EVENT NEWS EVENT NOTEBOOK			EVENT GALLERY

 

SUNDAY NOTEBOOK -

LANGDON LANDS TRAXXAS TOP FUEL SPOT WITH FIRST VICTORY OF YEAR - In the Al-Anabi Racing hauler late Sunday afternoon at Bristol Dragway, team manager Alan Johnson and crew chief Brian Husen were focused intensely on the computer graphics and the task before them in the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

That was to install the right tune-up and plan the right strategy to get Top Fuel driver Shawn Langdon to the finish line first in the final round.

With a guess about what their close friend, Kalitta Motorsports veteran tuner Jim Oberhofer, might do, Johnson and Husen knew they were up against entrenched points leader Doug Kalitta, who was making his seventh final-round appearance in the season’s 10th race.

Neither Johnson nor Husen is a man of many words. But they were particularly quiet, wasting no time for chit-chat. “Everyone was in that race mode. You could tell,” Langdon said.

All the deliberations paid off.

They sent Langdon off, and he reeled off a winning 3.902-second elapsed time at 316.08 mph on the 1,000-foot course to win for the first time this year. The reigning series champion was making his third final-round appearance in the past six races, and he earned his ninth overall Top Fuel trophy.

Langdon joined Tommy Johnson Jr. (Funny Car) and Erica Enders-Stevens (Pro Stock) in the winners circle.

As for his daunting assignment against Kalitta, Langdon said, “You can’t take them lightly at any track.”

Langdon knew full well that Kalitta has found the quick way down the track at this jewel of a track in the East Tennessee hills – and he has been relentless in his quest for a surprising first series crown.

“They definitely have the hottest car on the circuit right now. They always have a great car. Jim O’s been doing an excellent job. And Doug’s a great driver, a great leaver, and one of the best pedalers in our class,” Langdon said.

“So I was a little worried about that in the final, if we did have to pedal. You’re going up against the Kalitta group, and that’s tough. That’s why it’s always great to be part of a good team like Al-Anabi and work with Alan Johnson. We feel like we have a pretty good race car, too,” he said. “I was just trying to do my part.”

Langdon reached his third 2014 final by eliminating teammate Khalid alBalooshi, Terry McMillen, and Bob Vandergriff. And along the way, notably in the second round, he had to pedal the car in a wild, smoky duel.

And that, Langdon said, “is something I’ve struggled with a long time as a driver and something that Alan and Brian have really been working on with me. And I’ve been trying to pay attention.”

The field is starting to pay closer attention to Langdon, who seems to have honed that knack for peaking at the right time since he has been receiving Johnson’s guidance. Langdon continues to hold down the No. 3 position in the standings, his highest ranking so far this season, with the Countdown closer than it might seem to be.

Motivating Langdon this weekend was the final automatic berth in the Traxxas Shootout, the bonus event he won last September. It awards $100,000 to the winner during Labor Day weekend at the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis. Kalitta already had secured his spot by winning the Gatornationals in March at Gainesville, Fla.

“Fortunately we got that win. That’s the biggest thing. We wanted to get in that Shootout. We didn’t want to miss that but more important [we want to] keep getting those Mello Yello points,” he said.

He said making the Shootout weighed on his mind “a lot, to be honest. When we lost that final to Spencer [at Topeka], we thought that was our shot to get in. Then Richie Crampton won, and there was one spot left before it goes to a fan vote. We were definitely thinking about it every race we went to.”

Langdon said he thought his car was starting to become manageable.

“It’s always tough the first race you go into on a very hot track like we were today. Just because we have a manageable car on a cool racetrack, we still have a little bit of work to do. We definitely don’t have it perfected, by any means,” Langdon said. “We were learning as the weekend went on. We didn’t really qualify well (seventh), didn’t really have a great race car. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck on your side.”    

He got that, too, for in two rounds he had a strong-performing car and in the other two . . . well, he needed that luck. After he eliminated alAbalooshi, he and McMillen were the first pair on the hot track that cooled to 128 degrees by the final round.

“Sometimes it’s a little bit of a crapshoot,” he said. He rolled the right combination.

Langdon then breezed through the semifinals against Vandergriff, who fouled out, but he sympathized with his opponent. “It was a very long tree. So fortunately I didn’t red-light. You want to get to the final so bad.”

It was a crazy way to achieve the victory he has been waiting on for so long. But he said he understands how hard it is to win just one.

“The first year I came on with the Al-Anabi team, it took us until the latter part of the year to get that first victory. With how stiff the competition is in Top Fuel, the one thing you have to learn is patience,” he said. “Having a great season like we did last year, we took a lot of pride in that, but we knew it was going to be tough. We weren’t expected to take this long to get our first victory. But hey, we’re still learning, and we’re still trying to improve this car.”

He and father Chad Langdon often race at the same event, but Sunday Dad was racing at Fallon, Nev. “I think he lost first round, so good thing I won. It felt good to get it done on Fathers Day. It’s a special feeling.”

Already a huge fan of Bristol Dragway -- his favorite, he said – Langdon promised he still would love it even if he had lost to Kalitta.

However, little went as planned for Kalitta and the Mac Tools Dragster in the showdown for the $50,000 payout. Langdon got a slight jump on him at the Christmas tree, his car started losing traction before he drove halfway down the track, and by the time he got to the finish line, he had a flash of flames coming from this car that has been the cream of the class all season.   

He ended his day on a 4.128-second, 260.97-mph run.

The positive news for Kalitta is that he extended his points lead as the string of four races in as many weeks stretches to New England Dragway at Epping, N.H., for the Auto-Plus Nationals.

Kalitta raced to the verge of his 500th round-win, advancing past Leah Pritchett, Chris Karamesines, and three-time winner Antron Brown to his seventh final of the year. He was seeking his 35th victory in 73 final rounds and his second this season after winning the Gatornationals in March at Gainesville, Fla.

He was going for his fourth Wally trophy at Bristol (he won here in 2001, 2005, and 2006). Instead, he left as runner-up for the third time (just as in 2009 and in 2012). This is his fifth runner-up finish of 2014. He came close at Pomona, Calif., Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Englishtown, N.J.

Langdon has won two-thirds of his overall meetings with Kalitta (14-7) and has a 2-1 final-round advantage over him.

TJ FINDS WINNERS CIRCLE FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2007 - Veteran racer Tommy Johnson Jr. has proved himself as an NHRA driver.

Despite his skills, however, the talented pilot hadn’t been to the winners circle since 2007.

That changed Sunday.

Johnson beat Tim Wilkerson in the finals Sunday to capture the title at the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol, Tenn.

Johnson clocked a 4.156-second lap at 302.14 mph in his Don Schumacher Racing Make-A-Wish nitro Dodge Charger Funny Car to defeat Wilkerson, who slowed to 4.423 seconds.

“I woke up (Sunday) morning thinking I’ve done pretty good on Father’s Day, and I had a really good car all weekend,” Johnson said. “The guys did a great job and I just felt good (Sunday). The Father’s Day thing did kind of give me some confidence and as a driver you want all kinds of confidence whether it is real or fake or what. Father’s Day made me think I’ve won on Father’s Day before, so why not (Sunday) again.”

This was Johnson’s 10th career national event win in the nitro class and the 226th win for DSR. This was Johnson Jr.’s first national event victory since 2007 when he won from the No. 1 qualifying position in the Funny Car class at Englishtown, N.J., which, like Bristol Sunday, also was on Father’s Day.

Johnson definitely didn’t have anything handed to him Sunday. He beat former world champions Cruz Pedregon, Robert Hight, and Matt Hagan in three consecutive rounds before ousting Wilkerson.

“It wasn’t an easy start at all (Sunday) and the Funny Car class is tough as a whole right now,” said Johnson, who also has two Top Fuel national event wins. “There’s no easy rounds. Everybody is tight and everybody is good. Hagan in the semis, you would rather race your teammate in the finals, and he’s a killer driver and he does a great job on the tree, and you have to step your game up for that one.”

The odds of Johnson claiming victory Sunday seemed slim on Saturday when his team missed the last qualifying session because of an electrical issue.

