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Del Worsham had "the feeling," and he's quick to admit he doesn't get it that often. He had just spent two days driving his red Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala to strong and solid laps, running from end-to-end on both sides of the track, and in a wide variety of conditions. He knew his hot rod wanted to run, and his plan was to let it run free like a stallion. There were plenty of other stout cars in the field, roadblocks and speedbumps every step of the way, but Worsham had "the feeling." And then, a small spacer no bigger than the palm of a hand caused it all to vanish. Worsham lost in round one, losing power at the 330 mark, allowing Jack Beckman, who ran a very solid lap, to advance.
To get to that point, Worsham went 3-for-4, in terrific fashion, during qualifying. He joined the vast majority of the class by spinning the tires at the top end during qualifying session No. 1, but came back in the ultra-important night session to post a strong 4.796, grabbing the No. 9 spot on the sheet at yet another race where major players spent Sunday on the sidelines (this time, Mike Ashley, Bob Gilbertson, Kenny Bernstein, and Jerry Toliver failed to make the show.)
Saturday dawned with beautiful weather, almost perfect for this time of year in New Jersey, but with the sun shining down it was clear no one was going to come close to Friday's times. The goal then became a race of "us versus them" comparisons during each session. The numbers themselves wouldn't move Worsham up or down the sheet, but by ranking himself against the class on each run, he'd know where he stood for race day.
Where he stood was very near the top of the class, as he and Tommy Johnson showed the rest of the Funny Car contingent how to do it on Saturday. Worsham posted the quickest run during Q3, a relatively huge 4.850, which easily outpaced a slew of mid-4.90s and John Force's 4.886. In Q4, the final qualifying lap at this event, Worsham ran a solid 4.911, the third-quickest lap of the session. "The feeling" began to grow.
"We did exactly what we set out to do in qualifying," Worsham said. "Just about everyone spun the tires in Q1, but I went ahead and legged it down there for quite a while with them spinning, just to get further back in the line for the night session. The 4.79 wasn't a big hero home run, but it was solid for the middle of the pack and we were happy with that. Saturday, though, was stellar for us.
"Those two runs showed us we could outrun just about anyone out here with the sun on the track. I knew we had a car that could win, and I knew, deep in my heart, that we not only could win this race, we probably should. I don't get that feeling very often, but I'm not wrong very often, either, when I get it. I knew all we had to do was go out there and keep repeating with this tune-up, and if we did that we had a chance to have a heck of a weekend."
In the first round, on Sunday, Worsham faced off with No. 8 qualifier Jack Beckman, with 8th place in the standings on the line. When they left the starting line, Worsham was in the No. 8 spot on the points sheet, with Beckman only 15 points behind. Beckman got away first, but Worsham had already made up the difference by the 60-foot mark, and was pulling away on a massively good lap.
At the 330 mark, Worsham's time read 2.342, as compared to Beckman's 2.389. The red CSK Impala SS was on rails and pulling away, until a small part let go and the engine went silent.
"We have a little spacer adapter between the top blower pulley and the blower, and it sheared off," Worsham said. "When it did that, it looks like it took a few of the pulley bolts with it, and the top pulley came off. Game over. It could have done that yesterday, or it could have shown its weakness on the warm-up, or it could have done it at the finish line, but it chose that exact moment to come apart and sheer the pulley right off the car.
"For quite a while, I was really mad and disgusted because this was a day that just seemed lined up for us and I knew we could make some serious headway here. It always seems unfair when stuff like this happens, out of nowhere, and you lose when you feel you really should win, but I calmed down pretty quickly by just thinking back to all the laps we've won when great cars in the other lane had mechanical failures. Stuff breaking is just a part of this game, it happens to everyone. Always has, always will. So, once we got back to the pit and the smoke stopped coming out of our ears, we got behind Jeff Arend and the blue team to try to make a good day out of this for Checker, Schuck's, Kragen and Murray's."
In the end, the blue team delivered in a solid way, making three great passes to wind up with a semi-final finish. It was nice bit of medicine for what had earlier ailed Worsham, but the red team driver is more than anxious to get right back to racing in Norwalk.
"It's our first time there since the Norwalk track joined the tour, but we've match raced there a bunch," he said. "We're all eager to see what they've done with the facility and the track, and I for one am absolutely ready to get right back on the track. I'd go race there tomorrow if they'd let us."
Hopefully, once Worsham and his team arrive in northern Ohio, "the feeling" will return, and this time it will come to fruition.
