SUNDAY FINAL - SCHUMACHER, PEDREGON, EDWARDS AND ELLIS EARN VICTORIES AT O'REILLY NHRA MIDWEST NATIONALS
Reigning Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher raced to his first victory of the season Sunday at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway.
Tony Pedregon, Mike Edwards and Chip Ellis also were winners of the $1.3 million race, the 12th of 23 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
Schumacher powered his U.S. Army dragster to a 4.565 second run at 327.59 mph to hold off final round opponent and defending event winner Brandon Bernstein, whose Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster lost traction at the start. Schumacher carried a Purple Heart medal with him throughout eliminations and dedicated the victory, the 31st of his career, to the fallen Marine in the Winner's Circle.
"Today would have been the birthday of a young Marine we lost," Schumacher said as he clutched the medal. "Chris Belchik was killed in action August 22, 2004, but he was with me today. I might be the U.S. Army driver, but the men and women in the Armed Services are all together when it counts."
Season-long Top Fuel points leader Melanie Troxel had her series lead cut in half Sunday. She now leads Doug Kalitta by 24 points. Kalitta beat her in the second round before losing to Bernstein in the semifinals.
Funny Car winner Pedregon turned back former boss John Force after his rival's car quit just before the finish line. A broken blower belt on Force's Castrol GTX Ford Mustang left him without power at 1,100 feet and Pedregon's Q Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo was able to zoom past and take the win in 4.859 seconds at 320.43 mph to Force's 4.904 at 269.35 mph.
"I heard him out there and I saw him put a fender on me at about 800 feet," Pedregon said. "In this class that's usually not a good thing.
But the cars have to run to 1,320 feet and I guess his fuse was a little short. I really like John. I was over there with him for a long time and learned a lot from him. To beat the 13-time champ is always special."
POWERade Series leader Ron Capps' first round loss, coupled with Force's runner-up finish, trimmed the Brut Dodge driver's lead to 44 points.
Pedregon moved up to fourth place, 247 out of the lead.
Young Life Pontiac GTO pilot Edwards continues to maintain championship contender status in Pro Stock. Sunday's .008-second holeshot win over good friend Larry Morgan was his second of the year and left him just 120 points, or six rounds, out of the POWERade lead with half a season remaining.
"There's a long way to go but I'd rather be 120 points out of the lead than 420 like we probably were at this time last year," said Edwards of his 13th career victory and second of the season. "Someone's gotta win that championship and I sure would like to do it. It's been a lifelong goal of mine. We've gotten close in the past. Maybe this could be our year. But there're a lot of guys saying that."
Three-time and reigning champion Greg Anderson is virtually even with teammate Jason Line in the championship chase after Line closed to within two points in the standings with a semifinal run Sunday. Top qualifier Anderson was upset on a holeshot by Steve Schmidt in the first round.
Ellis remained perfect in final round appearances, scoring his fourth NHRA victory in 26 starts. Ellis raced to a 7.153 at 183.84 on his Drag Specialties S&S Buell to hold off veteran rider Michael Phillips' Mini Rods Suzuki, which clocked a 7.298 at 184.83 mph.
"It takes rounds to win the championship so I'll stay focused on that," said Ellis of his first win of the season. "It's important to get down the track every time. We got lucky in the first round because we burned up some wires, but luckily for us Karen Stoffer had red-lighted. After that we had the quickest bike every round."
The victory lifted Ellis to within 82 points of the POWERade lead.
Current leader Angelle Sampey pushed her margin over Andrew Hines from 12 to 28 points. Sampey beat Hines in the second round, but lost to Ellis in the semis.
The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series continues with the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, July 14-16 at scenic Bandimere Speedway near Denver.
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Sunday's final results from the 10th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol at Gateway International Raceway. The $1.3 million race is the 12th of 23 in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:
Top Fuel -- Tony Schumacher, 4.565 seconds, 327.59 mph def. Brandon Bernstein, 7.447 seconds, 102.72 mph.
Funny Car -- Tony Pedregon, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.859, 320.43 def. John Force, Ford Mustang, 4.904, 269.35.
Pro Stock-- Mike Edwards, Pontiac GTO, 6.717, 205.76 def. Larry Morgan, Dodge Stratus, 6.715, 205.82.
Pro Stock Motorcycle -- Chip Ellis, Buell, 7.153, 183.84 def. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 7.298, 184.83.
Competition Eliminator -- Chad Voges, Chevy Camaro, 9.149, 137.29 def. Tony Stephenson, Pontiac GTO, foul.
Super Stock -- Charlie Bohannon, Chevy Cavalier, 9.384, 130.91 def. Mike Lund, Chevy Camaro, 10.144, 129.39.
Stock Eliminator -- Kevin Helms, Chevy Camaro, 10.506, 123.34 def. James Paul, Plymouth Duster, 11.413, 109.80.
Super Comp -- Timothy Hutcherson, Dragster, 8.895, 166.42 def. Mark Hackett, Grand Am, 8.876, 150.73.
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Final round-by-round results from the 10th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol at Gateway International Raceway, the 12th of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:
ROUND ONE -- Gary Scelzi, Dodge Charger, 5.021, 303.16 def. Cruz Pedregon, Chevy Monte Carlo, 6.706, 174.57; John Force, Ford Mustang, 5.531, 265.53 def. Scott Kalitta, Monte Carlo, 7.708, 115.68; Bob Gilbertson, Dodge Stratus, 5.160, 294.69 def. Phil Burkart, Monte Carlo, 12.024, 80.00; Eric Medlen, Mustang, 5.982, 175.75 def. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo , 6.030, 258.62; Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 5.198, 278.86 def. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 6.183, 166.31; Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 5.090, 301.20 def. Jeff Arend, Monte Carlo, 10.385, 80.70; Whit Bazemore, Charger, 5.059, 303.50 def. Ron Capps, Charger, 5.625, 186.12; Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.996, 297.61 def. Tony Bartone, Monte Carlo, 5.093, 278.35;
FINAL -- Ellis, 7.153, 183.84 def. Phillips, 7.298, 184.83.
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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK -
TOP FUEL
A Real Hero – Tony Schumacher may be sponsored by the U.S. Army, but his respect of all military personnel has no boundaries. Last week, he rode the quarter-mile with a bronze star. Today he won the first round with a purple heart that belonged to Chris Belchik, a fallen Marine Corporal who lived in nearby Godfrey, Ill.
Belchik was killed in action on August 22, 2004 during enemy action in Babil Province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Today would have been Belchik’s birthday and the soldier’s brother wanted his sibling’s birthday to be honored.
“The brother, and forgive me because I can’t remember his name, said Chris used to call him all the time from overseas just to see how I did. He was a race fan.
“I know the Army and Navy and all of those guys pick on one another, but none of those guys want to go into battle without the Marines backing them up. It was my pleasure to carry it with me.”
Schumacher feels a sense of inspiration when carrying such monumental items as he did with the medals of the brave soldiers.
“There was PFC Tommy England that died in Iraq and I gave his dad the trophy,” Schumacher said. “It’s almost as if I have an angel riding with me. People ask me if I pray when I am in the car. I do, but I never pray to win. I pray that God will drive for me. Obviously, he’s a better driver than I am.
“It’s out of my hands when it comes to this car. There’s a reason for everything and there’s a reason it took this long for us to win again. Maybe today we brought a family some measure of happiness. It was great to win today.”
Uh Oh – Sunday’s first round of eliminations were delayed by almost 20 minutes as the Safety Safari worked feverishly to clean up a mess on the starting line. The only problem is that mess was created not by a race car, but by one of the Safety Safari tractors which sprayed hydraulic fluid from a hose that had come loose.
For the record, the Safety Safari was docked 25 points and fined $1,000. One more incident of this nature and hey will be forced to make three clean runs in a private test session before they are allowed to run again.
Head to head – Doug Kalitta couldn’t have picked a better time to pull off his third holeshot victory of the season. On the other hand, Melanie Troxel couldn’t have found a worse time to endure her first holeshot lose of 2006.
Kalitta entered this weekend only 48 points behind Troxel in the points and could only manage a semi-final finish. But that wasn’t enough to overtake the leader but was enough to cut the deficit in half.
"Obviously, that was a huge race, going head-to-head against the No. 2 guy,"
said Troxel. "I really wanted to win that, but unfortunately he pulled out a
.038 light. Doug has some great lights, but even that is kind of out there.
As far as I'm concerned, it kind of falls under the bad-luck category;
he really pulled one out of the hat."
Troxel maintained the the lead she has held since the first event of the season, "It's a big
relief," said the Colorado native. "We definitely have caught some breaks in the last few races, but you have to have that in any successful season. We leave this race with the points lead, and now we can just go back to the shop and regroup for Denver."
Troxel is confident heading into the second half of the season. "We definitely had the best car out there second round, so we're on the right track. We just have to keep working at it and picking up points. There is still a long way to go, but we feel great about our position."
Missing In Action – A well-thought plan to repair a damaged race car on Saturday evening just didn’t work out for Cory McClenathan. His carrier Boyz FRAM Boost dragster suffered structural damage when a header pipe came loose and caused the right tire to explode.
The crew worked until 4 AM in an attempt to repair the car.
“There wasn’t anything obviously wrong with the car,” said crew chief Wes Cerny. “There were no broken welds. Looking at it, it didn’t appear the chassis was bent severely. As we got the section repaired that was obviously ground down and we got the rear end back in the car, it looked as though the rear end wasn’t in right. So we got our laser out, checked it with the front end and found out the rear end was six inches out of alignment.
“At that point, it became a very serious problem, so we looked for the problem area. It’s not easily distinguishable. It is spread over the whole length of the car and it is not a simple fix, so I decided at that point we couldn’t run this car.”
The team has a backup dragster in the hauler, but Cerny opted not to get it ready.
“To make it theoretically legal, it needed one chassis tube repaired,” Cerny continued. “But, in fact, it’s been repaired on the lower left hand side and still has the small-thickness wall tubing from the front of engine to the roll cage. I didn’t feel comfortable with Cory in that car again.”
The broken header “failed at the flange where it is held together with all of the other headers,” added Cerny. “It just broke off and got underneath the tire.”
“Connie Kalitta and Morgan Lucas (team owners) and (crew chief) Jimmy Walsh offered their backup cars for us to use,” said McClenathan, who qualified seventh at 4.614 seconds.
“We really appreciate their offers, but we wanted to concentrate on what we need to do to get our car ready for Denver (the next stop on the NHRA POWERade Series tour, July 14-16). We are lucky to have an extra week to work on everything.”
If that wasn’t enough bad news, McClenathan learned his father, Richard, was taken to an Orange County, Calif., hospital early Sunday morning for observation. “He is having some internal problems they needed to check out,” he said.
The Curse and a Rookie – St. Louis was a race of firsts for the two drivers qualified at opposite ends of the qualifying spectrum. Hot Rod Fuller score his first ever pole while former alcohol dragster standout Troy Buff landed in the 16 th spot.
One thing that is not new is the failure of the #1 qualifier to win in Top Fuel. Buff ran a 4.758, 314.97 to beat out Fuller.
