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Just a few races ago, Del Worsham was picking his battles in very conservative ways. After stumbling out of the gate in Pomona, he aimed to simply qualify in Phoenix, but failed to do so. He managed to make the show in Gainesville, but hadn't really turned the dial up to the "win rounds" setting, at that point. Heading into Houston, the goal was not just making the field, but picking up a round win on Sunday, and Worsham was able come through with a semi-final appearance. Now, as the NHRA POWERade tour heads to the Gateway City for this weekend's O'Reilly Midwest Nationals, Worsham has evened his record at 4-4, has moved up to 9th place on the points sheet, and is aiming higher. He's aiming to win.
It has been a significant turn-around for the popular Checker, Schuck's, Kragen driver, but the rapidity of his resurgence is deceptive, at the very least. Worsham and his crew have been working through problems with their tune-up for the better part of a year, and the answers didn't all occur to them within the last couple of weeks.
"It's been a very long road, and it's been so frustrating at times," Worsham said. "It was easy to get down, and it was easy to lose our confidence, but in the end my dad and I just kept working at it, and we utilized this two-car team exactly how we should, to help us turn it around. During Gainesville, and on the weekend after the Gatornationals, we made a conscious decision to use all of our resources to get our two cars running more the same. We plugged in some of the ideas we'd had, we asked everyone to open their eyes and see it their way, and it finally came around.
"It would be easy for people to think we just got lost for a year, and all of a sudden it all came back to us, but that's not how it's been. This has been a work in progress from start to finish, and we couldn't be where we are today without all of the trial and error we went through. Right now, though, it's coming together fast, so we want to keep improving and keep gaining on this thing. We hope we don't have to take any steps backward, before we keep going forward, but the competition is so tough out here, sometimes you don't have a choice."
As an illustration of that last point, Worsham need only look back upon his last two events. He qualified solidly at both Las Vegas and Atlanta, and managed to win in the first round each time. A quick look at the ladder, however, showed the likes of Robert Hight as the second round opponent, at both events. In each case, Worsham put up a valiant fight but came up just short to one of the sport's hottest "big guns," and in both instances, Hight went on to win the race.
"All you can do is get in the show, because after that you're going to be facing great cars," Worsham said. "Back when we DNQd at Pomona and Phoenix, I made the point that missing the show was going to be something everyone would have to deal with this year. Some people might have thought I was just trying to make myself and my team feel better, but I knew it was true. Since then, we've seen some huge names DNQ, including John Force, so it really is just a matter of time for everyone. Just making the field is an enormous challenge, right
now.
"Once you're in, you better get ready for a dogfight because the 16 cars that do make it are all going to be very fast. If you can get past the first one, your odds of getting someone like Hight, or (Ron) Capps, or Force in the next round are pretty good. We haven't been able to outrun those guys yet, this year, but we're right there with them and if we keep getting better we will, at some point, be able to knock them out. Once again, I think it's just a matter of time. But in this case, it's a matter of time until we do something big out here."
Worsham is no stranger to doing something big at Gateway International, having won this race back in 2003, when he took out Force in the final by running low E.T. of eliminations on the last lap down the track. That, of course, came in late June, when the entire St. Louis event was run at night in an attempt to avoid at least some of the midsummer St. Louis weather. This year, for the first time, the St. Louis race moves to the first week in May, and Worsham isn't sure what to expect.
"It's going to be different, that's for sure," he said. "We're so used to running here in the blast furnace, it's going to be exciting to see what this track can offer when the conditions are better, and there's no doubt it's going to be a lot more comfortable. We'll be back to a standard schedule, too, and that's very good. Our guys never could get used to the nighttime schedule, and when we did win the race, it was so late all the restaurants were closed. We couldn't even celebrate. Maybe this year, if we keep getting better, we can head to The Hill in south St. Louis for some great Italian food and a bottle of champagne. That would be a great way to celebrate, in my book."
And further evidence of Mr. Worsham's remarkable turn-around.
