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Del Worsham knew he had his hands full in a first-round match-up with Ashley Force. The daughter of the most iconic racer in the sport came into the Atlanta race in the points lead, and had been to the final round at the previous two races. Worsham had faced her in one of those finals, beating her to the finish line in Houston, and he entered the opening round here with lane choice as the No. 6 qualifier. As the sixth pair in the opening stanza, the Worsham/Force race had all the makings of another epic side-by-side tussle, and it had the attention of the large Atlanta crowd, which had outlasted about three hours of rain delays to see it. And then it ended ingloriously, before Worsham could even pull forward to stage his car. Suffering a major oil leak, Worsham had to shut off before the race, handing a free pass to Force.
"Things break in this sport, and that happens to everyone, but this leak was from an oversight, and mistakes are hard to swallow," Worsham said. "I don't think it's important to spell it all out, but it was one of those things that shouldn't happen and all these guys on the crew know it, without me having to tell them. We're a team, win or lose, and we all have to learn from this and move on as a team. This is a young group we have here, but a good group. These guys are either rookies or second-year guys, and they're constantly facing things, under fire, that they've never dealt with. But you know that every one of these rounds is so critical, and we just gave one away without a fight. I don't like losing, but getting beaten to the finish line is way better than not even being able to race."
Worsham's Atlanta qualifying effort was not as smooth as his last two efforts, in Houston and Las Vegas, as it featured two tire smokers and one run with a dropped cylinder. What it also featured was one stout run, and the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen team picked exactly the right time to perform that feat, as they posted a 4.858 during the late run on Friday. That solid lap moved Worsham into the 6th spot, and his placement was never really threatened through Saturday. All in all, it wasn't the team's most stellar qualifying performance, but it still gave Worsham confidence heading into race day.
"Run by run, you can see what happened and compare yourself to the other teams out there at the same time," he said. "We weren't that far off, and the car did exactly what we wanted it to do during Q2, late on Friday afternoon. I thought mid-4.80s were about what this track was going to offer up on Sunday, so getting qualified with one of those was really good. Then, we woke up this morning to the sound of rain drops and everything started to feel out of sync from that point forward.
"We waited until it looked like we had a real chance to run before warming up, and even then we had a few glitches with the timing on the warm-up. We got it sorted out, and then watched one little rain drop after another come down for a while before they finally called us to the lanes. Of course, it started raining again, and that's really hard on the drivers. We all have race-day routines that help us get into the right frame of mind, and when you get amped up and then have to relax, a couple of times, you get messed up and you feel kind of mentally foggy."
The rain delays Worsham referred to were of the very frustrating variety, as it never rained hard enough for a pedestrian to get more than damp, but it also never fully quit, until well after 12:00, pushing back the scheduled 11:00 a.m. start. After some drizzly driver introductions, the teams waited it out again before Top Fuel finally kicked off the race at about 1:15. Five pairs later, the rain returned and racing was shut down for nearly another hour, giving every driver and crew member far too much time to stew on the ramifications.
The rain stayed away once 2:15 rolled around, and when Top Fuel was complete it was time to bring on the Funny Cars. Six pairs back in line, Worsham watched a pair run, donned his helmet and safety equipment, and then took his place in the seat of the CSK Impala, getting firmly strapped in by his crew. As he was pushed to the water box to race, he was back in focus and ready to go, but as he backed up from his burnout the first signs of problems were visible on the track, in the form of shiny drops of oil along the left side of the car. Once the body was lifted, Chuck Worsham took one quick look and made the least favorite move in drag racing, as he waved a downturned hand in front of his neck, signaling his son to shut the car down.
For the record, Force made a clean lap in the left lane, running a strong 4.870 on her solo pass. Worsham believes, however, that his car had the tune-up to beat her.
"We talked about her team, and the whole Force Racing organization, and how tough they are to race because you just never know what they're going to run," Worsham said. "You have a mental book on a lot of teams, and there are quite a few who consistently focus on going A-to-B with a solid pass, rather than trying to hit a big home run. The JFR teams, starting with John at the top, might do that, or they might go for the fences and just crush you, so they're completely unpredictable. We just decided our goal was to go out there and run another 4.85, and make them beat that. Had we not had to shut off, and if the car run what we were aiming for, we would've been right there to hopefully get the win light. That's a lot of 'ifs' though, and it all adds up to nothing, because we'll never know.
"It was a frustrating day, dealing with the rain, but the raindrops were nothing compared to what it feels like when you shut off before the run, with a problem that shouldn't happen. But hey, I'm human, we're all human, and we're not perfect. Nobody is perfect. That doesn't mean all of us aren't pretty deflated right now, because we are, but we'll learn from it and we'll grow as a team. These are good guys, and they really want to do well. They're very serious about their jobs and they have a lot of pride. They'll bounce back stronger. Now, I'm flying home to be with my wife on her birthday tomorrow. I'll put all this behind me, enjoy the day with the birthday girl and my kids, and get ready for St. Louis."
By the time Worsham and his team roll into Gateway International Raceway, across the Mississippi from the Arch, this frustration will be ancient history, and new accomplishments will lay ahead of them.