“I’m very close to the team and I grew up working on these cars,” Johnson said. “We talked about it (the electrical issue) and yes it was a mistake, but we can’t have that. We have to pay attention. It is done, and it wasn’t race day, and now let’s forget about it and not dwell on it. We have a great race car, and we know we can win this race. We just have to focus and do a good job and don’t get comfortable. John (Collins, Johnson’s crew chief) said don’t get comfortable and always keep your eyes open. The trouble we have had the last three races and all the work we’ve had to do, and all the guys have been putting in extra hours at the shop. (June 10) all the teams at DSR had the day off before they traveled on Wednesday, and my team was the only team working at the shop. They left the shop at 8 o’clock, and the work paid off.”

ENDERS-STEVENS CAPTURES ANOTHER WIN - There was a time when Erica Enders-Stevens didn’t know if she would ever get her first NHRA Pro Stock national event win.

Those days are long gone.

Enders-Stevens beat first-time finalist Jonathan Gray to snare the crown Sunday at the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

Enders-Stevens clocked a 6.698 elapsed time at 207.15 mph in her Elite Motorsports Camaro to defeat the rookie Gray, who had trouble off the starting line and slowed to 13.480 seconds.

This was Enders-Stevens third win of the season and the ninth of her career. She also won the K&N Horsepower Challenge March 29 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“This weekend was a struggle and I’ve obviously struggled the past two weeks as a driver,” Enders-Stevens said. “I’m so blessed to have a team that stands behind me no matter what. That means a lot to me. Coming here on Friday, we knew it was going to be a little tricky. Bristol is always tricky for us, especially the hotter it gets. Hats off to Rick and Rickie Jones my crew chiefs’ they got it taken care of. You start off the weekend and you are mad, and everybody was trying to stay positive, and they were trying to get me to stay positive, which is a treat sometimes. They are awesome.”

Enders-Stevens qualified No. 3 and beat Larry Morgan, Greg Anderson, Jeg Coughlin and then Gray. Anderson and Coughlin handed Enders-Stevens wins by recording red lights.

“(Sunday) was just one of those days, we had a couple of gifts, and I would rather be lucky than good,” Enders-Stevens said. “We were there and we went A to B when it mattered. I knew that round against Jeg was going to be really tough and as a driver I knew I had to step up to the plate.”

Enders-Stevens leads the season point standings at 908 points, followed by Coughlin (753) and Allen Johnson (704).

“Momentum is huge in this sport and we have to continue to carry it,” Enders-Stevens said. 

RANDOM RACEDAY NOTES

SHOE FITS ON LEGENDS WALL - Don Schumacher’s name was added Sunday to Bristol Dragway’s Legends of Thunder Valley.

With three IHRA Funny Car victories here as a driver and eight pro victories as owner of the NHRA’s largest team, he was celebrated in pre-race festivities as the newest inductee.

At the top of his driving game in the 1970s, Schumacher won five NHRA national-event races, nine IHRA races, and the 1973 American Hot Rod Association championship. He retired following the 1974 season to refocus on his family but became involved with the sport again in the late 1990s as son Tony started showing some aptitude for drag racing and a desire to move to the pro ranks.

Don Schumacher Racing entered this event with 11 NHRA series championships and 225 event victories. Eight of those Wally trophies are from Bristol Dragway.

“We do love to produce the thunder here,” Schumacher said as he received a plaque from track general manager Jerry Caldwell. The Chicago-based businessman praised the facility, sponsors, and DSR employees whose ranks at this race numbered about 100.

Tony Schumacher has won more NHRA national-event drag races at Bristol than any other pro driver with five Top Fuel victories. But the seven-time series champion has not yet been honored as one of the Legends of Thunder Valley. Those individuals have their names gracing the facing atop the left-side grandstand. Schumacher, obviously joking, said last year at this event that he's holding out for a Mount Rushmore-like tribute on the face of the mountain or his name in giant block letters à la the Hollywood sign.   

"My name's not on any wall," Schumacher said. "They're waiting." Breaking into silly mode, he pooh-poohed the idea of a Tony Schumacher Grandstand near the slate face of the mountain behind the main grandstands. "I specifically asked for an etching of my face in the stone -- like me and The Three Stooges," he said.

FATHER TIME TRUMPS ‘YOUNGSTER’ - Warren Johnson, another of the Legends of Thunder Valley, always said old age and treachery beats youth and inexperience. And in the fourth Top Fuel pairing, 80-something-year-old “Father Time” Chris Karamesines upset 27-year-old No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force.

Force was the lone driver with lane choice to select the left side, and she and her Castrol EDGE Dragster were up in smoke by about 300 feet. She finished with a 5.558-second elapsed time at just 122.66 mph, while “The Greek” moved on to the next round with a less-than-stellar 5.215, 188.87 in the Strange Engineering/Lucas Oil Dragster.

Right afterward, overheard on the Safety Safari radio was a voice wryly saying, “Somebody go over to Karamesines’ pit and tell the crew they’ve got to run again.”

The round win was only the third for Karamesines since this event in 2011. He also won a round at Norwalk last season. He couldn’t get past Doug Kalitta in an ugly quarterfinals match-up, although Kalitta said, “If he’d have gone A to B, he would’ve beat us.” But once again, Karamesines was spectacular, crossing the line with flames shooting out of his dragster. “That was a fun run,” Kalitta said. It depends on one’s perspective.

TWO SHADES OF GRAY – Shane Gray defeated Curt Steinbach and Jonathan Gray eliminated Chris McGaha to set up a brother-vs.-brother second-round showdown in the Pro Stock class. Said Shane Gray after his opening-round triumph, “It’s his birthday and Fathers Day. . . We’re going to have a good time.” Asked which brother usually won their competitions as they grew up, Shane Gray, 42, shrugged off the question. “There’s quite a bit of age difference. He was too little.” Jonathan Gray blew out 33 candles on his birthday cake, then gave himself a memorable gift: an incredibly close victory, with matching E.T.s, in their first head-to-head match-up. Each ran a 6.703-second pass, but Shane had the faster speed (207.40 mph to 206.80). After the display of brotherly shove, Jonathan Gray wasn’t jumping up and down. “Don’t misunderstand me – I am happy. It’s just I didn’t want to meet him this early,” he said.

OH, BROTHER . . . – Tony Pedregon, in his financially strapped American Racing Toyota, recorded his first victory over Courtney Force in the quarterfinals. He said the unpredictable – or predictably hot, slippery – track leveled the playing field for the cars that aren’t equipped and prepped to perform in the 3.99-second range.  He said his car “ran hard to the 600-, 700-foot mark” but that he’ll “keep plugging away.”  Then he addressed his older brother, Cruz: “Cruz, if you can hear me, get your guys on over to my pit.” Despite some mechanical issues that threatened his run, he ended up giving Tim Wilkerson a run for his money for at least half of the 1,000-foot course. Wilkerson said afterward that he identified with Pedregon, a fellow independent who is with him in the “fight with the big dogs.”

HOMETOWN HEARTACHE AGAIN – Pro Stock veteran Allen Johnson’s affable nature belies the intensity of his desire to win this race at this track that’s closest to his Greeneville, Tenn., home. It’s where his dad once ruled in IHRA competition and where he almost literally grew up. He was crushed in 2012, when Mike Edwards swiped the victory from him by less than .0000 of a second. Losing by a bigger margin Sunday in the first round to Dave Connolly as he wrangled his drifting Dodge Dart made him feel no better.   “It went to the left off the starting line. I never could get it back,” Johnson said. “I finally had to give up the battle. One of these days we’re going to get it.”

LIVE BY THE PEDALFEST . . . - No. 15 Top Fuel qualifier Terry McMillen, driving the Amalie Oil/UNOH Dragster, outlasted No. 2 JR Todd in a first-round tire-smoker. But he couldn’t survive a second one in Round 2 against traction-troubled Shawn Langdon. “That was a little tricky. That was a little goofy,” Langdon said after exiting his car, heading over to talk to McMillen, and gesturing as if to say, “Man, what in the world just happened there?! That was crazy!”

The next two pairs – Bob Vandergiff vs. Tony Schumacher and Chris Karamesines vs. Doug Kalitta -- added a sense of deja-vu. Antron Brown closed the round by breaking the cycle with a 3.883-second, 315.19-mph blast to knock off Spencer Massey.

