Mon, May 18, 06:27 PM Checker-Schuck's-Kragen Funny Car

Courtesy of Bob Wilber Mopar Parts Nationals

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. -

QUALIFIED: 19th (6.42-seconds at 143 mph)

ELIMINATIONS: Did Not Qualify For Eliminations

COMMENTS:When Chuck and Del Worsham made the commitment to purchase a new chassis for the Checker-Schuck's-Kragen racing team about one month ago, they knew the transition would be a hard one, and a work intensive one on top of that. They were right on both counts, but it is safe to state that neither Worsham, nor anyone else involved with this Funny Car program, would have envisioned the way it worked it.

After finally getting a grip on the difficult handling older car (running a 4.98 in Dallas just two weeks ago) the team knew they had to stick with their plans for the new car in order to keep improving. A match race in Phoenix provided the test session, and although the Phoenix track was loose the car managed to make one solid lap and all the data looked very encouraging. Everything indicated that this car would fly on a good track.

It appears someone forgot to mention those indicators to both the new car itself and the track in Englishtown, one of the better racing surfaces on the circuit. Confoundingly, after four qualifying attempts at the Mopar Parts Nationals, the Checker-Schuck's-Kragen Pontiac had done no better than a series of tire smoking efforts, and a best ET of only 6.42.

"Why?" asked Del. "I honestly never even imagined it would be this much of a step backward to bring this new car out. Everything we saw in it looked so good. So we got here to a great track, and the thing just had no inclination to run at all. We made so many changes this weekend, in just about every phase of the operation, from the motor to the clutch, to the weight distribution, to the tire pressure. Nothing helped much until the final pass, but you know they only give you four qualifying laps so that didn't help us for this race. We at least left here with a bit of a better clue as to what direction to go in, since our last effort got us further off the starting line than the first three. We have to keep making changes in that direction until we find the baseline."

After smoking the tires right at the starting line in the first session, the team managed to get the car about 300-feet on Friday night before the tires broke loose from the track surface and went up in smoke. On Saturday, in session 3, the team backed the car down even more, in hopes of a conservative pass they could build upon, only to see the new car smoke the tires right at the lights again. That put the Worsham group in the uncomfortable position of having to post a 5.23 or better in the last session in order to make the race field.

On the final pass, the car hooked up strongly for 300-feet, then began to smoke the tires again only to be caught by this talented young driver who pedaled the throttle expertly and managed to get the big Goodyear slicks gripping again. Unfortunately, the pedaling effort caused the car to drift out of the groove and toward the wall, which in turn caused another case of tire spin, ending the run and the team's chances for making the field.

"It just really stinks to have to go through this," said Del after the session. "We're going to get this car dialed in, and it's going to run great, and we knew there would probably be a bit of a learning curve involved with the whole deal. But, I never anticipated not qualifying. At least on that last pass we confirmed to ourselves that we're going in the right direction, so we can build from that."

The team races next at the Route 66 Nationals outside of Chicago, on May 28-31. This inaugural event will mark the debut of this new, and much anticipated, track in Joliet, Illinois.