CSK NATIONALS - EVENT NOTEBOOK
Keep up with this weekend's Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals by reading our behind-the-scenes event notebook. We bring you the stories behind the numbers and win-lights throughout the course of the weekend. Tune in daily for the latest news from the pits.
SUNDAY NOTEBOOK
TOP FUEL
4.4 Flurry -- Brandon Bernstein, lined up against dangerous Doug Kalitta in the opening round, joined a flurry of 4.4-second runs with a career-best 4.457-second elapsed time at 329.67 mph.
"I don't know if I've ever been involved in something that crazy," Troxel said. "The car was all out of shape. I saw Brandon was in trouble. I had to do whatever it took: point it at the wall, point it at the center line. How's that for you Vietnam vets? We got another round-win for you."
Ready for some happy news -- Hillary Will is overdue for an outstanding race day and her first NHRA Top Fuel victory. And she said the upcoming Gatornationals just might be the place where that will happen.
Perseverance pays off -- Capps, agitated even before he made the burnout in his Don Schumacher-owned Brut Dodge, had a crazy first-round run against John Force. Castrol crew chief Austin Coil already had the body on Force's Ford Mustang up following his burnout before Capps was in motion.
pre-stage light.
prided myself on making sure to not make mistakes like that, or at least try my hardest not to, so the guys always count on me and I feel like I let them down.
After you -- Dave Connolly and Kenny Koretsky engaged in a staging duel, triggering a string of three such incidents that opened Pro Stock eliminations.
Get well, Roy Johnson -- Roy Johnson, father and co-crew chief of veteran Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson, is expected to stay for a few more days at Chandler Regional Hospital, where he was admitted for bypass surgery at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Allen Johnson failed to qualify for the 16-car field, showing no better than 18th.
Sprung a Leak - Against Jim Yates in round two, Anderson broke an oil line which spilled oil onto the track during the burnout, giving Yates a free ride to the second round. Anderson was shut off and his day for a second consecutive win to start the 2006 season came to an end.
“An oil line ended what other wise might have been a good day,” said Anderson, following the abrupt end to his race day. “It was a good weekend, even though we had a few hiccups in qualifying, which we corrected for today. For some reason we’ve always had issues with this racetrack. This year was no different. I guess you could say it was an up and down weekend.
“We’ve got a great package between the engine and the race car. We’ll go to Gainesville and try to make perfect runs and take a win light.”
Lightning Quick - Richie Stevens Jr. aced the tree by posting a perfect .000 reaction time to win over V Gaines.
Driving the Team Mopar/Valspar Dodge Stratus R/T for Don Schumacher Racing, Stevens crossed the finish line in 6.671 seconds at 206.99 mph over Gaines' 6.683/207.08. In the second round, however, he suffered tire shake at the hit of the throttle, then coasted to a losing 13.886/61.51 to Kurt Johnson's winning 6.688/206.99
got a little worse. It almost looked like we added clutch to it. It just blew the tires off and we can't really figure out why.
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK #2
TOP FUEL
Fuller staying put -- Contrary
to accelerating rumors, " Hot Rod" Fuller won't be out of a ride range
since this season began and will start Sunday's elimination rounds as
the second-quickest qualifier (with a 4.471-second run at 331.61 mph).
According to David Powers Motorsports media rep Ted Yerzyk, "Rod Fuller
has a contract for the full season. Why would we dump him when he’s
performing this well, anyway?"
The plan is to change the paint scheme on Fuller's dragster for
Gainesville, because the team's Valvoline partnership isn't scheduled
to continue after this race. However, that situation could change
before the Gatornationals begins March 14th.
Army strong, Army stoic -- He’s No. 1 but not terribly excited about it.
A driver doesn't win races by qualifying No. 1, according to Tony
Schumacher. He or she wins championships by winning rounds, he reminded
himself after taking the top qualifying spot again this weekend at
Firebird.
