FIRST-ROUND LOSS NOT WHAT WORSHAM'S DOCTOR ORDERED
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="right"borders="0"/>
After a successful, competitive, and exciting qualifying effort over the course of two sunny days in Denver, Del Worsham was tense but focused as he readied himself for round one on a glorious Sunday. Coming into this event nine scant points out of the top 10, Worsham entered round one against Robert Hight, and before he ran he was able to see Bob Tasca lose to Ron Capps, opening the door for the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen driver to plant himself firmly in the potential Countdown group. It was there, but it was not to be.
The first two days of 1,000-foot racing were thrilling, extraordinarily competitive, and very interesting for all involved, as odd new numbers flashed on the board while fans and teams quickly adapted to what a "good lap" was on Thunder Mountain. Worsham made a fine pass on Friday night, running a 4.287 that kept him the top 12 and allowed his time to count, and that lap, which placed Worsham 11th, was also an indication of what was to come, since all 12 of the cars that made the first-night cut ran in the 4.20s, paced by Tony Pedregon's 4.212. That theme would play out the next day as well, and might be part of the landscape for the rest of 2008.
"We shortened the track for a whole lot of good reasons, and I'm glad we did it, but we never really talked about how it might tighten the field up so much," Worsham said. "A lot of the variables in the Funny Car class happen in those last 320 feet, and by shortening the track we all became very competitive in terms of what the E.T.s are at 1,000 feet. It was pretty obvious in a hurry."
On Saturday, very little shuffling was done to the order during the first run, but the final session came just as the afternoon began to cool down, and the Funny Cars began ripping. Worsham stepped up to a 4.248, which at the time put him in the 6th spot, but by the time the session had ended, and more intra-4.20 shuffling was complete, the CSK driver slid into the 9th position, where he was graced with a first-round date with Robert Hight.
"It was hard to keep track of what was going on, but it was just wild that all the times were so close," Worsham said. "It was all a matter of thousandths, up and down the sheet, and I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it. We ended up 9th, and we got Robert as our first-round opponent, but pick your poison these days. Everyone is tough and there's not a car out there right now that I'd think was a good draw. Still, with all the cars so tightly bunched it felt like a little bit of bad luck to get Hight and his team. They're pretty awesome, and (crew chief) Jimmy Prock has had a handle on the mountain for years. The ladder wasn't exactly kind to us."
Sunday dawned with nary cloud in the sky, and even though this event features a rare 12:00 noon start, the conditions were still very good when the Funny Cars came to the line. Worsham and Hight were the final pair to run, as the 8th and 9th qualifiers, and Hight had lane choice. Winners were coming from both lanes, however, so that edge appeared to be mostly a moot point.
Super-focused all morning, knowing how critical his lap might be, Worsham practiced his reaction times in his transporter office, and then headed down the steep staging lanes hill to the starting line, ready to give Hight and his Auto Club team a good fight.
His focus paid off at the starting line, as Worsham grabbed a quick 11-thousandths edge at the tree, but as the two cars raced down the 1,000-foot track, it was Worsham's red CSK machine that lost traction, near mid-track, while Hight's car kept on trucking. The 4.235 clocking that appeared on Hight's scoreboard as the quickest run of the first round, by a good margin. With a prescription to get back into the top 10 in his hand, Worsham instead had to accept a disappointing defeat.
"It was pretty tricky out there, and I guess we just overpowered it a bit trying to run what we figured we'd need to run to beat those guys," he said. "Had we not smoked the tires, I don't know if we could've run with them anyway, but it was a bitter loss for all of us. I know that every guy on the team had 'the look' today, and we all had a lot of confidence that it was going to be a big day. It was tough to swallow, but it's the real world and half the cars in each round have to pack up and leave. We were just in the wrong half.
"Now, we'll head straight to Seattle and try to get it back. That's our mantra right now, to get it back. We can do it, in Seattle, Sonoma, or any of the races we have left before the Countdown is set. I know we can do it, and we plan to. We're just going to get it back."
