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POMONA, Calif. (November 6, 2006) -- Popular Checker, Schuck's, Kragen driver Del Worsham enters this weekend's Auto Club Finals in Pomona with a clear assignment sitting in front of him. He simply must win rounds, two of them to be exact, if he wants to attend the NHRA POWERade Awards Ceremony in Palm Springs on Monday. Worsham, you see, is currently sitting 11th in the POWERade standings, and only the top ten drivers are invited to end-of-year banquet. Working in Worsham's favor is the current disposition of Whit Bazemore, who is idle and earning no points, but Worsham still enters the weekend a full 62 markers behind, meaning he must advance to the semi-final to earn the final spot on the stage. It won't be easy, but if yet another dose of that strange Pomona magic should visit the Worsham camp, it just might be done.
Throughout the last few years, Worsham has come to this season-ending event with specific goals in mind, and more times than not he has managed to accomplish those goals. In doing so, he has also been a part of some of the strangest wins of his career. Call it "home field advantage" for the Chino Hills resident, or call it simple good fortune, but Worsham has always accepted his Pomona fate and wouldn't think twice about it should the oddball happenings fall his way again.
Back in 2001, Worsham entered Pomona in 4th place on the points sheet, but he had Ron Capps firmly in his sight for the 3rd position. Taking matters into his own hands, Worsham defeated Capps in round one, but then had to advance all the way to the final round to secure the No. 3 spot for the first time in his career. As history shows, he did just that, and as he lined up to face Bazemore in that final, Worsham was looking to add a little icing to the cake he had just secured. Seconds later, when Worsham smoked the tires at the hit of the throttle, it appeared he had won the battle for 3rd place only to lose the race, but the win light was, strangely, already on in his lane. Bazemore had fouled at the start, handing the win to the tire-smoking Worsham.
In 2003, the result was the same but the finish even more bizarre. Facing teammate Cory Lee in the final round, Worsham knew he had finished yet another successful season, while he also knew his friend and teammate was desperately looking for his first career win. It was the first time, and to this point remains the only time, two Worsham cars have ever lined up in the final, and what happened is still the subject of conversations which begin with "Do you remember when...?" Worsham inexplicably jumped the gun at the tree, lighting the red bulb to hand Lee his first-ever win. But Lee, unaware of Worsham's transgression, fought to keep his car going straight and refused to lift off the throttle as he neared the center line. When he crossed that painted barrier, he handed the win back to Worsham to complete a "believe it or not" sequence of mistakes.
"Looking back, we really have had some incredible things happen to us at Pomona," Worsham said. "We've come in here needing to get specific numbers of rounds in the bank to finish higher in the points, and we've done it. We've won here twice, and each win had a red light involved in it. There's good karma here, and it's my home track, so I'm not arguing. We need to go to the semi-final to get back into the top ten, and that's going to be hard. But, it's Pomona and we've done some very hard stuff here.
"Even more than the two wins, I think our points battle with Gary Scelzi, back in 2004, was pretty much the ultimate. We were both trying to finish in the 2nd spot, and were within single points of each other for a couple of races. We traded blows throughout qualifying, one-upping each other back and forth, and we finally qualified with exactly the same number, but we added a point on him on the basis of speed. We ended up going to the final and finishing second, and the whole thing was incredible. It was Pomona at its most amazing."
Now, Worsham again enters Pomona with specific needs in front of him, knowing exactly what he has to do to accomplish his goal, only this time the stakes are tied to the 10th spot on the sheet, not the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th.
"This whole season has been a huge disappointment, for everyone involved, but we're going into this race to throw it all out there," Worsham said. "It won't be the end of the world if we finish 11th. The sun will still come up on Monday morning, and there are lots of bigger issues in the world right now than where I finish on the points sheet, but we're going to enter this race like we're fighting for the championship. If we make it to the semi-final, that would be great and we will celebrate that a little. If we can win this thing, even on another red light or center line deal, we'll take that too. It's Pomona, so you never know."
Stranger things, quite literally, have happened.
