Wed, 30 Jan 2002, 09:34 AM Two Down, and One To Go!

By Bob Frey

With the Phoenix and Tucson test sessions in the books, the only practice runs that remain are the ones in Las Vegas and Houston this weekend. Based on what I’ve seen so far, the results from these two test sessions should be interesting. Did you know that you’ll be able to get your first glimpse of the new Toyota Funny Car at Las Vegas this weekend? Well, you will. Gary Scelzi, who still has to make one more run (over 265 mph) in order to get his Funny Car license, will be at the Vegas track with Alan Johnson’s new Toyota. And, even though Bruce Sarver’s car won’t be there, at least Alan and Gary will be able to figure out if these new bodies are as good as they seem to be in the wind tunnel. It should be interesting, too, since the Vegas track has been smoothed out at the top end where that bump used to be in the right lane. But, on the other side of the coin, there probably isn’t a whole lot of rubber on the track at the top

Dean Skuza

end, and that’s where Gary’s going to need it…Dean Skuza’s new car raised a lot of eyebrows in Tucson this past weekend, and I can honestly say that it is the most remarkable new car to come along in some time. For those of you who have been around for a few years, do you remember the Buick that Kenny Bernstein had years ago? Well, this is about as radical as that car was and it should help make the Dodge team instantly competitive….Another team who will make their first appearance of the year at Las Vegas will be the Gwynn/Steinbrenner team. Yes, Andrew Cowin will make his initial runs in the New York Yankees’ car at Vegas this weekend. As of now, I don’t know of any other teams who will be at Vegas for certain, but I’m sure several more will show up.

Meanwhile, in Houston, it’ll be the Super Bowl of drag racing with a million Pro Stock cars in attendance. OK, so maybe a million is stretching it a bit, but there will be dozens of ‘em, you can bet on that. Did you know that the great Vinny "Boom-Boom" Barone will be running a Pro Stock car this year? Yep, the former Competition Eliminator World Champion will show up in Pomona with a brand new, Rick Jones built Dodge Neon. And, that’s not all. Did you know that Greg Stanfield and Bart Price are both on the pre-entry list for Pomona, too? And, like Vinny, both of them plan to run Dodge Neon Pro Stock cars this year. Now, whether they’ll be ready in time for the season opener remains to be seen, but they’re running full speed at their shop trying to make it…..And, as you read here a

Ken Zeal

few weeks back, congratulations to Dale Creasy and the family for securing the Craftsman sponsorship for 2002. With Jimbo Ermalovich as their crew chief, I think they, too, become instantly competitive….The Cory McClenathan combo with Rick Henkelman and David Baca caught a lot of people off guard. When we saw Cory and Brad Anderson hanging out in Tucson we knew that something was up, and he told me that this deal was a possibility, but the fact that it happened so quickly came as a real surprise. If, indeed, Wes Cerny joins them in Pomona, the Top Fuel battle there could be very exciting, indeed. And, while we’re at it, let’s congratulate Ken Zeal for getting his TF license this past weekend. His 296 mph run on Sunday was just what the doctor, or at least, the owner, Bill Miller, ordered….With the announcement that G.T. Tonglet will drive the Vance & Hines Harley Davidson Pro Stock bike, we’ve heard from just about all of the classes in the past week except Pro Mod. OK, here goes. Watch for an announcement from NHRA real soon regarding this class. No, it won’t be about them becoming part of the POWERADE series, but it will be a major announcement regarding the class, one that I think the participants will be pleased with. In fact, I know they will. Now….

