[coverattach=1]POMONA, Calif. (November 10, 2008) -- It was a Thursday, January 30, 1997. Del Worsham was in the pit area at Pomona Raceway, standing next to his newly-painted old car, the same '96 Oldsmobile he had competed with the year before, with sponsor names such as Texas Stagecoach, Auburn Foundry, and Wible Realty on the hood and sides. For '97 season, however, the car had been repainted mostly white, with a stylized star profiled in a light shade of blue, while the names Checker Auto Parts, Schuck's Auto Supply, and Kragen Auto Parts had been placed in the primary sponsor positions. Worsham's Funny Car was no threat to win the "Best Appearing" award, but it was a truly beautiful sight in his eyes, because it had a full sponsorship on it for the first time in his career, which was then entering its seventh season.
Although Worsham and his father, Chuck, made the switch to a new Dodge body before the next race, and the original flat-blue color was adjusted to a deeper royal, the blue and white design would remain for the rest of that first year. Meanwhile, the younger Worsham's rapid-fire vocal delivery of "Checker, Schuck's, Kragen" would soon become as well known as any sponsor mention in the sport, while the line "I just want to thank my dad" became a consistent theme in his top-end interviews, after every race win.
From that first day in Pomona, with his team wearing newly embroidered blue polo shirts as crew uniforms, Worsham learned the sponsorship ropes as quickly as he could and never looked back. Until now.
This Thursday, on November 13, 2008, Worsham will again stand next to his CSK Funny Car in the Pomona Raceway pit area, but this race will mark the bookend to that 1997 beginning. Once Worsham and his now more-appropriately dressed teammates have made their final lap at this weekend's Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, the era of saying "Checker, Schuck's, Kragen" in a nano-second will officially be over.
In its entirety, the Worsham Racing CSK era included five drivers, beginning with Worsham himself, of course. Once the team doubled in size in 2000, Frank Pedregon, Johnny Gray, Phil Burkart, and Jeff Arend all took turns driving the CSK blue car (with Worsham having, by then, switched to red). The answer to the trivia question "Who was the fifth CSK Funny Car driver?" would be Cory Lee, who piloted a black version of the CSK machine for a few races in 2002. During his team's 12-year run with CSK Auto, Worsham claimed 20 race victories and one Skoal Showdown, Pedregon picked up one race victory and another Showdown trophy, and Burkart earned three race wins. Although it was not always "the best of times," it was surely a spectacularly great run.
"I honestly can't believe this is the last race as Team CSK, and the last time we'll compete with Checker, Schuck's, Kragen on the car," Worsham said. "1997 seems like it just happened. The whole 12 years has gone by in a blur, but all the memories are still fresh and it's impossible to forget so many big moments. I know it must be really hard for teams that develop sponsorships but then lose them to another team, because it's got to be tough to come back out the next year and see your sponsor on another car, but this might be even a little harder. No one will have Checker, Schuck's, Kragen next year, and pretty soon the change-over to O'Reilly from the CSK names will begin to happen. In the long run, I just hope people remember what we did here, with CSK.
"Times change, but it's been a great run for 12 unbelievable seasons, and there are so many people to thank, who have been at CSK over the years, I can't even begin to name them all. Our dearest and best friends over there know who they are, and a bunch of them are coming to Pomona this weekend, just to hang out with us and enjoy the race because they're no longer with the company. We plan to enjoy the whole weekend with them, and I'm sure we'll have plenty of war stories to talk about. And then, after the race is over, we'll all be in the same boat. None of us will be associated with CSK anymore."
Those war stories might well include "the early years" when the Worsham team was struggling to find its stride, both on the track and off. There will be tales of strange car designs, new uniform looks, funny t-shirt artwork, and a stretch of seasons from 2001 to 2005 when it seemed as though a race without a CSK car in the final round was a bizarre rarity. There were hole-shot wins, and losses by less than a thousandth of a second. There were perfect passes, and quite a few cataclysmic failures, the latter of which have nearly all been stunningly documented on video tape or in shocking still photos. And there were teammates. Lots of teammates.
"We've really had some fantastic people come through this team, and more than a few have been here, at nearly every race, for the whole CSK adventure," Worsham said. "John Fink and Frank Gilchrist were the Auburn Foundry and Texas Stagecoach guys before CSK came along, and I don't know what we would've done without them, both before CSK and throughout the last 12 years. Marc Denner and Bob Wilber joined the team right before the '97 season started, so they've been here for the whole sponsorship, right along with my dad and me. Bruce Scranage's sponsor decal, for Wible Realty, has been on the car the longest, and he's continued to back us and come out to wear the uniform a couple of times a season, every year.
"Over the years, we've had waves of guys come through, and we still see a lot of them every week because they're on other teams now. I'm proud of the fact we gave a lot of those guys their first good job as a crew person, and they've gone on to success with some really big teams. I'll always remember how we were short a guy on the Western Swing, back in '97, so we picked up a volunteer in Sonoma. That was Grant Downing, who has been building our cars since not too long after that, and is now one of the most respected chassis builders in the sport. And, of course, we made a legend out of Steve 'Fuel Boy' Brown. Fuel Boy goes way back with us, and he's just about beyond description. It's been a great run, a great sponsorship, and this really has been a great team."
