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The song was a major hit for Bono and U2, but it's not a tune Del Worsham wants to be humming. After a nail-biting qualifying effort, where we worked his way into the field on the last lap, Worsham had high hopes for more progress in round one, though he also knew he'd be facing the baddest hombre in the sport, Robert Hight. In the end, it's clear Del Worsham still hasn't found what he's looking for.
Qualifying for this year's AC Delco Gatornationals was quite the adventure, for nearly everyone involved, but Worsham was able to end his two-race DNQ streak by holding tight to the No. 16 spot he earned on his final pass. In all, Worsham managed to almost make it to the finish line on two of his four qualifying attempts. Both E.T.s would have been better, had the car lived to the stripe, but nagging breakage problems continued to plague Worsham and his team, as they again demolished parts and pieces at a rate no one cares to maintain.
"This has been going on since last year, and we're narrowing down the culprits, one by one, but obviously haven't totally gotten past it yet," Worsham said. "It runs great, for about 1,000 to 1,200 feet, but right down there near the finish line it's still banging and breaking and making a mess of things. We're going through the car, the parts, the tune-up, and everything we can think of, looking for answers. And it's not just the parts breakage and the broken motors that bother me. When your car doesn't live to the finish line, it's leaving a lot of E.T. on the table, and you just can't do that anymore. The competition is way too tough out here, even when you're running well, so you can't keep trying to get qualified while you're blowing up at 1,000 feet.
"We are getting a handle on it, finally, or at least we're finding ways to keep it living a little longer and not hurt itself so bad. But, we have to keep working at it, trouble-shooting it, looking at everything, because this is not the way we race. We've won races with the same motor in the car for eight straight laps, and now we're yanking them out after every run. It's going to stop, and we're going to start running better because of that. I promise you that."
Throughout Friday and Saturday, the entire Funny Car class looked as topsy-turvy as possible for three sessions. With tire smoke an issue during the early runs each day, most teams were unable to negotiate the full 1,320, leaving the qualifying order looking as if names had been randomly pulled from a hat. Entering the final session, tour regulars Jack Beckman, Mike Ashley, Tommy Johnson, Gary Densham, and Bob Gilbertson were all outside the field looking in, while Eric Medlen and Tony Pedregon were clinging to the 16th and 15th spots, respectively. Everyone knew the final session was going to be dramatic, but the question was "Which big-time teams wouldn't make the show?"
"We went into the last session sitting in the 11th spot, and usually that means you're in pretty good shape to be in the field," Worsham said. "This time, with all these great teams beneath us, I knew for a fact it wouldn't hold. As it turned out, by the time all those guys ran and we came up, we were not only not in the field, we were down in 20th position. We had to make a big lap happen just to work our way back into it.
"As it turned out, it was running great, again, but it broke near the finish line, again. Instead of running 4.79 or 4.80, it goes quiet and we run 4.84. As soon as I heard that I gritted my teeth, because I knew it was vulnerable. Tim Wilkerson was back there, yet to run, and I figured we had Pomona, all over again."
At the season opener, in Pomona, Worsham provided the temporary heroics by streaking to a 4.79 on his last lap, putting him in the field. Wilkerson, however, was the final car with a shot to break Worsham's heart, and he did just that by bumping the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen car right back out of the show.
This time, Wilkerson put a game effort on the board, but came up about a hundredth short, and Worsham was in the show for the first time in 2007. His reward for making the show was a first-round date with Robert Hight.
"That car is like an alien being, it's so fast and so good," Worsham said. "Robert has become a very good driver, and with that car and Jimmy Prock's tune-up, it's a phenomenal combination. I knew we'd have a tough one to deal with, but our goal was to make them beat us, and not beat ourselves. We just messed up, completely missed the tune-up, and didn't do anything we wanted to do. It was very disappointing."
As Worsham referenced, his car went up in early tire-smoke on Sunday morning, while Hight tore away to a big 4.793 to take the win.
It was a positive step, overall, for Worsham and his team. They made the field, while the likes of Beckman, Densham, Wilkerson, Scott Kalitta, and Ashley were the answers to the question about which big-time teams would not be racing on Sunday.
"We have a lot of work to do, and we're going to take every opportunity to do that work. Right now, the plan is to go to San Antonio next weekend, to run over on the other circuit. We need race experience right now, not more testing. When we go testing, I think we get a little fooled by the conditions and the overall atmosphere. We need to fine tune this thing some more, and that seems like a good place to do it. We'll decide, for sure, later this week but right now I'm leaning toward going there."
Until then, Worsham is still looking, but is yet to find exactly what he's looking for.
