Thu, 3 Oct 2002, 07:05 PM Points? Who’s Counting Points?

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2002 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Arthur Gallant

With the 2002 drag racing season coming to a close, a lot of people are looking at the point’s battles in the professional classes. Two guys, Larry Dixon and Kenny Bernstein can win the Top Fuel title, Tony Pedregon could catch and pass John Force in Dallas and Jeg Coughlin, Jim Yates and, to a lesser extent, Greg Anderson, all have a chance to grab the honors in Pro Stock. But as exciting as those races look, if you really want some excitement, check out the battles in the Lucas Oil Sportsman series where most of the championships are still up for grabs and most classes have a couple of guys who could win them.

Now I have to admit, the problem with analyzing the sportsman races is the point’s system itself. Drivers in the two top classes, Alcohol Dragster and Alcohol Funny Car, can claim points at eight national and eight divisional races (taking their best five on each level), while the rest of the classes, Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp and Super Gas, get to use six national and eight divisional races for their totals. The drivers in those five classes will take the best three national races and the best five scoring divisional events for their total. With the racing schedule spread out over the season, and divisional races going on almost all the time, sometimes it’s tough to keep up with the very latest totals. To show you how close these races can get, all you have to do is look back at last year’s battle in Competition Eliminator where Don Stratton had to go to the final round at the final race of the year to win the championship. He did just that, by the way, and he just might do it again this year. Having said all of that, with just two national events left where the alky cars can score points (Dallas and Pomona), and with three divisional races left, two of them this week, I thought I’d take a quick look at the points and see who is looking good as we get set to crown the 2002 Lucas Oil Sportsman champions.

Duane Shields

The battle in the Top Alcohol Dragster class got very interesting this past weekend when the leader, Art Gallant, failed to get out of the first round in Chicago. His early exit kept the slim title hopes alive for Duane Shields, the record holder and the guy who has been all over the country this year in search of the title. The way I see it, Arthur still has a chance to close everyone out if he can just win two rounds at the remaining national event that he has left to claim. Will it be Dallas or Pomona where we’ll see him next? Good question. Shields, meanwhile, had a decision to make when he left Chicago last week and that is, should he go to Darlington or Noble, Oklahoma this week before running at his home track in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. Duane still has two divisional races left at which he can claim points and add to his total. I know that he had a business engagement this week in Florida so maybe he’ll show up at the D-2 race in Darlington which is on the way to the Sunshine State. Or, since he’ll probably go to Dallas in an effort to try to stop Gallant (if Art goes there), maybe Duane will show up in Noble, which just happens to be on the way to Texas (well, kind of on the way). Whatever happens and where ever they go it should be exciting and Arthur has his fate inhis own hands. By the way, a little wrinkle has been thrown into those last two national events since I understand that Rick Santos, the reigning champ, will show up at both of them to compete. Should be fun!!

The situation in the Funny Car class is a little easier…Frank Manzo will be the champ, again! But, the battle for second place is exciting with Jay Payne and Von Smith slugging it out. Jay, with those two big wins in Chicago last week (the Jeg’s All Stars and the national event), looks to have the momentum on his side. Jay beat Von Smith in both of those final rounds in Chicago, and it’s Von who is chasing Jay for that number two spot. I expect the two of them to race in Darlington this weekend with the divisional title and second place in the national points all on the line. Yes, the D-2 crown has still not been decided, but it will be this weekend in Darlington since this is the last divisional race that either of those guys can claim. By the way, Bucky Austin still has a couple of national events left to claim and he could finish as high as second with a good showing at those events. Of course, Bucky still has some bigger things to attend to following the fire at this shop a few weeks ago. We certainly hope everything works out OK for Bucky and his family.

