Wed, 2 Oct 2002, 10:25 AM Can You Believe It?

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2002 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Tony Pedregon

Can you believe that the closest point’s race we have in the professional categories right now is in Funny Car? With his win in Chicago, Tony Pedregon has moved to within 18 points of John Force in the battle for the Funny car championship. Did you know that it’s been 10 years since anyone was this close to John at this point of the season? Actually, in 1992, after winning in Maple Grove for his third win in a row, Tony’s brother Cruz Pedregon actually moved ahead of John in the points and he never looked back. Adding wins in Topeka and Dallas to run his streak to five straight, Cruz wrestled the championship away from John. With his win, Tony now has 19 victories and he has moved ahead of Ed McCulloch and Mark Oswald on the all-time Funny Car list, which you probably knew if you read last week’s column. But, did you know that, with his three consecutive wins, Tony became only the second driver, besides John Force, to win three Funny Car races in a row since 1992? The only other guy to do it was, you guessed it, brother Cruz. Plus, did you know that this is the first time in his career that Tony has strung three consecutive wins together? With the fast Dallas track coming up, the potential for a FC record is always there and that could mean an extra 20 points for Tony…or John. Whoever wins the title, I don’t think that anyone expected the Funny Car chase to be the closest professional one with three races to go.

I mentioned in last week’s column that the weather looked good for the Chicago race and that it had the potential to be a very fast track. Well that’s exactly the way

Johnny Gray

that the weekend played out. Did you know that no less than 24 different drivers recorded personal bests at the Joliet track? And, while this included several drivers who were relatively new on the circuit (like Jose Maldonado and Scott Palmer), it also included some real veterans, like Todd Paton and Bob Gilbertson, and there must be something about the Rt. 66 track that those guys like. Did you know that, before running their career bests at Joliet this year, both Todd and Bob had set their previous personal bests at, where else, Joliet? Bob ran his best speed ever last year at the Rt. 66 facility, while Todd made his quickest run there back in the year 2000. Johnny Gray and Bob Bode, who pulled one of the biggest upsets of the event when he beat Whit Bazemore in the first round, also established new records for their performances in Chicago…..Johnny’s team mate, Del Worsham, who lost to the eventual winner in round two, did manage to gain some ground on Gary Densham in the battle for third place. Gary, a first round loser, is now just 9 points ahead of Del in the battle for the #3 spot. And if you’re wondering what the difference is between finishing third or fourth at the end of the season, how about $20,000? The third place driver gets 50 grand while the number four guy will get 30. You do the math!!

Doug Kalitta

Doug Kalitta gained some ground and made some money with his second win in the last three races. With his win, Doug moved from 6^th to fourth place in the points and now he is just 70 points behind Tony Schumacher. With three races to go, Doug looks like he may have the best car out there and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him win at least two of the last three races this year. The MAC Tools team, with Connie Kalitta and the Oberhofer brothers teaming up to do the tuning, is running as well as I’ve seen a TF car run in a long while. Plus, Doug is driving very well. Did you know that Doug was first off the line in every round on Sunday, and that his .469 reaction time in the final round was the second best in the class for the entire day? Only John Smith’ s .458 in the first round was a better reaction time than Doug’s final round effort. And, just to show you that the final round r/t was no fluke, did you know that Doug’s .461 in the final at Maple Grove was also the second best in the class for the entire day? Not bad, huh? A fast car and a great driver, now that’s the stuff that wins races…and championships….By the way, the win was Doug’s 10th overall and it ties him with, believe it or not, Connie Kalitta on the all-time list…Darrell Russell, the runner-up in Top fuel, went over the 100 round mark with his efforts this past weekend. In just 44 events, Darrell’s round record is 63-39 and that means that he averages over 2 rounds a race and that’s pretty good. Plus, he continues his streak of qualifying for every race since he joined the class. Russell is in 5^th place but certainly capable of jumping as high as #3 if he finishes the season on a high note.

Greg Anderson

The Pro Stock class took a strange turn this weekend, and it all started with Greg Anderson’s crash on Friday night. After flipping the car, spinning down the track (but not hitting anything), Greg and his team came back on Saturday with the same car and qualified for a very tough field. Then he went to the second round on Sunday before losing to Ron Krisher. Even though he didn’t win, I have to think that Greg’s achievements for the weekend will have to go down as one of the best performances of the year. Congrats to Ken Black, the car owner, and Mike Stryker and Pat Barrett, the crew on the car for a super effort…..With his win, Jeg Coughlin moves back into first place and now he’s 65 points ahead of Jim Yates and 132 ahead of Greg. Barring an unforeseen set of circumstances, it looks like the point’s chase will come down to just two drivers, Jeg and Jim. Did you know that we have now had ten lead changes in Pro Stock this season? That just goes to show you how tough the class is this year, and, while we may not have 15 winners like last year, it’ still the most competitive class out there. Did you know that the entire 44-car field qualified in the six-second zone, and that 13 drivers recorded their personal bests in Chicago? Among that group are Larry Peternel, Kevin Lawrence and Mike Weinle who all ran their very first NHRA 6-second runs this weekend. Nice going to all of them….While the field wasn’t the quickest one ever, it was still pretty stout. Gene Wilson recorded the first #1 qualifying spot of his career, while Mark Osborne ended up in 16^th place. Did you know that Mark was the last Dodge driver to record a top qualifying spot when he did it at Maple Grove last year? Ironically, this year he got beat by a Dodge and the driver who replaced him, still, Mark and Brad Jeter, who were both driving for Steve Schmidt, made a couple of the best runs of the weekend on Saturday to get in the show. Steve can make some serious power,