WORSHAM STILL HASN'T FOUND WHAT HE'S LOOKING FOR, GOES OUT IN ROUND ONE
The song was a major hit for Bono and U2, but it's not a tune Del Worsham wants to be humming. After a nail-biting qualifying effort, where we worked his way into the field on the last lap, Worsham had high hopes for more progress in round one, though he also knew he'd be facing the baddest hombre in the sport, Robert Hight. In the end, it's clear Del Worsham still hasn't found what he's looking for.
Qualifying for this year's AC Delco Gatornationals was quite the adventure, for nearly everyone involved, but Worsham was able to end his two-race DNQ streak by holding tight to the No. 16 spot he earned on his final pass. In all, Worsham managed to almost make it to the finish line on two of his four qualifying attempts. Both E.T.s would have been better, had the car lived to the stripe, but nagging breakage problems continued to plague Worsham and his team, as they again demolished parts and pieces at a rate no one cares to maintain.
"This has been going on since last year, and we're narrowing down the culprits, one by one, but obviously haven't totally gotten past it yet," Worsham said. "It runs great, for about 1,000 to 1,200 feet, but right down there near the finish line it's still banging and breaking and making a mess of things. We're going through the car, the parts, the tune-up, and everything we can think of, looking for answers. And it's not just the parts breakage and the broken motors that bother me. When your car doesn't live to the finish line, it's leaving a lot of E.T. on the table, and you just can't do that anymore. The competition is way too tough out here, even when you're running well, so you can't keep trying to get qualified while you're blowing up at 1,000 feet.
"We are getting a handle on it, finally, or at least we're finding ways to keep it living a little longer and not hurt itself so bad. But, we have to keep working at it, trouble-shooting it, looking at everything, because this is not the way we race. We've won races with the same motor in the car for eight straight laps, and now we're yanking them out after every run. It's going to stop, and we're going to start running better because of that. I promise you that."
Throughout Friday and Saturday, the entire Funny Car class looked as topsy-turvy as possible for three sessions. With tire smoke an issue during the early runs each day, most teams were unable to negotiate the full 1,320, leaving the qualifying order looking as if names had been randomly pulled from a hat. Entering the final session, tour regulars Jack Beckman, Mike Ashley, Tommy Johnson, Gary Densham, and Bob Gilbertson were all outside the field looking in, while Eric Medlen and Tony Pedregon were clinging to the 16th and 15th spots, respectively. Everyone knew the final session was going to be dramatic, but the question was "Which big-time teams wouldn't make the show?"
"We went into the last session sitting in the 11th spot, and usually that means you're in pretty good shape to be in the field," Worsham said. "This time, with all these great teams beneath us, I knew for a fact it wouldn't hold. As it turned out, by the time all those guys ran and we came up, we were not only not in the field, we were down in 20th position. We had to make a big lap happen just to work our way back into it.
"As it turned out, it was running great, again, but it broke near the finish line, again. Instead of running 4.79 or 4.80, it goes quiet and we run 4.84. As soon as I heard that I gritted my teeth, because I knew it was vulnerable. Tim Wilkerson was back there, yet to run, and I figured we had Pomona, all over again."
At the season opener, in Pomona, Worsham provided the temporary heroics by streaking to a 4.79 on his last lap, putting him in the field. Wilkerson, however, was the final car with a shot to break Worsham's heart, and he did just that by bumping the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen car right back out of the show.
This time, Wilkerson put a game effort on the board, but came up about a hundredth short, and Worsham was in the show for the first time in 2007. His reward for making the show was a first-round date with Robert Hight.
"That car is like an alien being, it's so fast and so good," Worsham said. "Robert has become a very good driver, and with that car and Jimmy Prock's tune-up, it's a phenomenal combination. I knew we'd have a tough one to deal with, but our goal was to make them beat us, and not beat ourselves. We just messed up, completely missed the tune-up, and didn't do anything we wanted to do. It was very disappointing."
As Worsham referenced, his car went up in early tire-smoke on Sunday morning, while Hight tore away to a big 4.793 to take the win.
It was a positive step, overall, for Worsham and his team. They made the field, while the likes of Beckman, Densham, Wilkerson, Scott Kalitta, and Ashley were the answers to the question about which big-time teams would not be racing on Sunday.
"We have a lot of work to do, and we're going to take every opportunity to do that work. Right now, the plan is to go to San Antonio next weekend, to run over on the other circuit. We need race experience right now, not more testing. When we go testing, I think we get a little fooled by the conditions and the overall atmosphere. We need to fine tune this thing some more, and that seems like a good place to do it. We'll decide, for sure, later this week but right now I'm leaning toward going there."
Until then, Worsham is still looking, but is yet to find exactly what he's looking for.
