<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/D_Worsham07.jpg" alt="D_Worsham07" align="right"borders="0"/>
You can't fault any member of the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen team if they look forward, with a little extra glee, to the annual visit to Route 66 Raceway in Joliet. Team CSK has no shortage of fond memories of the place, on both sides of the red and blue pit area.
This week, Del Worsham will arrive in his red CSK Impala, while teammate Jeff Arend will hit the track in a brand new "Madman Murray" Impala SS. Worsham has been to the Route 66 Winner's Circle three times, taking the trophy in 2001, 2002, and 2004. He was also runner-up in 1998.
The CSK blue team has also made it to the money round once in Joliet, though they came up just short, as runner-up in 2003.
The "special edition" connection is also a strong one for the Worsham team, and many fans remember the trivia fact surrounding Del's big win in '01. Worsham was driving a special edition Mountain Dew Pontiac at the race, but suffered a major engine detonation and blew it off the car in the final qualifying session on Saturday. Not to be deterred, the team managed to remove much of the vinyl from the wrecked body, and put together a "hybrid" Mountain Dew/CSK car for Sunday. That machine took the win, with a red and white CSK paint job and giant green and yellow Mountain Dew logos on the sides.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking Of "Doing The Dew..."
Del Worsham and his teammates, throughout the years at Team CSK, have driven a large number of "special edition" cars, ranging from the famous Mountain Dew machine, to a pair of Jurassic Park bodies and a variety of other designs, all of which promoted and supported a variety of key associate sponsors. Most of those cars were produced in 24th scale die-cast versions, and almost all of them can be found, on any given day, on eBay.
Typically, a standard Worsham CSK car, or any one of the "special edition" cars, may sell for anywhere between $20 and $60, depending on its condition and whether or not it is autographed by the driver. The Mountain Dew car, however, is a bit of a special collectible.
Since Pepsi products have their own legion of hard core collectors, and the Mountain Dew brand is one of the hottest names among that group, the "Do The Dew" Funny Car exceeds all others in the Worsham stable, thanks to the law of "supply and demand."
Mountain Dew cars rarely sell for less than $90 on eBay, and often go for as much as $120. The die-cast version is a replica of the body that lasted roughly three and a half laps during Chicago qualifying in 2001, before it was jettisoned 30-feet in the air on its last lap. As Worsham said at the time, "We didn't hurt the body too bad blowing it 30-feet in the air, it was the impact with the track when it came back down that did the damage."
By the way, Worsham and his teammates have seen, on occasion, intricate custom-made versions of the hybrid CSK/Mountain Dew car with which they won the race the next day, painstakingly created by serious collectors, though none of those appear to have ever been offered on eBay.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Return Of Travis...
In early 2005, Team CSK added a new young crew member, who was making his professional racing debut. Del and Chuck Worsham offered Travis Nicholson a try-out for one or two races but then quickly added him to the roster, allowing him to learn the ropes on Worsham's red CSK car. In 2006, Nicholson was promoted to Bottom End Specialist on the CSK blue car, where he spent the full season as a valuable member of the team. At the conclusion of the season, he made the difficult decision to leave Team CSK, in order to pursue a driving job.
Nicholson did offer to attend all of the 2007 pre-season test sessions with the team, helping to train new crew members. He soon found that he missed the daily camaraderie of "life on the road" though, and as he stayed in touch with the Worshams and co-crew chief Marc Denner, he eventually made that clear. This week, Denner announced that Nicholson was coming back as a full-time employee, and he will rejoin the team in Chicago.
"Travis worked really hard, and he was a real asset as a crew guy," Denner said. "He always had a dream to drive a car, though, so you couldn't fault him for chasing that. It's not like he up and left with no warning, or had a problem getting along with us, it was just the opposite and he handled it very professionally. We supported him in chasing that goal, but when he told us he wanted to come back, it wasn't a hard decision at all. We're all glad to have him back aboard."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Movin', Movin', Movin'...
Del Worsham, his wife Connie, and their twin girls Kate and Maddy, have lived a bit of a nomadic lifestyle over the past five years. Not only have they all experienced the life of a traveling racer, both in terms of long-distance travel in Del's motorhome as well as "fly-in" trips to various races, they've also packed up and relocated four times, and are close to doing it once more.
