<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/D_Worsham07.jpg" alt="D_Worsham07" align="left"borders="0"/>
LAS VEGAS (October 23, 2007) -- When the vast majority of Americans hear the words "Las Vegas" they most certainly equate the destination with fun, sun, and little bit of healthy debauchery. It's not known as "Sin City" for nothing, after all. Del Worsham, who makes his living driving the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Funny Car on the NHRA tour, has had his share of "all of the above" on his many trips to Las Vegas, but he'll be arriving on The Strip this weekend with a focus on work, not play. He has, after all, been "idle" for two long weeks, and he craves to punch the time clock and get back to his job.
Although Worsham missed the eighth and final spot in the Countdown by just a handful of points, he has outperformed a large portion of the Funny Car class since his resurgence began back in late July and he doesn't lack for any motivation when it comes to taking round wins, and potentially the trophy, at this weekend's AC Delco Las Vegas Nationals.
It is, after all, his job to do just that.
"I can't believe we still get asked, by some people, why we even bother to go to the final races of the year if we're not in the Countdown," Worsham said. "People get on the internet and spout off what they think, which is fine if all they're talking about is their own opinion on things, but sometimes they take their own opinions and twist them around to make them appear to be facts, and that drives me a little nuts. I heard about a post on a website where some guy said 'You watch, I know for a fact a bunch of the big time teams won't even go to Las Vegas and Pomona, because they're not in the Countdown so there's no reason to go.' Something like that is so far off-base I want to laugh, but it's also disrespectful to all of us who do this for a living as professional drag racers. We take great pride in approaching every race as the most important one we've ever entered.
"Think about the fact this is my 17th season in the Funny Car class, and I have never come into the last two races of the year with any kind of realistic chance at the championship. We've had some incredible years, finishing as high as second in the points, but I've never felt the thrill of coming into Las Vegas and Pomona knowing we might take the big prize. You'll notice we still showed up, and we've done pretty well at some of those races. Heck, I've won the last race of the year twice! We're racers, man. This is what we do, and this is what we love. We go to every race to win, and not being in the Countdown hasn't changed that a bit. Not one bit."
Although Worsham has stood in the Winner's Circle at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he's never been there as the guy who was actually awarded the trophy. Worsham's 2004 teammate on the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen team was Phil Burkart, and it was Burkart who took the win at the spring Las Vegas race. Worsham had just come off back-to-back wins at Phoenix and Gainesville, so Burkart's triumph made it three in a row for Team CSK, and the memories are still fresh for Worsham.
"Let me tell you, we were on a roll then," Worsham recalled. "We had a great handle on our cars and the tires we were running at the time, and I used to show up at the race track feeling kind of unstoppable. We came into Vegas off of two straight wins, plus we were in 1st place in the points, but it was the blue team that put it together that weekend and we made it three straight for Team CSK. That was the start to a really great year, but some things changed in 2005 and we struggled to adapt for quite a while.
"Once we started to figure out how to run within the new rules, we started pushing the car too hard late last year, and that had us blowing it up far too often. Finally, around the middle of this season, we put it all back together and we've been running really well since then. I'm starting to get the feeling again, not necessarily that we're unstoppable because everyone in the class can stop everyone else right now, but that we're a factor to win on any Sunday. We can absolutely win this Sunday, but first we need to qualify. Once we do that, I'll start thinking of winning round one, and we'll go from
there."
It's a workmanlike approach for a true professional to follow. Lay out the plan, stick to the plan, and make it work. If the plan is sound and you do your job, good things can happen.
WORSHAM READY TO GET BACK TO WORK
LAS VEGAS (October 23, 2007) -- When the vast majority of Americans hear the words "Las Vegas" they most certainly equate the destination with fun, sun, and little bit of healthy debauchery. It's not known as "Sin City" for nothing, after all. Del Worsham, who makes his living driving the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Funny Car on the NHRA tour, has had his share of "all of the above" on his many trips to Las Vegas, but he'll be arriving on The Strip this weekend with a focus on work, not play. He has, after all, been "idle" for two long weeks, and he craves to punch the time clock and get back to his job.
Although Worsham missed the eighth and final spot in the Countdown by just a handful of points, he has outperformed a large portion of the Funny Car class since his resurgence began back in late July and he doesn't lack for any motivation when it comes to taking round wins, and potentially the trophy, at this weekend's AC Delco Las Vegas Nationals.
It is, after all, his job to do just that.
"I can't believe we still get asked, by some people, why we even bother to go to the final races of the year if we're not in the Countdown," Worsham said. "People get on the internet and spout off what they think, which is fine if all they're talking about is their own opinion on things, but sometimes they take their own opinions and twist them around to make them appear to be facts, and that drives me a little nuts. I heard about a post on a website where some guy said 'You watch, I know for a fact a bunch of the big time teams won't even go to Las Vegas and Pomona, because they're not in the Countdown so there's no reason to go.' Something like that is so far off-base I want to laugh, but it's also disrespectful to all of us who do this for a living as professional drag racers. We take great pride in approaching every race as the most important one we've ever entered.
"Think about the fact this is my 17th season in the Funny Car class, and I have never come into the last two races of the year with any kind of realistic chance at the championship. We've had some incredible years, finishing as high as second in the points, but I've never felt the thrill of coming into Las Vegas and Pomona knowing we might take the big prize. You'll notice we still showed up, and we've done pretty well at some of those races. Heck, I've won the last race of the year twice! We're racers, man. This is what we do, and this is what we love. We go to every race to win, and not being in the Countdown hasn't changed that a bit. Not one bit."
Although Worsham has stood in the Winner's Circle at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he's never been there as the guy who was actually awarded the trophy. Worsham's 2004 teammate on the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen team was Phil Burkart, and it was Burkart who took the win at the spring Las Vegas race. Worsham had just come off back-to-back wins at Phoenix and Gainesville, so Burkart's triumph made it three in a row for Team CSK, and the memories are still fresh for Worsham.
"Let me tell you, we were on a roll then," Worsham recalled. "We had a great handle on our cars and the tires we were running at the time, and I used to show up at the race track feeling kind of unstoppable. We came into Vegas off of two straight wins, plus we were in 1st place in the points, but it was the blue team that put it together that weekend and we made it three straight for Team CSK. That was the start to a really great year, but some things changed in 2005 and we struggled to adapt for quite a while.
"Once we started to figure out how to run within the new rules, we started pushing the car too hard late last year, and that had us blowing it up far too often. Finally, around the middle of this season, we put it all back together and we've been running really well since then. I'm starting to get the feeling again, not necessarily that we're unstoppable because everyone in the class can stop everyone else right now, but that we're a factor to win on any Sunday. We can absolutely win this Sunday, but first we need to qualify. Once we do that, I'll start thinking of winning round one, and we'll go from
there."
It's a workmanlike approach for a true professional to follow. Lay out the plan, stick to the plan, and make it work. If the plan is sound and you do your job, good things can happen.