NEW WINNER - By the end of the quarterfinals, the Funny Car class was destined to have a first-time winner this season. None of the semifinalists – Matt Hagan, Tommy Johnson Jr., Tim Wilkerson, and Tony Pedregon – had won in 2014. So the Traxxas Shootout was guaranteed to have a new entrant. It came down to Wilkerson and Johnson, who was making his first final- round appearance since the 2007 Englishtown race.

By contrast, the Top Fuel class wound up with familiar finalists: Shawn Langdon, making his third final, and Doug Kalitta, who was in his seventh final.

FATHER TIME TRUMPS ‘YOUNGSTER’ - Warren Johnson, another of the Legends of Thunder Valley, always said old age and treachery beats youth and inexperience. And in the fourth Top Fuel pairing, 80-something-year-old “Father Time” Chris Karamesines upset 27-year-old No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force.

Force was the lone driver with lane choice to select the left side, and she and her Castrol EDGE Dragster were up in smoke by about 300 feet. She finished with a 5.558-second elapsed time at just 122.66 mph, while “The Greek” moved on to the next round with a less-than-stellar 5.215, 188.87 in the Strange Engineering/Lucas Oil Dragster.

Right afterward, overheard on the Safety Safari radio was a voice wryly saying, “Somebody go over to Karamesines’ pit and tell the crew they’ve got to run again.”

The round win was only the third for Karamesines since this event in 2011. He also won a round at Norwalk last season. He couldn’t get past Doug Kalitta in an ugly quarterfinals match-up, although Kalitta said, “If he’d have gone A to B, he would’ve beat us.” But once again, Karamesines was spectacular, crossing the line with flames shooting out of his dragster. “That was a fun run,” Kalitta said. It depends on one’s perspective.

Force said afterward, “It’s definitely disappointing to come out as the No. 1 qualifier and go out in the first round. It almost seems like a curse – it seems like the No. 1 qualifier just doesn’t make it to the final round. Courtney (Force) broke that curse a few weekends back, but it’s tough to go rounds and make it all the way to the winner’s circle when you’re the No. 1 qualifier, and I don’t know why that is.,”

She said, “It was cool to race ‘The Greek,’ as he’s a legend in our sport. I went over to shake his hand before the run, and he wished me luck.”

She got the better light but had to shut her dragster down because of the tire smoke. About that same point, Karamesines’ supercharger exploded, and that in turn activated the parachutes to be deployed early, but he still coasted to the win.

“It’s been a hot race track all weekend. Even though we were No. 1 one and we were running the best out here, from the seat of my car, it didn’t feel like my dragster was running that well. And it seemed like we could have performed better,” Force said. “All weekend I knew our car was struggling to get down the track. When it started to smoke the tires, I stayed in the throttle longer than I should have. It’s just sometimes hard to catch it at the right moment. Once it threw the blower belt off, all I could do was coast to the line, but unfortunately the Greek got there first.”

 

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -

TOP FUEL

QUICK CHICK - There she sat, underneath a chicken salad and a freshly baked biscuit.

Well, a picture of Brittany Force did. It filled up the paper tray liner at the Bojangles fast-food chicken outlet near Tennessee’s Bristol Dragway. The liner served as an advertisement for this weekend’s NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

The Castrol EDGE Top Fuel Dragster driver had gone to see a movie and stopped at the restaurant, intrigued because she never got a chance to visit that chain at home in Yorba Linda, Calif. When the server handed her order to her, she said “I just froze. He probably thought I was crazy because I was just staring at it. I’m ‘Oh my gosh!! This is so exciting!!!”He said, “Wow – you must be a really big NHRA drag racing fan.” She said, “Yeah, I am!”

After her 3.828-second elapsed time at 317.94 mph on the 1,000-foot course held fast Saturday as the No. 1 qualifying effort for Sunday’s eliminations, Brittany Force loved the sport even more. She will lead the Top Fuel field for the second time in three races and face Chris Karamesines as she kicks off her quest for a first victory on Fathers Day.

“I’m thinking that Bojangles sent us luck this weekend,” she said. “Going in, we’re more aggressive. We’re pumped up. We’re motivated. We just have that extra spark because we are No. 1.”

She ran a 3.874-second, 316.60-mph pass in her last chance to settle on a race-day strategy, and she said she was satisfied with that.

“An .87 – that’s good out here on this track,” Force said. “It feels a little slow to me in the car, but when I got to the end and they said I was still No. 1 and we had a good run, I was definitely excited. And I’m ready for race day. It was hot today, and I’m guessing temperatures will be the same tomorrow. We made three pretty good passes.”

It wasn’t until she met with reporters after the final qualifying session that she learned she drew the 80-something Karamesines as first-round opponent.

“That’s pretty awesome, just to be able to say I can run in the lane next to him. It’ll be a good show for the fans, I’m hoping,” Force said.

She said to earn her career-first victory at Bristol, which she called “one of my favorite tracks by far,” on Fathers Day “would be the ultimate Fathers Day present to my dad.” Dad is 16-time Funny Car champion John Force.

TORRENCE REBOUNDS - Usually Steve Torrence doesn’t start a Top Fuel qualifying session, but he was the first one out in Saturday’s first session and posted a 3.906-second elapsed time. Like everyone else in the class, Torrence lost a Friday night session to a rain and lightning storm. And the Capco Contractors Dragster owner-driver was unable to make a first-session pass because the team discovered when the car was in the water box that it had no oil in the motor.

Compounding the aggravation was the fact that they squandered time. Had they known of the oil problem earlier, they could have used the 20 or so minutes the Safety Safari spent in cleaning up Richie Crampton’s oildown and nearly 10 more minutes officials took to sort out the scoreboard glitch that cost Tony Schumacher credit for his lone run.

“He reacted as professional as a young Top Fuel owner-driver would react,” crew member Bobby Lagana said with a twinkle in his eye.

Torrence took the attitude that Saturday was another day entirely.

“These Capco guys dug deep,” Torrence said after getting his first run of the weekend under his belt. “It’s frustrating as heck when you work this hard and don’t get to make a run. But the Capco guys came back and got their heads right.”

He said the track was “greasy” and said, “We’ll do what we can” to secure a strong starting spot for Sunday’s eliminations. He improved with a  3.879, 317.34 that landed him in the No. 6 slot and a first-round battle with No. 11 Bob Vandergriff.

He has some Fathers Day reinforcements with dad Billy Torrence in the family-owned second car grabbing the No. 14 position. Billy Torrence will meet No. 3 Tony Schumacher and his U.S. Army Dragster in the opening round.

ON ME NOW - JR Todd, thrilled to be the fulltime driver of the Kalitta Motorsports/Optima Batteries Dragster, put his excitement in check once again and remained consistent in the No. 2 spot in the order all weekend. He said even before qualifying opened that because he recognizes he has a powerful dragster, he also understands that “it’s on me to perform now.” Todd, who began a substitute stint for Brandon Bernstein at this race last year to help the Morgan Lucas Racing colleague, will go against No. 15 Terry McMillen in the Amalie Oil/UNOH Dragster.

WE MEET AGAIN - Leah Pritchett will face Mac Tools Dragster driver Doug Kalitta for the seventh time in Sunday’s Round 1. Kalitta has a 5-1 record against the Dote Racing Dragster sophomore. As the eighth-quickest qualifier, he’ll have lane choice against No. 9 Pritchett, who was just eight-thousandths of a second slower in qualifying.

SORRY, PAL - Al-Anabi Racing teammates Shawn Langdon and Khalid alBalooshi will square off against each other in the first round Sunday. Langdon leads the career head-to-head series, 5-2.  In 2012, Langdon defeated alBalooshi in the first round at Sonoma, Calif., and alBalooshi defeated Langdon in the semifinals at Reading, Pa.  The winners won their respective races.  In 2013, Langdon defeated alBalooshi in the Winternationals semifinals and won the race, the Houston semifinals, and the Englishtown finals.  This year, alBalooshi defeated Langdon in the second round at Pomona and went onto win the race, and Langdon defeated alBalooshi in the first round at Las Vegas.


OTHER ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS – Antron Brown (No. 4) will race Richie Crampton (13). In a duel between two IHRA champions, Clay Millican in the Parts Plus/Liquid MPG Dragster and Spencer Massey in the Battery Extender Dragster will duke it out. 
 