Gene Wilson

can’t he?..When Gene, Allen Johnson and Greg Stanfield qualified in the top three spots, it sent the statisticians running for the record books to find the last time that three Dodges sat in the top spots after qualifying. Well, did you know that you have to go back to the Summernationals in 1971 to find the last time that happened? Honest! Don Carlton, Mike Fons and Stuart McDade led the field that included 11 Mopars, four Fords and one Pontiac, and, to the best of my knowledge, that’s the last time three Dodges qualified one, two and three in a Pro Stock field. As a little sidelight to that stat, did you know that a guy by the name of William Eckstrom also qualified for that field? Now, you’re probably asking yourself, what was so special about old Bill? Well, he drove the one Pontiac in the field and it was the first time that a Pontiac had ever qualified for an NHRA Pro Stock show. Wow, the things you can learn here….Oh yeah, since I mentioned the championship chase, did you know that if Jeggie goes onto win it that it will be the first time in 18 years that a Chevrolet has won the Pro Stock title? The last time that happened was when the great Lee Shepherd did it in 1984….By the way, isn’t it interesting that Jeg Coughlin won at Rt. 66 after failing to qualify there at the spring race? Well at least I find it interesting. And, did you know that since that DNQ Jeg has six wins and three first round losses in a span of ten races?

The sportsman racers also gave us a lot to cheer about this weekend. Did you know that the Top Alcohol Dragster field was the quickest one ever, breaking the old mark that was just set at the U.S. Nationals? The 5.464 bump spot shattered the old mark of 5.525 from Indy. Three fuel-injected cars had a shot at the record but none of them took advantage of the opportunity. Gary Ormsby ran 5.172, while Mike Gunderson went 5.252 (under the record) and Keith Stark went 5.276, which could have served as a backup run to the record. But, thankfully for the blown alcohol teams, Sunday dawned

Gary Ormsby

hot and humid and the fuel guys suffered accordingly. Still, from a fan’s point of view (mine), it may have been the single most exciting eliminator in the history of the class, and mark my words, that record will fall before the end of the year, possibly this weekend in Darlington or Noble, Oklahoma….You had to feel badly for Darren Nicholson who still had title hopes coming into Chicago. As part of the Division 7 Jeg’s All Star team, Darren ran 5.38 in Saturday’s all-star race but lost on a holeshot to the eventual winner, Marty Thacker. And, with the way the rules are set up, Darren’s run didn’t count towards qualifying and he eventually missed the field. Tough deal, huh?…Jay Payne doubled up when he beat Von Smith for both the all-star title and the national event win. These two will surely meet again this week in Darlington since the Division 2 title hasn’t been decided yet. Besides his performance on the track, this was probably the best that I ’ve seen Jay drive in a long while. Oh yeah, in addition to beating Von both days, Jay also beat Frank Manzo twice and, each time, Jay was first off the line. Now that’s an all-star kind of weekend….Keith Lynch, the 1982 & ’83 Super Stock World Champion, returned to action last year after about a 12 year lay off and he went to his first final round since the Winston Finals in 1987 this weekend. Even though he lost to Dan Fletcher in the final, look for Keith to visit the winner’s circle again real soon. Did you know that when Keith won his first world title in 1982, he did it without the advantage of winning a single, national event? He is also one of only two drivers ever to win the coveted Super Stock world title in back-to-back years. The other guy who did it was racing in Pro Stock this weekend…Greg Stanfield…And, finally, thanks to Kevin McKenna from National Dragster for pointing out to me that Diane Stewart had, indeed, won a national event in Super Stock since 1980. Diane did it in Seattle in 1990. Thanks, Kevin…. And, despite what about a dozen e-mails that I got said, I’m sticking with my stat on Harvey Emmons III being the youngest national event winner. Several folks, including fellow Track Announcer’s Guild member, Mike English, wrote in to say that Ryan Tietz was younger when he won Sonoma in 1994, but I think Harvey had him beat by a couple of months. We'll check on it and get back to you, but thanks for keeping me honest.