Sportsmanship at its finest – David Grubnic was a reluctant first round winner. He was the beneficiary of McClenathan’s failure to make the call. As he pointed out, “A real win is when someone is in the other lane.”
Grubnic’s StriVectin team had a noticeable presence in the Carrier Boyz pit area.
“I feel bad for Cory, Wes Cerney, Tony Shortall and the team,” Grubnic said. “We gave them some parts and they did everything they possibly could to get the car ready to run. We have to play the safety game.”
FUNNY CAR
Good for the Fans – Tony Pedregon has always been a fan of night racing and thinks it a real treat for the fans.
“I grew up in Southern California and we saw a lot of racing under the lights,” Pedregon said. “I’m a little partial to it and is good for the fans.”
But, it also has its draw backs.
“I saw Force’s header flame at about 800-feet,” Pedregon said. “These cars have a tendency to run real good before they blow up. I know we didn’t qualify the way we needed to but we beat some good cars here tonight.”
It was good to beat Force in the final round.
“Anytime you can beat John Force, it is a good win,” Pedregon said. “I know my sponsors will like it. I really like John and I have really connected with him. It’s hard to not like the guy after as long as I had been with him and as much as I learned from him.”
The Day After – Whit Bazemore will make sure next time he makes comments that can be construed as controversial that the red light is not flashing on the camera. The Matco Tools-sponsored driver corrected ESPN2 pit reporter Gary Gerould after he made mention that Bazemore would be racing his teammate on Sunday.
Bazemore was caught on tape uttering the words, “He’s not my teammate.”
“I think we are more competitors than anything,” Bazemore said. “The Funny Car teams here on the technical side are teammates in the real sense of the word. Everyone works together. We have a lot of support from Zippy, Ed and Olson. Alan Johnson has contributed a lot as well. Likewise they come to Brian and Todd. It’s a two-way street of information.
“From a driver’s standpoint, we’re very much competitors,” Bazemore continued. “We are competitors more than teammates. That’s just how it is. When I look at Scelzi or Capps, I see two fierce competitors more than anything else. That’s what that was.”
Bazemore said his comments were not in reference to an incident that took place in Commerce where a physical altercation transpired between he and Capps.
“Ron has already apologized to me and my wife Michelle for his actions,” Bazemore said. “I accepted the apology and to me that means it’s over. It’s not an issue anymore.
“Are we friends? No. We’re not friends and there’s a real desire to beat that team. Part of that stems from the fact they are 408 points ahead of us in the championship and they are leading. In order for the Matco team to be successful we have to beat them in the first round.”
Bazemore’s future with the team is currently uncertain and nothing is solid with Matco Tools either. Schumacher confirmed that he and Matco Tools are in negotiations at present on a multi-year contract. As for Bazemore, he has no contract in place for next year.
“I don’t know because I don’t have a contract yet from Don,” Bazemore said. “I don’t know what his intentions are at this point.”
Is Bazemore optimistic that he will return?
“I’m fairly certain that I could have a job in the sport,” Bazemore said. “Here or somewhere else. I don’t know. I don’t have a contract yet. It’s hard to guess about the future at this point.”
Schumacher confirmed that he doesn’t have a contract with Bazemore for next year. “If I renew my Matco Tools contract, I will make my decisions from there.”
Schumacher kept his comments to a minimum when it came to Bazemore’s comments. “I am very disappointed in Whit’s comments,” Schumacher said.
By A Hair – John Force gained no style points in his first round victory over Scott Kalitta. Force was first out of the gate by almost .06 and looked like a certain winner once Kalitta began to smoke the tires. Then Force smoked his tires.
Force was counting his lucky stars for momentum.
“That was reeeeeaaaaalllllyyyyyy close,” Force said. “That was my whole game plan going into here. It’s sunshine in St. Louis. I prayed for a deep freeze because I can’t seem to beat them in the heat. But, we’re trying.
“I stepped off of the gas once or twice. I put her at half-throttle and drove it, just don’t my fellow competitors.”
The Curse Continues – When Gary Scelzi stopped Robert Hight in the quarter-finals, he extended the curse of the #1 qualifier. No driver in 2006 has won from the top qualifying position.
Those Force Boys - In his fifth semifinal appearance of the 2006 season, Tommy Johnson, Jr. used a great reaction time (.069 of-a-second) to race to the early lead, but the Skoal Racing Chevy overpowered the track allowing Force to drive on by and earn the trip to the final round with a run of 4.845 at 318.32. Johnson remains sixth in the NHRA Funny Car standings and only three rounds of racing from third place driver Robert Hight.
“Once again, you have to run (John) Force,” Johnson said. “You know he’s going to step it up. That’s a multi-car team and they have good data. The conditions got better and they weren’t quite as good as we needed and it just went into tire shake. We had a nice advantage, but it would have been tough to beat that 4.84.
“I’m really happy with the way the car is running. We ran our career-best at Chicago and are coming off two semifinals going into the Western Swing. We’re right there. If we can make a good mid-season charge, we might be contending by Indy time.”
Still Leading - Ron Capps held on to his points lead despite a first-round loss
today to Whit Bazemore. Second-in-points John Force carved Capps' margin to 44 points after finishing runner-up to Tony Pedregon today.
"We've worked really hard as a team as a whole at Don Schumacher Racing,"
said Capps, "helping each other so that all three Funny Cars are running
strong. So, it was exciting to see the Matco Tools Dodge guys start running
well the last few races.
"Unfortunately, having to run them first round is not something you want to
do, as a team owner, as a crew member, as anyone on the team. But you have
to go up and race who you have to race. We knew they were going to run close
to a 5.00 (-second elapsed time). Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) has really
been fighting something all weekend long, and he made a complete change in
the tune-up, the fuel curve, clutch settings, just everything, to try get
the thing to react and not hurt itself like it had.
"The car actually left good. I watched it on TV after the run, and the Brut
Dodge was out in front. It was really running good; it had great numbers. It
just pulled them (tires) loose out there. Everything is so different in the
tune-up. The car just felt different. I think it's going to make for a
better car down the road, but I just didn't see Bazemore out the window.
Once it smoked the tires I gave it a quick pedal and then he came by me.
"They had their act together; we kind of got behind the 8-ball a lot this
weekend.
"I think we accomplished our goal and Ace feels a lot more comfortable, but,
you know what? When we leave here we'll pretty much throw the information
out because this weekend won't be close to where we're going next, and
that's going to be Denver, Colorado, and we know what that's always like up
there. You have to build up horsepower a mile high.
"It's another one of those tough weekends. Either way, we're leaving with
the lead. We build those points every race where we do well so that, when we
don't do well, we have them already in our pocket.
"There's going to be a lot of racing left. There's going to be a lot of
these up-and-down weekends and we just have top try to keep an even keel."
A Special One - Bob Gilbertson celebrated his 125th start in NHRA competition by qualifying in the fourth position, a career best, and beat Phil Burkart in the first round before losing a close one against Tony Pedregon in the quarter-final round at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Midwest Nationals Sunday at Gateway Int'l Raceway.
"This was the race we've been waiting for," Gilbertson said. "We knew we had a good hot weather tune-up and our performance this weekend proved just that. We can now go into the upcoming summer races with a lot of confidence and hopefully go some more rounds and maybe even win one of these things."
Marked Improvement – There’s nothing like a trip to St. Louis that will make Gary Scelzi feel special.
"The good news is we had two semifinals and a runner-up in the three-race
swing, and we've been waiting for that for a long time," said Scelzi. "So,
now that we have a car that we know that can win, we just have to wait for
it to happen.
"For the problems we fought over in qualifying," added Scelzi, who qualified
eighth, "to come into the first round, be the first pair, have the car run
exactly what Mike wanted it to run - and we stepped it up each round -
speaks volumes of Mike's (Neff, crew chief) confidence. And for the car to
repeat and do what he wants it to do, is very encouraging. It's been able to
do things at three different types of race tracks, three different types of
conditions.
"We're there. We're absolutely there. If this was Pomona (first race of
year) or three races into this thing, I'd feel really good about my chances
to repeat (as champion), but we're not.
"But we're going to move up (in points); we're going to be just fine. It's
doing what it's supposed to do. Now, if I could do what I'm supposed to do
every run we'll be in good shape."
Scelzi is seventh in Funny Car point standings, just 101 points out of third
place.
Confident Again - Whit Bazemore might be far off of finding his groove. If it hadn’t been for the loss of traction in the quarter-finals, he might have even more momentum headed into Denver.
"We had a lot of confidence on the starting line and it's just drag racing,"
said Bazemore. "We just overpowered the track a tiny bit and that's that.
Force and his team didn't make a mistake.
"Today was a good confidence builder for me, believe it or not. It's such a
mental game and you do what you have to do get yourself in the right frame
of mind. I think I'm pretty good at that. Unfortunately, what I have to do
to really get in the right frame of mind doesn't always sit well with other
people.
"We were in the right place today, for sure, and the first round was tough
as hell against Capps. He's driving at the top of his game and the team is
at the top of its game. And then, against Force, of course, it's always the
same thing: you're racing the top guy.
"It's frustrating, but the good news is our team has come a long way. We're
going to test here tomorrow. We're just trying to constantly improve our
team and our performance and I think the job (crew chiefs) Todd (Okuhara)
and Brian (Corradi) are doing is tremendous. Unfortunately, I think our
results certainly don't indicate the caliber team that we have and that's
just a matter of time before they do."
Bazemore is eighth in Funny Car points rankings, 49 points behind his
teammate Gary Scelzi, in seventh.
PRO STOCK
Still friends - Pro Stock driver Rickie Smith said Sunday he's "not really making any comments until Tuesday," when he said he'll issue a press release.
However, he said he wanted to clear any possible misunderstanding about his relationship with former boss Richard Maskin. The two parted ways last Wednesday, but Smith said it was a mutual decision.
"We didn't have a falling out. I want to set that straight," Smith said. "He just wanted to do something, and I wanted to do something else. We have no problem, as far as I know."
Smith said Maskin will remain an associate sponsor of his Pro Modified car, which he took to the winners circle of a Quick-8 race Saturday night at Coastal Plains Raceway at Jackson, North Carolina.
He said he didn't plan to drive one of Don Schumacher's Pro Stock cars, as rumored, but, he added, "I'll probably let all that out Tuesday."
God is my co-pilot – Mike Edwards admitted his car might have been a little heavier at the scale because “the Lord rode with me today.”
“When God shows up, He shows off sometimes,” Edwards said. “I am blessed and thankful to be a part of this wonderful program that Roger Stall has put together. I’ve got the greatest job in the world. I get to drive this car and introduce kids to Christ.
“It’s so hard to win these things and after the season we had last year, I feel really good.”
Edwards is sponsored by Young Life which is a Christian-based camp for underprivileged children. For each round win he achieves, enough money is donated to send a child through camp.
“Today, we sent four kids to camp,” Edwards said.
But, Edwards wanted to use the platform to recognize a longtime friend and fan. “This one was for “Big Mike” Aiello, I am always praying that he will feel better,” Edwards said.
Paying Attention - At least one person listened to Greg Anderson. He pointed out in Saturday’s post-qualifying press conference that if he wasn’t on his best game that he’d be exiting early.
