Competition Plus.com - Drag Racing's Internet Magazine

Getting Closer to the Time
Phoenix testing continues the ramp-up to the season opener

By Susan Wade and Matthew Brammer
Photos by James Drew

Video pit notes by Matthew Brammer are available - Friday - Video Notes - Hanging with Team Force

Saturday - Video Notes - Team Schumacher in rare form (especially Sell-Zee)

Sunday - Video Notes - Meet the Worshams

Check out the photo gallery at Phoenix Pics

SUNDAY - Doug Kalitta flies in Phoenix with test session-best 4.49 elapsed time

In his final run Sunday at the weekend-long NHRA pre-season National Time Trials test session at Firebird Int'l Raceway just outside the city limits of Phoenix, Doug Kalitta, driver of the Mac Tools flagship Top Fuel dragster, made the quickest quarter-mile lap of the test session with a dazzling 4.497-second, 327.43-mph posting.

After struggling earlier in the weekend with a few ten-second plus, tire-shaking attempts, Doug and his Mac Tools team got on track with a 4.545-sec., 326.71-mph run prior to charging to the top of the Top Fuel heap.

The Phoenix test was the first of 2005 for Kalitta Motorsports' NHRA-only, three-dragster Top Fuel team.

"That was a lot of fun," Kalitta, a resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., said. "It's just a test session, but it's great to see that our Mac Tools car can come out and make those kind of numbers before the season gets rolling. Hopefully we can build on this and keep up the pace all year long."

In his Kalitta Motorsports entry, "Aussie Dave" Grubnic drove his new Zantrex-3 dragster to near the top of the leader board as well. In his final two attempts at the race track Sunday, the native Australian Grubnic made 4.544-sec., 325.06-mph and 4.541-sec., 288.46-mph runs respectively. In his last pass, Grubnic's Zantrex-3 rail lost the blower belt at approximately
1000 ft. If not for this bad break, Grubnic may have stolen the top spot from Doug.

"I think we're right where we want to be with the performance of the Zantrex-3 car," Grubnic said. "Our teammates and everyone else got a few laps on us Friday because we did not get our car here until Saturday, so I feel like we did a great job to get the numbers we did with fewer runs. That last run was going to be a good one, but we lost the belt. That's how it
goes sometimes, but all-in-all we're quite happy."

Scott Kalitta, driver of Kalitta Motorsports' Mac Tools/Jesse James Top Fuel dragster, seemed to have the most difficulty getting back in the groove of racing. Scott's best of 5.593 sec. at 164.67 mph would set the bar for his team until Scott had to leave Sunday to return to his Tampa, Fla., home. Team Kalitta test driver Ben Marshall stepped into the cockpit of the Mac
Tools/Jesse James nitro-rocket-on-wheels to improve the team's best marks to 4.540 sec., 321.96 mph in Sunday's last run.

SUNDAY NOTES - Cory Mac Celebrates a Birthday, Dunn Straps on a Flopper and the Pedregon Brothers are Ready to Rock

(1-30-2005) - Thirteen Years? - After a thirteen-year hiatus, television announcer Mike Dunn shook off the funny car cobwebs, piloting Whit Bazemore’s Funny Car down the quarter mile. Bazemore, en-route to Nashville for a Matco Tools Corporate function, left the keys to his Matco Tools Dodge in Dunn’s experienced hands.

On his first run, Dunn’s posted a .137 reaction time and a .905 60’ time before severe tire shake forced him to abort the run. In his second pass he posted a .096 reaction time and a .924 60’ time before he clicked it off.

“Obviously its fun…doing the burn outs, backing up the car, the smoke in the cockpit, I haven’t had that in thirteen years, that’s pretty cool.. I need to get down the track and then we’ll be happy.

“I never officially announced my retirement, so, If the right opportunity came up, it might be a possibility. TV treats me pretty good, I like doing the television show, but you never know,” Dunn said.

Dunn proved he wtill has what it takes on his final run of the day, posting a .915 60’ time and running 243.85 miles per hour at half track.

Happy Birthday to Cory Mac!! - Top fuel driver Cory McClenathan quietly celebrated his 42nd birthday today.

“Ten years ago, I was one of the young ones, but now I’m one of the old guys. I’ve been driving a top fuel car for 15 years, so that definitely tells you how old I am,” McClenathan said.

“We’re shooting for the top five this year, and we’ve got nothing to lose. Seventh place last year was disappointing for me – we’re used to being in the top five, so, we’re pushing hard to get back there.”

Testing, testing, 1-2-3! - Boasting a new paint scheme celebrating 85 years of SnapOn Tools, a relaxed and confident Doug Herbert made predictions for the 2005 season.

“I think you’re going to going to see some really fast times this year as the teams get the new rules figured out,” Herbert said.