Don Stratton

After the alky classes things start to get a little more confusing. Take the Comp class, for example, where the defending champ, Don Stratton, has the lead with only a few races remaining. In addition to being in front, Don still has two national and two divisional races left where he can add to his total, and it shouldn’t be too hard to do just that. With a first round and a third round loss to replace, it almost looks like a sure thing that Don will add to his current total and that will make it even tougher for his competitors to chase him down. Among the challengers are Mike Saye and Mike Farrell. Saye has the best chance since he still has two national events and a divisional remaining on his schedule. With the Darlington race this weekend being an "in division" race for Saye, look for him to complete his points total there, where anything past the first round will improve his score. Then, it’s off to two or three of the final races in an effort to score and keep the other guys from doing the same. Saye and his partner John Clark have a very good car and he might be one the steadiest, most consistent drivers on the circuit. Farrell, meanwhile, admittedly is a long shot. Currently Farrell is 102 points behind the leader, but he can run at two of the remaining national events as well as two of the remaining divisional races to pick up points. While he would have to go deep into the eliminations to secure enough points to catch Stratton, Farrell is certainly capable of doing just that. The question is, will he travel, basically, coast to coast in the next four weeks in search of the crown? Larry Pritchett, the U.S. Nationals’ winner, looks like a solid bet for second place since he appears too far behind, even with one divisional race to go, to catch the leader. Still, an Indy win and a number two finish isn’t bad in my book.

Anthony Bertozzi

Super Stock appears to be a dog fight between two good friends, Peter Biondo the 1996 and 2000 champ, and Anthony Bertozzi, the best racer to have never won an NHRA national event. Both drivers will probably be in Darlington this week with Peter claiming that as his last divisional race of the year. Anything past the second round will add to Peter’s total and you normally expect that to happen. Anthony still has a national and a divisional race to claim, and he needs to go past the second round this weekend to add points to his total. On the national level, Peter is done claiming races while Anthony has one more to go and all he needs to do there is go past the first round to pick up points. With just 16 points between them right now, every race and every round will be important to both drivers, and so will qualifying, after all, they’d hate to meet up with each other in, let’s say, round one. Or would they?

The reigning Stock Eliminator world champ, Kevin Helms, appears to be in the driver’ s seat, so to speak, as we head down the home stretch. Out of national events to claim, but with two divisional still available to him, Kevin needs to go deep into the eliminations in order to add to his total of 616 points. Meanwhile, Toby Lang, his closest challenger, is only eight points back with one divisional race remaining on his calendar. To gain ground, Toby has to go past the second round at that divisional race, which could be either in Noble or Las Vegas. Brain Valentine also has a shot at catching Helms, but he’d have to get to at least the third round at his one remaining national event to start adding points. And, the long shot in this class just might be that Peter Biondo guy. In Darlington this week, Peter needs to have a lot of cars show up in the Stock class and he has to go deep into the eliminations if he wants to add points and keep his slim, very slim, title hopes alive. The way I see it, anything short of a final round will virtually take Peter out of the chase.

In Super Comp one thing is for certain, Brian Folk will end the season with 592 points, because he has already maxxed out his number of races to claim. That means that Kent Hanley, the D-1 guy, who trails Brian by just eight points, pretty much has his fate in his own hands. With two national and a divisional race still to claim, Kent only has to go to the third round at those events to gain ground and pass the leader. Jim Hughes, the very talented driver from Arizona, is lurking back in the pack, with 561 points, 31 behind Brian. With only one divisional race left, Jim needs to have a race with a lot of cars and he needs to go far into the eliminations since he’ll be replacing a 40 point, or second round performance. Las Vegas, which would be an "in division" race for Jim, sounds like the perfect deal. Of course, going there and winning there are two entirely different things, although Jim did win there at the national race earlier this year in Super Gas. Steve Cohen, by the way, the very first Super Comp world champ back in 1987, is only 32 points behind the leader and he has a first round loss to replace on the divisional level. So, look for Steve to be in Darlington this week and if he goes rounds, lots of rounds, he could come out of the week the leader in the 8.90 class.

Joe Harper

Super Gas has one thing in common with the 8.90 class and that is the leader, Tom Stalba, knows how many points he’ll finish the year with…648. Joe Harper, the Dodge Avenger driver, is 62 points behind him but he has a flock of races still to claim. Well, he has two nationals and two divisionals and, in this class, that’s a lot. Joe has a second and third round divisional race to replace along with a third round on the national level. And, while it’s mathematically possible for him to catch Tommy, he’d have to have just about the greatest month in the history of the class to do it. And you know what, I’ll bet he gives it his best shot.

As confusing as the points can be some time, I’ve done my best to give you a quick glimpse of how I think things stack up right now. With those divisional races this week, by the time Monday rolls around, we’ll have a much clearer picture of the championship chases in the sportsman classes and I’ll try to clear that picture up for you next week. To all of the races who are still in the hunt…good luck and may the best man win!!