams all within striking distance of the lead the Las Vegas race will play a huge part in the run for the 2011 Full Throttle Championship.

Beckman celebrates win with crew.

There are so many stories emerging from the Funny Car show in Arizona I almost don’t know where to start. I guess the fact that Jack Beckman is the new point’s leader would be a great place. Did you know that this is the first time that Jack has ever led the Funny Car points and he becomes the 39^th driver to lead the points at least once? Most of the names on that list are familiar and there aren’t a lot of surprises, although it does include Tim Grose, Dale Emery and Phil Burkart....Jack’s win was his third at Firebird Raceway and that is the most for him at any single event. Did you know that Jack also won the race in 2008 and 2010 and he now becomes just the second Funny Car driver to win the event in back-to-back years? John Force, who won it eight times, is the other. And speaking of John, he lost in the first round for the eleventh time this year and for the sixth consecutive race. Did you know that both of them are records for John, records he would just like to forget? And did you know that those eleven round-one losses this year have come against eleven different drivers? What are the odds?...With his opening round win Jack ran his record against John to a lofty 16-6. Did you know that’s the best winning percentage of any driver who has raced John at least fifteen times?...Jack now leads his Schumacher teammate, Matt Hagan, by five points with Mike Neff in third just twenty-two points out of first place. Also still in title contention are Cruz Pedregon, forty-eight points back and Robert Hight who is ten points behind Cruz. That’s fifty-eight points, or about three rounds separating the top five drivers, so just like the dragster class Las Vegas will be huge

Ron Capps

for these drivers.... There were three fouls in the Funny Car class, and when you compare that to the seven fouls that there had been all year in the class (including one “timed out”), that’s a barrage of red lights at one race. Did you know that in the entire history of the Funny Car class, and that’s 690 races, there have only been seven events with three or more fouls in them? The 1994 race in Houston has the record with five fouls and four of them involved one driver. Jim Epler had the first three opponents foul out against him and then he fouled out in the final round....Robert Hight was one of those who fouled out and he did it in round two against Jack. I remember watching that particular run and thinking how strange it was to see Robert make any kind of mistake, because he just doesn’t do that very often. In fact, did you know that in his entire career, and that spans 159 races and 351 rounds, this was the first time that Robert ever fouled out? The first!! And he has lost exactly five rounds on holeshots in his career and none since 2008, so that’s why it’s surprising when something like this happens....Cruz Pedregon qualified number one for the third time in the last five races, and for the second time in that span he didn’t get out of round one. Did you know that Cruz was number one at Indy and he lost to Jeff Arend, the same guy who beat him in round one in Arizona? Did you know that this was the third time in his career that Jeff beat the number one qualifier in round one? The points Jeff gained by making the semi-finals moved him up to sixth place in the points...Ron Capps failed to make the show and that ended the longest qualifying streak in Funny Car. Did you know that Ron had qualified for 105 consecutive races before missing the cut in Arizona? The longest streak in the class now belongs to Jack Beckman who has made 80 straight starts after missing the cut at Englishtown in 2008....Todd Lesenko gets credit for making the Funny Car field in his first try. That is never easy to do and on the tricky track in Phoenix it had to be even harder. Nice job and congratulations also to Alexis DeJoria for making her first start in the fuel ranks.

Nobile celebrates third win.

Jason Line proved that he was human and Vincent Nobile proved that he doesn’t want to give up that Rookie of the Year title without a fight. Jason, who can lock up the championship in Las Vegas, bowed out in round one while Vincent won for the first time since Norwalk. Did you know that Vincent is now in third place in the standings and that’s very impressive for a rookie? While rookie drivers have done well in the past and have made the top ten, winning three races in a single season is very rare for any driver, let alone a first year one. Among other first-year drivers who have done well are Kurt Johnson, who won three races in his rookie season of 1993, and Jeg Coughlin and Jason Line who both won four times in their first full season in the class....Mike Edwards had a good car, maybe the best car in the class in Phoenix, before he lost to Vincent in the second round. Mike qualified number one set low elapsed time and top speed and then shook the tires right off the line and could only watch as Vincent went on to take the win...Vincent continued to drive well and that’s one of the reasons why he is having such a good year. Did you know that he was first off the line in every round on Sunday? That continues a pattern for him and he has now been first off the line a staggering 86% of the time this year. Good reaction times must be passed down from father to son, I guess!!

Arana Jr. won his second consecutive race.

The Pro Stock Motorcycle class is now a two rider affair, with Eddie Krawiec and Hector Arana Jr. going at it for the championship. With his win over Eddie in the final round Jr. pulled to within one round of the lead and he appears to have a good bike and is riding very well. It’s obvious that the Lucas Oil Buell is running well since he was the top qualifier, set low elapsed time and top speed. Did you know that this was the sixth time that Hector has been the number one qualifier and it’s the first time he swept a race?...To punctuate the win Hector posted a perfect reaction time in the final round, the first perfect reaction time of his rookie season. Did you know that this was just the seventh perfect reaction time in the final round of a Pro Stock Motorcycle race, and it’s the first one since Memphis in 2004? And did you know that of those seven perfect lights three of the riders still lost the race?...The low elapsed time was the eighth for Hector and that moves him into ninth place in the bike class where he is tied with Eddie and Antron Brown.

McClanahan vs. Biondo

There was a lot of great action in the sportsman classes, too this week, and not only in Arizona. Ryan McClanahan, the reigning Lucas Oil Super Stock World Champion, had a great final round match with Peter Biondo, a match that Ryan won. Ryan’s father, Brian, also went to the final round but he lost the Stock Eliminator title to Randi Lynn Shipp who won her first national event. Did you know that Brian’s father and son have both won national events and he came so close to joining them in the winner’s circle?....Across the country in Reynolds, Georgia, Bill Reichert, the reigning Top Alcohol Dragster champ, beat Duane Shields who is leading the points this year. Bill can’t repeat this year so it had to feel good for him to beat Duane. We will see Duane in action next week in Las Vegas as he tries to hold off his competitors in an effort to win his first series championship.