<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/D_Worsham07.jpg" alt="D_Worsham07" align="left"borders="0"/>
Del Worsham came to the starting line for Saturday's first session well outside the field, and he had more to worry about than just putting a run on the board that would move him above the bump spot. With an enormous group of 26 Funny Car teams vying for one of the eventual 16 spots, Worsham was fighting the largest gathering of the year. He calmly cruised to a 4.821 to eventually grab the 12th spot for race day. This hard-fought ladder features one of the strongest and tightest groupings ever, with four cars running in the 4.70s while the other 12 ran between 4.802 and 4.842. Four teams that ran in the 4.8s did not make the field. He will face Ashley Force in round one.
By qualifying, Worsham ran his class-best qualifying streak to 21 consecutive races; quite a feat for a driver who began this season with two straight DNQs, including the season opener here in Pomona.
"That first one today, that was a huge run," Worsham said. "It actually had problems near the finish line, and would probably have been a 4.79 or 4.80 had the motor not started banging and clanging and trying to destroy itself at about 1,000 feet. Between sessions, you had to look at the sheet and wonder what would work and what wasn't safe. I was firmly in the 'We're not safe' camp, but that's probably just because I never think we're safe until the field is set. As it turned out, we only got knocked back a couple of spots, and on our last run we had more mechanical problems.
"The bottom line is, we're in the show, we have a chance to do something good, and we're going to do everything we can to capitalize on the qualifying effort. We have to race one of the Force cars in round one, and we've had to face Ashley a bunch lately, so we'll have our hands full. She took us out in Vegas, so we'll try to repay the favor here in Pomona."
WORSHAM POUNDS HIS WAY INTO TOUGH FIELD, GRABS 12th SPOT
Del Worsham came to the starting line for Saturday's first session well outside the field, and he had more to worry about than just putting a run on the board that would move him above the bump spot. With an enormous group of 26 Funny Car teams vying for one of the eventual 16 spots, Worsham was fighting the largest gathering of the year. He calmly cruised to a 4.821 to eventually grab the 12th spot for race day. This hard-fought ladder features one of the strongest and tightest groupings ever, with four cars running in the 4.70s while the other 12 ran between 4.802 and 4.842. Four teams that ran in the 4.8s did not make the field. He will face Ashley Force in round one.
By qualifying, Worsham ran his class-best qualifying streak to 21 consecutive races; quite a feat for a driver who began this season with two straight DNQs, including the season opener here in Pomona.
"That first one today, that was a huge run," Worsham said. "It actually had problems near the finish line, and would probably have been a 4.79 or 4.80 had the motor not started banging and clanging and trying to destroy itself at about 1,000 feet. Between sessions, you had to look at the sheet and wonder what would work and what wasn't safe. I was firmly in the 'We're not safe' camp, but that's probably just because I never think we're safe until the field is set. As it turned out, we only got knocked back a couple of spots, and on our last run we had more mechanical problems.
"The bottom line is, we're in the show, we have a chance to do something good, and we're going to do everything we can to capitalize on the qualifying effort. We have to race one of the Force cars in round one, and we've had to face Ashley a bunch lately, so we'll have our hands full. She took us out in Vegas, so we'll try to repay the favor here in Pomona."
