FRUSTRATING FIRST-ROUND LOSS FOR WORSHAM
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="right"borders="0"/>
Del Worsham, and his "special edition" Chevron Techron team, did so many things right on this Seattle weekend at the Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals, it was hard to keep track of the highlights. And then in one short puff of haze-like tire smoke, the very real dream of winning his sponsor's race disappeared as fast as his starting line advantage over Ron Capps. Worsham's first-round loss was a tough blow to take, though the popular driver is far from out of the running for the Countdown.
On Friday and Saturday, Worsham and his team were quick enough, consistent enough, and highly-placed enough to earn their second Full Throttle Pit Crew Award in the last four races. Worsham's three best laps were 4.131, 4.073, and 4.182, and it was the super-stout 4.073 that earned him his best qualifying slot of the year, landing him in the No. 2 spot.
"It's so tight right now, in the Funny Car class, that you can practically just blink and go from the top of the qualifying list to the middle, or right to the bottom," Worsham said. "When we made the second run on Friday, we saw a lot of teams running 4.10s and times like that, and we knew we were loaded up pretty well, tune-up wise. I kind of figured that if it made it, it would be good. Turns out it was good."
That run, which momentarily placed Worsham in the No. 1 position (though only until Robert Hight ran as part of the very next pair) was truly a thing of beauty, and was indicative of how the CSK team, sporting their Techron colors, were performing. On Saturday, no one could come close to touching the sort of numbers Hight and Worsham had posted late on Friday, so the mission became a simple one of "running against the competition" rather than trying to improve. Worsham's final pass, in the middle of the afternoon, was right with the best cars in the class, and it gave him confidence going into race day. The only problem was, the ladder had the best teams in the class sprinkled from top to bottom, and Worsham's No. 2 spot, for all its glory, only earned him a date with Ron Capps on Sunday morning. It was icon John Force who was the only Funny Car competitor to miss this 16-car field.
"That's just how it is, sometimes," Worsham said. "You go through times when everything seems to fall your way, when the match-ups are better and the other guy is always making mistakes against you, and then you go through times like this, where no matter where we qualify, we get a World Championship contender in round one. All you can do is your best. You're not allowed to request an opponent in round one. By qualifying number two, we obviously did our best.
"Right now, we're just in a stretch where it's hard to catch a break. We didn't go up there thinking we had to be world beaters, or thinking we had to step way up to win, we just went up there to put what we thought was a good lap on the board. That was the plan."
After being introduced to the fans as the second-best qualifier, and then watching crew member Matt Madden accept the Full Throttle Award on behalf of the full Team CSK crew, Worsham readied himself for a tense first-round battle.
As the third pair, they'd seen that the track was good, but they'd also seen that it was still not a sure bet for a full 1,000-feet of traction. Both Worsham and Capps are never at a loss for motivation when running against each other, being both good friends and fierce competitors, and this tussle began with the amazing.
Worsham was so psyched at the flash of amber, he hit the throttle earlier than he meant to, and he posted not just a great light, but a perfect one. His .000 reaction time was one-thousandth away from a foul, and it representated a large bit of good luck.
"This isn't Pro Stock Motorcycle, where they actually plan to hit perfect lights," Worsham said. "You can't try to hit a .000 light in a Funny Car. You can barely do better than an .030 when you're really on it. I was really focused, and I was absolutely determined to get an edge because I really felt like a hole-shot might be needed to beat Ron, but the .000 was just pure luck. Some people call a light like that just a 'late red light' because I obviously did leave earlier than I meant to but somehow I caught the tree with a perfect leave. When that happens, you think it just might be your day, but I didn't think that for long."
What Worsham referred to was the tire spin he encountered just past half-track, when he was leading Capps by multiple car lengths. As Capps drove around him for the win, Worsham could only watch him pull away.
"The Full Throttle deal shows you how consistent we've been, and then the car goes out there and spins in round one. I'm at a loss, really, but sometimes I guess you just have to take your lumps and move on. We're sure not happy about this, but it's reality so we move on. We'll go to Sonoma next weekend, and win there. We've always race well in Sonoma, so I always go there expecting to do well."
Such a result would certainly ease much of the current level of frustration, not to mention how much it would improve Worsham's Countdown chances. In one short week, we'll know that result as well. Will it be Techron at the top of the sheet, going rounds, or in the Winner's Circle. Only the passing of seven days will tell the tale.