Steve Schmidt took him up on his offer in the first round of eliminations.
“Somehow we’re treading water and hanging on to the points lead,” said Anderson. “We can’t in our wildest imagination continue to do this and think we’ll continue to have the points lead after the Western swing. We’re going to have to find this problem out. Nobody can fix it but us.
“There’s so much competition in the class right now, and on any given day any car can win. Nobody is showing that they can win repeatedly, not because everybody’s doing a bad job but because everybody’s doing a good job. We’ve got to find a way to do a better job than we’re doing if we want to win again.”
Status Quo – Jason Line is happy as long as the team is at the top.
“As long as we’re (Nos.) 1 and 2, that’s all that matters to me,” said Line. “We both need to do better jobs all the way around, but all in all, it could be worse. It’s a tough deal right now, but I guess I’d rather be in my position than almost everybody else’s, that’s for sure. We’ve got a good car and everybody’s doing a good job, we just need to tune-up the driver a little bit and we’ll be in good shape.”
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
Change Will Do You Good – Chip Ellis went into Sunday’s battle with a new bullet.
“We decided to change an engine after the fourth round of qualifying,” Ellis said. “That paid off. We got lucky. In the first round we had some wires caught on fire and we almost didn’t make it down the track.”
Ellis qualified on the pole in Englishtown, but exited early. He doesn’t really care where he enters eliminations at, just as long as he wins.
“I’ll qualify 16 th if it means I can win one of these,” Ellis said. “Last week I qualified number one and went out first round with a red-light.”
Breakfast Burritos For Everyone – Every race fan at Gateway International Raceway was treated to a voucher for a free breakfast burrito at fast food chain Sonic thanks to Angelle Sampey. The promotion was based on any driver that could record a perfect .000 reaction time.
In the quarter-finals, Angelle delivered in a big way with a .000 reaction and a victory over Andrew Hines.
About Time Steve – Steve Johnson’s 2006 tour hasn’t exactly been a dream season. But, the great thing about drag racing is that things can change quickly. Johnson is in the midst of a hot streak and one of the contributors to that success is now officially a part of his team.
Noted tuner Mark Peiser, a decade-long friend of Johnson’s, has accepted his offer to join the Snap-on Tools Suzuki team as crew chief, with the last two weeks proving his worth to the operation.
“Last weekend,” Johnson said, “Mark was fishing about 2,000 miles away from our race in Englishtown, NJ, but through the marvel of modern communications – that would be cell phones – he helped tune our bike long distance. Honestly, he did a better job from 2,000 miles away than I do with my hands right on the wrenches, so I’m convinced that from now on things are going to be better for our team.
“This is truly a life-altering move for our race team, and I couldn’t be happier. The fact that Mark and I are also personal friends is going to help, because even before he agreed to formally join the team our relationship was really tight, and this is just going to make thing even better.”
At Englishtown Johnson managed to cling to the 16 th and final qualifying position before defeating Chip Ellis in the first round of eliminations. He lost a tough one to Tom Bradford in the second round.
At Gateway International this weekend Johnson qualified an improving 11 th with a 7.167 second elapsed time, but it didn’t come easily. With three rounds of qualifying completed he found himself on the outside looking in, but Peiser, who’d previously worked miracles for the U.S. Army team, dialed the Snap-on Tools Suzuki in perfectly for the last attempt, when it counted the most.
“We struggled in the first three sessions because our setup isn’t exactly what Mark had hoped it would be. We worked together on the tune-up, and changed a few things around and man, did Mark ever come through!”
Johnson used a superior Reaction Time and a stellar 7.183 second elapsed time (the third quickest of the first round of eliminations) to defeat former champion Geno Scali before pressing the Tree too hard and redlighting against Chip Ellis in the second.
“Everyone on our team has more confidence today than we had a couple of weeks ago, and we’re all working together better than we had been earlier in the season. There’s still plenty of time for us to crack the POWERade Top 10, so that’s our main goal for the rest of the year.
“Ya know, racers always mention their sponsors, and I’m no different than the next guy, but for us it’s almost more about relationships than it is about business. Our backers, from Snap-on Tools to WyoTech, Suzuki, Mickey Thompson tires, Simpson and Web Cams and all of the others, have been incredibly supportive as we’ve sorted things out this year, and I can’t thank them enough for that. Not once have we ever experienced the slightest bit of doubt about our ability to get back on track. Now that we’re there, the sky’s the limit.
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SATURDAY - FULLER AND BRADFORD ARE FIRST-TIME NO. 1 QUALIFIERS; Hight and Anderson also earn top qualifying positions at O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals
(6-24-2006) - Top Fuel driver Rod Fuller and Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Tom Bradford will lead their respective categories into final eliminations for the first time after securing the No. 1 qualifying positions Saturday night at Gateway International Raceway.
Funny Car's Robert Hight and Pro Stock's Greg Anderson also raced to top qualifying positions at the $1.3 million O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol, the 12th of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
Fuller watched a handful of drivers bump him down the ladder from the No. 1 slot he earned Friday night, but he answered them all and returned to the lead position with a final pass of 4.551 at 328.30 mph in his Valvoline/David Powers Homes dragster.
"To come up through the sportsman ranks and to be standing here now as the No. 1 qualifier makes me very grateful," Fuller said. "A lot of people said I'd never make it to this level. It took a lot of hard work and even some nights sleeping in my truck but it was worth it all. That's why I want to relish these moments."
Entering Saturday outside the field, Top Fuel points leader Melanie Troxel earned the No. 11 position in the Skull Shine/Torco Racing Fuels dragster with a 4.692 at 315.27 mph.
Two dozen races into his NHRA career, Bradford waited until the final pairing of the last round to make his surprise move, clicking off a track-record 7.083 at 188.86 mph on his Hal's Speed Shop Buell V-Twin.
"I've been racing 12 years and it's been a goal and dream of mine to race and qualify over here," said Bradford, a five-time world champion in the All Harley Drag Racing Association (AHDRA). "To qualify No. 1 is surreal. This has put a stake in the ground for us. It shows we have the team and crew to compete at this level."
Hight will try to win from the No. 1 spot for the fourth time this year after his 4.803 in his Auto Club Ford Mustang propelled him to the front of Funny Car.
"I want to win from the top spot and I think we have the team to do it," Hight said. "The heat is the great equalizer here. If you can survive the first round and make the big changes it'll take to get the car ready for the second round, you'll have a chance. I'd love to win and finish the first half of the season strong. If we can do that and then have a second half as strong as Ron Capps' first half, we'll be right there at the end."
Anderson powered his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO to a 6.692 at 206.23 to earn the three-time and defending series champion his 46th No. 1 effort in Pro Stock, and sixth of the season.
"I'm not whining or crying but we're tired of losing," Anderson said, "and if we perform the way we did today it'll be another short day on Sunday. I'm being hard on myself but I just expect more. We have to be perfect because the competition has been all year. We have the talent to win this thing but we need to use this (tapping his head)."
Six-time NHRA champion Warren Johnson, who has two wins at this facility, will not race on Sunday after failing to make the field for the first time this year.
Sunday's final eliminations start at 3 p.m. (CT).
First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday for the 10th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol at Gateway International Raceway, the 12th of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday.
Top Fuel -- 1. Rod Fuller, 4.551 seconds, 328.30 mph vs. 16. Troy Buff, 4.799, 303.50; 2. Brandon Bernstein, 4.573, 327.59 vs. 15. Larry Dixon, 4.776, 305.70; 3. Doug Kalitta, 4.586, 330.55 vs. 14. Scott Palmer, 4.741, 292.84; 4. David Baca, 4.594, 326.87 vs. 13. Morgan Lucas, 4.725, 293.03; 5. Tony Schumacher, 4.600, 325.92 vs. 12. Scott Weis, 4.717, 309.06; 6. Hillary Will, 4.605, 320.05 vs. 11. Melanie Troxel, 4.692, 315.27; 7. Cory McClenathan, 4.614, 320.43 vs. 10. David Grubnic, 4.671, 318.39; 8. Bob Vandergriff, 4.634, 321.27 vs. 9. J.R. Todd, 4.666, 310.20.
Funny Car -- 1. Robert Hight, Ford Mustang, 4.803, 319.75 vs. 16. Tony Bartone, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.956, 305.08; 2. Whit Bazemore, Dodge Charger, 4.806, 325.37 vs. 15. Ron Capps, Charger, 4.954, 309.06; 3. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.813, 323.81 vs. 14. Jeff Arend, Monte Carlo, 4.941, 314.68; 4. Bob Gilbertson, Dodge Stratus, 4.823, 319.52 vs. 13. Phil Burkart, Monte Carlo, 4.933, 316.01; 5. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.842, 321.96 vs. 12. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.909, 313.37; 6. Eric Medlen, Mustang, 4.847, 308.50 vs. 11. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo, 4.882, 310.27; 7. John Force, Mustang, 4.848, 319.67 vs. 10. Scott Kalitta, Monte Carlo, 4.868, 317.27; 8. Gary Scelzi, Charger, 4.855, 318.09 vs. 9. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.860, 315.19.
Pro Stock -- 1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.692, 206.23 vs. 16. Steve Schmidt, GTO, 6.737, 205.38; 2. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.693, 205.91 vs. 15. Mark Pawuk, GTO, 6.732, 205.13; 3. Jim Yates, GTO, 6.693, 205.72 vs. 14. Richie Stevens, Dodge Stratus, 6.727, 205.04; 4. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.702, 205.51 vs. 13. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.724, 205.16; 5. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.704, 205.60 vs. 12. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.723, 205.38; 6. Erica Enders, Cobalt, 6.705, 205.76 vs. 11. Mike Edwards, GTO, 6.722, 205.35; 7. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.707, 205.63 vs. 10. Greg Stanfield, GTO, 6.718, 204.63; 8. Jason Line, GTO, 6.712, 205.82 vs. 9. Dave Howard, Cobalt, 6.718, 205.44.
Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Tom Bradford, Buell, 7.083, 189.28 vs. 16. Ryan Schnitz, Buell, 7.209, 185.49; 2. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.085, 188.89 vs. 15. Chris Rivas, Buell, 7.193, 184.77; 3. Chip Ellis, Buell, 7.098, 187.26 vs. 14. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.187, 191.67; 4. Antron Brown, Suzuki, 7.119, 188.12 vs. 13. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.182, 185.72; 5. Shawn Gann, Suzuki, 7.120, 189.28 vs. 12. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson, 7.168, 186.85; 6. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 7.126, 187.31 vs. 11. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.167, 186.30; 7. Angelle Sampey, Suzuki, 7.129, 187.83 vs. 10. Matt Smith, Buell, 7.164, 186.18; 8. Matt Guidera, Buell, 7.153, 184.90 vs. 9. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 7.154, 186.90.
SATURDAY NOTEBOOK
TOP FUEL
Round and Round - Cory McClenathan was happy to be at the controls of the Carrier Boyz FRAM Boost Top Fuel dragster following his first experience driving modifieds on a half-mile dirt oval in Sedalia, Mo., early this week.
And to prove it McClenathan went from 17th to third on the qualifying ladder in the second session of the O’Reilly Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis.
