<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/D_Worsham07.jpg" alt="D_Worsham07" align="left"borders="0"/>
TOPEKA, Kan. (May 29, 2007) -- The word "capital" has many meanings, starting with a city's designation as the seat of state or federal government. It also has a monetary connotation, referring to the cash on-hand needed to move forward with a business proposition. Additionally, it can be an adjective when placed in front of the word "idea", meaning "splendid" or "excellent." All of those definitions ring true to Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Funny Car driver Del Worsham, as he looks forward to this weekend's O'Reilly Summer Nationals, at Heartland Park Topeka.
The annual visit to the capital city of Kansas is always an entertaining one, though Worsham has yet to add Heartland Park to the lengthy list of tracks where he's visited the winner's circle. Entering this year's race, Worsham is still fresh off a runner-up finish in St. Louis, though the POWERade tour's unexpected three-week hiatus makes that seem like ancient history, and nothing would serve his Countdown To The Championship aspirations better than a new influx of capital (also known as a winner's check,) in the capital city. Such an outcome would be the classic "capital idea."
"I've always enjoyed coming to Topeka, for a lot of reasons, but we've never had tons of luck on the track here," Worsham said. "It's a great town that really embraces this huge event, and that means something to all of us. Our crowds are great everywhere we go, but there's something special about coming into these mid-sized markets like, say, Topeka, Bristol, or Reading. Our races can get a little lost in the mix in New York or Chicago, but in Topeka the whole town gets wrapped up in it, and everywhere we go we see signs welcoming the teams and fans.
"We've also had our share of interesting midwestern weather over the years, from tornadoes to wild temperature swings and just about anything else you can imagine. It is Kansas, after all. You'll notice they didn't place The Wizard Of Oz in California or Oregon, they needed to put it out in the plains where all the wild weather is. But all in all, I love the track and love the town, we just need to find a way to get deep into the field, and then get right back to winning rounds again on Sunday."
Winning rounds on Sunday has been a mantra Worsham has been repeating since early in the season. His unfortunate start to the campaign, making only one race field and winning zero rounds at the first three events, put him deep in the points standings and left him wondering about the viability of his entire 2007 year. Since then, he's gone on a 7-4 run, including a semi-final finish in Houston, a pair of quarter-final results in both Las Vegas and Atlanta, and the aforementioned runner-up placement in St. Louis. The cumulative effect has been a strong move up the points sheet, as Worsham now sits 8th after having been as low as 20th on the chart.
As The Beatles once sang, "It's getting better all the time..." and Worsham simply hopes the time off hasn't sapped his momentum.
"I don't think it has, and I certainly don't expect to hit the track on Friday running any differently than we have been for the last two months," Worsham said. "We didn't want all the time off, believe me, but we couldn't control that. Looking ahead, the Bristol thing also created a massive summer for us, where we'll be racing almost every week, so just about everyone on our team sneaked in a vacation during the last few weeks, just to get our batteries charged up for this non-stop action.
"I know the rest of the guys feel like I do, and have all been walking in circles the last few days, just counting the hours until we can race again. All we want to do is get back on the track, and we're all really excited to do that at Heartland Park. The fans in the stands will see some great action, as always, but they should know that they're also watching a lot of racers who are just thrilled to be back at it. For all of us on the CSK team, we just hope to make the most of it and have a great weekend."
And should Worsham be able to click off the round wins on Sunday, even going so far as to erase Topeka from the short list of tracks where he's never won, the headline would most certainly be in (you guessed it,) capital letters.
WORSHAM SEES A TOPEKA WIN AS A CAPITAL IDEA
TOPEKA, Kan. (May 29, 2007) -- The word "capital" has many meanings, starting with a city's designation as the seat of state or federal government. It also has a monetary connotation, referring to the cash on-hand needed to move forward with a business proposition. Additionally, it can be an adjective when placed in front of the word "idea", meaning "splendid" or "excellent." All of those definitions ring true to Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Funny Car driver Del Worsham, as he looks forward to this weekend's O'Reilly Summer Nationals, at Heartland Park Topeka.
The annual visit to the capital city of Kansas is always an entertaining one, though Worsham has yet to add Heartland Park to the lengthy list of tracks where he's visited the winner's circle. Entering this year's race, Worsham is still fresh off a runner-up finish in St. Louis, though the POWERade tour's unexpected three-week hiatus makes that seem like ancient history, and nothing would serve his Countdown To The Championship aspirations better than a new influx of capital (also known as a winner's check,) in the capital city. Such an outcome would be the classic "capital idea."
"I've always enjoyed coming to Topeka, for a lot of reasons, but we've never had tons of luck on the track here," Worsham said. "It's a great town that really embraces this huge event, and that means something to all of us. Our crowds are great everywhere we go, but there's something special about coming into these mid-sized markets like, say, Topeka, Bristol, or Reading. Our races can get a little lost in the mix in New York or Chicago, but in Topeka the whole town gets wrapped up in it, and everywhere we go we see signs welcoming the teams and fans.
"We've also had our share of interesting midwestern weather over the years, from tornadoes to wild temperature swings and just about anything else you can imagine. It is Kansas, after all. You'll notice they didn't place The Wizard Of Oz in California or Oregon, they needed to put it out in the plains where all the wild weather is. But all in all, I love the track and love the town, we just need to find a way to get deep into the field, and then get right back to winning rounds again on Sunday."
Winning rounds on Sunday has been a mantra Worsham has been repeating since early in the season. His unfortunate start to the campaign, making only one race field and winning zero rounds at the first three events, put him deep in the points standings and left him wondering about the viability of his entire 2007 year. Since then, he's gone on a 7-4 run, including a semi-final finish in Houston, a pair of quarter-final results in both Las Vegas and Atlanta, and the aforementioned runner-up placement in St. Louis. The cumulative effect has been a strong move up the points sheet, as Worsham now sits 8th after having been as low as 20th on the chart.
As The Beatles once sang, "It's getting better all the time..." and Worsham simply hopes the time off hasn't sapped his momentum.
"I don't think it has, and I certainly don't expect to hit the track on Friday running any differently than we have been for the last two months," Worsham said. "We didn't want all the time off, believe me, but we couldn't control that. Looking ahead, the Bristol thing also created a massive summer for us, where we'll be racing almost every week, so just about everyone on our team sneaked in a vacation during the last few weeks, just to get our batteries charged up for this non-stop action.
"I know the rest of the guys feel like I do, and have all been walking in circles the last few days, just counting the hours until we can race again. All we want to do is get back on the track, and we're all really excited to do that at Heartland Park. The fans in the stands will see some great action, as always, but they should know that they're also watching a lot of racers who are just thrilled to be back at it. For all of us on the CSK team, we just hope to make the most of it and have a great weekend."
And should Worsham be able to click off the round wins on Sunday, even going so far as to erase Topeka from the short list of tracks where he's never won, the headline would most certainly be in (you guessed it,) capital letters.