BROKEN PART LEADS TO BROKEN DREAMS, IN ROUND ONE
Del Worsham had "the feeling," and he's quick to admit he doesn't get it that often. He had just spent two days driving his red Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala to strong and solid laps, running from end-to-end on both sides of the track, and in a wide variety of conditions. He knew his hot rod wanted to run, and his plan was to let it run free like a stallion. There were plenty of other stout cars in the field, roadblocks and speedbumps every step of the way, but Worsham had "the feeling." And then, a small spacer no bigger than the palm of a hand caused it all to vanish. Worsham lost in round one, losing power at the 330 mark, allowing Jack Beckman, who ran a very solid lap, to advance.
To get to that point, Worsham went 3-for-4, in terrific fashion, during qualifying. He joined the vast majority of the class by spinning the tires at the top end during qualifying session No. 1, but came back in the ultra-important night session to post a strong 4.796, grabbing the No. 9 spot on the sheet at yet another race where major players spent Sunday on the sidelines (this time, Mike Ashley, Bob Gilbertson, Kenny Bernstein, and Jerry Toliver failed to make the show.)
Saturday dawned with beautiful weather, almost perfect for this time of year in New Jersey, but with the sun shining down it was clear no one was going to come close to Friday's times. The goal then became a race of "us versus them" comparisons during each session. The numbers themselves wouldn't move Worsham up or down the sheet, but by ranking himself against the class on each run, he'd know where he stood for race day.
Where he stood was very near the top of the class, as he and Tommy Johnson showed the rest of the Funny Car contingent how to do it on Saturday. Worsham posted the quickest run during Q3, a relatively huge 4.850, which easily outpaced a slew of mid-4.90s and John Force's 4.886. In Q4, the final qualifying lap at this event, Worsham ran a solid 4.911, the third-quickest lap of the session. "The feeling" began to grow.
"We did exactly what we set out to do in qualifying," Worsham said. "Just about everyone spun the tires in Q1, but I went ahead and legged it down there for quite a while with them spinning, just to get further back in the line for the night session. The 4.79 wasn't a big hero home run, but it was solid for the middle of the pack and we were happy with that. Saturday, though, was stellar for us.
"Those two runs showed us we could outrun just about anyone out here with the sun on the track. I knew we had a car that could win, and I knew, deep in my heart, that we not only could win this race, we probably should. I don't get that feeling very often, but I'm not wrong very often, either, when I get it. I knew all we had to do was go out there and keep repeating with this tune-up, and if we did that we had a chance to have a heck of a weekend."
In the first round, on Sunday, Worsham faced off with No. 8 qualifier Jack Beckman, with 8th place in the standings on the line. When they left the starting line, Worsham was in the No. 8 spot on the points sheet, with Beckman only 15 points behind. Beckman got away first, but Worsham had already made up the difference by the 60-foot mark, and was pulling away on a massively good lap.
At the 330 mark, Worsham's time read 2.342, as compared to Beckman's 2.389. The red CSK Impala SS was on rails and pulling away, until a small part let go and the engine went silent.
"We have a little spacer adapter between the top blower pulley and the blower, and it sheared off," Worsham said. "When it did that, it looks like it took a few of the pulley bolts with it, and the top pulley came off. Game over. It could have done that yesterday, or it could have shown its weakness on the warm-up, or it could have done it at the finish line, but it chose that exact moment to come apart and sheer the pulley right off the car.
"For quite a while, I was really mad and disgusted because this was a day that just seemed lined up for us and I knew we could make some serious headway here. It always seems unfair when stuff like this happens, out of nowhere, and you lose when you feel you really should win, but I calmed down pretty quickly by just thinking back to all the laps we've won when great cars in the other lane had mechanical failures. Stuff breaking is just a part of this game, it happens to everyone. Always has, always will. So, once we got back to the pit and the smoke stopped coming out of our ears, we got behind Jeff Arend and the blue team to try to make a good day out of this for Checker, Schuck's, Kragen and Murray's."
In the end, the blue team delivered in a solid way, making three great passes to wind up with a semi-final finish. It was nice bit of medicine for what had earlier ailed Worsham, but the red team driver is more than anxious to get right back to racing in Norwalk.
"It's our first time there since the Norwalk track joined the tour, but we've match raced there a bunch," he said. "We're all eager to see what they've done with the facility and the track, and I for one am absolutely ready to get right back on the track. I'd go race there tomorrow if they'd let us."
Hopefully, once Worsham and his team arrive in northern Ohio, "the feeling" will return, and this time it will come to fruition.