“This weekend we’ve got a different clutch in the car, a different clutch controller, a different bell housing, new cam shafts – so we’re going to try to get some good runs in today to test this stuff out,” he said.

Getting back the mojo -- Larry Dixon, a three-time Winternationals winner, has a little momentum heading into the 2005 season-opener. The two-time Top Fuel champion posted the quickest run of the weekend Sunday -- a 4.538-second E.T. at 323.58 mph -- with his second and final effort of the day in the Miller Lite/Lucas Oil Dragster.

Crew chief Dick LaHaie got the car to go more than 273 mph at the 1/8-mile mark on that pass. It posted a .846-second 60-foot time on the opening pass.

“We’re very pleased with the way the run came out,” La Haie said. “That was the first run we made where everything worked together the way it should. It gives us a nice baseline to go back to. We had the car setup just like we did for our first pass on Friday.”

The Don Prudhomme-owned team will continue testing Monday at Firebird International Raceway.

Bad news/good news -- Tommy Johnson Jr., Dixon's Snake Racing teammate, said he and his Skoal Chevy Monte Carlo crew were "not as happy as we’d like to be" after Sunday's three passes. The first two were short, little squirts off the starting line, but Johnson recorded a 4.835-second pass at 310.98 mph before shutting the engine off before the finish line.

He found some positive news in that, though. "We’re finding a few things that might have plagued us during the season," he said. "The early numbers on the first run were real close to being a low 4.7-second pass. With a couple more days of testing, we should be able to work out the bugs and be running right with the rest of the competition.”

Relaxed and ready -- Cruz Pedregon dropped his cell phone on the pavement, and that's when he realized it. He was relaxed.

"Usually you have a death grip on things," he said, gesturing that even his hands and fingers were flexible and loose.

He said part of his more stress-free demeanor comes from settling on the right mix of crew members. "People have to mesh. You have to have that chemistry. I feel there's chemistry here."

He and his Advance Auto Parts team stayed in Brownsburg, Ind., working on the Chevy Monte Carlo Funny Car instead of participating in the first test session of 2005 at Las Vegas last weekend. The strategy only slightly was inspired by wanting to avoid any frigid temperatures like the ones that surprised teams at the 2004 Las Vegas test session. It also was a matter of time management.

"We decided to give the team an extra week. I wouldn't say we were behind, but we needed more time in the shop. Most of the time we run two weekends and we skip that third weekend. So we thought rather than sit that out and have that dead time, let's give the guys an extra week in the shop and let's just run right straight through and keep going." They plan to go to the second Las Vegas test session before the Pomona event.

Pedregon said he found the Firebird International Raceway experience more useful, in a sense, anyway. "This is the kind of track we'll run on [most of the year], where you shake your tires. Getting the car down the track here, really stand on the gas, and hopefully get it to run in the 4.70s, that'll be a good going-into-Pomona scenario as opposed to having that extra week of preparation."

He said he and brother Tony, who drives the Quaker State Monte Carlo, would be satisfied with 15-20 runs per car. "I remember in the McDonald's car we made 12 [preseason] runs, and we made nine runs one year. So we're making a lot more runs than we used to, but the competition is tougher now. But we feel that'll give us enough runs to figure out what we need to figure out. We just refining what we have."

Tony Pedregon, more settled in his second-year role as owner-driver, isn't wilting in the face of his Funny Car competition.

"I know I'm going up against some guys who've got some good wheels," he said. "It's always going to mean more -- you're always going to be able to accomplish more -- having experience. Guys like me and Cruz and [Whit] Bazemore and [Gary] Scelzi and Del [Worsham], I'd say we got a little edge.

"That's what makes it exciting," Pedregon said. "You've got some guys who have been here for a long time. You've got some new guys. It's pretty diversified. And we're all trying to do the same thing -- we're all still trying to knock John [Force] off.

"I'm just doing it," he said with a laugh, referring to his 2003 championship in his final year at John Force Racing. "I'm trying to do it from the other side of the fence. But it can be done."

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

SATURDAY - A Confident Bernstein, Capps and Family and could Pulde and Dunn pinch-hit?

(1-29-2004) - Bernstein's year? -- An electrical concern delayed Brandon Bernstein's first run of the preseason in the Budweiser/Lucas Oil Dragster.

"We had a bunch of electrical stuff that we were working out, making sure that everything was right. Nothing crucial. It's all working right now," he said.

Bernstein and his team skipped the Nitro Blast-Off at Las Vegas last weekend because they decided they needed more time at their shop in Indianapolis. He said they don't plan to go there prior to Pomona, either: "We're going to be here all the way through Thursday. That's plenty of time for us to get everything squared away. If we need more time than that, we're really messed up, which it doesn't look like so far."

He called his 4.543-second elapsed time at 325.92 "a decent baseline run." It was the second-best E.T. among the dragsters and top speed.

