WORSHAM'S DEJA VU IS NO FUN AT ALL
At the season opener in Pomona, Del Worsham spent the first three qualifying sessions above the 16th-position "cut line" only to eventually find himself on the outside looking in, despite running his best lap of the weekend in session No. 4. It was not a fun way to open the 2007 season, and Worsham took every opportunity to "run the wheels off" his car while testing between Pomona and this weekend, in Phoenix. The test session went well. And then everything got far too eerily similar.
This time, Worsham's early spots on the qualifying sheet were much more a result of numerous teams struggling with the conditions at Firebird Raceway, as he never did put a solid lap on the board through the first three runs. Heading into the final session in the 16th spot, he knew he'd very likely make his run from outside the field, as John Force, Tony Bartone, Scott Kalitta, Kenny Bernstein, and others were outside the field and all would run before the red Checker, Schuck's, Kragen car. Sure enough, Worsham had been bumped out by the time he ran, and at the time he needed a 4.926 to get in. He ran a 4.932, blew up the motor in his car, and trashed the Monte Carlo body by blowing most of the left side of the car completely off.
Just like in Pomona, the best run came last, but it wasn't enough. Del Worsham missed the CSK Nationals for the first time since securing his Checker, Schuck's, Kragen sponsorship in 1997.
"Looking back on all the qualifying sessions, it ended up being a two-session deal here," Worsham said. "Friday's late run, and Saturday's late run were the ones you needed, and we got a little too aggressive on Friday night, then had problems today. It put a cylinder out very early, but I had to keep my foot down and go for it, because we weren't in at the time. It almost made it, but with that hole out for that long it finally ate itself up and blew up pretty big down there.
"It was a pretty big bang, and I can't count too many times we've completely blown the side of the body out of the car like that. It just didn't want to live to the finish line, and this is what we get. We miss the field, ruin a body, and have to spectate on Sunday again. It's as bad a deal as you'd ever want to contemplate, but we're going about this like the professionals we are and we're going to keep working. Nobody feels worse about than I do, I can promise you that.
"What made it even worse was the fact our blue team ran just a pair behind us, and when they pulled to the line they weren't in either. To miss the field here is bad enough, but we were staring a double DNQ right in the eye. Those guys came through, with a big lap, so we'll rally around the blue team again and hope they can pick us up just like they did in Pomona."