WORSHAM SUFFERS 1st-ROUND LOSS OF THE MOST FRUSTRATING KIND
Del Worsham knew he had his hands full in a first-round match-up with Ashley Force. The daughter of the most iconic racer in the sport came into the Atlanta race in the points lead, and had been to the final round at the previous two races. Worsham had faced her in one of those finals, beating her to the finish line in Houston, and he entered the opening round here with lane choice as the No. 6 qualifier. As the sixth pair in the opening stanza, the Worsham/Force race had all the makings of another epic side-by-side tussle, and it had the attention of the large Atlanta crowd, which had outlasted about three hours of rain delays to see it. And then it ended ingloriously, before Worsham could even pull forward to stage his car. Suffering a major oil leak, Worsham had to shut off before the race, handing a free pass to Force.
"Things break in this sport, and that happens to everyone, but this leak was from an oversight, and mistakes are hard to swallow," Worsham said. "I don't think it's important to spell it all out, but it was one of those things that shouldn't happen and all these guys on the crew know it, without me having to tell them. We're a team, win or lose, and we all have to learn from this and move on as a team. This is a young group we have here, but a good group. These guys are either rookies or second-year guys, and they're constantly facing things, under fire, that they've never dealt with. But you know that every one of these rounds is so critical, and we just gave one away without a fight. I don't like losing, but getting beaten to the finish line is way better than not even being able to race."
Worsham's Atlanta qualifying effort was not as smooth as his last two efforts, in Houston and Las Vegas, as it featured two tire smokers and one run with a dropped cylinder. What it also featured was one stout run, and the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen team picked exactly the right time to perform that feat, as they posted a 4.858 during the late run on Friday. That solid lap moved Worsham into the 6th spot, and his placement was never really threatened through Saturday. All in all, it wasn't the team's most stellar qualifying performance, but it still gave Worsham confidence heading into race day.
"Run by run, you can see what happened and compare yourself to the other teams out there at the same time," he said. "We weren't that far off, and the car did exactly what we wanted it to do during Q2, late on Friday afternoon. I thought mid-4.80s were about what this track was going to offer up on Sunday, so getting qualified with one of those was really good. Then, we woke up this morning to the sound of rain drops and everything started to feel out of sync from that point forward.
"We waited until it looked like we had a real chance to run before warming up, and even then we had a few glitches with the timing on the warm-up. We got it sorted out, and then watched one little rain drop after another come down for a while before they finally called us to the lanes. Of course, it started raining again, and that's really hard on the drivers. We all have race-day routines that help us get into the right frame of mind, and when you get amped up and then have to relax, a couple of times, you get messed up and you feel kind of mentally foggy."
The rain delays Worsham referred to were of the very frustrating variety, as it never rained hard enough for a pedestrian to get more than damp, but it also never fully quit, until well after 12:00, pushing back the scheduled 11:00 a.m. start. After some drizzly driver introductions, the teams waited it out again before Top Fuel finally kicked off the race at about 1:15. Five pairs later, the rain returned and racing was shut down for nearly another hour, giving every driver and crew member far too much time to stew on the ramifications.
The rain stayed away once 2:15 rolled around, and when Top Fuel was complete it was time to bring on the Funny Cars. Six pairs back in line, Worsham watched a pair run, donned his helmet and safety equipment, and then took his place in the seat of the CSK Impala, getting firmly strapped in by his crew. As he was pushed to the water box to race, he was back in focus and ready to go, but as he backed up from his burnout the first signs of problems were visible on the track, in the form of shiny drops of oil along the left side of the car. Once the body was lifted, Chuck Worsham took one quick look and made the least favorite move in drag racing, as he waved a downturned hand in front of his neck, signaling his son to shut the car down.
For the record, Force made a clean lap in the left lane, running a strong 4.870 on her solo pass. Worsham believes, however, that his car had the tune-up to beat her.
"We talked about her team, and the whole Force Racing organization, and how tough they are to race because you just never know what they're going to run," Worsham said. "You have a mental book on a lot of teams, and there are quite a few who consistently focus on going A-to-B with a solid pass, rather than trying to hit a big home run. The JFR teams, starting with John at the top, might do that, or they might go for the fences and just crush you, so they're completely unpredictable. We just decided our goal was to go out there and run another 4.85, and make them beat that. Had we not had to shut off, and if the car run what we were aiming for, we would've been right there to hopefully get the win light. That's a lot of 'ifs' though, and it all adds up to nothing, because we'll never know.
"It was a frustrating day, dealing with the rain, but the raindrops were nothing compared to what it feels like when you shut off before the run, with a problem that shouldn't happen. But hey, I'm human, we're all human, and we're not perfect. Nobody is perfect. That doesn't mean all of us aren't pretty deflated right now, because we are, but we'll learn from it and we'll grow as a team. These are good guys, and they really want to do well. They're very serious about their jobs and they have a lot of pride. They'll bounce back stronger. Now, I'm flying home to be with my wife on her birthday tomorrow. I'll put all this behind me, enjoy the day with the birthday girl and my kids, and get ready for St. Louis."
By the time Worsham and his team roll into Gateway International Raceway, across the Mississippi from the Arch, this frustration will be ancient history, and new accomplishments will lay ahead of them.