"Once the girls were born, we were trying to do two things at once, and it worked out pretty well," Worsham said. "We wanted to give them a chance to experience living in different parts of Southern California, and we wanted to take advantage of the So Cal real estate market. Over the last four years we've owned three different houses, we also lived in an apartment while we sold our last house, and we've just moved into a rental home while we search for a new place.
"It's been a lot of work and a real hassle in a lot of ways, but now the girls are ready to start school and it's time for us to find the exact home we want, where they can grow up in one place, make real friends, and have some stability. We'll just rent this place for a few months, while we search the market, and we'll take our time if we have to. After all, we've been bouncing from house to house for a lot of years now, and the next one is going to be our home for a long time."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Power (And The Reach) Of The Team CSK Blog
The Team CSK blog has been a popular part of the NHRA.com blog section for nearly two years, and the blog regularly elicits email connections from fans all over the world. Recently, Team Manager (and blog writer) Bob Wilber got a note from a certain Billy Kennedy, who mentioned he'd be heading back to Kuwait in just a few weeks for another tour of duty. After a quick reply to wish Kennedy the best of luck, another note soon popped up in the Team CSK in-box:
Wow, I didn't think you read those emails but that's a credit to you and is why, eventually, the NHRA will surpass Nextel cup with the fans. Just wanted to let you know that 12 of us go to the internet cafe over in Kuwait just to read your blog, and we love all the stories. We work on the armored vehicles over there known as the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. There's me (Billy Kennedy,) Todd and Amanda Hearn , Antonio Martinez , and Buddy Delano. Some did not want to be named due to their jobs and security, but they all love the blog too.
Got my tickets to Topeka and I fly back to Kuwait on Tuesday after the race, so I will try to come by and thank you for getting us through some tough times with your blog. Again, I cannot thank you enough for the behind-the-scenes view you give us every week. It reminds us why we are there, so we can enjoy the best racing on earth.
Thank You and
good luck,
SSG Billy
Kennedy
No, Billy. THANK YOU! And good luck to you and all the troops.
Visit the Team CSK blog at: Blogs.NHRA.com - NHRA Driver Blogs
Gettin' Their Kicks..
You can't fault any member of the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen team if they look forward, with a little extra glee, to the annual visit to Route 66 Raceway in Joliet. Team CSK has no shortage of fond memories of the place, on both sides of the red and blue pit area.
This week, Del Worsham will arrive in his red CSK Impala, while teammate Jeff Arend will hit the track in a brand new "Madman Murray" Impala SS. Worsham has been to the Route 66 Winner's Circle three times, taking the trophy in 2001, 2002, and 2004. He was also runner-up in 1998.
The CSK blue team has also made it to the money round once in Joliet, though they came up just short, as runner-up in 2003.
The "special edition" connection is also a strong one for the Worsham team, and many fans remember the trivia fact surrounding Del's big win in '01. Worsham was driving a special edition Mountain Dew Pontiac at the race, but suffered a major engine detonation and blew it off the car in the final qualifying session on Saturday. Not to be deterred, the team managed to remove much of the vinyl from the wrecked body, and put together a "hybrid" Mountain Dew/CSK car for Sunday. That machine took the win, with a red and white CSK paint job and giant green and yellow Mountain Dew logos on the sides.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking Of "Doing The Dew..."
Del Worsham and his teammates, throughout the years at Team CSK, have driven a large number of "special edition" cars, ranging from the famous Mountain Dew machine, to a pair of Jurassic Park bodies and a variety of other designs, all of which promoted and supported a variety of key associate sponsors. Most of those cars were produced in 24th scale die-cast versions, and almost all of them can be found, on any given day, on eBay.
Typically, a standard Worsham CSK car, or any one of the "special edition" cars, may sell for anywhere between $20 and $60, depending on its condition and whether or not it is autographed by the driver. The Mountain Dew car, however, is a bit of a special collectible.
Since Pepsi products have their own legion of hard core collectors, and the Mountain Dew brand is one of the hottest names among that group, the "Do The Dew" Funny Car exceeds all others in the Worsham stable, thanks to the law of "supply and demand."
