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POMONA, Calif. (February 4, 2008) -- Del Worsham, who competed in his first NHRA Winternationals back in 1991, has two career victories at his home track, the famed and historic Pomona Raceway. Even with those two trophies, though, Worsham is still "winless in the winter," as both of his Pomona victories came at the season-ending Finals in November and, oddly enough, both included foul starts and much drama. For a guy who lives all of 20 minutes from the Fairplex facility, and who has not won a race since the 2005 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, nothing would suit Worsham better than a solid qualifying effort, and four successful rounds of eliminations, when the NHRA POWERade tour kicks off at Pomona this weekend with the 48th annual Carquest Winternationals. It will be Worsham's 18th shot at glory at the tour's traditional season opener.
For the record, Worsham's Pomona trophies were earned in 2001, when he smoked the tires in the final while Whit Bazemore fouled at the start, and in 2003, when it was Worsham who actually lit the red bulb by leaving early, only to then see that transgression erased when Cory Lee crossed the centerline on what was, essentially, a free pass to his first Funny Car win. While the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen driver would clearly prefer to sweep through eliminations with dominating performances, his focus is on less lofty things and his willingness to accept a bit of fluke luck along the way remains undiminished.
"We want to hit the track running well, get qualified solidly, and do our best on Sunday," Worsham said, from his nearby Chino Hills home. "It's so hard to win one of these races, I don't even allow myself to think in those terms before I've even made a qualifying run. I only think of the next challenge on the agenda, and the first one is getting qualified. We ran 4.79 in Pomona a year ago, and got bumped from the field, so I have a great deal of respect for how hard it is to grab one of the 16 best times here. I know we're fast enough to qualify solidly, even near the top, but the first step is to get solidly in.
"After that, I'll worry about round one and whatever fast team is lined up next to us. All we can do is take on each assignment, one by one, so that's as far as I'm looking at it, but I'm also not afraid to tell you I'm excited about this season, and that I plan to put the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen car back in the Winner's Circle more than once. If that takes a hole-shot from the driver, all the better. If something weird happens, like those wins over Whit and Cory, well that's okay too. However you win four rounds, you've earned it. I know we'll get there, but I'm not going to predict which weekend it will happen."
Worsham spent the off-season reorganizing his team, overseeing the construction of a new chassis, and focusing all of his energy on a single Funny Car, rather than the two he has owned and operated since 2000. He also steered clear of the temptation to "reinvent the wheel", and instead kept an eye on what had his car running so well in the second half of 2007, knowing he wanted to parlay that performance into an even better 2008.
"With the switch to just one Funny Car, we had to make a lot of changes around here, crew-wise," Worsham said. "We brought in some new guys, some of the other guys left to pursue other jobs, and we kept a few key guys around. In the end, we put a really good team together and pre-season testing has been a great experience. These guys are gung-ho, motivated, and very focused on the work, and the car ran really well in Phoenix. It actually feels pretty good to have a smaller tight-knit group here, and I feel like we're a better team, right now. We also built a new car, and it performed flawlessly in testing, so that's encouraging, too.
"We've gone off on a few treasure hunts the last few winters, attempting to find ways to redesign some components in pretty radical ways, and although you learn a lot doing that, you can also put yourself pretty far behind if your big new ideas don't pan out. A lot of those concepts seemed like great ideas at the time, but we were running pretty well at the end of last season by just staying with what we know, so the focus this winter was to take all of that and just keep it simple. The more we stick with what we know, the better off we'll be, and right now it feels like we're in a good spot."
Worsham may have lost a Funny Car over the winter, but he picked up a new Top Fuel teammate, as he and dragster owner Dexter Tuttle announced an "alliance" to work together in 2008. The teams will share resources, tuning tips, and a common pit area in 2008, and Worsham is excited to see how the new agreement will benefit each program.
"When we announced this deal I said, very clearly, that I have a ton of respect for Dexter Tuttle, and that remains the best part of this for us," Worsham said. "They've got Alan Bradshaw driving, and he's a cool guy with a great attitude, and they've put a solid team together over there. I know we can both help each other, and although this may sound kind of weird, it's just going to be cool to see a dragster sitting over there, and even cooler to know I'm not paying the bills on it. I think this alliance will be a big help to both teams, and I know we'll be willing to help each other every way we can."
Having a Top Fuel car in his pit may not be quite as odd as a red light followed by a centerline infraction, but if it helps Worsham start the 2008 NHRA season in strong fashion, he's all for it, on his 18th trip to the Winternationals.
