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A graph of Del Worsham's Memphis weekend, which would visually plot out the highs and lows of his accomplishments and feelings, would look a little something seen on Wall Street during a really wild day. Spikes and valleys would dominate the chart, making it quite clear Worsham's weekend was a volatile one, in terms of ups, downs, and final results.
It all began with a great opening lap on a hot Friday afternoon, when Worsham cleanly streaked from end to end in 4.920 seconds, landing in the 5th spot after that first attempt. Under the lights on Friday night, when many teams were making major statements and shuffling the order, Worsham smoked the tires at nearly the hit of the throttle, and saw his placement slip to the 12th spot, with two daytime runs to follow on Saturday.
For most of this year, anything accomplished on Friday night has had the tendency to remain just so on Saturday, but here in Memphis the weather took a serious turn for the cooler by Saturday morning, allowing the fuel classes to keep shuffling the order all the way through four tough sessions. Worsham's Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala broke a clutch component during the early Saturday run, leaving him still in the field but in real danger of being knocked out during Q4. He knew it was time to step up.
"We were on a pretty huge pass there in Q3, but it broke a clutch arm and that was that," Worsham said. "Had the clutch not broken, we probably would have run a 4.87 or something in that neighborhood, and none of the drama would have existed. But, with reality being in charge here, we went up there for Q4 totally believing we'd be outside the field by the time we ran, and we were right. I'm not sure if we were dead last by the time we ran, but we had to have been close, and it was an all-or-nothing run."
For much of the last two years, Worsham and his CSK teammates have been savaged by incredibly narrow losses and misses, on race day and during qualifying, so the joy of seeing a 4.915 come up on the board after Worsham's final run was one of relief, accompanied by the belief these narrow results seem to finally be swinging in Worsham's direction. How narrow was this save? Worsham tied his teammate, Jeff Arend, in terms of E.T., but got the 15th spot on the basis of speed. Arend kept ahold of the 16th spot in the field with his 4.915, which was exactly one thousandth quicker than the best runs made by Mike Ashley and Jim Head, who are both part of the Countdown and who both ran 4.916. One thousandth of a second separated the two CSK cars from two would-be assassins, and Team CSK came out on top.
The 15th spot nearly always brings with it a very tough first-round opponent, and this instance was no exception to that rule. Worsham would face Ashley Force in round one, and young Miss Force has had quite a couple of weeks.
"She qualified number two at Indy, running great, and she qualified number two here, so we knew she had one of those bad hot rods her dad is always talking about," Worsham said. "On top of that, she was on Jay Leno on Monday night, and she was named America's Hottest Athlete about a week ago. How much momentum can one driver have? It would have been the perfect story for her to cap it off with a win here, so we knew we had a major test on our hands."
As referenced earlier, it does appear as though Worsham's "close but no cigar" recent history seems to be shifting. In round one, Ashley Force pounded down the pavement to a huge 4.865, which was the fourth quickest run of the round. Sadly for her, Worsham picked that moment to step up in a gigantic way from his qualifying effort, running the quickest pass of the round with a nearly-astounding 4.848. A close race, two side-by-side race cars, and huge performance, but the resurgent Del Worsham was able to stay out front and take the win going away. It was his ninth round win in the last six races, and it temporarily evened his season record at 16-16.
In the second round, long-time friend and nemesis Gary Scelzi would be the opponent. Scelzi had beaten Gary Densham in round one, on a hole-shot, but had run 4.899 while doing it, thereby giving lane choice to Worsham and creating a scenario in which both camps knew they'd have a tough one on their hands.
At the flash of amber, Worsham exploded from the starting line with a brilliant .066 light, one of his better reaction times on the year. His start gave him a solid 4-hundredths edge on Scelzi, and the two cars tore down the track to what looked to be an epic battle. The epic nature of the tussle evaporated at about half-track, however, when Worsham's car surprisingly began to spin the tires. Scelzi's machine made it cleanly down the track another 100-feet or so, before it too lost traction, and though Worsham bravely pedaled the car and took chase, he simply ran out of race track before he could catch the Oakley Funny Car.
"We knew the track was hotter, and we knew it might be easy to spin the tires out there, but we obviously thought we were safe enough," Worsham said. "Heck, the hard part on this track is the first 330 feet, so once you get past there you begin to believe you're going all the way and you start to think about the finish line. It really surprised me when it smoked them way out there, and even though I did see Gary having some trouble too, the extra 100 feet he got translated into a big lead before both cars were out of power. I would have needed a 1,400 foot track to catch him, and we don't have any of those around here."
The satisfaction of a great opening lap, the frustration of two misses after that, followed by the difficult drama while bumping back into the field, all added up to a roller coaster ride on the first two days. All of that was the encapsulated in the first two rounds on Sunday, as Team CSK proudly boasted the best run of the first round, but the felt the depths of disappointment by letting one get away in round two. It all would've created a graph that resembled the Swiss Alps, the Rocky Mountains, or the trading chart for iffy stock. In the end, though, it added up to another round win for a driver who seems to be very close to being "back on his game."
