<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/D_Worsham07.jpg" alt="D_Worsham07" align="left"borders="0"/>
Welcome to the "Team CSK News Bits" newsletter. Throughout the 2007season, these newsletters will keep you updated on new developments, fun facts, and out of the ordinary stories. Members of the media who need further background on any of these News Bits may contact Team Manager Bob Wilber at: [email protected]
Thursday - May 10, 2007
Elevator Still Going Up...
Del Worsham's runner-up finish in St. Louis was just the prescription the doctor ordered, in terms of numerical statistics, and it didn't hurt in terms of overall morale and team confidence either. For a driver who was sitting in 20th place with an 0-1 record and two DNQs after Gainesville, Worsham is now 7-5 and has finally clawed his way into 8th place. Perhaps more importantly, he is now only 3 points behind Ashley Force, who holds down the 7th spot, and just 24 points behind Jim Head, who is currently 6th. The biggest gain came versus Head, who entered the St. Louis race in 4th place on the chart, a full 105 points ahead of Worsham.
A race-by-race look at Worsham's season, to this point, spells out his turn-around:
Pomona -- DNQ -- 17th place
Phoenix -- DNQ -- 18th place
Gainesville -- 1st Round -- 20th place
Houston -- Semi-Final -- 13th place
Las Vegas -- 2nd Round -- 10th place
Atlanta -- 2nd Round -- 9th place
St. Louis -- Runner-Up -- 8th place
Looking further up the points sheet, with 10 races left before the "Countdown" playoff field is narrowed to the top eight, Worsham is 66points (a bit over three rounds) behind both Gary Scelzi and Mike Ashley. He is 85 points to the rear of Tony Pedregon, 205 points behind Robert Hight, and, officially 17 light years and two dimensions behind Ron Capps (or 326 points.)
When looking over his shoulder, Worsham sees teammate Jeff Arend right on his bumper. Arend is only 29 points behind, in 9th place. Worsham holds a lead of 45 points over Cruz Pedregon, and has an edge of 96 points on Tommy Johnson, 99 points on Jack Beckman, 100 points on Gary Densham, 101 on Kenny Bernstein, 119 on Tim Wilkerson, 120 on Scott Kalitta, 121 on Tony Bartone, and 125 on John Force, who won his first round of the year in St. Louis, moving up to the 17th spot on the chart.
There will be a test on these numbers before the end of the week (multiple choice.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excuse Me, Buddy. Comin' Through...
As referenced above, Worsham and his teammate Jeff Arend swapped ownership of a spot in the top eight at the Midwest Nationals, across the muddy Mississippi from St. Louis. While Worsham was moving into the coveted octet, Arend slipped below the dotted line for the first time in 2007. The driver of the blue CSK Impala didn't go easily, as he posted a relatively brilliant 4.948 in the dodgy right lane, during round one at Gateway International. Arend's problem was the fact John Force was in the other lane, and Force's 4.824 ended Arend's day too early.
"You know, we probably lost that round during the first qualifying session," Arend said. "We got rained out Friday, and only had the two shots on Saturday. On our first run, the best we could do was a 5.05, and there was no way to think that would make the field. So coming back for the last session, we had to make sure we were actually in the show, rather than stand all over it to take a shot at a hero run. We made a great lap, a 4.911, but that left us 12th and set up the match-up against Force. Had we run a little better in the first session, we might have been a whole lot more daring in the second. Who knows? We ran great in round one, better than almost anybody else over in that lane, but we got beat. It's that whole thing about not being able to pick your opponent..."
Tim Wilkerson was the only other hard-luck loser to post a wire-to-wire run in the right lane, during the first round.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blue Team Goes All "Full Throttle" On The Competition
One week prior to the St. Louis race, the NHRA POWERade tour visited Commerce, Georgia for the Summit Racing Southern Nationals, and the CSK blue team added to their trophy case with a fine performance. The blue crew, made up of Marc Denner, Chris Cunningham, Larry Lush, Seth Randall, Mark Stewart, and Daniel Gilbert, earned the weekly award for the Full Throttle Pit Crew Championship. At each race, the Full Throttle Award goes to the team putting the most outstanding qualifying laps on the board, with an emphasis on rewarding consistency. The scores are formulated using an equation complicated enough to befuddle a class of M.I.T grads.
Larry Lush represented his teammates during pre-race driver introductions, accepting a check and posing for photos.
The blue team crew currently sits in the No. 4 spot in the overall Full Throttle Standings. You'll just have to trust us on that one, as a full explanation of the Full Throttle points would entail the use of square roots, cosines, and odd Greek symbols.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And Speaking Of Consistency
Had the Full Throttle people been in attendance, at a Collinsville bowling alley on Saturday night during the St. Louis event, they might well have whipped out another award for Jeff Arend. Arend was "in the zone" for three consecutive games, rolling scores of 192, 191, and 189.