WORSHAM AT THE WINTERNATIONALS: TAKE 18
POMONA, Calif. (February 4, 2008) -- Del Worsham, who competed in his first NHRA Winternationals back in 1991, has two career victories at his home track, the famed and historic Pomona Raceway. Even with those two trophies, though, Worsham is still "winless in the winter," as both of his Pomona victories came at the season-ending Finals in November and, oddly enough, both included foul starts and much drama. For a guy who lives all of 20 minutes from the Fairplex facility, and who has not won a race since the 2005 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, nothing would suit Worsham better than a solid qualifying effort, and four successful rounds of eliminations, when the NHRA POWERade tour kicks off at Pomona this weekend with the 48th annual Carquest Winternationals. It will be Worsham's 18th shot at glory at the tour's traditional season opener.
For the record, Worsham's Pomona trophies were earned in 2001, when he smoked the tires in the final while Whit Bazemore fouled at the start, and in 2003, when it was Worsham who actually lit the red bulb by leaving early, only to then see that transgression erased when Cory Lee crossed the centerline on what was, essentially, a free pass to his first Funny Car win. While the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen driver would clearly prefer to sweep through eliminations with dominating performances, his focus is on less lofty things and his willingness to accept a bit of fluke luck along the way remains undiminished.
"We want to hit the track running well, get qualified solidly, and do our best on Sunday," Worsham said, from his nearby Chino Hills home. "It's so hard to win one of these races, I don't even allow myself to think in those terms before I've even made a qualifying run. I only think of the next challenge on the agenda, and the first one is getting qualified. We ran 4.79 in Pomona a year ago, and got bumped from the field, so I have a great deal of respect for how hard it is to grab one of the 16 best times here. I know we're fast enough to qualify solidly, even near the top, but the first step is to get solidly in.
"After that, I'll worry about round one and whatever fast team is lined up next to us. All we can do is take on each assignment, one by one, so that's as far as I'm looking at it, but I'm also not afraid to tell you I'm excited about this season, and that I plan to put the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen car back in the Winner's Circle more than once. If that takes a hole-shot from the driver, all the better. If something weird happens, like those wins over Whit and Cory, well that's okay too. However you win four rounds, you've earned it. I know we'll get there, but I'm not going to predict which weekend it will happen."
Worsham spent the off-season reorganizing his team, overseeing the construction of a new chassis, and focusing all of his energy on a single Funny Car, rather than the two he has owned and operated since 2000. He also steered clear of the temptation to "reinvent the wheel", and instead kept an eye on what had his car running so well in the second half of 2007, knowing he wanted to parlay that performance into an even better 2008.
"With the switch to just one Funny Car, we had to make a lot of changes around here, crew-wise," Worsham said. "We brought in some new guys, some of the other guys left to pursue other jobs, and we kept a few key guys around. In the end, we put a really good team together and pre-season testing has been a great experience. These guys are gung-ho, motivated, and very focused on the work, and the car ran really well in Phoenix. It actually feels pretty good to have a smaller tight-knit group here, and I feel like we're a better team, right now. We also built a new car, and it performed flawlessly in testing, so that's encouraging, too.
"We've gone off on a few treasure hunts the last few winters, attempting to find ways to redesign some components in pretty radical ways, and although you learn a lot doing that, you can also put yourself pretty far behind if your big new ideas don't pan out. A lot of those concepts seemed like great ideas at the time, but we were running pretty well at the end of last season by just staying with what we know, so the focus this winter was to take all of that and just keep it simple. The more we stick with what we know, the better off we'll be, and right now it feels like we're in a good spot."
Worsham may have lost a Funny Car over the winter, but he picked up a new Top Fuel teammate, as he and dragster owner Dexter Tuttle announced an "alliance" to work together in 2008. The teams will share resources, tuning tips, and a common pit area in 2008, and Worsham is excited to see how the new agreement will benefit each program.
"When we announced this deal I said, very clearly, that I have a ton of respect for Dexter Tuttle, and that remains the best part of this for us," Worsham said. "They've got Alan Bradshaw driving, and he's a cool guy with a great attitude, and they've put a solid team together over there. I know we can both help each other, and although this may sound kind of weird, it's just going to be cool to see a dragster sitting over there, and even cooler to know I'm not paying the bills on it. I think this alliance will be a big help to both teams, and I know we'll be willing to help each other every way we can."
Having a Top Fuel car in his pit may not be quite as odd as a red light followed by a centerline infraction, but if it helps Worsham start the 2008 NHRA season in strong fashion, he's all for it, on his 18th trip to the Winternationals.