Now, it all winds down and comes to an end right back where it started. At the first race in 1997, Worsham qualified No. 3 in his blue and white CSK Olds, but was upset in the first round (by Gary Bolger, for those keeping score). This time around, he'd rather revisit his results from the Finals in 2001 and 2003, when he kept the year alive as long as possible, right through the final round and into the Winner's Circle with his red Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Funny Car. That would certainly be a grand way to wrap things up.
Although Worsham and his father, Chuck, made the switch to a new Dodge body before the next race, and the original flat-blue color was adjusted to a deeper royal, the blue and white design would remain for the rest of that first year. Meanwhile, the younger Worsham's rapid-fire vocal delivery of "Checker, Schuck's, Kragen" would soon become as well known as any sponsor mention in the sport, while the line "I just want to thank my dad" became a consistent theme in his top-end interviews, after every race win.
From that first day in Pomona, with his team wearing newly embroidered blue polo shirts as crew uniforms, Worsham learned the sponsorship ropes as quickly as he could and never looked back. Until now.
This Thursday, on November 13, 2008, Worsham will again stand next to his CSK Funny Car in the Pomona Raceway pit area, but this race will mark the bookend to that 1997 beginning. Once Worsham and his now more-appropriately dressed teammates have made their final lap at this weekend's Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, the era of saying "Checker, Schuck's, Kragen" in a nano-second will officially be over.
In its entirety, the Worsham Racing CSK era included five drivers, beginning with Worsham himself, of course. Once the team doubled in size in 2000, Frank Pedregon, Johnny Gray, Phil Burkart, and Jeff Arend all took turns driving the CSK blue car (with Worsham having, by then, switched to red). The answer to the trivia question "Who was the fifth CSK Funny Car driver?" would be Cory Lee, who piloted a black version of the CSK machine for a few races in 2002. During his team's 12-year run with CSK Auto, Worsham claimed 20 race victories and one Skoal Showdown, Pedregon picked up one race victory and another Showdown trophy, and Burkart earned three race wins. Although it was not always "the best of times," it was surely a spectacularly great run.
"I honestly can't believe this is the last race as Team CSK, and the last time we'll compete with Checker, Schuck's, Kragen on the car," Worsham said. "1997 seems like it just happened. The whole 12 years has gone by in a blur, but all the memories are still fresh and it's impossible to forget so many big moments. I know it must be really hard for teams that develop sponsorships but then lose them to another team, because it's got to be tough to come back out the next year and see your sponsor on another car, but this might be even a little harder. No one will have Checker, Schuck's, Kragen next year, and pretty soon the change-over to O'Reilly from the CSK names will begin to happen. In the long run, I just hope people remember what we did here, with CSK.
"Times change, but it's been a great run for 12 unbelievable seasons, and there are so many people to thank, who have been at CSK over the years, I can't even begin to name them all. Our dearest and best friends over there know who they are, and a bunch of them are coming to Pomona this weekend, just to hang out with us and enjoy the race because they're no longer with the company. We plan to enjoy the whole weekend with them, and I'm sure we'll have plenty of war stories to talk about. And then, after the race is over, we'll all be in the same boat. None of us will be associated with CSK anymore."
Those war stories might well include "the early years" when the Worsham team was struggling to find its stride, both on the track and off. There will be tales of strange car designs, new uniform looks, funny t-shirt artwork, and a stretch of seasons from 2001 to 2005 when it seemed as though a race without a CSK car in the final round was a bizarre rarity. There were hole-shot wins, and losses by less than a thousandth of a second. There were perfect passes, and quite a few cataclysmic failures, the latter of which have nearly all been stunningly documented on video tape or in shocking still photos. And there were teammates. Lots of teammates.
"We've really had some fantastic people come through this team, and more than a few have been here, at nearly every race, for the whole CSK adventure," Worsham said. "John Fink and Frank Gilchrist were the Auburn Foundry and Texas Stagecoach guys before CSK came along, and I don't know what we would've done without them, both before CSK and throughout the last 12 years. Marc Denner and Bob Wilber joined the team right before the '97 season started, so they've been here for the whole sponsorship, right along with my dad and me. Bruce Scranage's sponsor decal, for Wible Realty, has been on the car the longest, and he's continued to back us and come out to wear the uniform a couple of times a season, every year.
"Over the years, we've had waves of guys come through, and we still see a lot of them every week because they're on other teams now. I'm proud of the fact we gave a lot of those guys their first good job as a crew person, and they've gone on to success with some really big teams. I'll always remember how we were short a guy on the Western Swing, back in '97, so we picked up a volunteer in Sonoma. That was Grant Downing, who has been building our cars since not too long after that, and is now one of the most respected chassis builders in the sport. And, of course, we made a legend out of Steve 'Fuel Boy' Brown. Fuel Boy goes way back with us, and he's just about beyond description. It's been a great run, a great sponsorship, and this really has been a great team."
Now, it all winds down and comes to an end right back where it started. At the first race in 1997, Worsham qualified No. 3 in his blue and white CSK Olds, but was upset in the first round (by Gary Bolger, for those keeping score). This time around, he'd rather revisit his results from the Finals in 2001 and 2003, when he kept the year alive as long as possible, right through the final round and into the Winner's Circle with his red Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Funny Car. That would certainly be a grand way to wrap things up.
