Thu, 1 Nov 2001, 09:28 PM And the Winner is.

By Bob Frey

As sure as we turn the clocks back (you did do it, didn’t you?), and as sure as it starts to get cold every year at this time, the battle for the NHRA Federal Mogul World Championship is here. In almost every class, the Division 7 points race this weekend, and/or the final national event next weekend in Pomona, will decide who the 2001 sportsman winners are. Sure, the top two classes have been decided, but in the other five categories, the titles are very much up for grabs.

Frank Manzo

Rick Santos and Frank Manzo repeated as world champs this year, a feat that they have now done five and seven times respectively. And, while they did get a bit of a battle this year, they pretty much were the dominant drivers in their classes. OK, so Rick got more of a challenge than Frank did, but it was an interesting year in the premiere classes nonetheless. Now, all that remain are two races, one national and one divisional, to decide the cream of the 2001 crop. For those of you who may not know, the sportsman racers, other than the top, two, alcohol classes, are permitted to claim points at three of their first six national events and at five of their first eight division races. Once a driver has reached the maximum number of events, he or she cannot improve their points total, even if they won all of the remaining races at which they competed. Using that formula, Frank Aragona in Competition Eliminator, Peter Biondo in Stock and Jeff Miller in Super Stock are among the racers who had great seasons but cannot and will not win the championships. Too bad, too, since all are very deserving and all had magnificent years. But, rules are rules. Even David Rampy, who has won a bunch of races on both the national and divisional level, "maxxed out" and isn’t eligible for the title. Dan Fletcher, who might well win the Super Stock crown, won the Las Vegas national event this past weekend and, because of the point’s setup, couldn’t claim it or add the points to his total. He could, of course, cash the winner’s check, which I’m sure he has done by now. By further way of illustration, Pat Austin, one of the great racers of all time (and number ten on my top 50 list), won nine, national races in 1989 and didn’t win the championship. Heck, he didn’t even finish second that year, because six of his wins came after he had hit his maximum number of races to claim. Because of the way the points are structured, Brad Anderson, with three national wins, won the title, and Bob Newberry, with two national event victories, also finished ahead of Pat. Sounds tough, but it really is the best way to structure the points to be fair to everyone, and not force some of the sportsman drivers to have to compete at every race like the pros do. Speaking of the pros, there are guys in Pro Stock this year who have national event wins and won’t even finish in the top ten in points. Anyway, I digress…

The Competition Eliminator battle looks like it will come down to Mike Saye, Don Stratton or Andy Manna. Saye, a former Super Stock World Champion, is the leader in the clubhouse, and has one national event left to claim. Stratton, who is claiming Division 1 this year, is only 19 points behind Mike and he, too, has one more national event at which he can claim points. Andy Manna, another former world champ, is well within striking distance of both drivers and he can add to his total at both Las Vegas, this weekend, and Pomona, next. Saye can up his point’s total if he can get past the third round at Pomona, while both Stratton and Manna need to go to the finals at their races to gain points. Both Don and Andy are very capable of going rounds, but with the competition as tough as it is, I kind of like Mike’s position right now. I’m not saying he’ll win, mind you, just that I like his position.

Dan Fletcher

Super Stock is Dan Fletcher’s to win or lose. The way I see it, he has to get past the third round at the Vegas divisional meet, to increase his points. Since he won the national event there last week, I think he’ll go into the race feeling very confident. Like Saye, Dan will have to sweat out the performance of another, former world champ, Jimmy DeFrank, before claiming victory. DeFrank, one of the great, young drivers in the sport, has a couple of second round losses to improve on at both the divisional and national events, and that shouldn’t be too difficult for the west coast star. Still, with the caliber of cars that’ll be at both races, it won’t be easy. And remember, Fletcher is claiming Division 7 as his home division this year, and that could mean a few extra points in Vegas and that could be very important. Of course, Jimmy is also a "home boy."

In Stock, the globe-trotting Jody Lang has put all of the points that he’s going to claim on the board, and now he looks back at the other racers and says, "just bring it." And I’m sure that Kevin Helms, Jeff Hefler and others will do just that. Helms, who drives that that really neat, big block, stick shift, Chevy Camaro, has one divisional race left at which to claim points, and so he’ll be at Las Vegas this weekend. Trailing Jody by only five points, Kevin can take the lead if he can just get to the fourth round. Of course, he’ll probably run into Hefler, who will be there with the same goal in mind. Actually, by my tally, Jeff can take the lead if he can just get to the third round. But, remember, my totals are all unofficial! Lee Zane, who won the AC Delco Nationals in Stock Eliminator, is a real dark horse in the class, but if he could double up, that is, add a Pomona win to his Vegas victory, he just might be able to vault into the lead.

The two, remaining classes, Super Comp and Super Gas, both have one thing in common, Scotty Richardson, Already a five-time world champion, Scotty could add two more if all of the stars line up properly for him over the next ten days. In the 8.90 class, he trails the leader, Rodney Costlow, by 48 points, and he has one division race left to claim. If I did my math right, Scotty will have to pray for a lot of cars to be in Vegas and he’ll have to beat most of them in order to win this thing. And, Mr. Costlow will have to go out early, thus adding no more points to his count. Of course, Billy Maddox, who won his first, national event in Las Vegas, still has two races to claim, and he only trails Rodney by a mere 17 points. Since Billy has done well on the divisional level, his best hope, believe it or not, may come at the "Finals" in Pomona, where he would have to go five rounds to add points. It ought to be fun and I know that Rodney, who has led the points for quite some time, isn’t about the give it up without a fight.

Scotty Richardson

Super Gas looks to be a much more, favorable scenario for Scotty. Ed Alessi leads everyone, including Scotty, heading into the final, two events. Scotty, down by just five points, can take the lead by going past the second round in Las Vegas, a feat he easily surpassed this past weekend when he won the race. Ed, then, would have to improve on a fourth round showing at Pomona, and that is never easy for anyone, especially a driver who isn’t familiar with the track. Ed DeStaute, the great west coast veteran, meanwhile, needs to go four rounds or more at the Division 7 race to add to his total and move into the lead, while Tom Stalba, the New Jersey entry in the sweepstakes, probably needs a final round appearance at the huge D-7 race to keep his slim title hopes alive.

However it all shakes out, one thing is certain going into the AAA Club NHRA Finals in Pomona in two weeks, and that is, most, if not all, of these titles will still be up for grabs. And, for a guy who loves great, pressure racing, and drivers who can handle that pressure, I can’t wait to see how it unfolds. Maybe next time, we’ll address the idea of "team" racing, or "blocking," or "stepping out" to help a fellow racer. If you think the team concept gets put to the test in the professional classes, wait until you see it take shape in the sportsman categories. But, like I said, that is a different topic for a different day, for now, I just want to wish all of the competitors good luck and have a great, couple of weeks. And remember, my point’s totals are for "amusement only," that is, don’t say that the "skinny, geeky, bald-headed announcer with glasses said I only had to go two rounds to win it" Of course, I know that won’t happen, since all of these guys, their teams and their competitors know exactly what they have to do at the next two races if they want to be the 2001 Federal Mogul World Champions. Go get em, boys!