WORSHAM AIMS FOR 1,000 AT 5,860
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="left"borders="0"/>
DENVER (July 8, 2008) -- Denver may be rightfully known as the "Mile-High City" but scenic Bandimere Speedway, on the western outskirts and the site of this weekend's Mopar Mile-High Nationals, is nearly 400 feet higher still, making it the most highly-elevated track on the NHRA tour by a wide margin. Listed at 5,860 feet, Bandimere offers beautiful vistas for the fans seated on its steeply sloped grandstands, while it confronts drivers and tuners with an atmosphere so thin the cars labor to run while they're also starved for downforce. To make the Bandimere challenge even more difficult this year, the Funny Car and Top Fuel drivers will have to forget all they've ever learned about the Bandimere finish line, as they take on the new 1,000-foot configuration for the first time.
Del Worsham, driver of the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala Funny Car, knows the challenges of the Denver race very well, having covered the board there in terms of performance. The race winner in 2002, Worsham has also gone out in the first round at eight of the last 11 Bandimere races, while qualifying in the top half of the field only three times over the same span of time. This year, the air and the altitude will be the same, but the racing will be different.
"I'll never forget the win in 2002, but I also always come to this beautiful track knowing how much it has challenged us over the years," Worsham said. "We've squeaked in on the bump spot, scuffled along in the bottom half, and we haven't won a lot of rounds here, but we ran pretty well last season so we have some really good data to work from. Last year, we made two great runs in qualifying and got in 5th on the ladder, but we still got edged out in the first round by Ron Capps. As I remember it, we were the only pair of Funny Cars to make a side-by-side run in the first round, but we lost.
"Now, with the finish line being moved to 1,000 feet, it's going to be a new challenge to get our brains dialed-in to where we shut the cars off. When you race at a track for a long time, you have a sort of automatic knowledge of where the finish line is, so we're going to have to ignore the scoreboards and look for those 1,000-foot timing blocks until we get used to this. It's still a long way down there, I promise you that, and we'll still be going fast enough that you have to know what you're doing. You can't just look around at 290 or 300 mph, wondering where you are. It all happens way too fast to be doing that."
Many fans wondered why the new 1,000-foot distance was implemented in time for the Denver event, considering its well-known altitude issues and the corresponding slower times. Worsham was not one of those who gave it any thought, however, as he and his peers roundly accepted the new set-up and applauded its immediate implementation.
"A lot of people think of the thin air and the uphill shutdown area in Denver and figure we have no problem at all getting stopped, but that's not necessarily true," Worsham said. "The thin air takes away downforce, so the cars push through it easier, and it also makes the parachutes work less efficiently. You can tell you're in Denver when the 'chutes pop, because you don't get the same jolt when they hit. We are going uphill, but we tend to use all of the track on a good run. It's pretty common for at least one or two cars to go in the sand each year at this race, so the extra 320 feet will be important, here and everywhere we go."
As for the annual challenge of making horsepower in the thin Denver air, Worsham also sees the pitfalls of the same lack of downforce, making it Bandimere a great test of tightrope-walking for the professional teams.
"It's over a mile high, and the corrected altitude can go way higher if the atmospheric conditions are lousy," he said. "I can remember one year when the humidity, the barometer, and the temperature all went sour on us and the adjusted altitude, what the cars felt like they were running in, was closing in on 10,000 feet. That's pretty nuts, but it's not just the thin air we're trying to burn. If you do get the car running, the lack of downforce is like trying to run with our wings way down, and you can spin the tires beyond half-track really easily.
"It's one of the great tests on our whole tour, and there's no other data to pull from except what you've done at Bandimere in the past. Las Vegas is the second-highest track on the schedule, and it's 2,100 feet, so whatever you do in Denver is a one-off deal. It's hard to go fast, it's hard to keep it stuck, and now it's going to be hard to make our first race at 1,000 feet. The teams that adapt to all of that the best, will win this race."
Always known for solid performance under trying circumstances and an uncanny knack for coming up big when he needs to the most, Worsham may just have an edge during this ultimate mile-high challenge. He'll just be looking for that 1,000-foot mark up there at 5,860.