"There's no comfort level qualifying No. 1,”"Schumacher said, "not after last year." He
qualified at the top of the order 13 times, including at four of the
first five races, last year, ad he couldn't convert that to a victory
until St. Louis. He had to come from 336 points off the pace to claim
his third consecutive title on the last run of the season.
"It's hard to say what Alan [Johnson] is doing with the car, but the
first run [around 1 p.m.] we were trying to run pretty hard,"
Schumacher said. "On that last run he told me to motor it down the
track and it was a nice run."
Schumacher took the left lane and said he isn't sure if that was the
trick to his 4,457-second, 329.34-mph pass. "It's so hard to make the
two lanes the same. We've got as much data as anyone out there, and
it's hard for a car with that much power to adapt to any changes we
make."
The Top Fuel driver who has won the past six International Hot Rod
Association championships failed to make the lineup for the first event
of his first full-time NHRA schedule two weekends ago at Pomona,
California.
But he stormed back at Firebird International Raceway with a
4.479-second pass at 309.20 mph to put his Knoll Gas Motorsports/Torco
Racing Fuels Dragster in the No. 3 position. His top qualifying speed
was 317.05 mph.
Millican, who almost never is caught without a smile on his face, said
he didn't stew about not qualifying for the Winternationals.
"We weren’t all that depressed we didn’t qualify at Pomona. We were
disappointed we didn’t get in, but, at the same time, we missed the
fastest Top Fuel field in history by two-thousandths of a second," he
said. "We never thought a run of 4.577 (seconds) at 327.43 (mph)
wouldn’t be good enough.”
He said he and crew chief Mike Kloeber ought to have confidence coming
to Chandler, Arizona. “We know how well the car ran during testing at
Firebird last month, so we should be in pretty good shape when
qualifying starts Friday," Millican said. "We made a bunch of laps at
the track.
"We called the exterminator after the Winternationals, and I think we
got rid of the bugs that bothered us there," he said. "We didn’t get
the job done on a couple qualifying runs and then we had a weird thing
happen when an ignition wire came loose on our final qualifying run."
More last-ditch efforts -- Doug
Kalitta extended his Top Fuel-best qualifying streak to 162 races, with
a 4.547-second, 327.90 effort in the Mac Tools Dragster in his final
chance.
And John Force repeated his cliff-hanger qualifying scenario from
Pomona. He made the Funny Car field by driving his Castrol GTX Ford
Mustang to a 4.81-second E.T. to preserve his NHRA-leading string at
393 events dating back to October 31, 1987, at Pomona, California.
Force said after his streak-saving run that he had sought advice from
teammate and son-in-law Robert Hight. He said he listened to Hight's
suggestion and that helped him. "That's why I love ya, Robert," Force
said. "That's why I let ya marry my kid." Hight's wife is Force's
eldest daughter, Adria.
But Hight said, "This thing about John qualifying in his last chance,
he's got to quit that." He said too many things can go wrong and said
Force simply can't keep taking risks with such a small margin of error.
Veteran Cory McClenathan made the Top Fuel show in his last chance, too. He took the No. 9 position with a run of 4.516/327.51.
Sitting it out -- Scott
Griffin, who announced earlier that he would field a car with driver
Scott Weis, said Saturday that he has put the venture on hold because
of what he said was a lack of available quality crew chiefs.
He said he has two brand-new Brad Hadman-built dragsters ready to go in
his Wilmington, North Carolina, shop. But he said losing veteran tuner
Lance Larsen this past week to Morgan Lucas Racing played a major role
in his decision.
"Lance had the opportunity to go to a first-class operation, and I didn't want to hold him back," Griffin said.
Griffin, who had Andrew Cowin in his Serta Mattress-sponsored dragster
for NHRA and IHRA races last season, said he'll keep that sponsorship
on an associate level.
"I just felt it was best to park it until the right person crosses our path," Griffin said.