McClenathan, in his first auto racing action on a dirt oval, did finish fourth in the IAMC Modified Celebrity Race at State Fair Speedway. He was one of five NHRA drivers who agreed to drive in the event on the half-mile dirt track.
“It was a lot of fun,” McClenathan said. “Gary Scelzi, Ron Capps, Doug Kalitta and David Grubnic were the other drivers competing. We hung out at sprint car driver Danny Lasoski’s house and had a great time, but I’m definitely going to keep my day job. I do have a newfound appreciation for what he and all the midget and sprint car drivers do on dirt, but I prefer 440 yards of straight asphalt.”
Proceeds from the event benefited the Michael Ross Memorial Foundation supporting Bay Cliff Health Camp in Big Bay, Mich.
Scary Moment – During the final qualifying session, with Doug Kalitta in the other lane, McClenathan exploded a tire and crossed from the left to the right side of the track. His contact with the retaining wall was minimal and he exited the car under his own power.
The incident took place just past the eighth-mile mark when the video replay showed an erratic flame pattern just before the tire failure. The problem was later traced to a failure of the No. 6 header pipe on the right side of the engine.
‘I have messed up more stuff this year,” McClenathan said. “Once again, we will have to be under the gun to get something ready for eliminations. This is a rough sport and something we love to do. It’s just one of those things.
"It looks like the header came apart, got into the tire and that in turn cracked the wing. I still had some control when it whipped into Doug's lane pretty hard. I'm just glad he wasn't there. It's just one of those things. I was just trying to get the car stopped so we didn't do any more damage. I was trying to keep it off the wall and grab the brake. That was kind of hard to do on three wheels.
"Now we have to see if we can fix this car and go on to tomorrow. We are going to have to check this car and make sure it's okay and see what we can do to fix it."
"It jerked me over pretty hard and I tried to keep it in my lane, but obviously I couldn't. (Jim Compton, Jr., St. Louis Dispatch (top), sequence Motel6Vision and ESPN2)
Top Speed – Lost in the shuffle of the McClenathan mishap was the fact that Doug Kalitta blasted out a 330.55 mile per hour pass, which coupled with an elapsed time of 4.586 was good enough for the third position.
If at first you don’t succeed – It only took 25 times for Hot Rod Fuller to put the Valvoline-sponsored dragster into the final round. Fuller admitted that it didn’t seem long at all.
“I have been provided with such a great opportunity to do this,” Fuller said. “I have been able to work my way up through the sportsman ranks to here. That makes it neat. You just relish the opportunity to drive one of these cars and just last week we won our third event. This week I am top qualifier and I have Lee Beard and Rob Flynn tuning my car. I have a great team owner and a sponsor of 14 years with Valvoline.”
This evening provided a great “I told you so” opportunity for Fuller.
“I was coming up through the ranks and so many people told me that I would never make it,” Fuller said. “They would remind me that I was just a bracket racer and that I didn’t have millions of dollars or my dad didn’t own a big company. I never took no for an answer and all those nights of sleeping in the back of my truck finally paid off.”
“I am still amazed.”
Lightning Strikes Twice – Hot Rod Fuller was relishing his status as top qualifier, but for the second time this year was next in line to run following a Cory McClenathan accident.
“It’s something that is going to happen if you race long enough,” Fuller said. “I am right with God and I am in his hands and whatever happens - happens. I’ve got the best crew and the NHRA looks out for us as best they can. Sometimes kooky things happen, but while you sit in that car, you focus in on what you need to do. My main focus was getting back the top spot.
“I was just glad that Cory did the masterful job of driving that he did. The thing I try to do is to learn from other people’s mishaps. I put myself in their positions and ask how I would have handled them. I haven’t been through scenarios like that and that’s why I try to prepare myself.”
No Parade - For Doug Herbert it was supposed to be a celebration of the one year anniversary of the successful hiring of crew chief Wayne Dupuy. Instead the weekend turned into a forgettable one after Herbert failed to qualify the Snap-on Tools/Doug Herbert Performance Top Fuel dragster this weekend. The DNQ ended Herbert's 58-race consecutive qualifying streak which had lasted nearly three seasons.
The Midwest Nationals, the traditional halfway point of the 23-race NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series tour, features both qualifying and eliminations rounds during the evening in an effort to beat the heat and improve performances. The weather at this year's Midwest Nationals was once again hot and humid and the Gateway quarter-mile racing surface provided a huge challenge for the crew chiefs on the fuel cars.
After overpowering the track on both attempts Friday, "Dougzilla" entered the final day of qualifying on the bump spot, last in the 16-car field. With an intermittent cloud cover helping to cool the track Saturday afternoon, Herbert pedaled his way to a 4.931 at 298.21 mph on his third attempt. Despite making his quickest run of the weekend, Herbert fell to No. 18 and entered the final qualifying session on the outside looking in.
Savvy veteran crew chief Dupuy and the determined Snap-on Tools crew were ready to step up to the plate on Herbert's final run, but their mechanized muscle was too much for the Gateway track to handle. Herbert succumbed to failure of a clutch pilot bearing during the final qualifying session, causing the Snap-on entry to experience severe tire shake right off at the starting line and his weekend was over.
"I can't begin to explain how disappointing it is for the entire Snap-on team to miss the show," said Herbert. "This team is used to racing on Sunday. I'm really surprised with our outcome here in St. Louis, especially after we've been running so well at the last several races. We won't let this ruin our season. We're a championship caliber team and we still have a lot to prove. The Snap-on Tools team had a great last half of the year last season and we'll regroup for the upcoming western swing and come out fighting in Denver."
FUNNY CAR
New Hights – Robert Hight drove to the top of Saturday’s qualifying list but didn’t expect to have the traditional low qualifier press conference.
“I really didn’t think my run was going to hold with Del Worsham and Whit Bazemore behind me,” Hight said. “Those cars are capable of running well into the 4.70s especially under conditions like we had here. The great equalizer is going to be the heat. That puts the whole field close together.”
Then Hight has to deal with a No.1 qualifier jinx. No Funny Car driver has won from the pole since last season.
“This number one qualifier thing is said to be a jinx, but I am ready to put an end to it. I want a win from the top spot and I feel as if we have a car capable of doing it. We got too aggressive earlier today and I honestly wish it would have made it. We learned from it. This is the last race of the first half and I want to learn from it. If we have second half like the first this can put us in the middle of it.”
Hight sensed crewchief Jimmy Prock was looking to lay down low elapsed time in qualifying.
“I believe he was trying to run in the 4.70s. On the other hand, I knew he wanted lane choice tomorrow. He likes that right lane so I knew he wanted to make it happen. Going into the final session we were in the bottom half so we needed that run.”
Hight couldn’t say whether or not one lane had an advantage over the other.
“I can’t say,” Hight said. “We had one spot in our driveshaft that he didn’t like. I’m going to shallow stage all day Sunday and try to keep lane choice.”
What's That Smell? - Ron Capps had a tough Saturday and his Sunday doesn't look any more promising.
"We're fighting something," explained Capps, who also receives support from
Knoll Gas-Torco Race Fuels. "Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) and (team
consultant Dan) Olson are working so hard trying to figure out what's
fighting us. We have obviously a gremlin somewhere that we're trying to get
out of here and it's going to be tough."
Add to the mix that he faces his teammate and No. 2 qualifier Whit Bazemore
in first round of eliminations on Sunday, and the going gets even tougher."Todd (Okuhara, Bazemore's crew chief) and everybody on the Matco Tools team
are doing a great job over there, and it's not somebody we want to run right
off the bat for Don Schumacher," he said. "But, right now, we're going to be
racing ourselves, because we have to figure out what's wrong with this car.
I have all the faith in the world that the Brut Dodge team is going to have
a great car for us to race tomorrow; we just have to hope that we find
what's wrong."
As for the smoke at the end of the last run: "The first run today it had a
problem. It actually put the No. 8 cylinder out, which moved me to the right
a little bit, and right after that it put No. 7 out and it moved me right
back into the groove. So I thought it put No. 8 out and picked it back up
and moved me back, so I thought it was OK. It ended up hurting itself.
"I lifted soon after that, but the damage was done. This last run it just
went out and I was ready for anything because of the run before. I was ready
to get off the throttle and, sure enough, it went out and just nosed over
real quick. I got off the throttle and I coasted down a little ways and all
of a sudden it lit up with the oil. I knew it had kicked a rod out and had
oil in there. It's unfortunate because Ace and the guys worked so hard.
"These things are so tough anyway, to throw something in there that's hiding
from you makes it so hard on the crew chief and team. I do not envy them
right now."
PRO STOCK
Winning but Stinking - Greg Anderson may have completed the day as number one, but he didn’t feel like it.
“We definitely started out [this weekend] like we had a lot of promise coming in, and we made a nice run last night,” said Anderson, “but to be honest with you, we didn’t gain ground today. We kind of went backwards on the tune-up of the car, so we’re a little disappointed, actually, with our performance today. We’ve got to go do it tomorrow, turn things around, figure out what went wrong today and get back closer to what we had going yesterday. We obviously had a car that was happy yesterday and it became unhappy today, so we’ve got to figure out what we did wrong.”
As they head into eliminations, Anderson and his teammate, Jason Line, currently sit atop the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock point standings. Anderson leads the way, while Line is No. 2.
In the opening round tomorrow, Anderson will find Steve Schmidt in the other lane. Schmidt qualified No. 16, getting into the final qualifying position on his last run with a pass of 6.737 seconds at 204.60 mph.
Reflecting on tomorrow’s eliminations, Anderson added, "There are a lot of guys out there right now that are driving the wheels off of there cars, and there are a lot of fast cars. If you don’t perform perfectly out there on Sunday anymore, you’re not going to win. We’ve been making mistakes between myself and the car, a little bit here and a little bit there, but mostly on my part. We’ve just been a little bit off on one run or another, and that’s going to spell defeat in Pro Stock.
“That’s the beauty of this class. We don’t have the edge that we had last year or the year before in performance because a lot of guys have caught up to us. We have a lot of competition right now out there. It’s not necessarily that we’re doing that bad of a job, there’s just a lot of guys that are doing a great job right now. You can’t possibly pick a winner come Sunday morning anymore the way it is out there. Hey, we’re on the inside, we’re like inside traders, and we don’t have a clue who’s going to win. It’s pretty amazing right now."
Dragging the Line - Although he may not have been the quickest car out there, Jason Line was one of the more consistent as he qualified No. 8 on the final qualifying ladder for the 10th annual NHRA O’Reilly Midwest Nationals.
Line, from Terrell, N.C. by way of Wright, Minn., drove his KB Racing LLC/Summit Racing Equipment Pro Stock Pontiac GTO to an elapsed time of 6.712 seconds, his best of the four qualifying sessions.
“I know how to win this thing,” said Line, following the last qualifying session. First, I’ve got to have great lights. Next I’ve got to run perfect races and anytime I don’t I’ve got to have a lot of luck. It will all be up to me to win this race just like we did last weekend. We have a great team here at KB Racing and they know how to get the job done. We’re going to do our best to put this Summit Racing Pontiac in the winner’s circle one more time.”