Many think this is the season the second-generation Top Fuel driver will shine beyond his third-place finish and three victories last year. Some predict Bernstein will deny Tony Schumacher back-to-back championships in 2005.

"We'll see," Bernstein said. "I don't know why they say that. They may know something I don't know. We're a top-caliber team. We've got a great crew. I've got an excellent crew chief in Tim Richards. And I'm learning every time. I'm still kind of a younger driver in the Top Fuel class, but I think we do have a good shot at it this year. We had a good shot at it last year. We stumbled a little bit in our consistency, and that's what we need to try to make up this year. The name of the game is to go rounds."

This is the first time in his three-year career that Bernstein starts the season without overriding issues. He began 2003 with questions about his leap from Top Alcohol Dragster to the Top Fuel class. And last year he had to endure seemingly endless inquiries about how he felt to return after months on the sideline with injuries.

"I was comfortable before," he said. "But with everybody talking about my comeback, it was a little bit different feeling. This year we're relaxed heading into the new season."

Secret formula -- Doug Kalitta said he doesn't have any ready answers about what it'll take to elevate his performance to the championship level. "If I knew I wouldn't tell anybody," the Mac Tools Dragster driver said with a laugh. "If I could pin it down, I guarantee I won't tell anybody. We just keep trying to tune up what we've got. Certainly Sunday is the important day. Maybe we'll try to focus more on what's going on Sunday rather than always qualifying first."

In 2003, he tied Gary Beck's Top Fuel 20-year-old record by earning the top qualifier spot at each of the first five events and led the class with nine. Last year he led the dragster drivers with seven.

"Tracks change. Just keeping up with it is easier said than done," Kalitta added. "But we're up to the challenge."

Musical chairs -- Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car drivers Whit Bazemore, Ron Capps, and Gary Scelzi -- along with Top Fuel teammate Tony Schumacher -- will miss Sunday's session. They're going to Nashville, Tenn., to a function for sponsor Matco Tools.

No one is expected to fill in for Tony Schumacher, but Funny Car veteran Dale Pulde is available to drive one or all of the Funny Cars. It looks as if former driver and current television commentator Mike Dunn might climb into Bazemore's Matco Tools Dodge Stratus and make a pass or two. Mike Neff might slide behind the wheel of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge that he tunes for Scelzi -- the one that led the Funny Car class in E.T. (4.808 seconds) and speed (323.97) Saturday.

If Pulde should substitute for Bazemore, it would not be the first time. When Bazemore was hospitalized in 1996 with serious leg injuries following a motorcycle accident, Pulde drove the car to a victory at Dallas.

Family affair -- Ron Capps has been surrounded by family this weekend. Eight-year-old daughter Taylor had her Junior Dragster with her, along with younger brother Caden, mom Shelley, and grandparents. In addition, his brother Jon was driving a Top Alcohol Dragster.

Just one more, please. - “I’m definitely hoping that we improve just a little bit more than last year. Just one more place to go, and that’s number one,” Worsham said.

“This weekend we’ve made some changes to the clutch management and the fuel systems, hopefully to get some more consistency in the car.

“So far, it’s been great. The car is running really well, and all we have left to do this weekend is some tire testing for Goodyear,” he added.

Knockin’ the cobwebs off at ‘Spring Training’ - “We finished fourth last year, and finally started to show some progress as a team,” Scott Kalitta said.

“Of course my dream is to finish 1-2-3, that’s what our goal has to be.

“This weekend, the ‘spring training,’ is all about knocking the cobwebs off and getting the crew familiar with the car. We’re trying to get everyone all back in synch,” he said.

Kalitta said the team plans to run all three cars in Las Vegas at the final time trials before the season opener at the CARQUEST Winternationals in Pomona.

“I don’t know if I’ll be there, but Davie [Grubnic] can run all three cars,” Kalitta added.

Lots of Changes for RFC - A familiar face at NHRA Events, Larry Smiley is wearing a new hat at Racers for Christ in 2005.

“This is the first year I’ll be the NHRA Chaplain. Ken Owen has retired, and [my wife] Linda and I will be at the majority of national events and not be helping out at the divisional events like we have in the past,” he said.

“We’ll be relying a lot more on volunteer help this year,” he added.

“We need people to volunteer helping us set up sound equipment and setting up chapel services. We’re looking to recruit new people as a ministry opportunity,” Smiley said.

Volunteers should contact RFC online at their website — www.teamrfc.org or by calling the office at (480)507-5323 and get an application. Volunteers will receive a credential to the event and Team RFC T-Shirt.

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

FRIDAY - Worsham is happy, Pushing the safety envelope and IRL meets Drag Racing

Del Worsham called this year's preseason results at Las Vegas and Phoenix "by far the best we've ever tested in our lives" .