He has partnered with the Carrier Boyz for the FRAM Boost Dragster that Cory McClenathan drives.
FUNNY CAR
Dropping the Clutch - After four rounds, Robert Hight retained the top qualifying spot with his quickest run in Funny Car history yesterday of 4.636 seconds (327.74 mph). Hight’s tuner Jimmy Prock “is plenty aggressive but we’ve got to go down the track” after smoking the tires twice today. “If conditions are right tomorrow, we’ll go for the record but it’s going to be an interesting day.”
No leisurely cruise for Cruz -- Cruz Pedregon has had his share of
engine explosions, but the one he rode out Saturday afternoon in the
third overall session showed just how skilled the 1992 series champion
is. Jack Beckman sailed on down the track in the right lane, far ahead
of Pedregon as the Advance Auto Parts Chevy Monte Carlo had trouble by
about 600 feet.
But Pedregon got back on the gas and the engine blew up, crumpling the
body in front of him. With his steering locked up, he drifted into the
opposite lane, behind Beckman. Then he guided the runaway car between
Beckman and the outside wall, hitting neither and doing no further
damage.
"That was the best outside pass I've seen since Rick Mears went around
Michael Andretti at Indianapolis in 1991," Michael Knight, longtime
motorsports journalist and former CART series media director, said.
Pedregon said safety and respect dictated how he handled himself in this situation.
"I just reached up enough to pull the belts loose, and I was able to
see a corner and I thought I better stay between the guard rail and
Beckman," he said. "I respect the guy in the other lane,. You got to do
that. It is bad enough you have one car in trouble -- you don't need
another."
He apologized to his team and the fans for any inconvenience but said
he was trying to drive the car hard, that that's what drag racers are
supposed to do.
"I wasn't trying run better than a 5.11, and I apologize to the team
and the fans," he said. "Hey, these cars are made to hammer down the
entire quarter-mile, and when you life off the throttle like that, it
confuses everything. Hey man, I'm just trying to make the difference in
the seat."
He said his car "smoked the tires and had a lot of power but we'll be
back there. We'll get another body on it and get back to trying to get
in the field."
Pedregon's crew did get him ready for a fourth and final qualifying
session, but he had only a 6.68-second elapsed time -- not enough to
top Jeff Arend and his bump spot of 4.864 seconds. (Photo courtesy of Motel6 Vision/ESPN2)
Maybe Gainesville is the charm -- Funny Car returnee Kenny
Bernstein is 0-for-2 in his comeback quest, but he had his Monster
Energy Dodge Charger in the field at least for a few minutes. But he
had some familiar company with fellow Winterernationals DNQers Tony
Bartone, Del Worsham, Terry Haddock, and Bob Bode. This time throw in
Cruz Pedregon, too, a former champion like Bernstein. Next on the
schedule is the Gatornationals at Gainesville Florida, where Bernstein
cracked the 300-mph barrier. So maybe the track will bring luck on St.
Patrick's Day weekend.
PRO STOCK
“Awesome. Pretty darn cool,” Line said after his track record run in the first session on Saturday. “It (the car) was great in low gear, but rough after that and in the middle, but the numbers don’t lie. The numbers say it was a good run.”
Line feels that the early performance this season is due to the KB Racing team making a decision to proceed with the development of the GM DRCE3 (General Motors Drag Racing Competition Engine, third generation) during the off-season (from November 2006 through February 2007).
“So far, so good with our DRCE3 engine,” said Line. “We’re obviously pretty optimistic about it with the first two times out (Pomona and Phoenix) here and we think it’s running great. There’s a lot of room for improvement in it yet, and we feel like it’s got a lot of potential. We’ll see. If we can just do the right things to it, and the development goes as planned over the course of the year, it could be really good. Time will tell. We said that about the “2” engine, too, and sometimes it just takes you longer to develop the engine than what you think it’s going to, but that’s normal. That’s engine development.”