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="left"borders="0"/>
DENVER (July 8, 2008) -- Denver may be rightfully known as the "Mile-High City" but scenic Bandimere Speedway, on the western outskirts and the site of this weekend's Mopar Mile-High Nationals, is nearly 400 feet higher still, making it the most highly-elevated track on the NHRA tour by a wide margin. Listed at 5,860 feet, Bandimere offers beautiful vistas for the fans seated on its steeply sloped grandstands, while it confronts drivers and tuners with an atmosphere so thin the cars labor to run while they're also starved for downforce. To make the Bandimere challenge even more difficult this year, the Funny Car and Top Fuel drivers will have to forget all they've ever learned about the Bandimere finish line, as they take on the new 1,000-foot configuration for the first time.
Del Worsham, driver of the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala Funny Car, knows the challenges of the Denver race very well, having covered the board there in terms of performance. The race winner in 2002, Worsham has also gone out in the first round at eight of the last 11 Bandimere races, while qualifying in the top half of the field only three times over the same span of time. This year, the air and the altitude will be the same, but the racing will be different.
"I'll never forget the win in 2002, but I also always come to this beautiful track knowing how much it has challenged us over the years," Worsham said. "We've squeaked in on the bump spot, scuffled along in the bottom half, and we haven't won a lot of rounds here, but we ran pretty well last season so we have some really good data to work from. Last year, we made two great runs in qualifying and got in 5th on the ladder, but we still got edged out in the first round by Ron Capps. As I remember it, we were the only pair of Funny Cars to make a side-by-side run in the first round, but we lost.
"Now, with the finish line being moved to 1,000 feet, it's going to be a new challenge to get our brains dialed-in to where we shut the cars off. When you race at a track for a long time, you have a sort of automatic knowledge of where the finish line is, so we're going to have to ignore the scoreboards and look for those 1,000-foot timing blocks until we get used to this. It's still a long way down there, I promise you that, and we'll still be going fast enough that you have to know what you're doing. You can't just look around at 290 or 300 mph, wondering where you are. It all happens way too fast to be doing that."
Many fans wondered why the new 1,000-foot distance was implemented in time for the Denver event, considering its well-known altitude issues and the corresponding slower times. Worsham was not one of those who gave it any thought, however, as he and his peers roundly accepted the new set-up and applauded its immediate implementation.
"A lot of people think of the thin air and the uphill shutdown area in Denver and figure we have no problem at all getting stopped, but that's not necessarily true," Worsham said. "The thin air takes away downforce, so the cars push through it easier, and it also makes the parachutes work less efficiently. You can tell you're in Denver when the 'chutes pop, because you don't get the same jolt when they hit. We are going uphill, but we tend to use all of the track on a good run. It's pretty common for at least one or two cars to go in the sand each year at this race, so the extra 320 feet will be important, here and everywhere we go."
As for the annual challenge of making horsepower in the thin Denver air, Worsham also sees the pitfalls of the same lack of downforce, making it Bandimere a great test of tightrope-walking for the professional teams.
"It's over a mile high, and the corrected altitude can go way higher if the atmospheric conditions are lousy," he said. "I can remember one year when the humidity, the barometer, and the temperature all went sour on us and the adjusted altitude, what the cars felt like they were running in, was closing in on 10,000 feet. That's pretty nuts, but it's not just the thin air we're trying to burn. If you do get the car running, the lack of downforce is like trying to run with our wings way down, and you can spin the tires beyond half-track really easily.
"It's one of the great tests on our whole tour, and there's no other data to pull from except what you've done at Bandimere in the past. Las Vegas is the second-highest track on the schedule, and it's 2,100 feet, so whatever you do in Denver is a one-off deal. It's hard to go fast, it's hard to keep it stuck, and now it's going to be hard to make our first race at 1,000 feet. The teams that adapt to all of that the best, will win this race."
Always known for solid performance under trying circumstances and an uncanny knack for coming up big when he needs to the most, Worsham may just have an edge during this ultimate mile-high challenge. He'll just be looking for that 1,000-foot mark up there at 5,860.