Larry Dixon

After watching the Top Fuel cars run for the past two weeks, it seems to me that both Kenny Bernstein and Larry Dixon are going to be very tough to beat. Larry made a lot of great runs in Phoenix, while Kenny made about nine or ten passes in Tucson. Of course, Kenny did it all with the new tires which all of the teams will have to run at Pomona. I spoke with Tim Richards after the Tucson test, and he said that the new tires "hardly ever had the entire tire on the ground." In fact, if you look at some of the photos of Dean Skuza’s car running in Tucson, you may notice some where you can see right under the tire. That wasn’t uncommon, from what I was told, and the team that can figure out how to get the new tires to work first, may very easily win the Winternationals. Having said that, the Miller Lite car was so strong at Phoenix, that I think I’m going to pick them as my pre-season favorite to win it all this year. In fact, in two polls that I was asked to participate in, I picked Larry to win the championship this year. Kenny, and his "Forever Red" tour, will be right there all season long, but I just think that Don Prudhomme, Dick LaHaie, Dixon, (and the rest of the blue crew), are poised to unseat Kenny from the top spot. And, even though we haven’t seem him at any of the test sessions yet this season, I feel strongly that Doug Kalitta will be the third best car out there in 2002. Doug Herbert, Darrell Russell and Andrew Cowin will battle it out for the remaining spots in the top five, with Tony Schumacher also being a factor. Rhonda Hartman-Smith will, again, be a top ten finisher, and I think the other two spots in that elite group could very easily go to any one of about a half-dozen drivers, including Ken Zeal and Cory, if he runs the entire season.

John Force

The Funny Car scene always starts the same way every year, with the chant that, "This is the season when someone is going to beat John Force." Well, never one to bet on the front-runner, I voted for Whit Bazemore to do just that in the two polls that I participated in. Who ever wins it, I do expect to see the best Funny Car race that we’ve seen since 1992. Del Worsham and Dean Skuza have to be contended with, and so do the two cars from Don Prudhomme’s stable, driven by Ron Capps and Tommy Johnson. The big unknown in the equation could be Scelzi and / or Bruce Sarver. Remember, Bruce got off to a great start last year, in fact, he was the only one besides John to ever lead the points during the 2001 campaign. Meanwhile, the Worsham’s tell me that they would like to be remembered as the last ones to win a Winston drag racing event, and the first ones to win a POWERADE event. Hey, it’s a goal. The Pomona race could be big, too, since John is a notoriously slow starter, so, if someone can get out of the gate quickly, it really could be an interesting year. And I didn’t even mention Al Hofmann, and all he did was run 4.84 in Phoenix, or either of the other John Force cars (Tony Pedregon and Gary Densham), or Scotty Cannon or, well, you get the idea. Yep, it should be exciting.

Rendering of Warren's new car.

With all of the new Mopars coming out, could this be the year that a non-GM driver wins the Pro Stock title? Maybe. And could this be a year where we see more different winners than we did last year? I don’t think that will happen, but I do believe the championship is up for grabs. Nine of the top ten finishers from last year will be at the Winternationals (only Brad Jeter will be missing, unless he gets a last minute ride), and there will be several strong, new teams in competition as well, which means it’s anybody’s game. Warren Johnson, who won ’t be in Houston, has to rate as the favorite, but Jeg Coughlin, Jim Yates, Bruce Allen and the Dodge Boys can’t be far behind. Throw in the unknown commodity of the rookie, J.R. Carr, plus the Maskin-powered entry of Larry Nance and the new Greg Anderson-Ken Black team, and you have all the ingredients for a great race, and a great season. Of course, Mike Edwards, Mark Pawuk, Ron Krisher and Kurt Johnson could all, easily win in California. And, they could all win the season championship, too. So, whom do I like? Well, W.J gets my nod, followed by Darrell Alderman and Jim Yates. The rest of the top ten could come from twenty, different drivers, literally, and it will all depend on which ones can qualify at all the races. That, in itself, will be a real challenge this year in Pro Stock….Lost amid all of the fuel cars at Tucson was George Marnell, who made several runs in the 7.04 – 7.05 range, and at about 3,000 feet (corrected altitude), that’s pretty stout. Let’s not count him out, either.

Don’t forget to log on to Drag Race Central this weekend and keep up with all of the testing, both in Vegas and in Houston, and then, sit back and watch as the New England Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl. Remember, you heard it here first. Hey, you heard about the Creasy deal here first, didn’t you? Well, you did if you read this column back in December. Have a good weekend and I’ll see you in Pomona.