PAYBACK - Pat Dakin had the lone DNQ among the 17 Top Fuel entrants. He bumped out McMillen in the final session, then McMillen returned the favor in the next pairing.

FUNNY CAR

D-E-L AND D-H-L DELIVER – Friday evening was an awesome experience for Del Worsham and his DHL team. They ran 3.992 seconds at 319.45 miles per hour to claim the No. 1 qualifying position this season, their second of 2014 and the 15th of Worsham’s career.

Saturday was a different day.

“It wasn’t our best day,” admitted Worsham, who also qualified No. 1 last season. “The first run, it was running really well but just spun the tires. The second was definitely mechanical problems. I’m glad we got those out of the way.”

During Sunday’s first round of eliminations, Worsham races former teammate Jeff Arend. Arend pulled out of the lanes during the final qualifying session.

“I guess he kind of chose who he wanted to run,” said Worsham. “It will be a great race.”


BRISTOL MEMORIES – Worsham has many memories he categorizes as great from the facility formerly known as Thunder Valley.

When the track was Thunder Valley in 1992 he captured the IHRA Funny Car crown. He considered the facility to be as unique as the former Orange County International Raceway.

Worsham remembered his 2003 win; a title won one event after a stinging loss to Tony Pedregon.

“I have been drawing on my memory bank of each race I have been at this season,” admitted Worsham.

Not all memories are great, however.

“I remember the 2000 No-Bull Showdown when I crashed the week before, and in doing so bit my tongue pretty bad,” said Worsham. “My wife thought I was crazy for coming to race, But, I handled it … I’d spray my tongue with Chloraseptic and then drink a beer. That’s the only way I could get it down.”

WE HAVE HISTORY – The Head Family, father Jim and son Chad, love racing their Toyota at Bristol Dragway.

The Heads hold a special allegiance to the Tennessee track extending from their long-standing friendship with the late Jeff Byrd, track president, and before that, his time with R.J. Reynolds and the Winston series sponsorship, when the senior Head was an ace Funny Car and Top Fuel driver.

“Our whole family feels right at home in Bristol and all that’s from what our friend, Jeff Byrd did for us,” said Chad Head.  “We really miss him, but his memory will live long at this track for all he did for drag racing.  That’s incentive enough for us to run well this weekend.  We always have fun there and it’s great seeing friends again.”


ONCE A SKOAL BANDIT, ALWAYS A SKOAL BANDIT – NASCAR legend Harry Gant was in town supporting his favorite drag racer – Ron Capps. This marks Gant’s seventh time witnessing NHRA qualifying but for the first time he will hang around to watch final eliminations.

LOOKING FOR FIVE – If Robert Hight can resume his winning ways, he can equal his best career win total of five with a second victory at the Ford Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals this weekend.

Hight has been dominant this season with a string of six consecutive final round appearances so far this season and only one first round loss. Over that stretch of six races he picked up four wins including three in a row. Hight has parlayed his early success into a commanding lead in the Mello Yello point standings.

“We have gotten off to fast starts before but we didn’t finish. This season is all about focus and finishing strong. I have a great crew chief in Mike Neff along with the other JFR crew chiefs and we are racing smart. I have a lot of confidence and we are just racing as hard as the track allows us. We lost our final round streak in Englishtown but that just means we have to start another streak in Bristol,” said Hight, a 33-time national event winner.


MONEY TALKS - In the business world, money talks and other stuff walks. This is why Tim Wilkerson decided to walk away from his final qualifying opportunity.

"That was just a budget decision, because as far as I could figure we would just be wasting some precious dollars by running it down there in the last session," Wilk said. "We ran a 4.22 in Q3, and we got it down there when a lot of teams were smoking the tires, and to be honest I couldn't justify going out there and maybe spinning the tires and tearing a bunch of junk up.

"We'll get all of our stuff shined up and bolted together right, and we'll be ready to go on Sunday. Bob is a friend and we worked together a long time in an alliance, so I hate having to race him but we both will go at it the same way. It's time to go some rounds, and that's all I'm really thinking about right now. Race the lane, race the track, get there first."


A RARE WEEKEND OFF – When a full-time racer on the NHRA Mello Yello tour has a weekend off in the middle of a six-race swing, what do they do with the time off? If they’re Ron Capps they go drag racing.

Capps competed in a Nostalgia Funny Car match-race last Friday outside of Indianapolis, and while it might seem like an odd way for him to spend one of only two off weekends within a 12-week span in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, it makes perfect sense to him.

"Driving what I get to drive away from the Mello Yello Series always helps me," said the resident of Carlsbad, Calif. "Luckily I've got a great owner like Don Schumacher who always has allowed me to venture out to race other things. He's aware those experiences can only make you a better driver.

"It definitely helps me because you get a better sense of listening to the engine and what it's doing. Driving different cars expands your horizons and there's nothing like seat time and experience regardless of what it's in."

Capps beat Cruz Pedregon on both runs at Lucas Oil Raceway during the event.

IT’S NOT HOW YOU START … - Matt Hagan opened the season with a profound statement in reaching the final round of the NHRA Winternationals. Ever since then he hasn’t presented the same kind of message.

Hagan has only advanced past the quarterfinals once (Atlanta in May). and sits 10th in Funny Car points standings with eight events remaining before the Countdown.  

"It's just been a rough season for not only us but all of the DSR Funny Cars," he said of DSR's Funny Cars that have yet to reach the winner's circle after winning 12 of 24 event titles in 2013 including five by Matt. "I'd love to be the first one to get that win for our camp and do it right here at home in front of everyone."

PRO STOCK

SHANE GRAY GETS FIRST NO. 1 QUALIFIER - Shane Gray can mark one more elusive item off of his list, thanks to a Bristol Dragway track record.

In one fell swoop, the multi-time national event winner scored his first career low elapsed time and No. 1 by running 6.621 seconds at 208.79 during the final Pro Stock qualifying session at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

“We are going to live for it today,” Gray said in a post-qualifying press conference. “We’ll worry about tomorrow when tomorrow gets here. I’ve never been No. 1 qualifier nor have I ever had a track record before.”

Heading into Sunday’s eliminations, Gray received special counsel from some of Pro Stock’s veterans.

“They tell you to keep out of a slump or to keep from struggling, don’t worry about the race at hand and just have fun,” Gray explained. “Just let it take care of itself and that’s what I am doing.”

Just getting to the top of the qualifying list was a challenge for Gray, who ran his best time in the worst conditions and on a 131-degree racing surface. He was just as surprised as anyone when his car ran as quick and fast as it did.

“I was thinking we had run another .63,” said Gray. “The car actually just rattled the tires at the top of low gear. I thought that might have knocked a little out of it. I kind of flickered the bulb as I staged, at the back of the beam. I haven’t looked at the computer but I think it will prove to be a big run.”

All three Gray Motorsports cars are on the same side of the ladder for Sunday’s eliminations with he and younger brother Jonathan Gray potentially meeting in the second round. Sunday is Jonathan’s birthday.

“I’m not going to cut him any slack, he’s got just as good a chance to win as I do,” Gray concluded.

OFF THE GRID - John Gaydosh, with the oldest car in the mix (an ’09 Pontiac GXP) missed the Pro Stock field by .035 seconds. Curt Steinbach held onto the bump spot and had the task of facing top qualifier Shane Gray.

AT THE COPO - Following the previous race in New Jersey, Pro Stock points leader Erica Enders-Stevens visited the Chevrolet Performance shop at Detroit with Elite Motorsports team owner Richard Freeman to take delivery of a COPO Camaro.

"We got to take a tour of the factory and see every step of the production of the COPO Camaro," Enders-Stevens said. "They only produce 69 cars per year, so it's very special, and it's an elite group of people who have a COPO car.

"When we got to the end of the line and pulled the car cover off our Camaro, it was an exciting moment for all of us. I had no idea until that day that I was going to be a part of that program with Richard, and he asked that my name be put on the certificate of authenticity alongside his. That was a surreal moment and really exciting for me. I don't show excitement very much, but that was a pretty amazing moment," she said.

Freeman made sure Enders-Stevens got behind the wheel with a Chevrolet official, and she drove it around the block before doing some burnouts in the parking lot. The plan is for her to drive the car at some NHRA races later this season.