Mountain Dew cars rarely sell for less than $90 on eBay, and often go for as much as $120. The die-cast version is a replica of the body that lasted roughly three and a half laps during Chicago qualifying in 2001, before it was jettisoned 30-feet in the air on its last lap. As Worsham said at the time, "We didn't hurt the body too bad blowing it 30-feet in the air, it was the impact with the track when it came back down that did the damage."
By the way, Worsham and his teammates have seen, on occasion, intricate custom-made versions of the hybrid CSK/Mountain Dew car with which they won the race the next day, painstakingly created by serious collectors, though none of those appear to have ever been offered on eBay.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Return Of Travis...
In early 2005, Team CSK added a new young crew member, who was making his professional racing debut. Del and Chuck Worsham offered Travis Nicholson a try-out for one or two races but then quickly added him to the roster, allowing him to learn the ropes on Worsham's red CSK car. In 2006, Nicholson was promoted to Bottom End Specialist on the CSK blue car, where he spent the full season as a valuable member of the team. At the conclusion of the season, he made the difficult decision to leave Team CSK, in order to pursue a driving job.
Nicholson did offer to attend all of the 2007 pre-season test sessions with the team, helping to train new crew members. He soon found that he missed the daily camaraderie of "life on the road" though, and as he stayed in touch with the Worshams and co-crew chief Marc Denner, he eventually made that clear. This week, Denner announced that Nicholson was coming back as a full-time employee, and he will rejoin the team in Chicago.
"Travis worked really hard, and he was a real asset as a crew guy," Denner said. "He always had a dream to drive a car, though, so you couldn't fault him for chasing that. It's not like he up and left with no warning, or had a problem getting along with us, it was just the opposite and he handled it very professionally. We supported him in chasing that goal, but when he told us he wanted to come back, it wasn't a hard decision at all. We're all glad to have him back aboard."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Movin', Movin', Movin'...
Del Worsham, his wife Connie, and their twin girls Kate and Maddy, have lived a bit of a nomadic lifestyle over the past five years. Not only have they all experienced the life of a traveling racer, both in terms of long-distance travel in Del's motorhome as well as "fly-in" trips to various races, they've also packed up and relocated four times, and are close to doing it once more.
"Once the girls were born, we were trying to do two things at once, and it worked out pretty well," Worsham said. "We wanted to give them a chance to experience living in different parts of Southern California, and we wanted to take advantage of the So Cal real estate market. Over the last four years we've owned three different houses, we also lived in an apartment while we sold our last house, and we've just moved into a rental home while we search for a new place.
"It's been a lot of work and a real hassle in a lot of ways, but now the girls are ready to start school and it's time for us to find the exact home we want, where they can grow up in one place, make real friends, and have some stability. We'll just rent this place for a few months, while we search the market, and we'll take our time if we have to. After all, we've been bouncing from house to house for a lot of years now, and the next one is going to be our home for a long time."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Power (And The Reach) Of The Team CSK Blog
The Team CSK blog has been a popular part of the NHRA.com blog section for nearly two years, and the blog regularly elicits email connections from fans all over the world. Recently, Team Manager (and blog writer) Bob Wilber got a note from a certain Billy Kennedy, who mentioned he'd be heading back to Kuwait in just a few weeks for another tour of duty. After a quick reply to wish Kennedy the best of luck, another note soon popped up in the Team CSK in-box:
Wow, I didn't think you read those emails but that's a credit to you and is why, eventually, the NHRA will surpass Nextel cup with the fans. Just wanted to let you know that 12 of us go to the internet cafe over in Kuwait just to read your blog, and we love all the stories. We work on the armored vehicles over there known as the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. There's me (Billy Kennedy,) Todd and Amanda Hearn , Antonio Martinez , and Buddy Delano. Some did not want to be named due to their jobs and security, but they all love the blog too.
Got my tickets to Topeka and I fly back to Kuwait on Tuesday after the race, so I will try to come by and thank you for getting us through some tough times with your blog. Again, I cannot thank you enough for the behind-the-scenes view you give us every week. It reminds us why we are there, so we can enjoy the best racing on earth.
Thank You and
good luck,
SSG Billy
Kennedy
No, Billy. THANK YOU! And good luck to you and all the troops.
Visit the Team CSK blog at: Blogs.NHRA.com - NHRA Driver Blogs
