WORSHAM AIMS TO UNCORK A VINTAGE SONOMA PERFORMANCE
SONOMA, Calif. (July 24, 2007) -- As well as Del Worsham has run at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, in his Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Funny Car, it's actually surprising he has only won once at the picturesque venue on the edge of Wine Country. That victory, back in 2001, featured a first-round miracle followed by three rounds of domination, with the
miracle coming in the form of an upset win over No. 5 qualifier Ron Capps, accomplished in a right lane which featured a bump so severe it was nearly impossible to get by without smoking the tires. Worsham
managed to pull it off, and he then grabbed lane choice for the rest of the day to take the win easily.
Since then, Worsham has qualified in the No. 2 spot, in both 2002 and 2003, before slipping to the 15th position in 2004. He bounced right back from that, however, with a strong No. 3 position in '05, while also resetting the track speed record at 325.69 mph, and then followed that up, last year, with another No. 3 performance. Throughout all of those strong qualifying efforts, however, Worsham has only managed to advance as far as the second-round on three occasions ('02, '03, and '05.) As far as he's concerned, it's time to combine his history of strong qualifying with the success of 2001.
"That day in 2001 was one of those storybook deals where we did something nobody else could do," Worsham said. "Back then, the NASCAR track ran over the drag strip, and they came across the strip in an arc with all the weight on the right front tire, so there was a serious bump in the right lane where all that rubber had been put down by lap after lap from those big heavy Cup cars running through there. It was truly a one-lane race track that weekend, but we combined a great tune-up with some driving tricks and managed to get over the bump and beat Ron in round one. Maybe they were a little soft, because nobody really expected anyone to win out of that right lane we were stuck in, but we got by them and were pretty pumped up. We even got lane choice for round two, and we never let go of it all day. That bump helped us
out every round, taking out the guys in the right lane while we just kept going A-to-B in the left.
"Since then, we've just had a great handle on qualifying in Sonoma, and have made some of our best laps ever there. We've gone into race day very optimistic, even confident, but have found ways to lose far too early, far too often. I really don't care where we qualify, as long as we do, because all I want is to go rounds on Sunday. The lane issue isn't a factor anymore, since they separated the two tracks, so all we care about is getting in the show and then getting to the other end first."
Getting to the other end first has been a frustrating problem for Worsham, as of late. Though he has managed to qualify at 12 races in a row, to hold the longest such streak in the class, and has made a long
series of great laps throughout the summer, he has been plagued by a now-familiar history of irrationally close losses. It's likely no one else in the class has run as well as Worsham, and yet still managed to lose so many side-by-side battles, over the last year and a half.
This past weekend, he did slay one dragon in round one, taking out Tommy Johnson to pick up his first round win since his runner-up finish in St. Louis, but Worsham then took another tough one on the chin in round two, as Jack Beckman edged past the Team CSK Impala by a couple of feet, on his way to the race victory. Worsham knows what is at
stake now, and what has been at stake all season, but he is strictly focused on the small picture.
"I can't control what the other teams do in the other lane, that's just the way this sport works, so all we can concentrate on is our car, and each individual lap," Worsham said. "Everyone knows you can only run
the race track, and that's what we're doing and will keep doing. You would think things would even out a little for us, or we might catch a break here or there, but this is the way it's going and nobody is hanging their head around here. I'm not even going to think about points, or the Countdown, or anything else from this point forward.
All I'm going to think about is the next lap, and how to make it as good as it can be.
"Ever since the big boomer in Norwalk, we've actually been running very well and we haven't been hurting the car much at all. All of that is good, and winning the first round in Seattle was good. Now, we're headed to Sonoma, and we just need to make more good things happen. We're all working as hard as we can, and every guy on this team would sacrifice just about anything to win a race, so we'll just hang tight as a unit and give it our best. We love Sonoma, so I can't think of a better place to do something really big."
On the body front, Worsham has been competing with one of Jeff Arend's blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impalas on his car, while his new red Impala SS is completed at the team's shop in Orange, Calif. There is
a slight chance the new Chevy might meet up with the team this weekend, but Worsham isn't counting on it.
"It's almost done, but with all of our guys on the road for six weeks, it's pretty much just been our chassis man, Grant Downing, working on it himself," Worsham explained. "We may be able to get it up to
Infineon, and we have all the vinyl graphics with us if it does make it, but I don't want our guys distracted by anything other than
winning. I'm planning on driving the blue car for one more week, so we'll just have to see."
Red or blue, bumps or no bumps, high qualifier or low, all Worsham cares about is the one thing that has eluded him since Indy in 2005. A long day on Sunday, with a trip to the Infineon Winner's Circle, would
take care of all of that. And if that should come to pass, a bottle or two of Sonoma's finest would will likely be poured.