Line will take on Max Naylor in the opening round tomorrow. Naylor is the No. 16 qualifier in the 16-car Pro Stock field. He recorded an elapsed time of 6.690 seconds at a speed of 206.13 mph.
“We’re really struggling with the racetrack,” said Line following qualifying. “Honestly, if we can make a nice run I think we’ll really lay down a big number, but we’re struggling in the first part of the track. All in all you can’t complain – we’re on the pole and that’s about as good as it gets.
"Last race Allen ran well," said Stevens. "He qualified second, and this weekend I'm second and he's out. Luckily, I was in. It's almost like we swapped doors on the car and I got the better car this weekend. He struggled and really didn't make a good run any of them,” Stevens remarked.
"We made four good runs. The last one was a little violent, but luckily we made ours when it counted, this morning, got in, and got in solid.” Stevens runs against V Gaines in the first round of eliminations tomorrow. “We’ve got a good car; it’s been running good and it’s been consistent. We’ve got good power” with Mopar engines prepared by Ray Johnson, Allen’s father. “If I can go out there and just do my job, we should go a couple of rounds.”
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK #1
The Vietnam Veterans/POW MIA Dragster's top-three showing prompted her to say, "Things are definitely coming around over here. It's great to see not only our car step up and run our first 4.40 of the year, but to see Morgan's car run to the finish line has to give them a great feeling," she said." I know they have a little more room to improve, but I feel we're moving both cars in the right direction. I think we're going to see improvement because we going to be able to share information between the two cars and really step our program up."
Phoenix jinx broken? -- Firebird International Raceway was the only stop inJ.R. Todd's wildly successful 2006 rookie season at which he didn't qualify. But the Winternationals winner assured himself a spot in the field with a No. 4 showing on the first day, thanks to his 4.510 seconds at 323.43 mph in the Skull Shine Dragster.
"That was a nice way to end the day," Todd said. "I'm glad it went straight down the track. We lost traction on the first run because the tune-up was too aggressive, but [crew chief] Jimmy [Walsh] came back with a strong run. We hope to make a couple more good runs Saturday."
nailed it. We haven't gotten into the 4.6s yet at all, and they're ripping off 4.63s. That's really something."
Professor 'headed in right direction' -- Warren Johnson and his GM Performance Parts GTO Racing team opened qualifying for the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals well enough for the so-called Professor of Pro Stock to grade himself relatively well.
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK
TOP FUEL
Still, he said he's not looking to back it up here.
Schumacher has his eyes firmly on the Countdown for the Championship and is strictly looking to make that top eight in points by the time the U.S. Nationals roll around August 29.
When Big speaks . . . -- Announcer Bob Frey had his take on when the monostrut-wing dragster will appear in competition. Said Frey, "They will debut the monostrut car in Gainesville, where Big Daddy [Don Garlits] is in the house. He'll be there to tell them everything they do wrong. If Big Daddy is talking, I'm listening."
Adjusting well, thank you -- When "Hot Rod" Fuller gained a David Powers Motorsports teammate for this year's POWERade Top Fuel season, he also lost the bulk of his team to Whit Bazemore, who moved over from driving floppers to test his hand in a rail.
"I think it's really impressive how quickly we've come together," Fuller said between qualifying sessions Friday afternoon. "I could have been really upset by this, but instead, I relish the challenge."
Without sounding too mushy, he said, nodding to his team and then to Bazemore's, "I really love these guys, and I really love those guys. We're a big family. My new guys – all of whom have worked on a championship NHRA team – were really impressed that I was willing to party with them. Not everybody does that, you know?" he said.
Flynn, who helped Fuller become one of the few Top Fuel drivers to make a first pass all the way down the Firebird Raceway quarter-mile, is from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. For that reason, the crew decided this machine has Canadian Horsepower. These days that kind of currency could be quite valuable.