Not what the doctor ordered, but the patient is still vibrant and ready for his next step.
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="right"borders="0"/>
After a successful, competitive, and exciting qualifying effort over the course of two sunny days in Denver, Del Worsham was tense but focused as he readied himself for round one on a glorious Sunday. Coming into this event nine scant points out of the top 10, Worsham entered round one against Robert Hight, and before he ran he was able to see Bob Tasca lose to Ron Capps, opening the door for the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen driver to plant himself firmly in the potential Countdown group. It was there, but it was not to be.
The first two days of 1,000-foot racing were thrilling, extraordinarily competitive, and very interesting for all involved, as odd new numbers flashed on the board while fans and teams quickly adapted to what a "good lap" was on Thunder Mountain. Worsham made a fine pass on Friday night, running a 4.287 that kept him the top 12 and allowed his time to count, and that lap, which placed Worsham 11th, was also an indication of what was to come, since all 12 of the cars that made the first-night cut ran in the 4.20s, paced by Tony Pedregon's 4.212. That theme would play out the next day as well, and might be part of the landscape for the rest of 2008.
"We shortened the track for a whole lot of good reasons, and I'm glad we did it, but we never really talked about how it might tighten the field up so much," Worsham said. "A lot of the variables in the Funny Car class happen in those last 320 feet, and by shortening the track we all became very competitive in terms of what the E.T.s are at 1,000 feet. It was pretty obvious in a hurry."
On Saturday, very little shuffling was done to the order during the first run, but the final session came just as the afternoon began to cool down, and the Funny Cars began ripping. Worsham stepped up to a 4.248, which at the time put him in the 6th spot, but by the time the session had ended, and more intra-4.20 shuffling was complete, the CSK driver slid into the 9th position, where he was graced with a first-round date with Robert Hight.
"It was hard to keep track of what was going on, but it was just wild that all the times were so close," Worsham said. "It was all a matter of thousandths, up and down the sheet, and I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it. We ended up 9th, and we got Robert as our first-round opponent, but pick your poison these days. Everyone is tough and there's not a car out there right now that I'd think was a good draw. Still, with all the cars so tightly bunched it felt like a little bit of bad luck to get Hight and his team. They're pretty awesome, and (crew chief) Jimmy Prock has had a handle on the mountain for years. The ladder wasn't exactly kind to us."
Sunday dawned with nary cloud in the sky, and even though this event features a rare 12:00 noon start, the conditions were still very good when the Funny Cars came to the line. Worsham and Hight were the final pair to run, as the 8th and 9th qualifiers, and Hight had lane choice. Winners were coming from both lanes, however, so that edge appeared to be mostly a moot point.
Super-focused all morning, knowing how critical his lap might be, Worsham practiced his reaction times in his transporter office, and then headed down the steep staging lanes hill to the starting line, ready to give Hight and his Auto Club team a good fight.
His focus paid off at the starting line, as Worsham grabbed a quick 11-thousandths edge at the tree, but as the two cars raced down the 1,000-foot track, it was Worsham's red CSK machine that lost traction, near mid-track, while Hight's car kept on trucking. The 4.235 clocking that appeared on Hight's scoreboard as the quickest run of the first round, by a good margin. With a prescription to get back into the top 10 in his hand, Worsham instead had to accept a disappointing defeat.
"It was pretty tricky out there, and I guess we just overpowered it a bit trying to run what we figured we'd need to run to beat those guys," he said. "Had we not smoked the tires, I don't know if we could've run with them anyway, but it was a bitter loss for all of us. I know that every guy on the team had 'the look' today, and we all had a lot of confidence that it was going to be a big day. It was tough to swallow, but it's the real world and half the cars in each round have to pack up and leave. We were just in the wrong half.
"Now, we'll head straight to Seattle and try to get it back. That's our mantra right now, to get it back. We can do it, in Seattle, Sonoma, or any of the races we have left before the Countdown is set. I know we can do it, and we plan to. We're just going to get it back."
Not what the doctor ordered, but the patient is still vibrant and ready for his next step.