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
Out of Context – Angelle Sampey feels her comments about Danica Patrick were taken out of context and she is actually a big fan of the IRL driver. The three-time champion received a lot of feedback (both negative and positive) from the news item titled “No fan of Danica Patrick” that appeared in Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com earlier this week.
Sampey felt the public got the wrong impression from something that was fun and games within her team.
“I am a fan of Danica Patrick,” said Sampey. “I’m a fan of any woman or any person who decides to do something with themselves, go above and beyond with what most people expect of us, and succeed at it. She’s done that, and I respect her for it, and there are way too many people in this world that judge people without actually knowing them and I’m not one of them.
“I’m not going to judge Danica from one of her interviews or the things she says during or after a race because there’s so much emotion and so many things going on at a race that you might think that someone is not a nice person at all or easy to get along with from a simple comment they make and I don’t think that is fair. I wouldn’t do that to her. So, I don’t know her, I have met her once before very briefly, but you can’t even know a person from a very brief introduction.”
The whole situation began with an infatuated crew member and inner team taunts. The pranks done within the team were all meant to be a jab at each other and no one else. Sampey, who is often publicly criticized herself, feels this was a little blown out of proportion, as she never meant any disrespect to Danica. In fact, the Pro Stock Motorcycle rider is looking for a way to get her crew guy in touch with Danica and would love to have her to a race.
“What happened was Tom, my crew guy, loves Danica Patrick. And the whole “women in racing” thing is pushed a little too far is what I think. I do think some women get recognition just because their simply a woman. I don’t like that. I want people to recognize me because of my abilities and my success; not because I’m female. I do understand that being female makes you more marketable; I appreciate that fact, but I just want people to recognize my abilities, not just my gender. The whole women thing was kind of getting to me; I’ve been asked about being a woman in racing a little too much. So, then Tom was teasing me about, ‘well you’re not the woman of motorsports anyway, the woman of motorsports is Danica Patrick.’
“He was kind of trying to tease me about I’m not up to her level and all that. That is when he started putting her pictures all over the trailer, and the real woman of motorsports. It was all in good fun, it was a joke meant to pick on me about being a girl in motorsports. To pick on him because he loves Danica Patrick, we scribbled on her picture to be funny. We just put stuff about Suzuki rules because she races a Honda, and stuff like that. It was nothing really mean; it was just to be funny and pick on Tom, just like he was picking on me. This was not deface Danica’s picture or to be mean to Danica – only to pick on Tom. It was all in good fun. It was all to stir-up my personality; they love to do anything and everything to get under my skin. One day it might be dressing Danica in my leathers, one next day it’s putting something in my leathers that doesn’t need to be there – this team loves to have fun.
“That is what this whole thing was about having a good time not to disrespect anybody. I’ll tell you…this team is the one that would never try to disrespect people. We try so hard to earn respect from our competitors and our fans, and we represent the United States Army, so we would never do something like that. It was all in good fun. I want my fans to know I am a fan of Danica Patrick, and women in motorsports even though I say I don’t like to talk about that. I’m still a fan. I’m a fan of any woman in this world who does something with herself and doesn’t sit at home and let her husband take care of her or support her. Because I’m in independent woman, Danica is an independent woman, anybody who does that I say you go girl!”
FRIDAY - FULLER, WORSHAM, ANDERSON AND HINES LEAD QUALIFYING FRIDAY AT O'REILLY NHRA MIDWEST NATIONALS
"Hot Rod" Fuller, who won last weekend at Englishtown, N.J., continued to pace the Top Fuel category, posting a 4.606 at 322.73 mph Friday night at Gateway International Raceway to lead the 10th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol.
Del Worsham Greg Anderson and Andrew Hines also led qualifying in their respective categories at the $1.3 million race, the 12th of 23 events in the $50 million POWERade Drag Racing Series.
Just like he did in New Jersey, Fuller did the best job of getting his Valvoline/David Powers Homes dragster down a warm racetrack, posting a competitive 4.606 at 322.73 mph to lead a group of 18 dragsters. Fuller has never earned a No. 1 qualifying position in his 36-race Top Fuel career.
"Someone said to me that we didn't do well at this race last year and my response was we didn't have [crew chief] Lee Beard last year," Fuller said. "It's not as hot as what we expected but it's still warm and Lee shines under these conditions. He did it last week and he's off to a good start here. I hope it's hot everywhere we go. It seems like no one wants to qualify No. 1 these days because we haven't had a winner from the No. 1 position this year, but since we are racing at night at this event I feel that it may be important to be No. 1."
Worsham also is the surprise leader in Funny Car. Although the 17-year veteran has won 21 times in his career, he's only been top qualifier on three occasions. But on this day, the 4.842 at 321.96 mph he posted in his Checker Schuck's Kragen Chevrolet Monte Carlo gave him the provisional No. 1 slot.
"We decided a few races ago that we needed a quicker racecar," Worsham said. "This has turned into a learning year for us. It took awhile to get used to the new tires and we've had different engine parts we've been trying out. We've been working really hard on making this thing quicker so we can get back to winning rounds and I think we're just starting to see the positive results of that extra work."
Point leader Anderson's double-track record performance of 6.692 at 206.23 mph put him on top of Pro Stock. The Summit Racing Pontiac GTO driver has five No. 1 qualifying efforts this year, but hasn't had one since the Atlanta race in early May.
"We needed this," Anderson said. "We need a shot in the arm. We haven't been No. 1 in awhile and we haven't won in awhile. Most of that's on me. I haven't been great on the Tree on Sunday. There are too many good cars out here now so you have to be totally on it. That's the beauty of this class. We raised the bar and everyone responded and now they're pushing us. It's gut-check time to see if we can respond."
Back-to-back Pro Stock Motorcycle champ Hines led his category with a track record time of 7.085 seconds at 188.89 mph on his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson. Hines posted his leading run in the first session and oddly no riders improved in the evening session.
"We were back there watching the times, expecting to see 7.08s and 7.09s and we just kept seeing 7.18s and 7.19s," Hines said. "Some times this happens and no one really knows why. It's like we raced in a better pocket of oxygenated air earlier."
Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Sunday's eliminations start at 3 p.m.
Results Friday after qualifying for the 10th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol at Gateway International Raceway, 12th of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday's final eliminations.
Top Fuel -- 1. Rod Fuller, 4.606 seconds, 322.73 mph; 2. Brandon Bernstein, 4.610, 325.45; 3. Cory McClenathan, 4.614, 320.43; 4. Doug Kalitta, 4.631, 326.56; 5. David Baca, 4.631, 318.24; 6. Tony Schumacher, 4.652, 321.42; 7. J.R. Todd, 4.666, 310.20; 8. Hillary Will, 4.670, 318.17; 9. Scott Weis, 4.717, 305.56; 10. Scott Palmer, 4.741, 292.84; 11. Morgan Lucas, 4.800, 293.03; 12. David Grubnic, 4.854, 305.91; 13. Larry Dixon, 4.886, 296.70; 14. Luigi Novelli, 4.904, 318.77; 15. Troy Buff, 5.206, 199.79; 16. Doug Herbert, 5.769, 246.35.
Funny Car -- 1. Del Worsham, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.842, 321.96; 2. Whit Bazemore, Dodge Charger, 4.850, 318.24; 3. Eric Medlen, Ford Mustang, 4.854, 308.50; 4. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.860, 311.49; 5. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.874, 303.43; 6. Bob Gilbertson, Dodge Stratus, 4.876, 312.78; 7. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.909, 307.44; 8. John Force, Mustang, 4.911, 287.60; 9. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.926, 313.51; 10. Jeff Arend, Monte Carlo, 4.941, 314.68; 11. Ron Capps, Charger, 4.954, 309.06; 12. Tony Bartone, Monte Carlo, 4.963, 305.08; 13. Scott Kalitta, Monte Carlo, 5.016, 300.40; 14. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 5.147, 296.76; 15. Gary Scelzi, Charger, 5.214, 240.34; 16. Phil Burkart, Monte Carlo, 5.907, 167.53.
Pro Stock -- 1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.692, 206.23; 2. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.693, 205.91; 3. Jim Yates, GTO, 6.693, 205.72; 4. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.704, 205.60; 5. Erica Enders, Cobalt, 6.705, 205.76; 6. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.707, 205.63; 7. Allen Johnson, Dodge Stratus, 6.709, 205.13; 8. Jason Line, GTO, 6.712, 204.82; 9. Greg Stanfield, GTO, 6.718, 204.60; 10. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.723, 205.38; 11. Dave Howard, Cobalt, 6.723, 205.29; 12. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.724, 205.16; 13. Mike Edwards, GTO, 6.727, 205.19; 14. Mark Pawuk,GTO, 6.736, 205.13; 15. Steve Schmidt, GTO, 6.737, 204.60; 16. Max Naylor, Stratus, 6.752, 203.37.
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK
TOP FUEL
Need A Heatwave - Knowing his crewchief Lee Beard performs the best when the heat is on, Hot Rod Fuller has been counting the days until St. Louis. Last season the temperatures reached the triple digit mark.
“I have looked forward to the race for a while,” Fuller said. “Since we run well in the heat, people began asking me why we didn’t win last year. We didn’t have Lee Beard, that’s why.
“I saw the forecast today and saw it was going to be cooler. We ran well tonight. And I really believe we had .03 to .04 hundredths left in this Valvoline dragster.”
That’s great…but for Fuller, his crew would rather not garner the top qualifier position since no one has won from the No.1 spot this year.
“The one thing I have noticed is that all the races we have raced at this year, the top qualifier comes usually during the Friday night session and things don’t go well on Saturday. I always tell everyone you have to look at Saturday because those are the conditions for Sunday.
“I think this is the race where someone can win from the No. 1 spot. I would love the challenge of being able to be the first.”
FUNNY CAR
Father Knows Best – Father’s Day may have been officially recognized last Sunday, but Friday in St. Louis Chuck Worsham celebrated it again. Del Worsham admitted the team was extremely conservative during the first session, but when it came time for the second, the elder Worsham stuck to his guns in the belief that he had the perfect combination.
Father knew best on this Friday evening.
"That run is 100% totally my dad's. He called the shot," Worsham said."We found a little glitch we had in the car. For how many runs I'm not
sure but it's probably what caused us to smoke the tires in the first round
last weekend. We had a better handle on what the car was going to
do. As we were finalizing the tune-up, he stood right up and said
'This is what we're going to do' and his call was pretty aggressive.
We've just been so close, but always behind this year, so we went for
it and hit it pretty well.
"We're not a low qualifying type of team, usually, but right now we're
just pushing it a little because being conservative at this point in
the season isn't going to do anything for us. That's not to say we're
going for the jugular on every lap from here out, but we're going to
push hard to be fast. We do get one more night session tomorrow, when
all the big boys will be aiming to go right by us, so we'll see how
this all stacks up when it's over tomorrow night. Either way, I'm
happy with this number, happy to be low overnight, and happy that we
did something we aimed to do."
Worsham most recently won the event back in 2003.
Makes Sense to Us – Whit Bazemore concluded a fine effort by nailing down a 4.850, 318.24 during the second session. The only problem is that his fire bottles deployed.