After Detroit, Enders-Stevens went to the Elite shop in Oklahoma before heading home to New Orleans before heading here.

SEEING MISSION CLEARLY - Lucas Oil Ford Mustang driver Larry Morgan will set his sights on knocking out No. 3 qualifier Erica Enders-Stevens in Round 1 Sunday, less than a week after doctors cleaned under the lens of his left eye to help clear his vision.

"I've had an issue with my eye," Morgan said. "There's something that keeps messing it up and they keep trying to clean it. They lift your lens up and scrape underneath it."

Morgan has ditched the eye patch he wore following the procedure but not his competitive sense. He even has had to battle the track here.

"It's tricky," the No. 14 starter, said. "They've got a tunnel that runs underneath of it, and our cars don't like going over that. That's the only trouble with it. I like Bristol, and I like all of Bruton's tracks because he sure attracts a lot of people."

WHO FACES WHOM – No. 2 Jeg Coughlin Jr. is matched against No. 15 Kenny Delco in the opening round of eliminations, and No. 4 Jason Line will race No. 13 V Gaines. Other pairings include Jonathan Gray (8) vs. Chris McGaha (9), hometown favorite Allen Johnson (5) vs. Dave Connolly (12), Vincent Nobile (7) vs. Shane Tucker (12), and Rodger Brogdon (6) vs. Greg Anderson (11).

 

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -

TOP FUEL

RAIN WORKS IN FORCE’S FAVOR IN TOP FUEL QUALIFYING - Brittany Force doesn’t have the provisional Top Fuel No. 1 qualifying spot in hand yet at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Tennessee’s Bristol Dragway.

But the sophomore driver of the Castrol EDGE Dragster won’t forget her Friday night here.

In a whirlwind of confusion, lightning, rain, and finally “reign,” Force leads the field with two more qualifying sessions scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Her 3.828-second elapsed time at 317.94 mph on the 1,000-foot course didn’t come with the fanfare that a typical low-E.T. would command. She was in the left lane, alongside Tony Schumacher. And as they ran almost neck-and-neck, Schumacher’s scoreboard flashed an eye-popping elapsed time of 3.676 seconds at a believable speed of 330.47 mph in the U.S. Army Dragster.

It turned out his E.T. was incredible, literally: not credible. His speed was valid because the speed clock functions independently of the E.T. clock.

Officials tossed Schumacher’s time, which, of course, left him with no time for what appeared to be one of the best runs of the day. The time clock malfunctioned because of debris that fell into the censor – debris in the infrared staging beam. That, in turn, caused the clock to start late. Schumacher’s incremental times all the way down the 1,000-foot course were suspect, but Force said she didn’t quite believe it, either.

“I didn’t see him out there way ahead of me,” she said. “It felt like he was either right next to me or maybe behind me. So when I got out at the other end and they said that he ran a number like that, I was like, ‘Really?! That’s insane – because he would have been way out in front of me.’ ”

Nevertheless, she showed exemplary sportsmanship and went over and congratulated Schumacher. She said later, “He kind of seemed thrown back by it all. It’s unfortunate that his run got thrown out, but sometimes that’s just how the game goes.”

The funny thing is that she didn’t think her own run was strong enough for No. 1, either.

“Honestly I didn’t feel like it was going to be a great run,” Force said. “When I hopped out at the other end and they told me I was No. 1, I was shocked. I was surprised.

“It dropped some holes on the run. Down there at 700-800 feet, I felt it was shaking. And I didn’t know if it was going to go up in tire smoke,” she said. “But it hung in there and went all the way through to 1,000 foot and ran an .82, so I was happy about that.”

She said her Castrol EDGE team, headed by crew chief Todd Smith and assistant tuner Dean “Guido” Antonelli, “is pumped.”

Conditions improved before lightning forced evacuation of the grandstands, a rainstorm followed, and the rest of the evening’s racing was canceled in the middle of the Funny Car session.

Force said she had been eager to see what she might be able to coax from her car.

“I was anxious to get up here and run, especially since they said the rain was coming,” she said.

“Always our first run is where we settle in and figure out what’s going on. And we always improve from there. So I was really anxious to get up here and make a run, but we didn’t even make it all the way up here before we had to turn back around. So I was bummed about that,” Force said.

“It’s unfortunate with the rain. We were hoping to get another run in. But we might not be [in this position] if that were the case. So I’m excited we’re No. 1,” she said. “We get two more tomorrow. We’re hoping we can improve and stay in the top half of the field.”

If she can maintain the lead, she’ll have her second top spot of the season and second since the late May Topeka race – so it would be the second in three races.   

LITERALLY INCREDIBLE – Tony Schumacher blasted down the right lane in Friday’s opening qualifying session, and the scoreboard flashed an elapsed time of 3.676 seconds at a speed of 330.47 mph in the U.S. Army Dragster. That E.T. seemed incredible because indeed it was: not credible. His speed was valid, because the speed clock functions independently of the E.T. clock. Officials tossed Schumacher’s time, which, of course, left him with no time for what appeared to be one of the best runs of the day. The time clock malfunctioned because of debris that fell into the sensor – debris in the infrared staging beam. That, in turn, caused the clock to start late. Schumacher’s incremental times all the way down the 1,000-foot course were suspect. In the opposite lane, Brittany Force took the early provisional lead with a 3.828-second, 317.94-mph pass in the Castrol EDGE Dragster.

NOT ACCORDING TO SCRIPT - Billy Torrence returned to NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series action in the second Capco Contractors Dragster this Father’s Day weekend, joining NHRA-regular son Steve and calling himself “the test dummy for a couple of deals they’re doing.” The elder Torrence said, “That’s really the only reason for me to be out here, other than it’s just fun.” He qualified 14th in the first session Friday, but he had more fun than Steve Torrence did. Team owner Steve’s car encountered some sort of mechanical problem even before it was time to fire it up. As he and Khalid alBalooshi waited for the go-ahead following Tony Schumacher’s clock error, Steve Torrence exited his car and it was towed away from the starting line.   

Billy Torrence, who competed as his son’s teammate at last year’s U.S. Nationals and throughout the six-race Countdown, indicated he especially wanted to race at Bristol because Steve won this race last year.

“It’s a special relationship we have, and we enjoy racing together,” Billy Torrence said.  “I always love to go and race with Steve. That little stint of racing I did with him last year, I had a great time.  I hope I can get out there and do some good for the team. I’m just an old drag racer. We had three dragstrips within 45 minutes of the house [in the Longview-Kilgore, Texas, area], and we had ol’ street cars.  We’d work on ‘em all week and tear ‘em up again on Saturday night.”

PARTS PLUS . . . PLUS - Parts Plus/Liquid MPG Dragster driver Clay Millican has some famous faces in his pit.

“We brought in Jimbo Ermalovich. He has come in here to try to help us eliminate some of our mistakes,” Millican said of the longtime tuner who used to prep Funny Cars for such notables as Al Hofmann and Scotty Cannon. “He came in this last week, and we went over each and every little thing on the car we can go through. He’s car chief. He’ll be here the rest of the year. He’ll miss two races, because he had agreed to be crew chief on two cars [including Ike Maier’s]. I’ve known Jimbo forever. He’s been out here a long time.

“We’ve also got another celebrity crew chief / tuner, Nicky Boninfante Sr. He’s been in the lounge with Jimmy [crew chief Walsh], looking at the computer. He was at Englishtown with us. He’ll be at Epping,” Millican said. Moreover, he said Boninfante brought with him a gentleman known only to him as “Mouse.” He’s Pat Walsh, Jimmy Walsh’s older brother, who drove the U.S. Male cars in the 1960s.  “We’re trying to make this thing go,” Millican said. “We’ve got a lot of good eyeballs on it. That’s what makes it go.”

JUST TO CLARIFY – Tennessee native Clay Millican this weekend is on home turf  . . . sort of. He lives in West Tennessee, in Drummonds, where he grew up, and that’s almost precisely 500 scenic miles by automobile from Bristol Dragway. And Drummonds is close enough to the Mississippi River that Millican has had his share of flood damage in a couple of separate instances.

“People always call me a hillbilly,” Millican said. “Well, the truth is I’m really more of a river rat.”