ANOTHER STRANGE POMONA WIN WOULD SUIT WORSHAM JUST FINE
POMONA, Calif. (November 6, 2006) -- Popular Checker, Schuck's, Kragen driver Del Worsham enters this weekend's Auto Club Finals in Pomona with a clear assignment sitting in front of him. He simply must win rounds, two of them to be exact, if he wants to attend the NHRA POWERade Awards Ceremony in Palm Springs on Monday. Worsham, you see, is currently sitting 11th in the POWERade standings, and only the top ten drivers are invited to end-of-year banquet. Working in Worsham's favor is the current disposition of Whit Bazemore, who is idle and earning no points, but Worsham still enters the weekend a full 62 markers behind, meaning he must advance to the semi-final to earn the final spot on the stage. It won't be easy, but if yet another dose of that strange Pomona magic should visit the Worsham camp, it just might be done.
Throughout the last few years, Worsham has come to this season-ending event with specific goals in mind, and more times than not he has managed to accomplish those goals. In doing so, he has also been a part of some of the strangest wins of his career. Call it "home field advantage" for the Chino Hills resident, or call it simple good fortune, but Worsham has always accepted his Pomona fate and wouldn't think twice about it should the oddball happenings fall his way again.
Back in 2001, Worsham entered Pomona in 4th place on the points sheet, but he had Ron Capps firmly in his sight for the 3rd position. Taking matters into his own hands, Worsham defeated Capps in round one, but then had to advance all the way to the final round to secure the No. 3 spot for the first time in his career. As history shows, he did just that, and as he lined up to face Bazemore in that final, Worsham was looking to add a little icing to the cake he had just secured. Seconds later, when Worsham smoked the tires at the hit of the throttle, it appeared he had won the battle for 3rd place only to lose the race, but the win light was, strangely, already on in his lane. Bazemore had fouled at the start, handing the win to the tire-smoking Worsham.
In 2003, the result was the same but the finish even more bizarre. Facing teammate Cory Lee in the final round, Worsham knew he had finished yet another successful season, while he also knew his friend and teammate was desperately looking for his first career win. It was the first time, and to this point remains the only time, two Worsham cars have ever lined up in the final, and what happened is still the subject of conversations which begin with "Do you remember when...?" Worsham inexplicably jumped the gun at the tree, lighting the red bulb to hand Lee his first-ever win. But Lee, unaware of Worsham's transgression, fought to keep his car going straight and refused to lift off the throttle as he neared the center line. When he crossed that painted barrier, he handed the win back to Worsham to complete a "believe it or not" sequence of mistakes.
"Looking back, we really have had some incredible things happen to us at Pomona," Worsham said. "We've come in here needing to get specific numbers of rounds in the bank to finish higher in the points, and we've done it. We've won here twice, and each win had a red light involved in it. There's good karma here, and it's my home track, so I'm not arguing. We need to go to the semi-final to get back into the top ten, and that's going to be hard. But, it's Pomona and we've done some very hard stuff here.
"Even more than the two wins, I think our points battle with Gary Scelzi, back in 2004, was pretty much the ultimate. We were both trying to finish in the 2nd spot, and were within single points of each other for a couple of races. We traded blows throughout qualifying, one-upping each other back and forth, and we finally qualified with exactly the same number, but we added a point on him on the basis of speed. We ended up going to the final and finishing second, and the whole thing was incredible. It was Pomona at its most amazing."
Now, Worsham again enters Pomona with specific needs in front of him, knowing exactly what he has to do to accomplish his goal, only this time the stakes are tied to the 10th spot on the sheet, not the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th.
"This whole season has been a huge disappointment, for everyone involved, but we're going into this race to throw it all out there," Worsham said. "It won't be the end of the world if we finish 11th. The sun will still come up on Monday morning, and there are lots of bigger issues in the world right now than where I finish on the points sheet, but we're going to enter this race like we're fighting for the championship. If we make it to the semi-final, that would be great and we will celebrate that a little. If we can win this thing, even on another red light or center line deal, we'll take that too. It's Pomona, so you never know."
Stranger things, quite literally, have happened.