“Half the time when it’s on fire, I don’t pull them.” Bazemore said. “This was a clean run and I said, ‘Why not?”
PRO STOCK
Tricky – Greg Anderson didn’t let the complex conditions of early afternoon keep him from being a shining star on Friday evening. Anderson drove his way to the top with a 6.692, 206 mile per hour pass, setting both the elapsed time and speed track records.
“I think it was real tricky out there,” Anderson said. “I think we all struggled. It was hot out there and the track was hot and the rubber was, too. There just wasn’t enough rubber out there early.
“The temperature dropped and the conditions came around for us. We initially didn’t think it would get as good as it did. We missed it a little bit and it was still enough to get the pole, which was a great shot in the arm. We haven’t had one this year. This gives us a lot of confidence.”
Pay Attention – Rickie Smith apparently is no fan of merry-go-rounds. In a span of two days he was relieved of his duties as driver of the Richard Maskin Chevrolet, unofficially named as driver of the red SRT Dodge Stratus on the Don Schumacher Pro Stock team, given a program that took him through the balance of the season as driver on a new 3rd team sponsored by Evan Knoll and relegated to a leased car from Kenny Koretsky.
Apparently Smith had enough of the whole scenario and called sponsor Knoll to withdraw his bid to drive the car. Smith left the track on Friday before qualifying began to return home to King, North Carolina. He is said to be racing a Pro Modified Quick Eight on Saturday in Jacksonville, NC.
Why Not? – What do you do when you have an extra Pro Stocker sitting in the pit area and no driver? If you’re Kenny Koretsky, you put your crewchief behind the wheel. Not since he drove a car for Joe Sway has Kenny Koretsky’s crewchief Eddie Guarnaccia piloted a Pro Stocker in NHRA competition. He was drafted into competition after the lease agreement between Koretsky and DSR disintegrated by Friday morning.
“It’s good to get back out there again,” Guarnaccia said. “There was a lot today to prepare two cars to run. It was just a different scenario when you are wearing someone else’s suit, helmet and equipment. I will get more comfortable as we go along.”
Guarnaccia is serving as a test driver for a new Larry Morgan engine this weekend.
“Driving is not totally out of the realm of what I do,” Guarnaccia said. “I didn’t find out I was driving until 1:30 this afternoon.”
We Told You So – Just days after we posted a picture of Larry Morgan’s “You can’t fix stupid” shirts for sale in his trailer comes word these are now collector’s items. Morgan was forced to cease sales of the controversial t-shirt.
The shirts were in reference to Morgan’s comments about the NHRA’s timing system.
Morgan does have a surplus of the shirts and you might want to get one while supplies last. They are $24 plus shipping. You can place an order by calling (740) 745-2648.
The address to Morgan’s shop is:
5398 Hornshill Road
Newark , Ohio 43055
When asked what he thought of the NHRA’s decision, Morgan maintained his status.
“I’m still not saying anything,” Morgan said. “I’m still not tempting fate.”
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
Redemption - Last weekend, Andrew Hines and GT Tonglet had each suffered through a first-round loss – the first time both bikes exited in the opening
round of eliminations this season – and they were disappointed, to say
the least.
The disappointment, however, quickly turned into determination. The
team worked overtime to make some adjustments this week. The changes
have paid off so far.
Hines rode to the top of the Pro Stock Motorcycle ladder Friday
following the first two rounds of qualifying for the O'Reilly Midwest
NHRA Nationals at Gateway International Raceway. Hines turned in a
track-record time of 7.085 seconds at 188.89 mph. Tonglet – the winner
of the 2001 event at this track – is currently eighth after recording a
7.168 pass at 186.85.
"We made some changes during the week in hopes of turning this bike
around and we obviously are going in the right direction," Hines said."This Screamin' Eagle team is working together so well and we're just
trying to push a little harder and keep this V-Rod at the front of the
pack."
The conditions were warm today, but not at all like the 100-degree heat the
racers dealt with at the 2005 event. Hines said the team is just as
happy as the fans when it comes to the weather this year.
"The fans are so happy the weather is cooler than last year's
100-degree temperatures," Hines said. "It makes a big difference for us,
too. But we have two more days here so we just have to make adjustments
for the conditions as we go. We can't use any of the data from last
year because of the 20-degree weather difference so we have to be
prepared for anything."
If Hines can keep No. 1 qualifying position, it will be the 19th of his
career.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
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EVENT PREVIEW -Gateway is homecoming for Bernstein
(6-23-2006) - It is almost like coming home for Brandon Bernstein, driver of the Budweiser/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster, when he competes at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis.
“It feels great to come here since it is the home of Anheuser-Busch,” said Bernstein. “Everybody seems to come out and welcome us here. The fans are great and they are very supportive of us and Budweiser.”
Bernstein would really like to give his Budweiser family a repeat win at the 10th annual O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol, June 23-25 at Gateway International Raceway. The event, which will be televised on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD, is the 12th of 23 races in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Bernstein, Ron Capps, Kurt Johnson, and Angelle Sampey are the defending winners of the $1.3 million race.
Bernstein has had a successful 2006 season so far. He won most recently at the Pontiac Performance NHRA Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, and earlier in the year at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston. He also was the runner-up at the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kan. His career final round record is an incredible 10-2.
The O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals is unique on the POWERade Drag Racing Series since the event is one of two races run at night. This brings out the fans who want to see flames shooting out of the header pipes of the Top Fuel dragsters and the Funny Cars.
The drivers seem to enjoy the night racing, also. “The night racing helps us out, because it is not so hot and humid,” said Bernstein. “It is still hot, though. We have experience built up from racing on hot tracks so we use that data. Also, the track is top notch.”
While Bernstein is sitting third in Top Fuel point standings, he is looking to gain more ground on the series points leader, Melanie Troxel. He is currently behind Troxel and Doug Kalitta. Kalitta has won the St. Louis event three of the last five years and is coming into the event red hot with four victories in the last six races. Others to watch in the category include last year’s world champion Tony Schumacher and last season’s Gateway runner-up Morgan Lucas.
In Funny Car, defending event winner Capps is off to a great start with five victories in seven final round appearances in the Brut Dodge. Teammates John Force, Robert Hight and Eric Medlen are sitting behind Capps in positions 2-4 and are ready to make a move.
Greg Anderson leads the Pro Stock point standings in his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO and defending winner Johnson is currently fifth overall with two victories this season in his ACDelco Chevy Cobalt. Dave Connolly, who is also a repeat winner in Pro Stock in 2006, and Erica Enders are other drivers to watch at Gateway in the 200 mph category.
Sampey, a three time winner this year and current points leader in Pro Stock Motorcycle, is trying to repeat her winning performance from last year in St. Louis. She currently leads last season’s world champ Andrew Hines. Other to watch are recent winners Matt Smith and Ryan Schnitz, Antron Brown, recent six-second club performer Chip Ellis and Geico Suzuki rider Karen Stoffer, who posted a runner-up finish last weekend in Englishtown, N.J.
THURSDAY NOTEBOOK -
TOP FUEL
Almost There – There is a light at the end of the tunnel and for Melanie Troxel and crew, it represents a break in the action. St. Louis represents the third event in the first three-race stretch for 2006 season.
"I think everybody is getting a little tired," she said, "especially when you have a hot weekend like we did in Englishtown (N.J.) and the potential for a very hot weekend out here in St. Louis.
"We need to stay focused on the job. You can never say 'I'm just over it;
I'm not going to try.' You're always trying. We've got to put forth that
extra effort no matter how hard the weekend is. We've got to put that extra
effort into this weekend because every point is extremely valuable, and we
have to do our best.
"The hot weather is always a consideration. You never know what it's going
to throw at you. I'm not sure that we fully have a handle on a hot-weather
tune-up yet, but Richard (Hogan, crew chief) is working very hard to get a
setup that he's comfortable with and hopefully make some progress on that
and we'll do well this weekend."
This year is Troxel's first full season on the NHRA Top Fuel tour.
Backseat Driver - Kalitta has won the Top Fuel title at the drag strip on the shores of Old Man River three times in 2004, 2003, and 2001. Now, with the NHRA season’s mid-point race at hand, Kalitta has his mind set on the big picture.
“We just keep chipping away at it (POWERade championship points lead),” Kalitta said. “Hopefully St. Louis will be the race that we take the lead. The competition in Top Fuel is great right now. Every [elimination] round is tough and there are no easy opponents, so we’re glad we’ve been able to get some wins and have a shot at the lead.
“St. Louis has been a great track for us. We just seem to have a good handle on things at Gateway. I hope that’s the case again this year.”
Kalitta won back-to-back events in Bristol, Tenn., and Atlanta and then consecutively won again at events in Topeka, Kans., and Chicago. Kalitta leads Top Fuel, the NHRA’s quickest and fastest racing class, with four wins in 2006 and has climbed from 9th to 2nd place in POWERade championship points. He now sits only 68 points away from the championship lead after trimming away 162 points from the deficit in the last six NHRA events.
Kind Heart - David Baca has become addicted to helping those less fortunate.
Baca found out a member of the Mach 1 Air Services family has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Terri Valenti of Seattle, the wife of Mach 1 District Manager Rick Valenti, is in a fight for her life and the concern for her well-being has made its way into the heart of the Baca-Windham Motorsports camp.
"Racing is what we do and it's our passion," Baca said. "But situations like this change your outlook. Our thoughts and our prayers are with Terri. We'll be flying her name and the colors of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation on our Mach 1 Air Services dragster this weekend to raise awareness for cancer research and to let Terri and Rick know we love them and we're thinking about them."
The philanthropic driver from Brentwood, Calif., who generously uses his high-profile race team to bring awareness and funding to charitable organizations like the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Mark Hindy Charitable Foundation for the children of 9/11 victims, and Hunter's Hope, is asking fans to stop by his pit and don a pink ribbon to symbolize their support of breast cancer research.
"It's important for all of us to maintain a vigilant stance against cancer," said Baca, a three-time finalist on the NHRA tour, which includes a runner-up result in Pomona, Calif., earlier this season. "We should put as much effort into fighting this terrible disease, which touches us all, as we do into winning races. If we maintain our support of these charities, like we have since I've been driving, maybe one day we'll find a cure."
Mike Entzminger, the CEO of Mach 1 Air Services, was the driving force behind this weekend's tribute and heightened awareness campaign.
"We have 250 employees across the United States, in Mexico and Canada, and even in China," Entzminger said, "and our company's focus has always been on our people. Without them, Mach 1 doesn't exist, and believe me I know how valuable each person on our staff is to our company. When one of us is down, it strikes to the core of us all.
"I'm thrilled and touched by David's tribute to Terri this. I hope he gets a chance to get on ESPN and wish her a quick recovery. I know it will mean a lot to Terri and Rick and to all of us at Mach 1. The NHRA has become a big part of our efforts and it all revolves around David Baca. For him to take the time and do this for us is something special."
Dirty - So, how did Cory McClenathan prepare for this weekend’s O’Reilly Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway?
Well, for example, he practiced turning left. On dirt. Driving an IMCA Modified in Sedalia, Mo.
