Randy
Nitro Member
Grant Downing, for those who do not know, is the in-house chassis builder for Worsham Racing. Grant builds every one of their complete race cars from start to finish and is responsible for all aspects of fabrication. His dream to drive a funny car is only over shadowed by his passion for the funny car class as a whole.
I interviewed Grant today. He specifically asked me to express his opinions on the internet, based on his years of experience. He felt that if enough knowledge and experience is put out for everyone to see it might make a difference when the rule makers decide what, if anything, should be done. His biggest fear is knee jerk reactions that will effect his chassis design and the driver he is responsible for by making them more dangerous, which seems to be the trend.
Grant started by saying he is very thankful John Force was not more seriously injured and that Robert Hight's episode wasn't serious.
My question to Grant had to do with chassis failures at Worsham Racing. I asked him to be 100% honest with me because, as we know, his chassis have made the highlight reel on ESPN2 more than once. He agreed.
He is aware that the feeling is "all chassis break." I asked him point blank "How many times have your frames at CWR broken in the driver's compartment?"
Emphatically, Grant said "NEVER!"
I asked him again about the drivers compartment, "Grant, you have NEVER had a failure? Come on. Del has thrown bodies off the car, run over everything and seen Elvis himself. OK, what about the "X" brace under the seat?"
"We have never broken a frame rail from the front of the engine to the back of the car. Never. One time a tube in front of the engine broke after the car hit the wall. The tubes are smaller in that area. But, like I said, we have never broken a tube behind the front of the engine."
He went on to say that a tire coming apart should not be causing chassis failures. "Del had a tire delaminate at Reading a few years ago at a match race. It vibrated and shook him so hard it knocked him out. After that he crashed into the wall. Not one tube on that car broke. None."
Grant continued by saying that Del has exploded engines so hard that one time the chassis tin was actually blown off the car. Del went into the sand at Pomona and flipped it three times end over end. He said there have been so many instances where you could say that the car should have come apart or broke when Cory Lee drove, or Burkhart, or Arend. But the truth is at Worsham racing they have never had a tube break at all...ever...from the front of the engine at the motor plate all the way to the back of the car. Never.
I said "Grant, this is a two car team, meaning you are making twice as many runs and are twice as likely to break something compared to a one car team like Densham, Dunn or Wilkerson." Grant stood his ground and said "Never."
Grant feels his current design (he uses an .065 lower frame rail, 4130N not heat treated) has proven itself to be safe in the most violent episodes. He shares the same opinion many other respected chassis builders do. Adding tubing to or bracing a chassis that was originally designed to flex will redistribute the stress to other areas and cause failures. Those stresses coupled with heat treated tubing are a disaster waiting to happen. Wholesale design changes are not the answer and he wants it to be known he is afraid NHRA or SFI will require dangerous design changes to a frame that, in his mind, has shown itself to be safe and has saved lives.
Grant has earned the respect of major teams and has turned down offers from them to become their in-house guy. He enjoys his relationship with the Worsham's too much to leave. In my book, he's one of the best. I think it would serve all those involved to hear what he has to say. Looking at his experience, we shouldn't take him too lightly. In the real world computer models don't make runs. Funny cars do.
Randy
I interviewed Grant today. He specifically asked me to express his opinions on the internet, based on his years of experience. He felt that if enough knowledge and experience is put out for everyone to see it might make a difference when the rule makers decide what, if anything, should be done. His biggest fear is knee jerk reactions that will effect his chassis design and the driver he is responsible for by making them more dangerous, which seems to be the trend.
Grant started by saying he is very thankful John Force was not more seriously injured and that Robert Hight's episode wasn't serious.
My question to Grant had to do with chassis failures at Worsham Racing. I asked him to be 100% honest with me because, as we know, his chassis have made the highlight reel on ESPN2 more than once. He agreed.
He is aware that the feeling is "all chassis break." I asked him point blank "How many times have your frames at CWR broken in the driver's compartment?"
Emphatically, Grant said "NEVER!"
I asked him again about the drivers compartment, "Grant, you have NEVER had a failure? Come on. Del has thrown bodies off the car, run over everything and seen Elvis himself. OK, what about the "X" brace under the seat?"
"We have never broken a frame rail from the front of the engine to the back of the car. Never. One time a tube in front of the engine broke after the car hit the wall. The tubes are smaller in that area. But, like I said, we have never broken a tube behind the front of the engine."
He went on to say that a tire coming apart should not be causing chassis failures. "Del had a tire delaminate at Reading a few years ago at a match race. It vibrated and shook him so hard it knocked him out. After that he crashed into the wall. Not one tube on that car broke. None."
Grant continued by saying that Del has exploded engines so hard that one time the chassis tin was actually blown off the car. Del went into the sand at Pomona and flipped it three times end over end. He said there have been so many instances where you could say that the car should have come apart or broke when Cory Lee drove, or Burkhart, or Arend. But the truth is at Worsham racing they have never had a tube break at all...ever...from the front of the engine at the motor plate all the way to the back of the car. Never.
I said "Grant, this is a two car team, meaning you are making twice as many runs and are twice as likely to break something compared to a one car team like Densham, Dunn or Wilkerson." Grant stood his ground and said "Never."
Grant feels his current design (he uses an .065 lower frame rail, 4130N not heat treated) has proven itself to be safe in the most violent episodes. He shares the same opinion many other respected chassis builders do. Adding tubing to or bracing a chassis that was originally designed to flex will redistribute the stress to other areas and cause failures. Those stresses coupled with heat treated tubing are a disaster waiting to happen. Wholesale design changes are not the answer and he wants it to be known he is afraid NHRA or SFI will require dangerous design changes to a frame that, in his mind, has shown itself to be safe and has saved lives.
Grant has earned the respect of major teams and has turned down offers from them to become their in-house guy. He enjoys his relationship with the Worsham's too much to leave. In my book, he's one of the best. I think it would serve all those involved to hear what he has to say. Looking at his experience, we shouldn't take him too lightly. In the real world computer models don't make runs. Funny cars do.
Randy
Last edited:
