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A great number of people (this reporter included) thought Del Worsham absolutely deserved a day like this one. It wasn't dominant, at times it wasn't even pretty, but it took him to the semi-final, jumped him ahead 7 spots on the points sheet, and brought a great deal of life back to the red side of the Team CSK pit. After a frustrating three-race start to the season, Worsham not only "got off the Schneid," he evened his round record at 2-2 and, despite some insipid weather, he had a great weekend.
Back on Friday, when all looked rosy and the forecast called for a slight chance of showers on Saturday morning, Worsham put two very solid laps on the board. Having struggled mightily in the first session at the first three races, the goal was to make a solid A-to-B run, and Worsham was able to do just that, though he was saddled with a difficult spot at the front of the line. His 4.887 looked good when it appeared on the scoreboard, but it looked even better at the end of the session, after a number of cars were unable to match it. It looked so good it landed him 5th after the first run.
Coming back for the night session, Worsham stepped it up, performance-wise, by running a nice 4.830, while his speed mark of 318. 24 mph was tops in the class, providing more proof his car is "coming around." When all the shuffling was done, the E.T. mark was good enough for not only a spot in the field (no easy task, these days) but also for a slot in the top half, in the No. 7 position.
"We started to feel a lot more like ourselves in qualifying, which really helped things around here," Worsham said. "We've given ourselves so many headaches and heartaches this year, by missing on the first run, then going too far the other way on the second, and pretty soon you're all messed up and you're just trying to survive. Here, I actually clicked it pretty early on the first pass, but the car was happy, it was running okay, and we didn't hurt any parts. That gave us the confidence to get after it a little bit in session No. 2.
"Now, when I say we got after it a little, that doesn't mean we went nuts. We just wanted to make a full lap, not hurt anything, and stay in the top half. We did all of that, so we consider the qualifying thing to be a total success. Of course, we thought we'd have two more runs on Saturday, to fine-tune things, but that didn't work out."
It most certainly did not, as severe weather acted as the team's universal wake-up call around 5:00 am on Saturday. Torrential rain, nearby lightning strikes, and other assorted weather phenomena forced the teams, and the avid Houston fans, to seek cover all day on Saturday. After about 12 hours of on and off rain, the plug was pulled on the day and on qualifying, with the fields set just as they appeared after the Friday night session. That set up a first round match with Gary Densham, who carded a No. 10 finish on Friday.
On Sunday, the weather forecasters again took it on the chin, calling for early morning clearing and a sunny day. Instead, the showers remained in the area, and they again plagued the race track. Finally, at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon, the first pair of Top Fuel cars took to the track and it was time to get serious.
Worsham and Densham were the first pair of Funny Cars (otherwise known as "guinea pigs") and after their burntouts, they pulled to the line to get it on. As soon as both cars were staged, team members did their normal subconscious "count," assuming a one or two second delay until the amber lights flashed and both cars tore away. Instead, a huge roar filled the air as Densham bolted from the line early, fouling at the start and handing the win to Worsham. It was not exactly a "fairy tale" way to win your first round of the season, but it counted just the same.
"And we went out there and smoked the tires, too, so I'm sure Gary was kicking himself over that one," Worsham said. "I don't know why our car does most of what we want it to do in qualifying, but then it seems to have a mind of its own in round one. This time, we got a little lucky, but considering how much bad luck we've had for a year, I'll take it."
The win set up a second-round race against Tony Bartone, who came from the No. 15 spot to oust No. 2 qualifier Tony Pedregon in round one. No one left early this time, though Worsham's light was his second consecutive strong reaction, as he grabbed nearly 5-hundredths of a second at the tree, with a solid .077 light. While Bartone suffered traction problems on the left side, Worsham drove away for the win, clicking through the lights in 5.021-seconds.
"We were absolutely not going to smoke the tires in round two, and we didn't," Worsham said. "We obviously had it a little too soft, but we wanted to run it all the way and give ourselves a chance to win. We did that, we won, and all of a sudden we were in the semi-finals."
Waiting in the semi-finals was Ron Capps, who had run 4.872 and 4.866 in his first two rounds. Worsham, again, had no intention of smoking the tires, but his bratty car reacted to that idea by doing the opposite, shaking the tires hard at the hit of the throttle. Capps pulled away for the win, with 4.869, and Del Worsham's day was over.
"It felt good to go rounds, and I know the team needed this," he said. "These guys have worked so hard, and haven't had a chance to get into the hype of going rounds on Sunday. As hard as they work all week, and all through qualifying, the payoff is the chance to win rounds, go a little nuts at the starting line, and then dive into the service work between rounds. That's the adrenalin rush that makes all the other stuff worthwhile. I'm glad they got to go three rounds.
"Hopefully, we'll just build on this and start putting some more wins together. We got a lot of good data out of this, and although I can't say I'm totally sure why the car does what it does, sometimes, at least we're learning, and we've proven we're not allergic to going rounds. Tell you what, I'm really looking forward to Las Vegas in two weeks. I plan to have another good weekend."
The guy is sounding more and more like the Del Worsham we all know.
WORSHAM'S SEMI-FINAL FINISH IS MOOD ALTERING
A great number of people (this reporter included) thought Del Worsham absolutely deserved a day like this one. It wasn't dominant, at times it wasn't even pretty, but it took him to the semi-final, jumped him ahead 7 spots on the points sheet, and brought a great deal of life back to the red side of the Team CSK pit. After a frustrating three-race start to the season, Worsham not only "got off the Schneid," he evened his round record at 2-2 and, despite some insipid weather, he had a great weekend.
Back on Friday, when all looked rosy and the forecast called for a slight chance of showers on Saturday morning, Worsham put two very solid laps on the board. Having struggled mightily in the first session at the first three races, the goal was to make a solid A-to-B run, and Worsham was able to do just that, though he was saddled with a difficult spot at the front of the line. His 4.887 looked good when it appeared on the scoreboard, but it looked even better at the end of the session, after a number of cars were unable to match it. It looked so good it landed him 5th after the first run.
Coming back for the night session, Worsham stepped it up, performance-wise, by running a nice 4.830, while his speed mark of 318. 24 mph was tops in the class, providing more proof his car is "coming around." When all the shuffling was done, the E.T. mark was good enough for not only a spot in the field (no easy task, these days) but also for a slot in the top half, in the No. 7 position.
"We started to feel a lot more like ourselves in qualifying, which really helped things around here," Worsham said. "We've given ourselves so many headaches and heartaches this year, by missing on the first run, then going too far the other way on the second, and pretty soon you're all messed up and you're just trying to survive. Here, I actually clicked it pretty early on the first pass, but the car was happy, it was running okay, and we didn't hurt any parts. That gave us the confidence to get after it a little bit in session No. 2.
"Now, when I say we got after it a little, that doesn't mean we went nuts. We just wanted to make a full lap, not hurt anything, and stay in the top half. We did all of that, so we consider the qualifying thing to be a total success. Of course, we thought we'd have two more runs on Saturday, to fine-tune things, but that didn't work out."
It most certainly did not, as severe weather acted as the team's universal wake-up call around 5:00 am on Saturday. Torrential rain, nearby lightning strikes, and other assorted weather phenomena forced the teams, and the avid Houston fans, to seek cover all day on Saturday. After about 12 hours of on and off rain, the plug was pulled on the day and on qualifying, with the fields set just as they appeared after the Friday night session. That set up a first round match with Gary Densham, who carded a No. 10 finish on Friday.
On Sunday, the weather forecasters again took it on the chin, calling for early morning clearing and a sunny day. Instead, the showers remained in the area, and they again plagued the race track. Finally, at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon, the first pair of Top Fuel cars took to the track and it was time to get serious.
Worsham and Densham were the first pair of Funny Cars (otherwise known as "guinea pigs") and after their burntouts, they pulled to the line to get it on. As soon as both cars were staged, team members did their normal subconscious "count," assuming a one or two second delay until the amber lights flashed and both cars tore away. Instead, a huge roar filled the air as Densham bolted from the line early, fouling at the start and handing the win to Worsham. It was not exactly a "fairy tale" way to win your first round of the season, but it counted just the same.
"And we went out there and smoked the tires, too, so I'm sure Gary was kicking himself over that one," Worsham said. "I don't know why our car does most of what we want it to do in qualifying, but then it seems to have a mind of its own in round one. This time, we got a little lucky, but considering how much bad luck we've had for a year, I'll take it."
The win set up a second-round race against Tony Bartone, who came from the No. 15 spot to oust No. 2 qualifier Tony Pedregon in round one. No one left early this time, though Worsham's light was his second consecutive strong reaction, as he grabbed nearly 5-hundredths of a second at the tree, with a solid .077 light. While Bartone suffered traction problems on the left side, Worsham drove away for the win, clicking through the lights in 5.021-seconds.
"We were absolutely not going to smoke the tires in round two, and we didn't," Worsham said. "We obviously had it a little too soft, but we wanted to run it all the way and give ourselves a chance to win. We did that, we won, and all of a sudden we were in the semi-finals."
Waiting in the semi-finals was Ron Capps, who had run 4.872 and 4.866 in his first two rounds. Worsham, again, had no intention of smoking the tires, but his bratty car reacted to that idea by doing the opposite, shaking the tires hard at the hit of the throttle. Capps pulled away for the win, with 4.869, and Del Worsham's day was over.
"It felt good to go rounds, and I know the team needed this," he said. "These guys have worked so hard, and haven't had a chance to get into the hype of going rounds on Sunday. As hard as they work all week, and all through qualifying, the payoff is the chance to win rounds, go a little nuts at the starting line, and then dive into the service work between rounds. That's the adrenalin rush that makes all the other stuff worthwhile. I'm glad they got to go three rounds.
"Hopefully, we'll just build on this and start putting some more wins together. We got a lot of good data out of this, and although I can't say I'm totally sure why the car does what it does, sometimes, at least we're learning, and we've proven we're not allergic to going rounds. Tell you what, I'm really looking forward to Las Vegas in two weeks. I plan to have another good weekend."
The guy is sounding more and more like the Del Worsham we all know.