Another racer who was called a lot of names in his day was “Big Daddy” Don Garlits. And Millican and Garlits have a little bit of history together. It started June 11, 1967, here at Bristol. That’s when Garlits failed to qualify for a second straight national event – in an era when national events were far fewer. Aggravated at the two DNQs and the fact his rivals were running elapsed times consistently in the six-second range, he promised not to shave his beard until he was able to clock a six-second time, too.

By the 1967 U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Labor Day weekend, Garlits had a full beard – and a brand-new race car. He recorded low 7.06 and 7.03-second times to win early rounds over Mike Sorokin and Tom McEwen. Then, paired with legendary West Coast match racer James Warren, who had already had run a 6.94-second time earlier in the day, Garlits won the sport’s premier race with a 6.77-second E.T. at more than 220 mph. Garlits conducted his winners-circle interview with ABC Wide World of Sports pit reporter Bill Flemming, then climbed atop his tow vehicle, pulled out shaving cream and a razor with a cheering mob of fans gathered around him.

“It was a magical moment, a magical run,” Garlits has said. “It was way better than winning my first Indy title in 1964. Getting the chance to prove to everybody that I wasn’t washed up made it my biggest win ever.”

This Labor Day weekend, as part of the 60th edition of the U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Garlits will re-enact that scene. He vowed June11, 2014, to begin growing a beard that he’ll shave in front of fans Sunday, Aug. 31st, along with a special 45-minute presentation that all Sunday ticket holders can be part of. The NHRA is encouraging fans to do the same and avoid shaving or cutting their hair until the 60th anniversary Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals.  Fans are encouraged to show their progress and post pictures on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using #GrowLikeGarlits.  At the event, barbers and hairdressers will be on site to give shaves and haircuts, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity.

So where does Millican come in to this story? The six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion used the 2003 Bethesda Softworks Northern Nationals at Martin, Mich., to break Garlits’ 24-year-old record as that sanctioning body’s most successful driver. Garlits won 25 times in IHRA competition between 1972 and 1979, and that victory gave Millican his 26th. Millican closed his IHRA career with 51 victories and remains No. 1 on its career victories list.  

He didn’t grow a beard, but he said his Team Werner/Lehman Racing crew could shave his head if he passed Garlits’ mark. He did, so the crew did – led by team owner Peter Lehman.

Millican saw a picture (and article from Drag Review Magazine) of that bald-faced truth here Friday before qualifying started. And he marveled at how relevant that is today, considering Garlits’ willingness to re-enact the iconic 1967 moment.

“I think anything that somebody that has done all he’s done -- and he’s 82 years old – is incredible. He’s the greatest drag racer of all time,” Millican said. “I’ve been keeping up on You Tube with his electric dragster outings, and I think that’s just awesome. He’s still one of my heroes. I don’t care how many years I’ve been doing this, anytime I see him, I try to go up and shake his hand, hug his neck. For him to still be out here doing it, that’s great. I just hope I can be somewhere close to that when I’m 82.”

GETTING IN SYNC - ‘Manageable’ seems to be the operative word right now for current Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon, who’s extra-motivated this weekend to earn his first victory of 2014.

“The Al-Anabi car is turning the corner. We have a lot better race car than we had at the beginning of the season. We’re qualifying well and starting to see a little bit better results on Sunday,” Langdon said.  

He has qualified in the top four positions at seven of the nine races so far, and he advanced to the final rounds at Charlotte and Topeka. He also has two semifinal appearances in the past five races.

“With the tune-up, we’ve reached the point where we feel we have a car that can win on any given Sunday.  We have a manageable race car and a manageable tune-up,” Langdon said before qualifying began Friday.  “So it’s up to us as a team to make the right calls on Sunday and try to get that first win of the season. Every time we pull into the racetrack, we know we have a great car. In the beginning of the year, the Al-Anabi car would run well, but it wasn’t really manageable.  

“We felt like we were making the right calls, but the car wasn’t responding to our changes.  Now the Al-Anabi car is responding to what we’re doing, but after some of the Sunday runs in hindsight, we might have missed the call by a fraction or two.  We’re getting in sync with the car, the driver is getting in sync with everything. It’s just a matter of putting it all together on race day. We’ve been really close. At the last couple of races, one little tweak here or there, and we would have had it.”

Langdon said, “We all want to get our first win of the season really badly, and now there’s only one more automatic spot in the Traxxas Shootout before it goes to a fan vote. So we really want to win and get that last spot. It’s for $100,000, and it’s a big race, especially since we won it last year. We really want to get back in it, and we have an opportunity. We just need a shot. That’s all we need. It might add a little more pressure on us, and I can’t think of a better place to do it than Bristol. Bristol is probably my favorite track on the Mello Yello tour. It’s a great racetrack at a great facility. I just enjoy racing here in the mountains.
 
HOPE TO SHOUT - Spencer Massey, top qualifier and runner-up to Steve Torrence here last season, certainly hasn’t guaranteed a victory this time around. But he did make one bold statement regarding Thunder Valley: "If we win, the echo of me cheering at the top end might be as loud as two Top Fuel dragsters. It's such a unique track. The sound is unlike anything you hear anywhere else, because it sits in a valley.”

The driver of Don Schumacher’s Battery Extender Dragster said, “We always seem to go rounds there. We need to get our car more consistent and just pick up round-wins. It was a great race for us [last year] and really kind of helped us pick up that momentum that's so important."

He’s fourth in the standings, with victories at two of the past three races, and he said his aim is to "start off this four-race swing with a win in Bristol.” Massey thrives on those spans in which the NHRA races in consecutive weekends, and when the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is idle he isn’t – he’s usually at a racetrack somewhere, usually in his home state of Texas, helping friends race in sportsman classes.

This event opens a four-week run that snakes from Bristol through New England and the Midwest at Epping, N.H.; Joliet, Ill.; and Norwalk, Ohio before a break and then the Western Swing. And that suits Massey just fine.

"This is truly the best time of the year," he said. "I couldn't tell you the last time I had a day off, and it's great. I think I've been at a racetrack every weekend since our season started in Pomona.

We're starting off four in a row, and I don't think it gets any better than that. First of all, I love going to Bristol. It's really cool. On top of that, the fans are always so great. They're true race fans, and they love it."

HAPPY 239TH - Tony Schumacher doesn’t celebrate his birthday this weekend – he does that Christmas Day – but he’ll help his 14-year sponsor, the U.S. Army, celebrate its 239th birthday and its “239 Years of Our Profession” theme. He and dad/team owner Don Schumacher will be among the dignitaries taking part in a ceremonial, sword-brandishing cake-cutting near the starting line just before Saturday afternoon’s first (and third overall) qualifying session.

Tony Schumacher and the Mike Green-led U.S. Army Dragster team owns the most Top Fuel titles at Bristol Dragway -- five in the past 10 years (2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012). Schumacher also was the Bristol runner-up to Doug Kalitta in 2001 and was fast qualifier in three times (2004, 2007, 2008).

“Everybody seems to have tracks where they are good and, fortunately, Bristol is one of those for the U.S. Army team,” the 73-time winner who’s seventh in the standings said. “There is some altitude to deal with there, but mostly it’s just that I love Thunder Valley. I always go into that race feeling successful.”
 
His longtime association with the Army only motivates him more, he said: “I’ve said it before many times, but I feel like I’m living the dream. I get to drive the baddest car there is and do it with an incredible group of guys and represent the Army soldiers. The strength of our nation is our Army, and the strength of the soldiers is our families. This is what makes us ‘Army Strong’ every day of the year.”

MANUFACTURER RULES - This is Ford’s weekend to shine as sponsors of this 10th event of the season, but Toyota-backed dragsters have won five of the previous nine races. Khalid alBalooshi opened with a victory at Pomona in the Al-Anabi Racing Dragster, Antron Brown won three times in the Matco Tools entry, and Morgan Lucas Racing’s Richie Crampton drove the GEICO/Lucas Oil car to the most recent winners circle.

READY TO REVERSE TEAM’S BRISTOL SHOWING - Richie Crampton called Bristol Dragway “one of my favorite racetracks to visit and the fans are so great,” but one thing is dogging him a bit: “Morgan Lucas Racing traditionally hasn't run very well here.” But the most recent winner and newest entrant in the $100-grand-to-win Traxxas Shootout said, “It’s exciting to go there with a great-running race car. We hope to do better than we have in the past and keep the ball rolling."