"We won't talk about the fourth game," Arend said, later. "The first three were just a deal where I was locked in a little bit, or at least as locked in as I can usually get. The wheels came off, a little, in the fourth game, but it was a lot of fun and a great way to clear your head and get the tension out of your system before race day. I'd still need a handicap to beat Chuck Worsham, but I'm getting better."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tickets Are Getting Scarce...
Although this is a Team CSK newsletter, it bears mentioning that NHRA attendance has been on a strong upswing all year. Pomona, Phoenix, and Gainesville all drew large crowds, with the Pomona and Gainesville throngs approaching the "massive" scale, as per usual. Houston's crowds were very healthy, though held down by severe weather and rain, and word had been circulating prior to the event of record setting advance sales. The gigantic main stadium grandstand in Las Vegas was once again blanketed with paying customers, but the best was yet to come. Various sources report the Atlanta race was "Standing Room Only" on both Saturday and Sunday, and that even SRO sales were finally cut off when Atlanta Dragway was deemed "Full To Capacity" for Sunday's race. Though the St. Louis venue is among the smallest of the early season locales, the Saturday crowd at Gateway approached "gridlock" proportions.
Now, official word from Bristol Dragway, the next stop on the NHRA POWERade tour, is that advance ticket sales are at record levels, and it remains possible that all three days of the Bristol event may be complete capacity sell-outs.
"We just race, and put on the best show we can, so we're not really involved with all the things that go on in the ticket sales department," said Del Worsham. "But, we all do notice the crowds, especially when they pack the place, and it's been obvious that our crowds are getting bigger. My guess is, knowing (Bristol Dragway owner) Bruton Smith, if the race there is a total sell-out, or even close, there will probably be more seats built by the time we get back there next year. That's the way Bruton tends to operate. He reinvests in his facilities, and the ones he owns on our tour are pretty much the crown jewels.
"Overall, it looks to me like we could use some additional seats at a lot of the tracks we've been racing at, and I'd have to call that a very good thing. There's a lot of buzz in each town we go to, the fans are lining up and packing the stands, and we seem to be moving to the next level. Now, I want to see someone put a second deck on a main grandstand, like a baseball stadium. That would be cool, and could you imagine the noise that would reverberate around at a track like that! That would be huge."
"News Bits" from the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Funny Car team.
Welcome to the "Team CSK News Bits" newsletter. Throughout the 2007season, these newsletters will keep you updated on new developments, fun facts, and out of the ordinary stories. Members of the media who need further background on any of these News Bits may contact Team Manager Bob Wilber at: [email protected]
Thursday - May 10, 2007
Elevator Still Going Up...
Del Worsham's runner-up finish in St. Louis was just the prescription the doctor ordered, in terms of numerical statistics, and it didn't hurt in terms of overall morale and team confidence either. For a driver who was sitting in 20th place with an 0-1 record and two DNQs after Gainesville, Worsham is now 7-5 and has finally clawed his way into 8th place. Perhaps more importantly, he is now only 3 points behind Ashley Force, who holds down the 7th spot, and just 24 points behind Jim Head, who is currently 6th. The biggest gain came versus Head, who entered the St. Louis race in 4th place on the chart, a full 105 points ahead of Worsham.
A race-by-race look at Worsham's season, to this point, spells out his turn-around:
Pomona -- DNQ -- 17th place
Phoenix -- DNQ -- 18th place
Gainesville -- 1st Round -- 20th place
Houston -- Semi-Final -- 13th place
Las Vegas -- 2nd Round -- 10th place
Atlanta -- 2nd Round -- 9th place
St. Louis -- Runner-Up -- 8th place
Looking further up the points sheet, with 10 races left before the "Countdown" playoff field is narrowed to the top eight, Worsham is 66points (a bit over three rounds) behind both Gary Scelzi and Mike Ashley. He is 85 points to the rear of Tony Pedregon, 205 points behind Robert Hight, and, officially 17 light years and two dimensions behind Ron Capps (or 326 points.)
When looking over his shoulder, Worsham sees teammate Jeff Arend right on his bumper. Arend is only 29 points behind, in 9th place. Worsham holds a lead of 45 points over Cruz Pedregon, and has an edge of 96 points on Tommy Johnson, 99 points on Jack Beckman, 100 points on Gary Densham, 101 on Kenny Bernstein, 119 on Tim Wilkerson, 120 on Scott Kalitta, 121 on Tony Bartone, and 125 on John Force, who won his first round of the year in St. Louis, moving up to the 17th spot on the chart.
There will be a test on these numbers before the end of the week (multiple choice.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excuse Me, Buddy. Comin' Through...