WORSHAM SHIFTS FOCUS TO BIGGER PRIZES, AS ST. LOUIS RACE APPROACHES
Just a few races ago, Del Worsham was picking his battles in very conservative ways. After stumbling out of the gate in Pomona, he aimed to simply qualify in Phoenix, but failed to do so. He managed to make the show in Gainesville, but hadn't really turned the dial up to the "win rounds" setting, at that point. Heading into Houston, the goal was not just making the field, but picking up a round win on Sunday, and Worsham was able come through with a semi-final appearance. Now, as the NHRA POWERade tour heads to the Gateway City for this weekend's O'Reilly Midwest Nationals, Worsham has evened his record at 4-4, has moved up to 9th place on the points sheet, and is aiming higher. He's aiming to win.
It has been a significant turn-around for the popular Checker, Schuck's, Kragen driver, but the rapidity of his resurgence is deceptive, at the very least. Worsham and his crew have been working through problems with their tune-up for the better part of a year, and the answers didn't all occur to them within the last couple of weeks.
"It's been a very long road, and it's been so frustrating at times," Worsham said. "It was easy to get down, and it was easy to lose our confidence, but in the end my dad and I just kept working at it, and we utilized this two-car team exactly how we should, to help us turn it around. During Gainesville, and on the weekend after the Gatornationals, we made a conscious decision to use all of our resources to get our two cars running more the same. We plugged in some of the ideas we'd had, we asked everyone to open their eyes and see it their way, and it finally came around.
"It would be easy for people to think we just got lost for a year, and all of a sudden it all came back to us, but that's not how it's been. This has been a work in progress from start to finish, and we couldn't be where we are today without all of the trial and error we went through. Right now, though, it's coming together fast, so we want to keep improving and keep gaining on this thing. We hope we don't have to take any steps backward, before we keep going forward, but the competition is so tough out here, sometimes you don't have a choice."
As an illustration of that last point, Worsham need only look back upon his last two events. He qualified solidly at both Las Vegas and Atlanta, and managed to win in the first round each time. A quick look at the ladder, however, showed the likes of Robert Hight as the second round opponent, at both events. In each case, Worsham put up a valiant fight but came up just short to one of the sport's hottest "big guns," and in both instances, Hight went on to win the race.
"All you can do is get in the show, because after that you're going to be facing great cars," Worsham said. "Back when we DNQd at Pomona and Phoenix, I made the point that missing the show was going to be something everyone would have to deal with this year. Some people might have thought I was just trying to make myself and my team feel better, but I knew it was true. Since then, we've seen some huge names DNQ, including John Force, so it really is just a matter of time for everyone. Just making the field is an enormous challenge, right
now.
"Once you're in, you better get ready for a dogfight because the 16 cars that do make it are all going to be very fast. If you can get past the first one, your odds of getting someone like Hight, or (Ron) Capps, or Force in the next round are pretty good. We haven't been able to outrun those guys yet, this year, but we're right there with them and if we keep getting better we will, at some point, be able to knock them out. Once again, I think it's just a matter of time. But in this case, it's a matter of time until we do something big out here."
Worsham is no stranger to doing something big at Gateway International, having won this race back in 2003, when he took out Force in the final by running low E.T. of eliminations on the last lap down the track. That, of course, came in late June, when the entire St. Louis event was run at night in an attempt to avoid at least some of the midsummer St. Louis weather. This year, for the first time, the St. Louis race moves to the first week in May, and Worsham isn't sure what to expect.
"It's going to be different, that's for sure," he said. "We're so used to running here in the blast furnace, it's going to be exciting to see what this track can offer when the conditions are better, and there's no doubt it's going to be a lot more comfortable. We'll be back to a standard schedule, too, and that's very good. Our guys never could get used to the nighttime schedule, and when we did win the race, it was so late all the restaurants were closed. We couldn't even celebrate. Maybe this year, if we keep getting better, we can head to The Hill in south St. Louis for some great Italian food and a bottle of champagne. That would be a great way to celebrate, in my book."
And further evidence of Mr. Worsham's remarkable turn-around.
