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In terms of the Countdown To The Championship, it is clear that Del Worsham found his stride just days too late in 2007. Deep in the standings for much of the season, Worsham came on strong down the stretch but ended up just 38 points out of the playoffs. Those two "missing rounds" were picked up here in Indy, but they were one race too late, and Worsham is now relegated to no better than 9th place, no matter how well he performs. On the bright side, Worsham knows he has a race car that is fully capable of winning rounds and races, and he plans to do just that before the '07 campaign wraps up in Pomona.
Here in Indianapolis, the site of Worsham's stunning "double up" win in 2005, all went well for the driver of the red Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala, during three days of qualifying and one long hot day of racing.
He posted a big 4.785 on Friday night, to grab a top-half spot, and then was nearly the class of the field in the heat on Sunday afternoon, running the second-quickest lap in the final session, to show he could handle a hot track as well. In the end, though, the dreaded lane choice issue caught up to the popular driver, and there was little he could do to avoid defeat in the semi-finals.
"When it gets as hot as it was today, you start to worry about lane choice really being a big issue, and it finally got to that point after the first round today," Worsham said. "We lost in the semi-finals, but the truth is we were pretty much toast after the first round, although it was through no fault of our own. We ran great in the first round, one of our best laps of the year, but Ashley Force was our second-round opponent and she laid down an incredible number in her first-round race. That put us over in the right lane, and even though we were able to pedal through the second round, we were stuck back over there again in the semi."
Worsham's first round race was, to put it mildly, a thing of beauty. Entering the race in the No. 7 spot, Worsham got no favors on the ladder as he was paired with No. 10 qualifier Gary Scelzi. Everyone in the CSK pit expected a tough fight to the finish line, and they also knew Worsham would have to put a big one on the board if he wanted to advance to round two.
After having seen their teammate, No. 1 qualifier Jeff Arend, get upset by the 16th qualifier in round one, Worsham and his group knew they had to carry the ball for Team CSK, but they also knew Scelzi and his crew were out to shut them down. What the huge Indy crowd got to see was one fantastic drag race.
Worsham grabbed a slight edge at the tree, picking up 4-thousandths in reaction time, and he never trailed in this race. At the stripe, Scelzi's 4.872 was brilliant and was the fourth-quickest lap in round one, but Worsham's 4.841 was better, and the win light was on in the CSK lane.
"I absolutely cannot tell you how many times we've been on the other side of this equation," Worsham said. "For most of the last two years, just about every time both cars run great and both could've won just about any other pairing, we've been the guys coming back to the pit with our heads down, trying to find some moral victory in a tough loss.
The fact we outran such a great car, a playoff car, and just flat won the round, tells me we're finally getting back to our old tricks. That was a huge lap, just absolutely huge for us."
Unfortunately for Worsham, whose first-round E.T. was third-quickest in the class, young Miss Force was able to take out Tim Wilkerson with an other-worldly 4.784, a time so much better than anyone else's it left jaws agape throughout the venue. With lane choice, Ashley Force would be putting Worsham over in the rapidly deteriorating right lane.
"It was fairly even in round one, but it the right lane had obviously gone away by the second round," Worsham said. "We tried to back it down, just to make sure we could go A to B against her, but the car just rolled right into tire smoke. As soon as I pedaled my car, I saw her disappear behind me, so I figured they had traction problems too. At that point, I just was focused on getting the car to the finish line. The car actually hooked up really well after I pedaled it, and it tore down there like it was on rails. It was a tough way to win a round, but it was important to us and we were thrilled to get another win light and get to the semi's."
Worsham's pedaling job was brilliant, and an obvious reflection of both his talent and experience, but it left him, once again, without lane choice for the next round, where Mike Ashley would be the opponent.
This time, the dodgy right lane again claimed Worsham, but no pedaling job could help him overcome Ashley's relatively clean 4.961, and in a puff of tire smoke, Worsham's day was over.
"There wasn't much we could do about it, really, but like I said before, we ended up in that position back in round one," Worsham said.
"As great as we ran, we still lost lane choice, but it just took that issue another round to kill us off.
"We had a great weekend here, pretty much the whole way. We got deep into the field in the first session, our blue car qualified number one, and we made some great laps, including the one against Scelzi in round one. I know a lot of teams that would trade weekends with us right now, but once you get to the semi-final you really start thinking of winning the race. Hey, we'll move on to Memphis and try to win there.
I wish we would have found this performance a little earlier in the year, but we have it now and we're going to do everything we can to keep winning rounds."
Back-to-back semi-finals, strong performance, and consistently great driving. Any way you analyze it, the bottom line surely does hint that "Del Worsham is back."
