ProStockJunkie
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Tough Times For NHRA's Top Fuel
By Anne Proffit
They are falling like flies, it seems.
At the end of the 2008 NHRA season, it was clear some of the big players in Top Fuel were going away for next season. It’s been a simple matter of finances for many of them; perhaps a bit of mismanagement for others?
Bob Vandergriff Jr. finished 13th on the season and it was evident his program was fairly unstable, as UPS decided to part ways with the driver. Snap-On Tools did the same with Doug Herbert after 2008 was done, even though they’d been together a long time and Herbert did make the Countdown to the Championship for the second consecutive year, albeit fading from sixth to eighth from Las Vegas to Pomona.
Shortly after the mid-November finale on the Auto Club Raceway dragstrip in Pomona, it was revealed that 3B Racing would acquire the Matco Tools rail driven with such finesse to fifth in points by Top Fuel newcomer Antron Brown, leaving David Powers owning only the brother car of “Hot” Rod Fuller.
In late December, Powers parked the Arkansas native, who was runner-up to Tony Schumacher in 2007, as the Caterpillar sponsorship flew away from the team. This occurred even after Fuller spent days upon days doing promotional work for Cat, and right after he moved into a new Las Vegas home!
At the Performance Racing Industry show in Orlando mid-December, Morgan Lucas announced sponsorship from Geico Insurance, which continues with Karen Stoffer, I believe. It was a splashy introduction for Lucas, who finished 12th on the season. His teammate, J.R. Todd told me, at the time, that he was secure in his plans for next season. Today that changed as Todd’s team was severed from the Lucas group, despite completing the 2008 campaign 11th and ending a win streak by Tony Schumacher.
So who’s left?
Tony Schumacher returns with the U.S. Army team, less tuning guru Alan Johnson and 90 percent of the squad. Although it has not yet been announced, everyone expects to see Mike Green as tuner for Schumacher, the five-time consecutive and six-time Top Fuel champion.
Brandon Bernstein will be in the Bud car that is owned and run by his father Kenny, with Fuller’s former tuner, Canadian Rob Flynn at the helm and veteran Mike Guger as his wingman. They replace Tim and Kim Richards, who are hanging up their computers – we’ll see how long that lasts!
Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Racing will have Larry Dixon as driver, after the veteran purchased his release in December from Don Prudhomme’s Snake Racing, while Snake will bring up IHRA T/F champ Spencer Massey a year earlier than originally intended, tuned by the delectable duo of Donnie Bender and Todd Smith.
Connie Kalitta will celebrate his 50th year as a drag racer in 2009, but will only have one fulltime entry in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series – and that will be Canadian Jeff Arend’s DHL-sponsored Toyota Solara Funny Car. Kalitta’s nephew Doug will run part-time, race-by-race, as former primary sponsor Mac Tools has scaled back to associate status. The team announced it will continue to look for primary sponsorship for Doug K.
Kalitta will park 2008 winner Hillary Will – just back from Australia after taking top prize in a Scott Kalitta memorial contest – due to lack of money and puts Aussie David Grubnic’s rail on the trailer, pending funding. “We certainly hope that opportunities will arise for us to bring our other dragsters back into competition,” said Jim Oberhofer, team manager, “but until those happen, we will carry on the best we can.”
Tony Schumacher’s teammate, Cory McClenathan’s plans for the coming year have not been announced yet – pending notification of participation from his longtime sponsor Fram, so of the top 13 drivers from 2008, only four are solid for 2009. Bill Miller and Troy Buff will return for a second partial season together, as is Miller’s custom. At least Troy’s good work from last year is backed by Miller for the 2009 campaign!
Things look healthier for the Funny Car crowd, despite the deaths that have occurred in that class over the past two years (Eric Medlen and Scott Kalitta), but in Top Fuel it appears the bottom has fallen out of the market. And what is NHRA doing about this? Last I looked, their heads were in the sand.