WORSHAM'S HOPES GO UP IN SECOND-ROUND SMOKE
A graph of Del Worsham's Memphis weekend, which would visually plot out the highs and lows of his accomplishments and feelings, would look a little something seen on Wall Street during a really wild day. Spikes and valleys would dominate the chart, making it quite clear Worsham's weekend was a volatile one, in terms of ups, downs, and final results.
It all began with a great opening lap on a hot Friday afternoon, when Worsham cleanly streaked from end to end in 4.920 seconds, landing in the 5th spot after that first attempt. Under the lights on Friday night, when many teams were making major statements and shuffling the order, Worsham smoked the tires at nearly the hit of the throttle, and saw his placement slip to the 12th spot, with two daytime runs to follow on Saturday.
For most of this year, anything accomplished on Friday night has had the tendency to remain just so on Saturday, but here in Memphis the weather took a serious turn for the cooler by Saturday morning, allowing the fuel classes to keep shuffling the order all the way through four tough sessions. Worsham's Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala broke a clutch component during the early Saturday run, leaving him still in the field but in real danger of being knocked out during Q4. He knew it was time to step up.
"We were on a pretty huge pass there in Q3, but it broke a clutch arm and that was that," Worsham said. "Had the clutch not broken, we probably would have run a 4.87 or something in that neighborhood, and none of the drama would have existed. But, with reality being in charge here, we went up there for Q4 totally believing we'd be outside the field by the time we ran, and we were right. I'm not sure if we were dead last by the time we ran, but we had to have been close, and it was an all-or-nothing run."
For much of the last two years, Worsham and his CSK teammates have been savaged by incredibly narrow losses and misses, on race day and during qualifying, so the joy of seeing a 4.915 come up on the board after Worsham's final run was one of relief, accompanied by the belief these narrow results seem to finally be swinging in Worsham's direction. How narrow was this save? Worsham tied his teammate, Jeff Arend, in terms of E.T., but got the 15th spot on the basis of speed. Arend kept ahold of the 16th spot in the field with his 4.915, which was exactly one thousandth quicker than the best runs made by Mike Ashley and Jim Head, who are both part of the Countdown and who both ran 4.916. One thousandth of a second separated the two CSK cars from two would-be assassins, and Team CSK came out on top.
The 15th spot nearly always brings with it a very tough first-round opponent, and this instance was no exception to that rule. Worsham would face Ashley Force in round one, and young Miss Force has had quite a couple of weeks.
"She qualified number two at Indy, running great, and she qualified number two here, so we knew she had one of those bad hot rods her dad is always talking about," Worsham said. "On top of that, she was on Jay Leno on Monday night, and she was named America's Hottest Athlete about a week ago. How much momentum can one driver have? It would have been the perfect story for her to cap it off with a win here, so we knew we had a major test on our hands."
As referenced earlier, it does appear as though Worsham's "close but no cigar" recent history seems to be shifting. In round one, Ashley Force pounded down the pavement to a huge 4.865, which was the fourth quickest run of the round. Sadly for her, Worsham picked that moment to step up in a gigantic way from his qualifying effort, running the quickest pass of the round with a nearly-astounding 4.848. A close race, two side-by-side race cars, and huge performance, but the resurgent Del Worsham was able to stay out front and take the win going away. It was his ninth round win in the last six races, and it temporarily evened his season record at 16-16.
In the second round, long-time friend and nemesis Gary Scelzi would be the opponent. Scelzi had beaten Gary Densham in round one, on a hole-shot, but had run 4.899 while doing it, thereby giving lane choice to Worsham and creating a scenario in which both camps knew they'd have a tough one on their hands.
At the flash of amber, Worsham exploded from the starting line with a brilliant .066 light, one of his better reaction times on the year. His start gave him a solid 4-hundredths edge on Scelzi, and the two cars tore down the track to what looked to be an epic battle. The epic nature of the tussle evaporated at about half-track, however, when Worsham's car surprisingly began to spin the tires. Scelzi's machine made it cleanly down the track another 100-feet or so, before it too lost traction, and though Worsham bravely pedaled the car and took chase, he simply ran out of race track before he could catch the Oakley Funny Car.
"We knew the track was hotter, and we knew it might be easy to spin the tires out there, but we obviously thought we were safe enough," Worsham said. "Heck, the hard part on this track is the first 330 feet, so once you get past there you begin to believe you're going all the way and you start to think about the finish line. It really surprised me when it smoked them way out there, and even though I did see Gary having some trouble too, the extra 100 feet he got translated into a big lead before both cars were out of power. I would have needed a 1,400 foot track to catch him, and we don't have any of those around here."
The satisfaction of a great opening lap, the frustration of two misses after that, followed by the difficult drama while bumping back into the field, all added up to a roller coaster ride on the first two days. All of that was the encapsulated in the first two rounds on Sunday, as Team CSK proudly boasted the best run of the first round, but the felt the depths of disappointment by letting one get away in round two. It all would've created a graph that resembled the Swiss Alps, the Rocky Mountains, or the trading chart for iffy stock. In the end, though, it added up to another round win for a driver who seems to be very close to being "back on his game."