(1-28-2005) - Quick Test = Championship? - Funny Car's Del Worsham called this year's preseason results at Las Vegas and Phoenix "by far the best we've ever tested in our lives" -- and that was before he made a class-best 4.792-second pass at 323.27 mph around 5 p.m. His speed was fastest of the day, as well.

But the Chevy Monte Carlo driver from Newport Beach, Calif., knows a spectacular start to the season doesn't mean an automatic championship. But last year's strong start was something he on which he can build.

"I overcame a lot of things, a lot of rule changes," Worsham said. "Obviously the rule change of 85 percent nitro didn’t help us at all." However, he reminded that his Checker Schucks Kragen team won the most races he ever had won in a season (5). "I think every year we get better and stronger and learn more.

"Bottom line is you need to get to Indy and still be with Force," he said. "We got to June and July, but nobody seems to be able to make it through the West Coast Swing (Denver, Seattle and Sonoma events) and into Brainerd and come out of there with a shot at it. The guys just runs away from you. We went into Denver one point apart, and we went into Indy two years apart. It was just stunning."

Tony Schumacher is more than ready for Pomona.

Testing? We don't need no stinking testing - Reigning Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher, whose team skipped the Jan. 21-23 Las Vegas test session, said he's ready to put the U.S. Army Dragster up against the competition. "We're going to give 'em a run for it," he said. "We've got every part, piece and person it requires to do that. But it’s still going to be a tough battle. It's going to be a good, solid year, with big ol' drag racing."

Schumacher's best effort of the day, a 4.930-second elapsed time at 208.07 mph, was third-quickest among the dragsters.

Double Standard? - Curious observers wondered Friday evening why some of the drivers talk about safety then allow themselves to make passes in the dark. After the sun had set, a handful of drivers made passes without the aid of any lights. One has to wonder how loudly these same racers and owners would have screamed, had Graham Light, NHRA Senior Vice-President of Racing Operations, ordered or expected them to continue in the same conditions. Three pro drivers, one of whom has been a vocal safety proponent, made the final run of the night. None got down the track under full power.

Putting it to the wood - Although Doug Kalitta claimed low E.T. of the session with a 4.721-second pass at 252.90 mph, Doug Herbert had an impressive second-best showing. Herbert ended up with a 4.812-second E.T. at 230.13 mph. Their top runs, and Schumacher's, appeared to be planned-shutoff runs. But Herbert clocked a 270-plus mph by half-track and 291 mph at 1,000 feet. At that pace, his run likely would've been in the low 4.50-second range.

Doug Kalitta makes a testing hit. He had run in the 4.70s earlier in the day.

Keepin’ the Mojo — Larry Dixon ready to pick up where he left off last year - “The off-season was really quiet for us, no buildings, no extra-curricular activities. We all worked on the race car, which was really nice,” Larry Dixon said.

“The last run we made at the finals last year was the quickest we’d made all season, a 4.51. By no means was what we had going there junk, we’re just trying to fine tune what we’ve got going.

“I hope we have some time slips to show off by the end of the weekend. That’s what I’m really looking for,” Dixon said.

Dixon said that if the team accomplishes everything they need, they will not head to Vegas for testing next weekend, but will get ready for the season opening CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California.

Rod Fuller prepares for a test run on Friday.

Rod Fuller makes his Top Fuel Debut - This team is the culmination of a dream of brothers Chris and the late Darrell Russell. Sponsored by Houston-based builder David Powers, the Russell family chose to stay in the sport that has been their passion for years.

According to driver, Rod Fuller, Chris Russell and David Powers chose to structure the team just like Darrell’s career — from sportsman to Top Fuel. Three Sportsman drivers were chosen as candidates for the driving position — Rod Fuller, Alan Bradshaw, and Joey Severance. After extensive interviews and testing, Rod Fuller was selected to represent David Powers and the Russell Family.

“This is a new team,” said Fuller, “and we’re just going to take our time and do things right. We have great expectations for ourselves, but we’re realistic.”

IRL headliner Billy Boat tried a Don Schumacher-owned Funny Car on for size Friday.

A/Fuel Dragster - Here we go again - Teams were hit with yet another rule change, as the NHRA Technical Department announced this morning that the nitromethane content was raised from 96 to 98 percent. According to the press release hand-delivered to teams this morning, testing has shown that nitro percentage is an effective tool in maintaining parity between the two combinations, and they have reserved the right to adjust the percentage again in order to maintain competition.

Hanford, California driver, Darryl Hitchman, said “I was really just waiting to see what was going to happen, so this change won’t really affect me and what I’m doing. We’ll get out there tomorrow and see what we can do with 98.”

Hitchman claimed Division Four last year, placing tenth in the points behind powerhouses Ashley Force, Gene Snow and Shelley Howard.

One Size Fits All - IRL headliner Billy Boat tried a Don Schumacher-owned Funny Car on for size Friday. He was a guest of Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus driver Gary Scelzi.