McClenathan was one of five NHRA drivers scheduled to compete in the 10-man Celebrity Modified Race Wednesday for charity at Missouri State Fair Speedway. He was eagerly awaiting his first taste of open-wheel competition.
But nothing will deter him from being in Madison, Ill., a few miles across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, in time for Friday’s first qualifying runs. He will be strapped into the familiar orange and black Carrier Boyz Racing FRAM Boost Top Fuel dragster in an unfamiliar routine. Because this is a night race, the nitromethane-fueled teams are scheduled for 6 and 9 p.m. runs on Friday and 3 and 8 p.m. runs Saturday. Sunday’s eliminations get underway at 3 p.m.
“We think we have a good combination for hot weather and cool weather right now. So I think we’ll have a good setup for the Gateway track,” McClenathan said. “Wes Cerny, our crew chief, and Tony Shortall, his assistant, have the car running pretty consistently. You have to do that before you win races. We keep creeping up on it and we are close to the point where I believe we can put enough round wins together to get a race win.
“Running at night really isn’t much fun for me, but it’s the only thing we can do because it is usually so hot and humid during the day in St. Louis around this time of the year,” he continued.
Shut Out - Gateway International Raceway is the only track on the 21-race NHRA circuit in which Larry Dixon has yet to advance to a final round. He reached the semifinals at the multipurpose racing facility in 2000 and ’04. Top Fuel’s winningest active racer has been victorious at 19 of the current 21 drag strips on tour while reaching the winner’s circle multiple times at 11 active facilities. So, why the struggles at Gateway for someone who’s been successful at pretty much every other track?
“You keep going to the track and you keep trying to win,” Dixon said. “If one weekend you’re successful, then you’ve won there. That’s what we’re going try and do this weekend at St. Louis.”
Happy Anniversary - The St. Louis event marks the one year anniversary of veteran crew chief Wayne Dupuy joining Doug Herbert. Herbert reached four final rounds, set his career-best elapsed time and speed, became the third quickest driver in history, qualified No. 1 in Dallas and finished a career high 6th in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series point's standings after Dupuy joined the team. The Snap-on dragster was one of the hottest cars during the last half of the 2006 season.
"I can't say enough about the fantastic job that Wayne has done since joining the Snap-on team last season," remarked Herbert. "He is a tireless worker and he's always thinking about how to make the car run better. Even his accident during the off-season didn't slow him down like I expected it to. He's really come a long way with our current combination and I expect the Snap-on dragster in the winner's circle soon."
Dupuy has continued to perform well for Herbert this season. "Dougzilla" heads into the St. Louis event still solidly in the POWERade Top 10 point standings. The 38-year-old North Carolinian has qualified in the top half of the field at three of the last four races and the crew won the Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge award for the second time at the recent NHRA event in Topeka.
FUNNY CAR
Time to eat - Gary Scelzi is licking his chops because he’s headed into a facility rich in his history.
"St. Louis has been really good to us," says Scelzi, who won the Funny Car
event here in 2004, Top Fuel in 1998, 1999 and 2000, was low qualifier five
times, and holds the Funny Car elapsed-time track record of 4.724 seconds,
as well as top-speed track record of 330.23 mph.
"We know we have a car that can win. I think (crew chief) Mike Neff and the
Mopar/Oakley Dodge crew demonstrated that last weekend in Englishtown, where we were runner-up. We should have won that race, and it certainly boosted our confidence. We feel this upswing in performance is going to continue and we'll be chipping our way back up in the points and into the championship
chase."
Merry Go Round – Last weekend Mike Ashley was a Funny Car driver and Jeff Arend was a spectator. This weekend Arend will be driving a Funny Car and Ashley, who initially planned to sit the event out to prepare for his transition from Worsham Racing to Don Schumacher Racing, will return to his roots behind the wheel of a Pro Modified Mustang.
"Del called late in the day on Sunday, and I was very excited to hear
what he was planning," Arend said. "There was no hesitation on my
part. He barely got the words 'Do you want to drive?' out of his mouth
and I was saying yes. He told me they'd be running the car with the
'Madman Murray' body on it, the one for Murray's Discount Auto that
Phil Burkart had used at a couple of races already, and that made it
even better. The Murray's car is really cool, and the fans love it.
Now I get to drive it in St. Louis, and that's about as good as it
gets."
Though a longtime friend of Worsham and his family, Arend has never
before driven for the team. His career includes various stints in cars
running on budgets ranging from somewhat ample to extremely tight,
usually with legendary tuner Paul Smith calling the shots, as well as a
memorable victory at Maple Grove Raceway back in 1996. Even though the
opportunity to drive the Worsham's Murray's car is set for only one
race, Arend sees it as a fantastic opportunity.
"When you're a driver who doesn't own his own team, you need breaks to
make it all happen," he said. "Just like Del and (CSK teammate) Phil
Burkart, I've done everything possible to keep racing, putting together
sponsorships and keeping myself out there as often as possible. To get
the chance to drive one of the Worsham's cars, with a first-class group
all around me, is an honor. It can do nothing but add another
positive line to my resume'. I see it as a real break, and as a
chance to show everyone that I can do this at the highest levels.
"I've always been confident, and I know I have what it takes to be on
the same playing field with the best guys in the sport. I think the chance to drive the Murray's car this weekend is just a perfect way to keep the overall dream moving forward. I really want to thank Del for thinking of me, and I'll do all I can to make sure we get the best result out of this in St. Louis."
Arend will also be working with crew chief Mark Oswald, along with the
same full crew that has been working on the Ashley car all season.
"I've been very lucky to work with Paul Smith over the years, and he's
one of the greats in the history of the sport," Arend said. "And, when
you start talking about greats, and the history of Funny Car racing,
one of the first names to come up is going to be Mark Oswald. He was
a great driver, and he's proven to be a great crew chief. To be able
to step into this car, with the full experienced crew behind me and
Mark Oswald calling the shots, is like a dream come true. We can do
some great things this weekend. I expect us to give everyone a tough
fight, and it's not at all unreasonable to think we can win. Now that
would be mad!"
As for Ashley, what seemed to be a weekend destined for planning and relaxation turned into another trip to the grind with co-owner Tim Tindle driving the Mustang Troy Coughlin piloted in 2005 and he drove in 2004.
“The extra car was just sitting around I talked to Tim and we decided to come out and run for fun,” Ashley said. “This has been a rather taxing week of tough decisions and the idea to run Pro mod this weekend is exciting.
“Even though I focused all of my time and efforts this season on the SKULL Gear Funny Car, I have remained close to the class. I walk to the starting line at every event, sometimes multiple times to watch the class. I never severed my roots because I fully believe it is one of the finest classes in drag racing.”
Ashley is one of several sponsors on the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Modified Challenge through his Long Island-based Lend-America. Lend-America is also the official mortgage lender for the NHRA.
“We’re not counting points and we’re not contending for a world championship, but if you think I’m coming out there just to have fun and not go for the win, you’re kidding yourself.”
Ashley is the only AMS Pro Modified driver to win back-to-back world championships and holds six career victories, five of which came last year.
Bring on the Heat – Bob Gilbertson is counting on the heat of St. Louis to make him a contender on Sunday.
Gilbertson qualified for the last race at Englishtown on a hot, slick track just like he and the rest of the drivers will racing on in St. Louis and that will level the playing field for Gilbertson against the giant multi-car teams.
"This race will be the big equalizer for the fuel teams as the track is traditionally hot and greasy and we think that we've got a pretty good hot weather tune-up that can get us down the track," Gilbertson said. "It will be interesting to see if all the multi-car teams can de-tune their cars to deal with the conditions and if we can put together a string of consistent runs we might be able to win this race and climb our way back into the top ten points standings."
Gilbertson's co-crew chiefs Nicky Boninfante Jr. and Tommy Delago believe that they've got a handle on the new tire and can now concentrate on fine tuning their hot track set-up.
"As strange as it might seem we're looking forward to dealing with the heat and humidity and a slick track in St. Louis," Boninfante added. "Our last run at Englishtown proved to us that we've got a car that can go down the track under those conditions and we should be able to make some noise at Gateway."
Aggravated - There's no denying that Del Worsham is one frustrated Funny Car racer these days. With an 8-10 record heading into the season's 12th race, he currently sits 9th on the POWERade points list, and hasn't advanced beyond the semi-finals all year. For a 21-time winner, who has claimed 18 of those Wally's in just the last five years, those kind of statistics are enough to keep him up at night, but the hardest part of this trying season has been dealing with the method within that madness.
He has run extraordinarily well but lost to the top dogs on the points
sheet by inches, and has managed that nearly inconceivable feat on
several occasions. This past weekend in Englishtown, his team won the
Full Throttle Challenge, by having the most consistent car throughout
qualifying, but Worsham surprisingly smoked the tires in round one,
ending his day. Now, as the season crosses the midway point, Worsham
is looking for a gateway to a second-half breakout. Fortunately for
him, he's headed right for Gateway International Raceway, across the
river from the Gateway Arch, located in St. Louis, the Gateway To The
West.
"We put four good laps together in Englishtown, when most everybody
else was struggling to get down the track twice, or at the most three
times," Worsham said. "Then, on Sunday, instead of losing another one
by the width of a finger, we just messed up and threw the round away.
We haven't made a lot of mistakes all year, unless you consider it a
mistake to lose by a thousandth of a second. In Englishtown, a lot of
things went wrong, starting with the tune-up, our estimation of how the
track would be, right down to me in the car.
"If there was any good karma to come out of that, it was that it all
felt like a turning point to me. As soon as we got back to the pit, I
was mad but I had a feeling that we had just capped off the bad stuff.
It was like 'Okay, it gets better from here. We're too good for this,
and it gets better from here.' Heading to St. Louis helps. We've
usually run well there, and we won the race in 2003. We know we can
run with the best of them at Gateway."
Worsham can take some solace in knowing that one or two good weekends
can put him right back in the middle of the POWERade top ten.
Redemption – Whit Bazemore is hoping his fortunes will improve over his first two attempts in the three-race swing.
"When you look at it more at the context of where we are with the team, it
becomes an important race just because it's three in a row and the first two
haven't gone the way we've needed them to go," he explained. "In my mind
it's fairly critical that we have a good race in St. Louis.
"Whether it's a night race, a day race, a race in St. Louis or a race in
Hawaii, it doesn't matter. The fact is, it's a race and the Matco Tools
Dodge team needs to have a good race. Everything else is kind of immaterial.
"We're just under the radar," added Bazemore, who is eighth in the Funny Car point rankings. "We have a great team and everyone is at the top of their
game, but we're still coming up short for one reason or another. It's the
nature of the sport sometimes. These are the times when you really have to
just buckle down and focus and stay focused and not let any negative results
affect you, because we know we're good enough to win and I think we've
proven that recently."
Squandered Opportunity - The record will forever state that Ron
Capps won the K&N Filters Supernationals on June 18th, widening his POWERade points lead in the process. But for Phil Burkart, driver of the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Monte Carlo, that race will always be remembered as one that was his, until he let it slip away. Burkart outran Capps in the second round, beating him to the finish line and posting a quicker ET. The only problem was the glaring red light on the tree, as Burkart fouled at the start and handed the win to Capps.