PaddockTalk Perspective
By Anne Proffit
They are falling like flies, it seems.
At the end of the 2008 NHRA season, it was clear some of the big players in Top Fuel were going away for next season. It’s been a simple matter of finances for many of them; perhaps a bit of mismanagement for others?
Bob Vandergriff Jr. finished 13th on the season and it was evident his program was fairly unstable, as UPS decided to part ways with the driver. Snap-On Tools did the same with Doug Herbert after 2008 was done, even though they’d been together a long time and Herbert did make the Countdown to the Championship for the second consecutive year, albeit fading from sixth to eighth from Las Vegas to Pomona.
Shortly after the mid-November finale on the Auto Club Raceway dragstrip in Pomona, it was revealed that 3B Racing would acquire the Matco Tools rail driven with such finesse to fifth in points by Top Fuel newcomer Antron Brown, leaving David Powers owning only the brother car of “Hot” Rod Fuller.
In late December, Powers parked the Arkansas native, who was runner-up to Tony Schumacher in 2007, as the Caterpillar sponsorship flew away from the team. This occurred even after Fuller spent days upon days doing promotional work for Cat, and right after he moved into a new Las Vegas home!
At the Performance Racing Industry show in Orlando mid-December, Morgan Lucas announced sponsorship from Geico Insurance, which continues with Karen Stoffer, I believe. It was a splashy introduction for Lucas, who finished 12th on the season. His teammate, J.R. Todd told me, at the time, that he was secure in his plans for next season. Today that changed as Todd’s team was severed from the Lucas group, despite completing the 2008 campaign 11th and ending a win streak by Tony Schumacher.
So who’s left?
Tony Schumacher returns with the U.S. Army team, less tuning guru Alan Johnson and 90 percent of the squad. Although it has not yet been announced, everyone expects to see Mike Green as tuner for Schumacher, the five-time consecutive and six-time Top Fuel champion.
Brandon Bernstein will be in the Bud car that is owned and run by his father Kenny, with Fuller’s former tuner, Canadian Rob Flynn at the helm and veteran Mike Guger as his wingman. They replace Tim and Kim Richards, who are hanging up their computers – we’ll see how long that lasts!
Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Racing will have Larry Dixon as driver, after the veteran purchased his release in December from Don Prudhomme’s Snake Racing, while Snake will bring up IHRA T/F champ Spencer Massey a year earlier than originally intended, tuned by the delectable duo of Donnie Bender and Todd Smith.
Connie Kalitta will celebrate his 50th year as a drag racer in 2009, but will only have one fulltime entry in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series – and that will be Canadian Jeff Arend’s DHL-sponsored Toyota Solara Funny Car. Kalitta’s nephew Doug will run part-time, race-by-race, as former primary sponsor Mac Tools has scaled back to associate status. The team announced it will continue to look for primary sponsorship for Doug K.
Kalitta will park 2008 winner Hillary Will – just back from Australia after taking top prize in a Scott Kalitta memorial contest – due to lack of money and puts Aussie David Grubnic’s rail on the trailer, pending funding. “We certainly hope that opportunities will arise for us to bring our other dragsters back into competition,” said Jim Oberhofer, team manager, “but until those happen, we will carry on the best we can.”
Tony Schumacher’s teammate, Cory McClenathan’s plans for the coming year have not been announced yet – pending notification of participation from his longtime sponsor Fram, so of the top 13 drivers from 2008, only four are solid for 2009. Bill Miller and Troy Buff will return for a second partial season together, as is Miller’s custom. At least Troy’s good work from last year is backed by Miller for the 2009 campaign!
Things look healthier for the Funny Car crowd, despite the deaths that have occurred in that class over the past two years (Eric Medlen and Scott Kalitta), but in Top Fuel it appears the bottom has fallen out of the market. And what is NHRA doing about this? Last I looked, their heads were in the sand.
PaddockTalk Perspective
