Tue, 15 Oct 2002, 10:07 PM I Think 500 Is Big!!

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2002 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Don Garlits

Last week I teased you with the statement that something big was going to happen at the Dallas race, and I know that there were a lot of guesses circulating around. In fact, as hard as it may be to believe, I actually checked in at a couple of other web sites that some of my friends pointed out to me, just to see what some of the speculation was all about. I’ve got to admit, there are some pretty creative folks out there and the guesses ran the gamut, from me racing my ’78 Aspen (I wouldn’t do that because it’s not paid for yet) to Don Garlits and Clay Millican getting together, so to speak. And I know that when I finally said that the Top Fuel winner at Dallas would be the 500^th winner in NHRA TF history, some of you were disappointed. I mean, you were expecting announcements that ranged from new sponsors to new payouts and everything in between, but believe me, as a great fan of NHRA drag racing, the 500^th Top Fuel win is big. Very big. And while there are certainly lots of folks who know more about the history of this sport than I do, there are very few who appreciate that history as much as I do, and I consider myself very lucky to have been able to be there and watch as Doug Kalitta became a big part of drag racing folk lore.

Doug Kalitta

With Doug getting the win, obviously a lot of folks began talking about his uncle, Connie Kalitta, and how much he has meant to the sport of drag racing. Well, did you know that Connie was actually the 13^th Top Fuel winner when he won the 1967 Winternationals? And, along with his son Scott and nephew, Doug, the Kalitta family has accounted for 35 of those 500 victories. And, believe it or not, there were over 20 drivers on the grounds in Dallas last weekend who have won in the Top Fuel class and they accounted for over 270 wins. Now I find that amazing. Six of the top ten winners were there, including Joe Amato, Don Garlits, Kenny Bernstein, Cory McClenathan, Larry Dixon and Dick LaHaie and they have won 187 races between them. And then you had guys like Dave Settles and Ron Capps who had each contributed to the total with one win each. All in all, it was like a Top Fuel Hall of Fame show this weekend and I’m glad that I was able to be a part of it….Two of the top winners, Kenny and Larry, appear headed toward a final race showdown in Pomona, don’ t they? With their performances this weekend, Larry now leads KB by 108 points, or about five and a half rounds, which means that Kenny will need a good showing in Las Vegas if he wants to keep his title hopes alive. By the way, did you know that Doug Kalitta has now moved into third place in the points, and that he has jumped up from seventh place where he was as recently as Sonoma? It’s amazing what a couple of wins can do for you, isn’t it?…By the way, I’d like to congratulate both Rhonda Hartman-Smith and her husband, John, for their performances this year and their contract renewals with Fram and Prestone. Since they’ll both finish in the Powerade Top Ten this year, I think their sponsors have made a very good investment. Rhonda almost made it to her first final round this year but she broke on the burnout in the semi-finals. For as well as she has run this year and in past years, Rhonda still appears snake-bitten whenever she gets to the semi-final round. Did you know that in each of her previous four semi-final appearances, Rhonda has never made a full run down the track? I firmly believe that once she gets over that little speed bump, Rhonda will put her Fram car in the winner’s circle.

In other TF news, Cory McClenathan, driving the "Berryman" dragster, looked very good this weekend, didn’t he? With a logo that was designed by the legendary Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, the folks at the Dallas-based company surely got their money’s worth this weekend. Although he hasn’t won yet this year, Cory and the Henkelman & Baca dragster looks like it will finish in the top five and that’s pretty good in anyone’s book. Not only does he sport one of the best records in the history of the class, but Cory will soon go over 500 rounds of competition and that’s a bunch in the Top Fuel class. With all of the rumors swirling around, I sure hope that Cory, Rick Henkelman and David Baca return with two cars next year, because that will make the dragster class even better than it has been this season. The Top Fuel class is always better when Cory is a part of it. By the way, Cory got the freebie when Rhonda broke on her burnout and that ran his record against her to a lofty 11-1….With Kenny beating Larry in the second round, did you know that he evened his record against Dixon over the past three seasons at 12 a piece? It’s amazing that two of the best teams out there are dead-even over their last two dozen meetings, isn’t it? And I have to point out that KB kept his domination over the "Smith" family alive. When he beat John in the first round, Kenny continued one of the most amazing streaks in the sport, that is, not losing to a driver named "Smith" in the past twenty-two years. Mark my words, a confrontation with a "Smith" will decide the championship this year. Now it might be one with Dixon or Kenny, but with Rhonda, John and now Mike Smith all qualifying, they will play a part in which beer car wins the title. Did you know that Larry could clinch the championship next week in Las Vegas? With a 108 point lead, he needs to go two rounds further than Kenny to lock up his first season championship. I have a word of advice for both of our contenders…stay away from Doug Kalitta and the MAC Tools car.

John Force

When John Force lost in the second round in Dallas, it gave Tony Pedregon a perfect opportunity to move past John and into the lead. Well, Tony was beaten on a holeshot in his second round match with Tommy Johnson, and so he will go into Vegas still in second place. Did you know that this was the first time since the Memphis race in 2000 that Tony has lost on a holeshot? For his part, John was honored by DRAW (the Drag Racing Association of Women) as the "Person of the Year" on Saturday night. Alan Reinhart and I were hosting the DRAW auction and I think we were both more than a little surprised when the champ humbly accepted his award and actually seemed, well, speechless!! Congrats, John, you deserve it….John’s opening round win over Scotty Cannon ran his record against the Mohawk-wearing one to a lofty 14-2, which includes their last eight meetings. Did you know that Scotty hasn’t beaten John since the Denver race in 2000? By the way, since I mentioned what a drag racing fan I am, I ask you, is there a bigger or better Funny Car fan out there than Jim Jannard of Oakley? Every time I see him at the races I realize that here’s a guy who could be doing anything in the world (literally) that he wanted to do, and he chooses to be involved with NHRA racing and a great Funny Car team. Thanks, Jim. And mark my words, Scotty Cannon will win a race before this season is over and Jim will take everyone out to Waffle House for dinner…When Bruce Sarver beat John in round two, did you know that it was the first time in his career that Bruce came out on the winning side against Mr. Force? Bruce ended that 0-for-5 streak, but continued another one when he lost in the final round. Did you know that Bruce has now dropped five straight final round matches in his Funny Car?….Del Worsham, the FC winner, moved into third place in the points, thirty-two points in front of Gary Densham. With John’s lead down to 13 points, and the battle for third place heating up, the FC class should be very exciting at the next two races. Del now has won over 200 rounds in his career and he is headed for his best season, statistically, with two more opportunities to win his 5^th event and top the 35 rounds that he won last year. Did you know that Del got his fuel license at the Texas Motorplex and that his win moved him past Mike Dunn and puts him right behind the Motorplex owner, Billy Meyer, on the all-time FC win list. By the way, mark this date down, September 1, 2003, because that’s the date that something big will happen in the Funny Car class. And I mean big!!

If you think that Kenny Bernstein can catch Larry Dixon, than you have to believe that Jim Yates can catch Jeg Coughlin, because Jeg’s lead is the exact same 108 points as Larry’s is. Now that I think about it, did you know that three of the four professional classes could be clinched in Las Vegas. Only the Funny Car battle will definitely go down to Pomona. Any way, getting back to Pro Stock, did you know that Jeg Coughlin won his seventh consecutive final round this weekend, giving him 30 wins in his already brilliant career? And, to make the win even sweeter, Jeg beat his two closest rivals, Greg Anderson and Jim Yates along the way, running his record against the two to 10-2 this year and 25-10 for his career. Did you know that since he began his reign of terror at the St. Louis race, Jeggie has beaten both Greg and Jim at the same race three times and that he went on to win all three of those events? By the way, Jeg picked up his 30^th win in just his 115^th race, compared to the 189 races that it took Warren Johnson to win 30 and the 69 races that it took Bob Glidden. Can you imagine winning 30 of your first 69 races? Wow!! For a short period of time, there never was and never will be a driver who was as dominant as Bob Glidden was…Kurt Johnson made just the second Pro Stock run over 204 miles per hour this weekend, and he appeared headed for his first win of the year until he lost to Gene Wilson on a holeshot in the semi-finals. It just goes to show you how much new talent there is in the PS class when you consider that Kurt, who has been doing this for a long while, has a combined record of just 7-1 against the three guys he raced in Dallas…Unless a miracle occurs in the next two events, it looks like WJ is going to finish 4^th this year and that will be his lowest finish since way back in 1990. Ironically, Warren won just one race in 1990, and do you know how many wins he has this year? You guessed it…

Sportsman Winners

David Wells won the Top Alcohol Dragster class this weekend in one of the real surprise endings to any class. Rick Santos, who had not raced since fouling out at the Winternationals, returned to action and he looked like he had never been away, that is, until the final round. After beating the champ-to-be, Art Gallant, in the semi-finals, Rick had a .707 reaction time against David in the finals and, as you may have guessed, he lost. Nice going David and it was good to see Rick back in action. You’ll get another opportunity to see Rick, David and Arthur when they all show up at the final race in Pomona….Von Smith won for the first time in almost a year when he swept the alcohol funny car class. Von, in his Jensen Audio car, was the #1 qualifier, he set low elapsed time (at a personal best of 5.594) and he recorded top speed en route to the win. After dropping three finals in a row, four if you count the recent Jeg’s All Star race, Von was due for a win. Like the dragster guys that I just mentioned, Von will head out west to defend his championship at Pomona…. Anthony Bertozzi finally won an NHRA national event (after winning over 40 IHRA races), but not in his specialty. Anthony took home the Super Comp title and he desperately wanted to win in Super Stock so he could, I assume, validate his soon-to-be world championship. And, while I realize that there are a couple of drivers, like Terry Anderson and Jimbo Fields (who has only run at two national events) who can mathematically catch Anthony, I have to tell you, I really like his chances. Still, in the interest of fair reporting, it’s not over yet, so let’s wait until the Las Vegas race to see who is still standing. And Anthony, you don’t have to validate anything to anyone because you are one of the absolute best drivers out there.