Knowing his team had given him a car capable of winning, Burkart immediately became determined to pay them back, beginning this weekend at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. The O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals will mark Burkart's 100th start in a Nitro Funny Car,
and he is focused on celebrating the century mark with a successful Gateway outing.
"We had a great car on Sunday in Englishtown, and we should have won
that race," Burkart said. "Qualifying in the bottom half, it was going
to be a battle all day, and we knew we'd have to beat big dogs on every
run, but we got by Eric Medlen in the first round, and we flat-out beat
Capps in the second round. The driver just got in the way on that one.
I know I owe my guys a big payback, and my entire focus is on going
rounds and winning races.
"I didn't know it was my 100th race, but that's pretty cool, too. I
spent a lot of years struggling to get a ride or keep a car on the
track, only getting to run a handful of races per season, so when I got
my break and joined Worsham Racing, everything changed. It seems like
all 100 races have happened in just a blink of the eye, but the numbers
add up going all the way back to 1998."
Burkart's memory is not deceiving him. 68 of his race appearances have
come since 2003, the season he joined Worsham Racing, with the other 31
spread out over five prior seasons. Since joining the CSK program, he
has posted a 49-58 record and won a pair of races. The key to Burkart,
however, is adding four more round wins and another Wally to his trophy
case, just as soon as possible.
"We absolutely have a car that can win, and we're going to do just
that," he said. "My guys, and my crew chiefs Marc Denner and Chris
Cunningham, have the blue CSK car running well, and it feels like we're
getting better every week. We hit a bump in the road at Atlanta and
Columbus, where we ran well but somehow managed to miss the field by a
whisker. Since then, we've just kept at it and kept going fast.
We're going to win, and I'm going to do everything I can to make it
happen for these guys.
"St. Louis is a great event, with great fans and great action. We'll
have three chances to run under the lights, instead of just one like at
most other races, and because of that the whole
"Today would have been the birthday of a young Marine we lost," Schumacher said as he clutched the medal. "Chris Belchik was killed in action August 22, 2004, but he was with me today. I might be the U.S. Army driver, but the men and women in the Armed Services are all together when it counts." 
"I heard him out there and I saw him put a fender on me at about 800 feet," Pedregon said. "In this class that's usually not a good thing. 
"There's a long way to go but I'd rather be 120 points out of the lead than 420 like we probably were at this time last year," said Edwards of his 13th career victory and second of the season. "Someone's gotta win that championship and I sure would like to do it. It's been a lifelong goal of mine. We've gotten close in the past. Maybe this could be our year. But there're a lot of guys saying that." 
"It takes rounds to win the championship so I'll stay focused on that," said Ellis of his first win of the season. "It's important to get down the track every time. We got lucky in the first round because we burned up some wires, but luckily for us Karen Stoffer had red-lighted. After that we had the quickest bike every round." 
A Real Hero – Tony Schumacher may be sponsored by the U.S. Army, but his respect of all military personnel has no boundaries. Last week, he rode the quarter-mile with a bronze star. Today he won the first round with a purple heart that belonged to Chris Belchik, a fallen Marine Corporal who lived in nearby Godfrey, Ill. 
Fuller watched a handful of drivers bump him down the ladder from the No. 1 slot he earned Friday night, but he answered them all and returned to the lead position with a final pass of 4.551 at 328.30 mph in his Valvoline/David Powers Homes dragster. 
Two dozen races into his NHRA career, Bradford waited until the final pairing of the last round to make his surprise move, clicking off a track-record 7.083 at 188.86 mph on his Hal's Speed Shop Buell V-Twin. 
Hight will try to win from the No. 1 spot for the fourth time this year after his 4.803 in his Auto Club Ford Mustang propelled him to the front of Funny Car. 
Anderson powered his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO to a 6.692 at 206.23 to earn the three-time and defending series champion his 46th No. 1 effort in Pro Stock, and sixth of the season. 
And to prove it McClenathan went from 17th to third on the qualifying ladder in the second session of the O’Reilly Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis.
Scary Moment – During the final qualifying session, with Doug Kalitta in the other lane, McClenathan exploded a tire and crossed from the left to the right side of the track. His contact with the retaining wall was minimal and he exited the car under his own power. 
"It looks like the header came apart, got into the tire and that in turn cracked the wing. I still had some control when it whipped into Doug's lane pretty hard. I'm just glad he wasn't there. It's just one of those things. I was just trying to get the car stopped so we didn't do any more damage. I was trying to keep it off the wall and grab the brake. That was kind of hard to do on three wheels. 
If at first you don’t succeed – It only took 25 times for Hot Rod Fuller to put the Valvoline-sponsored dragster into the final round. Fuller admitted that it didn’t seem long at all. 
No Parade - For Doug Herbert it was supposed to be a celebration of the one year anniversary of the successful hiring of crew chief Wayne Dupuy. Instead the weekend turned into a forgettable one after Herbert failed to qualify the Snap-on Tools/Doug Herbert Performance Top Fuel dragster this weekend. The DNQ ended Herbert's 58-race consecutive qualifying streak which had lasted nearly three seasons. 
New Hights – Robert Hight drove to the top of Saturday’s qualifying list but didn’t expect to have the traditional low qualifier press conference. 
What's That Smell? - Ron Capps had a tough Saturday and his Sunday doesn't look any more promising. 
Winning but Stinking - Greg Anderson may have completed the day as number one, but he didn’t feel like it. 
Dragging the Line - Although he may not have been the quickest car out there, Jason Line was one of the more consistent as he qualified No. 8 on the final qualifying ladder for the 10th annual NHRA O’Reilly Midwest Nationals.
Out of Context – Angelle Sampey feels her comments about Danica Patrick were taken out of context and she is actually a big fan of the IRL driver. The three-time champion received a lot of feedback (both negative and positive) from the news item titled “No fan of Danica Patrick” that appeared in Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com earlier this week. 
Just like he did in New Jersey, Fuller did the best job of getting his Valvoline/David Powers Homes dragster down a warm racetrack, posting a competitive 4.606 at 322.73 mph to lead a group of 18 dragsters. Fuller has never earned a No. 1 qualifying position in his 36-race Top Fuel career. 
Worsham also is the surprise leader in Funny Car. Although the 17-year veteran has won 21 times in his career, he's only been top qualifier on three occasions. But on this day, the 4.842 at 321.96 mph he posted in his Checker Schuck's Kragen Chevrolet Monte Carlo gave him the provisional No. 1 slot. 
Point leader Anderson's double-track record performance of 6.692 at 206.23 mph put him on top of Pro Stock. The Summit Racing Pontiac GTO driver has five No. 1 qualifying efforts this year, but hasn't had one since the Atlanta race in early May. 
Back-to-back Pro Stock Motorcycle champ Hines led his category with a track record time of 7.085 seconds at 188.89 mph on his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson. Hines posted his leading run in the first session and oddly no riders improved in the evening session. 
Need A Heatwave - Knowing his crewchief Lee Beard performs the best when the heat is on, Hot Rod Fuller has been counting the days until St. Louis. Last season the temperatures reached the triple digit mark. 
"That run is 100% totally my dad's. He called the shot," Worsham said."We found a little glitch we had in the car. For how many runs I'm not
sure but it's probably what caused us to smoke the tires in the first round
last weekend. We had a better handle on what the car was going to
do. As we were finalizing the tune-up, he stood right up and said
'This is what we're going to do' and his call was pretty aggressive.
We've just been so close, but always behind this year, so we went for
it and hit it pretty well.
Pay Attention – Rickie Smith apparently is no fan of merry-go-rounds. In a span of two days he was relieved of his duties as driver of the Richard Maskin Chevrolet, unofficially named as driver of the red SRT Dodge Stratus on the Don Schumacher Pro Stock team, given a program that took him through the balance of the season as driver on a new 3rd team sponsored by Evan Knoll and relegated to a leased car from Kenny Koretsky. 
We Told You So – Just days after we posted a picture of Larry Morgan’s “You can’t fix stupid” shirts for sale in his trailer comes word these are now collector’s items. Morgan was forced to cease sales of the controversial t-shirt. 
Redemption - Last weekend, Andrew Hines and GT Tonglet had each suffered through a first-round loss – the first time both bikes exited in the opening
round of eliminations this season – and they were disappointed, to say
the least.
In Funny Car, defending event winner Capps is off to a great start with five victories in seven final round appearances in the Brut Dodge. Teammates John Force, Robert Hight and Eric Medlen are sitting behind Capps in positions 2-4 and are ready to make a move. 
Almost There – There is a light at the end of the tunnel and for Melanie Troxel and crew, it represents a break in the action. St. Louis represents the third event in the first three-race stretch for 2006 season.
Backseat Driver - Kalitta has won the Top Fuel title at the drag strip on the shores of Old Man River three times in 2004, 2003, and 2001. Now, with the NHRA season’s mid-point race at hand, Kalitta has his mind set on the big picture.
Kind Heart - David Baca has become addicted to helping those less fortunate. 
Mike Entzminger, the CEO of Mach 1 Air Services, was the driving force behind this weekend's tribute and heightened awareness campaign. 
Dirty - So, how did Cory McClenathan prepare for this weekend’s O’Reilly Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway?
Shut Out - Gateway International Raceway is the only track on the 21-race NHRA circuit in which Larry Dixon has yet to advance to a final round. He reached the semifinals at the multipurpose racing facility in 2000 and ’04. Top Fuel’s winningest active racer has been victorious at 19 of the current 21 drag strips on tour while reaching the winner’s circle multiple times at 11 active facilities. So, why the struggles at Gateway for someone who’s been successful at pretty much every other track? 
Happy Anniversary - The St. Louis event marks the one year anniversary of veteran crew chief Wayne Dupuy joining Doug Herbert. Herbert reached four final rounds, set his career-best elapsed time and speed, became the third quickest driver in history, qualified No. 1 in Dallas and finished a career high 6th in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series point's standings after Dupuy joined the team. The Snap-on dragster was one of the hottest cars during the last half of the 2006 season. 
Time to eat - Gary Scelzi is licking his chops because he’s headed into a facility rich in his history.
Merry Go Round – Last weekend Mike Ashley was a Funny Car driver and Jeff Arend was a spectator. This weekend Arend will be driving a Funny Car and Ashley, who initially planned to sit the event out to prepare for his transition from Worsham Racing to Don Schumacher Racing, will return to his roots behind the wheel of a Pro Modified Mustang.
"I've always been confident, and I know I have what it takes to be on 
Bring on the Heat – Bob Gilbertson is counting on the heat of St. Louis to make him a contender on Sunday. 
Aggravated - There's no denying that Del Worsham is one frustrated Funny Car racer these days. With an 8-10 record heading into the season's 12th race, he currently sits 9th on the POWERade points list, and hasn't advanced beyond the semi-finals all year. For a 21-time winner, who has claimed 18 of those Wally's in just the last five years, those kind of statistics are enough to keep him up at night, but the hardest part of this trying season has been dealing with the method within that madness.
Redemption – Whit Bazemore is hoping his fortunes will improve over his first two attempts in the three-race swing.
Squandered Opportunity - The record will forever state that Ron