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="right"borders="0"/>
Del Worsham, and his "special edition" Chevron Techron team, did so many things right on this Seattle weekend at the Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals, it was hard to keep track of the highlights. And then in one short puff of haze-like tire smoke, the very real dream of winning his sponsor's race disappeared as fast as his starting line advantage over Ron Capps. Worsham's first-round loss was a tough blow to take, though the popular driver is far from out of the running for the Countdown.
On Friday and Saturday, Worsham and his team were quick enough, consistent enough, and highly-placed enough to earn their second Full Throttle Pit Crew Award in the last four races. Worsham's three best laps were 4.131, 4.073, and 4.182, and it was the super-stout 4.073 that earned him his best qualifying slot of the year, landing him in the No. 2 spot.
"It's so tight right now, in the Funny Car class, that you can practically just blink and go from the top of the qualifying list to the middle, or right to the bottom," Worsham said. "When we made the second run on Friday, we saw a lot of teams running 4.10s and times like that, and we knew we were loaded up pretty well, tune-up wise. I kind of figured that if it made it, it would be good. Turns out it was good."
That run, which momentarily placed Worsham in the No. 1 position (though only until Robert Hight ran as part of the very next pair) was truly a thing of beauty, and was indicative of how the CSK team, sporting their Techron colors, were performing. On Saturday, no one could come close to touching the sort of numbers Hight and Worsham had posted late on Friday, so the mission became a simple one of "running against the competition" rather than trying to improve. Worsham's final pass, in the middle of the afternoon, was right with the best cars in the class, and it gave him confidence going into race day. The only problem was, the ladder had the best teams in the class sprinkled from top to bottom, and Worsham's No. 2 spot, for all its glory, only earned him a date with Ron Capps on Sunday morning. It was icon John Force who was the only Funny Car competitor to miss this 16-car field.
"That's just how it is, sometimes," Worsham said. "You go through times when everything seems to fall your way, when the match-ups are better and the other guy is always making mistakes against you, and then you go through times like this, where no matter where we qualify, we get a World Championship contender in round one. All you can do is your best. You're not allowed to request an opponent in round one. By qualifying number two, we obviously did our best.
"Right now, we're just in a stretch where it's hard to catch a break. We didn't go up there thinking we had to be world beaters, or thinking we had to step way up to win, we just went up there to put what we thought was a good lap on the board. That was the plan."
After being introduced to the fans as the second-best qualifier, and then watching crew member Matt Madden accept the Full Throttle Award on behalf of the full Team CSK crew, Worsham readied himself for a tense first-round battle.
As the third pair, they'd seen that the track was good, but they'd also seen that it was still not a sure bet for a full 1,000-feet of traction. Both Worsham and Capps are never at a loss for motivation when running against each other, being both good friends and fierce competitors, and this tussle began with the amazing.
Worsham was so psyched at the flash of amber, he hit the throttle earlier than he meant to, and he posted not just a great light, but a perfect one. His .000 reaction time was one-thousandth away from a foul, and it representated a large bit of good luck.
"This isn't Pro Stock Motorcycle, where they actually plan to hit perfect lights," Worsham said. "You can't try to hit a .000 light in a Funny Car. You can barely do better than an .030 when you're really on it. I was really focused, and I was absolutely determined to get an edge because I really felt like a hole-shot might be needed to beat Ron, but the .000 was just pure luck. Some people call a light like that just a 'late red light' because I obviously did leave earlier than I meant to but somehow I caught the tree with a perfect leave. When that happens, you think it just might be your day, but I didn't think that for long."
What Worsham referred to was the tire spin he encountered just past half-track, when he was leading Capps by multiple car lengths. As Capps drove around him for the win, Worsham could only watch him pull away.
"The Full Throttle deal shows you how consistent we've been, and then the car goes out there and spins in round one. I'm at a loss, really, but sometimes I guess you just have to take your lumps and move on. We're sure not happy about this, but it's reality so we move on. We'll go to Sonoma next weekend, and win there. We've always race well in Sonoma, so I always go there expecting to do well."
Such a result would certainly ease much of the current level of frustration, not to mention how much it would improve Worsham's Countdown chances. In one short week, we'll know that result as well. Will it be Techron at the top of the sheet, going rounds, or in the Winner's Circle. Only the passing of seven days will tell the tale.