Crampton’s victory in New Jersey, in just nine tries, made him the quickest first-time winner among current NHRA Top Fuel racers. In comparison, Spencer Massey won his 11th race and Doug Kalitta his 13th.   Series champions Tony Schumacher and Shawn Langdon didn’t win until their fourth seasons in the series.

"It's been such a whirlwind," Crampton said. "We celebrated there at the racetrack before we had to head right to the airport to fly home to Indianapolis Sunday night. There's a lot of stuff going on at the shop with work, so I haven't really had a lot of time to sit down and really soak it in and let the fact that I am No. 100 on the all-time list of winners in Top Fuel soak in yet."

He said an afternoon drive around the Indianapolis area last weekend with father Alan, who was visiting from Australia, finally put it in perspective: "Over the course of the weekend, we had some spare time to relax, so I had some time to think about things. I went and looked at the list of 100 drivers, and it's pretty awesome to see my name at No. 100 following so many great names and legends on that list, like Don Garlits and Don Prudhomme and all the Kalittas. It's a great feeling."
 
PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE . . .  - Antron Brown has three victories in nine races this year but hasn’t made it past the first round at the past two events. But he has some fresh ammunition as he seeks a better showing and that elusive first career victory at Bristol.

“We’re going to Bristol with some new ‘pipe,’ and that streak will come to an end,” he said. “Of course, by ‘pipe’ I mean our new Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster, which will be better than the one we started the year with -- and that one was pretty fast.”

Brown lost his primary car in a May 16 crash at Atlanta in which he was not injured.

“Last weekend was an off weekend on our schedule, but it wasn’t a weekend off for everybody, because we had to get our new car together,” said Brown, with kudos to the crew that Brian Corradi, Mark Oswald, and Brad Mason lead. “That gives us two good cars heading to the meat of the schedule. We needed to get everything back to normal so we can go back to hitting it hard the way we like to. We went to the championship round in 2011 at Bristol but haven’t sealed the deal, yet. And ‘yet’ is the main word.”

Brown’s Bristol resume includes two No. 1 starts (2010, 2012). He also came within 15- thousandths of a second of beating Larry Dixon in the 2011 final. Brown remains second to Doug Kalitta in the Top Fuel standings.

Like Tony Schumacher, he’ll share in the Army’s birthday bash Saturday. “I’ve been proud to help represent the U.S. Army for a long time, dating back to my Pro Stock Motorcycle days. It has always played a huge part in our drive to be successful.”

FUNNY CAR

MOTHER NATURE GIVES DEL WORSHAM A PASS EN ROUTE TO NO. 1 - Sometimes rain can be your mortal enemy and sometimes it can be your friend. Friday Night at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol, Tenn., Del Worsham ended up on the good side of Mother Nature.

With three pairs left to run in the final Friday Funny Car session, the skies above Bristol Dragway opened up with lightning and eventually rain. For Worsham, it worked in his favor as moments earlier he’d set a new track record 3.992 elapsed time at 319 miles per hour to edge Tim Wilkerson’s 4.013.

“It’s good to be No. 1 but it’s bittersweet knowing a few guys didn’t get a shot at it,” said Worsham. “That run could have been beaten but that was a tough run in that altitude. That was a great run.”

Worsham, a two-time Bristol winner, remembers the time Mother Nature was not his friend in qualifying. The memories of the 2002 NHRA Mopar Mile Nationals remains solidly etched in his mind.

“My cars were qualified No. 1 and 2 [headed into the final session] and everyone got to run and we were the last pair,” explained Worsham. “The rains came and we got bumped to the bottom half of the field and hurt as bad on race day.”

Worsham admits his Friday run was a bit misleading in the area where he can best read a race car – the seat of his pants.

“To be honest the car ran so smooth, I didn’t think it ran that good,” said Worsham. “The other three-second runs, something always happened whether it was shaking the tires a little bit or something happened to throw me off. That run went straight down the right lane and it was clean and smooth. I cleared the traps and missed the scoreboards, not seeing what I ran. When I got out down there and Joe said I ran a 3.99, at first I didn’t believe him. I thought he was messing with me but it was a great run.”

The great run was the continuation of good mojo from last year’s event where the former Top Fuel series champion led the pack into race day as the No. 1 seed.

“We all talked about coming here and running that 4.00 last year and it was our best run of the year,” said Worsham. “To come back here and do it again was amazing. We’ve made some three-second runs this year but to come here and do it at Bristol, at this track, with these fans, is pretty exciting.”

Worsham admitted they had a good baseline to draw from for the No. 1 run.

“The first run was pretty good and I shut it off early,” Worsham admitted. “We thought we had a problem so it was kind of a check out run. The crew chiefs decided they would go for a great run. We pulled up the Englishtown run book and kind of went after it.”

By Worsham’s admission, Colin Kalitta, the younger of the two Kalitta sons, will get the Wally trophy if Worsham wins.

“Even though he works on JR’s [Todd] team,” Worsham added with a smile.

BLAME IT ON THE RAIN – Six Funny Cars remained in line during Friday’s final Funny Car session when the skies opened first with lightning and then rain. Mother Nature doomed the hopes of six Funny car drivers but blessed the efforts of one.

Del Worsham ended up on the good side of Mother Nature with a new track record 3.992 elapsed time at 319 miles per hour to edge Tim Wilkerson’s 4.013.

“It’s good to be No. 1 but it’s bittersweet knowing a few guys didn’t get a shot at it,” said Worsham. “That run could have been beaten but that was a tough run in that altitude. That was a great run.”

Worsham was surprised with the performance of his DHL Funny Car.

“To be honest the car ran so smooth, I didn’t think it ran that good,” said Worsham. “The other three-second runs, something always happened whether it was shaking the tires a little bit or something happened to throw me off. That run went straight down the right lane and it was clean and smooth. I cleared the traps and missed the scoreboards, not seeing what I ran. When I got out down there and Joe said I ran a 3.99, at first I didn’t believe him. I thought he was messing with me but it was a great run.”

SOCREBOARD DON’T LIE – And it didn’t for Tim Wilkerson, as he laid down a solid 4.013 at 317.72 mph which was trumped by Worsham two pairs later. Lightning enabled him to maintain his spot in the field.

"Just like we drew it up, I guess," Wilkerson said. "Seriously, you want to come out and make a good solid lap in Q1 so that you can have the best shot at it in Q2, and we managed to do that, so good job by my guys. The fans here in Bristol are just great, and the atmosphere is fantastic for racing, so it was good all the way around.

"We got back here after the run and saw the bolt of lightning, but at the time it wasn't even raining so I still figured there'd be more racing. Then it started to drizzle and one look at radar let you know we probably weren't going to get any more qualifying in. I don't know where a 4.01 would've ended up if everybody had run, but I know where it ranks in my all-time runs, so how can you not be happy with that? We're very happy."

HEADERS DO HAVE A SHELF LIFE – This is a valuable lesson learned by Chad Head during Friday’s first session. As he neared the finish line, his right side header came apart and drove his Toyota Funny Car to the right.

“It was it’s time to give up and it gave up,” Head said. “It shot right, I lifted and it was all fine. At the bend, all four pipes just blew off. I don’t know, I’m not an expert - just try and keep the car straight.”

EARLY LEADER - Robert Hight was No. 1 after the first session with a strong 4.074 second pass at 315.27 mph.

“We wanted to get another run in but we totally understand safety comes first. There was lightning all over the place and then when it started raining we knew it was a long shot to get a second run. I am happy with how well we ran in the first session and that is closer to race day conditions. We got three bonus points and we will be ready to hit it again tomorrow,” said Hight.

Eventually Hight settled into the provisional No. 4 spot.

FOLLOWING DAD’S LEAD – Growing up in Ottumwa, Iowa, Tommy Johnson Sr. and wife Sarah demanded their son Tommy focus on school work and get good grades if he wished to race, and the motivation was a useful tool. In fact, it was so useful that Johnson took a page from the Johnson Family Rule Book to inspire his young nephew, Gage, earlier this year.
 