As referenced above, Worsham and his teammate Jeff Arend swapped ownership of a spot in the top eight at the Midwest Nationals, across the muddy Mississippi from St. Louis. While Worsham was moving into the coveted octet, Arend slipped below the dotted line for the first time in 2007. The driver of the blue CSK Impala didn't go easily, as he posted a relatively brilliant 4.948 in the dodgy right lane, during round one at Gateway International. Arend's problem was the fact John Force was in the other lane, and Force's 4.824 ended Arend's day too early.
"You know, we probably lost that round during the first qualifying session," Arend said. "We got rained out Friday, and only had the two shots on Saturday. On our first run, the best we could do was a 5.05, and there was no way to think that would make the field. So coming back for the last session, we had to make sure we were actually in the show, rather than stand all over it to take a shot at a hero run. We made a great lap, a 4.911, but that left us 12th and set up the match-up against Force. Had we run a little better in the first session, we might have been a whole lot more daring in the second. Who knows? We ran great in round one, better than almost anybody else over in that lane, but we got beat. It's that whole thing about not being able to pick your opponent..."
Tim Wilkerson was the only other hard-luck loser to post a wire-to-wire run in the right lane, during the first round.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blue Team Goes All "Full Throttle" On The Competition
One week prior to the St. Louis race, the NHRA POWERade tour visited Commerce, Georgia for the Summit Racing Southern Nationals, and the CSK blue team added to their trophy case with a fine performance. The blue crew, made up of Marc Denner, Chris Cunningham, Larry Lush, Seth Randall, Mark Stewart, and Daniel Gilbert, earned the weekly award for the Full Throttle Pit Crew Championship. At each race, the Full Throttle Award goes to the team putting the most outstanding qualifying laps on the board, with an emphasis on rewarding consistency. The scores are formulated using an equation complicated enough to befuddle a class of M.I.T grads.
Larry Lush represented his teammates during pre-race driver introductions, accepting a check and posing for photos.
The blue team crew currently sits in the No. 4 spot in the overall Full Throttle Standings. You'll just have to trust us on that one, as a full explanation of the Full Throttle points would entail the use of square roots, cosines, and odd Greek symbols.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And Speaking Of Consistency
Had the Full Throttle people been in attendance, at a Collinsville bowling alley on Saturday night during the St. Louis event, they might well have whipped out another award for Jeff Arend. Arend was "in the zone" for three consecutive games, rolling scores of 192, 191, and 189.
"We won't talk about the fourth game," Arend said, later. "The first three were just a deal where I was locked in a little bit, or at least as locked in as I can usually get. The wheels came off, a little, in the fourth game, but it was a lot of fun and a great way to clear your head and get the tension out of your system before race day. I'd still need a handicap to beat Chuck Worsham, but I'm getting better."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tickets Are Getting Scarce...
Although this is a Team CSK newsletter, it bears mentioning that NHRA attendance has been on a strong upswing all year. Pomona, Phoenix, and Gainesville all drew large crowds, with the Pomona and Gainesville throngs approaching the "massive" scale, as per usual. Houston's crowds were very healthy, though held down by severe weather and rain, and word had been circulating prior to the event of record setting advance sales. The gigantic main stadium grandstand in Las Vegas was once again blanketed with paying customers, but the best was yet to come. Various sources report the Atlanta race was "Standing Room Only" on both Saturday and Sunday, and that even SRO sales were finally cut off when Atlanta Dragway was deemed "Full To Capacity" for Sunday's race. Though the St. Louis venue is among the smallest of the early season locales, the Saturday crowd at Gateway approached "gridlock" proportions.
Now, official word from Bristol Dragway, the next stop on the NHRA POWERade tour, is that advance ticket sales are at record levels, and it remains possible that all three days of the Bristol event may be complete capacity sell-outs.
"We just race, and put on the best show we can, so we're not really involved with all the things that go on in the ticket sales department," said Del Worsham. "But, we all do notice the crowds, especially when they pack the place, and it's been obvious that our crowds are getting bigger. My guess is, knowing (Bristol Dragway owner) Bruton Smith, if the race there is a total sell-out, or even close, there will probably be more seats built by the time we get back there next year. That's the way Bruton tends to operate. He reinvests in his facilities, and the ones he owns on our tour are pretty much the crown jewels.
"Overall, it looks to me like we could use some additional seats at a lot of the tracks we've been racing at, and I'd have to call that a very good thing. There's a lot of buzz in each town we go to, the fans are lining up and packing the stands, and we seem to be moving to the next level. Now, I want to see someone put a second deck on a main grandstand, like a baseball stadium. That would be cool, and could you imagine the noise that would reverberate around at a track like that! That would be huge."