WORSHAM REACHES SECOND CONSECUTIVE SEMI-FINAL
In terms of the Countdown To The Championship, it is clear that Del Worsham found his stride just days too late in 2007. Deep in the standings for much of the season, Worsham came on strong down the stretch but ended up just 38 points out of the playoffs. Those two "missing rounds" were picked up here in Indy, but they were one race too late, and Worsham is now relegated to no better than 9th place, no matter how well he performs. On the bright side, Worsham knows he has a race car that is fully capable of winning rounds and races, and he plans to do just that before the '07 campaign wraps up in Pomona.
Here in Indianapolis, the site of Worsham's stunning "double up" win in 2005, all went well for the driver of the red Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala, during three days of qualifying and one long hot day of racing.
He posted a big 4.785 on Friday night, to grab a top-half spot, and then was nearly the class of the field in the heat on Sunday afternoon, running the second-quickest lap in the final session, to show he could handle a hot track as well. In the end, though, the dreaded lane choice issue caught up to the popular driver, and there was little he could do to avoid defeat in the semi-finals.
"When it gets as hot as it was today, you start to worry about lane choice really being a big issue, and it finally got to that point after the first round today," Worsham said. "We lost in the semi-finals, but the truth is we were pretty much toast after the first round, although it was through no fault of our own. We ran great in the first round, one of our best laps of the year, but Ashley Force was our second-round opponent and she laid down an incredible number in her first-round race. That put us over in the right lane, and even though we were able to pedal through the second round, we were stuck back over there again in the semi."
Worsham's first round race was, to put it mildly, a thing of beauty. Entering the race in the No. 7 spot, Worsham got no favors on the ladder as he was paired with No. 10 qualifier Gary Scelzi. Everyone in the CSK pit expected a tough fight to the finish line, and they also knew Worsham would have to put a big one on the board if he wanted to advance to round two.
After having seen their teammate, No. 1 qualifier Jeff Arend, get upset by the 16th qualifier in round one, Worsham and his group knew they had to carry the ball for Team CSK, but they also knew Scelzi and his crew were out to shut them down. What the huge Indy crowd got to see was one fantastic drag race.
Worsham grabbed a slight edge at the tree, picking up 4-thousandths in reaction time, and he never trailed in this race. At the stripe, Scelzi's 4.872 was brilliant and was the fourth-quickest lap in round one, but Worsham's 4.841 was better, and the win light was on in the CSK lane.
"I absolutely cannot tell you how many times we've been on the other side of this equation," Worsham said. "For most of the last two years, just about every time both cars run great and both could've won just about any other pairing, we've been the guys coming back to the pit with our heads down, trying to find some moral victory in a tough loss.
The fact we outran such a great car, a playoff car, and just flat won the round, tells me we're finally getting back to our old tricks. That was a huge lap, just absolutely huge for us."
Unfortunately for Worsham, whose first-round E.T. was third-quickest in the class, young Miss Force was able to take out Tim Wilkerson with an other-worldly 4.784, a time so much better than anyone else's it left jaws agape throughout the venue. With lane choice, Ashley Force would be putting Worsham over in the rapidly deteriorating right lane.
"It was fairly even in round one, but it the right lane had obviously gone away by the second round," Worsham said. "We tried to back it down, just to make sure we could go A to B against her, but the car just rolled right into tire smoke. As soon as I pedaled my car, I saw her disappear behind me, so I figured they had traction problems too. At that point, I just was focused on getting the car to the finish line. The car actually hooked up really well after I pedaled it, and it tore down there like it was on rails. It was a tough way to win a round, but it was important to us and we were thrilled to get another win light and get to the semi's."
Worsham's pedaling job was brilliant, and an obvious reflection of both his talent and experience, but it left him, once again, without lane choice for the next round, where Mike Ashley would be the opponent.
This time, the dodgy right lane again claimed Worsham, but no pedaling job could help him overcome Ashley's relatively clean 4.961, and in a puff of tire smoke, Worsham's day was over.
"There wasn't much we could do about it, really, but like I said before, we ended up in that position back in round one," Worsham said.
"As great as we ran, we still lost lane choice, but it just took that issue another round to kill us off.
"We had a great weekend here, pretty much the whole way. We got deep into the field in the first session, our blue car qualified number one, and we made some great laps, including the one against Scelzi in round one. I know a lot of teams that would trade weekends with us right now, but once you get to the semi-final you really start thinking of winning the race. Hey, we'll move on to Memphis and try to win there.
I wish we would have found this performance a little earlier in the year, but we have it now and we're going to do everything we can to keep winning rounds."
Back-to-back semi-finals, strong performance, and consistently great driving. Any way you analyze it, the bottom line surely does hint that "Del Worsham is back."