"Gage was struggling a little bit in school, and I told him that if he brought his grades up he could be part of our Make-A-Wish team in Charlotte at the Four-Wide Nationals," said Johnson. "It worked. Gage brought his grades up and I followed through on my part of the bargain. He was a great help for us, and a motivator for the whole team in Charlotte, so I told him that if he kept those grades up, he would get to come on the road with us this summer. Looks like that's going to happen, and I couldn't be more proud of him."
 
Young Gage – whose mother, Wendy, was the youngest female NHRA national event winner when she earned the Super Comp victory in 1992 at the Kansas Nationals in Topeka at the age of 17 – will join the team again for the races in Chicago and Norwalk later this month and in the early part of July.
 
"That motivation my dad used back then still seems to work today," said Johnson.
 
ON THE RIGHT TRACK – Since making changes to his tuning personnel, Bob Tasca III believes his team is getting a handle on the Motorcraft Funny Car.

“We know that we’ve made progress,” said owner/driver Bob Tasca III. “We know that we have a better car than we’ve had. We just don’t have anything to show for it. We need to start winning rounds. That’s the bottom line. One race win and we’re in a whole different situation than we’re in right now. But we need that win and we need it soon.”

Tasca had gone nearly two months without an elimination round win before scoring a victory in round one at Topeka, which pointed in the direction of progress. Another smoking-tires first-round exit in Englishtown had him scratching his head a bit.

“I don’t know why we smoked the tires,” he said. “It just did it. The engine was happy and the cylinder temperatures were good. We just lost traction at 20 feet,” said Tasca. “That which doesn’t break you makes you stronger. This team won’t be broken down. We’ll fight to the end and I’m very optimistic that when we turn that corner we’ll go on a good run.”

PRO STOCK

WILL IT HOLD? - Second-generation driver Shane Gray will enter Saturday’s qualifying on the cusp of his first career No. 1 qualifying effort.

“I’m real thrilled for the program my dad has put together for us,” said Gray. “He’s definitely assembled all the right people.”

Gray stopped the Bristol Dragway timers in 6.644 seconds at 207.88 miles per hour during the second session.

The run came in the worst of the two sessions offered on Friday.

“I wish we could have made that run earlier,” Gray admitted. “We’d have been a little further ahead. I don’t know if the run will hold because we run at 12:30 tomorrow. Plus there are ten cars that can run just as fast, if not faster out there.

“It’s tough. I’ve been racing Pro Stock since 2010 and I’ve never seen it as tough as it is out here today. By far it is the toughest it’s ever been. If we get some cloud cover tomorrow you have several Chevy Camaros that can do it.”

Gray’s run edged local favorite Allen Johnson [6.657] and Jeg Coughlin Jr. [6.657].

REPPING THE FAM - Gray is wearing familiar colors on his Chevrolet Camaro as it is adorned in white with complementing black stripes. A Gray Manufacturing Technologies is on the side.
 
"I'm sure grateful for all of the partners we have this season, and now I'm excited to get back into the car with a white paint scheme that looks a whole heck of a lot like what we had last season," said Gray. "It's just a very familiar feeling for the Gray Motorsports team; 2013 was a great year for us, and we've had some success this year but not quite as much as we plan to have. I think it would be real special to come out there with a new look and make a big statement."
 
Thus far Gray has reached the final round at the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte and finished in the semifinals twice. He has won at least one round of competition at each race he has contested and has qualified in the top half of the field at each of the first nine races of the season. For the last three events, Gray has qualified in the No. 3 position.
 
"That's real nice, but I think it's time to break out of that pattern and move up a little bit," said the second-generation driver who credits his father, drag racing veteran Johnny Gray, for the passion to succeed on the drag strip. "We've been testing this week leading up to the race in Bristol and the guys are ready for it. It could be a very eventful weekend."

ON THE BUBBLE – Greg Anderson, who continues to fight his way into championship contention after missing the first five events of 2014, sits in the No. 12 spot with a 6.693 elapsed time.

TEMPORARY TURNAROUND - Rodger Brogdon will always remember last season’s Bristol win for both good and bad reasons. The victory marked his first career Pro Stock victory and also marked the start of the mother of all slumps. Brogdon spent 20 races without winning a single round of competition following the triumphant occasion.

Brogdon seems to have cured his ills, at least temporarily, though a leased engine from Elite Motorsports. The leased engine helped him to win first round in Atlanta and he added to the success with a semifinal appearance in Englishtown.

“Yeah, I believe we have (turned the corner),” Brogdon said. “We were fortunate enough to use engines from Elite Motorsports for three races because we figured we were down on horsepower a little bit, and we were right. Our engine guys could have gone one of two ways: They could have been upset that we went that direction or they could have been revitalized. We think they've been revitalized and they're ready to show it at Bristol.”

TO LEASE OR NOT TO LEASE IS THE QUESTION – At least this weekend, Brogdon has the answer. Brogdon said the time off from producing the engines for his Camaro Pro Stock helped the in-house engine to make gains.

If not for the gains, Brogdon said he wouldn’t be racing this weekend as the defending event champion.

“We have made some gains, and the engine we have in the car is new,” said Brogdon. “It’s about 15 (horsepower) better than the engine Steve Kent ran in Topeka. Steve never ran really good there but he did run some really good speeds.”

Brogdon figures 7.5 horsepower is equal to .01 of a second in a Pro Stock. The way he sees it, a good run from Kent would have put him to within .03 of the No. 1 Pro Stock.

“We were planning to step out six to eight races but the guys at the shop were headed down a certain path,” said Brogdon. “In order for them to know they were headed in the right direction and for them to pursue it they needed for me to come out and run it.”

Brogdon believes his team has one of the better budgets in the class, but the results didn’t equal the cost.

“Then you throw another $40,000 to $50,000 into a lease per race, it puts a strain on anyone’s budget,” said Brogdon. “It’s my job as a partner with Steve, to keep spending under control. We can’t build our own engines, incur the expense of the shop and still do this [leasing engines].”

Brogdon said the lease program worked effectively to show his team where they were and how far off of where they should be.

“I basically gave [the engine shop] a blueprint for what we needed to do and where we needed to be,” said Brogdon. “The guys have been working hard.”

Brogdon ended first day qualifying as the eighth quickest with a 6.680 elapsed time, just .04 off of the top spot.

AN UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITY - For Jonathan Gray, becoming a professional drag racer wasn’t a childhood ambition, although he was surrounded by the high horsepower sport.

"Back then I didn't have any idea I would be racing myself one day, but racing is in my blood,” said Gray, the younger of the two Gray brothers racing in NHRA Pro Stock. “It's all I've known for 30 years. I love what I'm doing now. The cars are fun to drive, and it's a good challenge. It keeps you thinking. I doubt I'd be doing this today if dad hadn't been the one who introduced us to it."

Gray is considered a contender for the 2014 NHRA rookie of the year award with a perfect record for qualifying, and even a first round holeshot win in Houston. He’s using testing to continually refine his Pro Stock driving skills.
 
"Based off of the last couple of runs that we made in testing, I definitely feel like we continue to have a good direction for my Gray Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro," Gray concluded.

DADDY DELIVERS - The first three times Jason Line contested Pro Stock on Father's Day, he won the event – 2004, 2005 and 2006 as part of the NHRA SuperNationals, then held in Englishtown.
 
"It's been a long drought since then," Line said. "But to get back to winning on Father's Day would be cool. It would be special to put my Summit Racing Chevy Camaro in the winner's circle for my dad, and it would also be special for me because I'm a dad, too. I have very high hopes going into this weekend, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that this team can accomplish our goals."

AUSSIE’S RETURN – Australian-based Shane Tucker made a return to NHRA competition in Bristol, this time with horsepower from Elite Performance. The team opened the season with their own engine program and took a break before returning this weekend.

Tucker and his team tested last week at Bristol Dragway.

“We did about six laps and we made progress and some steps forward,” said Tucker. “I think we are five runs better than we were when we went into Gainesville.

“We all know Pro Stock is about power and we know the guys at Elite make lots of power. If we can get the car set up around the power, we will be just fine.”

The test session provide a renewed optimism for Tucker.

“I definitely believe we have a team capable of winning a race,” said Tucker. “Our goal when we came back up here was not to make up the numbers. We wanted to have a legitimate chance and we do here.”

ODD MAN OUT – Curt Steinbach, of St. Petersburg, Fla., sits in the No. 17 spot with as many cars entered this weekend.