In the first round of qualifying, only six of 19 Top Fuel cars broke the beam in under five seconds: Fuller, Brandon Bernstein, Doug Foley, Larry Dixon, Melanie Troxel, and Morgan Lucas (who has a new co-crew chief for John Stewart starting this weekend -- Lance Larsen).
Do-overs? – Hey, we don't have “do-overs” in drag racing! That is . . . unless you’re a victim. Doug Foley was paired alongside Top Fuel rookie Gene Davis in the opening pair of dragsters for the first session. And it got ugly.
Davis had staging problems, rolled the lights,nailed the throttle, and coasted down the track. Meanwhile, Foley sat on the starting line [with instructions from Rick Stewart to hold] with the stage lights lit and the engine running at idle. Foley's clutch heated up and the car rolled the beams before shutting down.
Foley was given the opportunity to refuel and try the pass again. It was worth the second effort, as he swiped the third position with a 4.560-second elapsed time
"You never really know what is going to happen in a deal like that," Foley said. "Most people write you off. But it went right on down there."
Thursday night and Friday morning was how lousy the weather would be on Friday and into Saturday. That goes to show no one really can predict sunshine – even in the Valley of the Sun!
Ashley, a father of two from Long Island, New York, made it a point to spend time with the students at Stetson Hills Elementary School as a part of his visit this weekend as a participant in the 23rd annual Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler.
Along with a positive message of determination and accomplishment, Ashley handed out T-shirts, autographed hero cards, and even a die cast model of one of his cars for display in each classroom.
"These kids are a lot of fun," said Ashley. "They asked some good questions, too, like what kind of safety equipment we use in the cars and what it takes to be a driver."
The Summit Racing team, together with 2006 Phoenix race winner Warren Johnson and his son Kurt Johnson, is developing GM's new DCRE3 engine on the track.
"We're hoping to do the right thing with our development here. But if you'll recall, it took awhile for the '2' to work. So right now we're just marginally better than we were with the older engine.:
Tucson testing -- It has been several years since PRO-sponsored preseason testing took place at Southwestern International Raceway. But a surprising number of Pro Stock teams went to nearby Tucson, about an hour and half south of Chandler, earlier this week to tune up for this second race of the season.
Double duty pays off -- Rodger Brogdon pulled double-duty, of sorts, at Houston during the 11 days between the Winternationals and the Checker, Schuck's Kragen Nationals. He tested for himself and Erica Enders, trying to find the right Mopar combination for both of them. His best, according to an admittedly impatient Enders, was [an unofficial] .659 at 210.31, she said.
Brogdon earned a Comp Eliminator class victory recently at Chandler, Arizona, and he was especially eager to return because David Nickens, his engine builder, also has been successful at this track.
He couldn't resist getting ina plug for his crew members: "The guys on my team may not be household names to everyone yet, but I'll match them up to any team out there for their hard work and dedication."
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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK - Worsham prepared to right the wrongs; Event preview notebook
Del Worsham's Checker Schuck's Kragen team doesn't waste any time.
The sense within the Funny Car organization is that it doesn't have time to waste.
Last year the veteran driver -- who has come close to that elusive
championship with a second-place finish in 2004 and top-three finishes
in three of the past six seasons -- left the season-opening
Winternationals in seventh place. His lot improved only slightly before
he spiraled downward, out of the top 10 by the midway point, at Denver.
After those three dreadful letters -- DNQ -- at Pomona (but in
excellent company with Gary Densham, Tony Bartone, and Kenny
Bernstein), Worsham wanted to get back to the track.
"Once we got packed up in Pomona, the feeling on this team was one of
wanting to get right back out there, to run the car as many times as we
could before the Phoenix race," Worhsma said. "We headed over to Las
Vegas and made 10 laps in three days. We made some subtle changes, some
big changes, and we mixed in new ways of approaching the tune-up. We
never took it to the line just to run it. We had a plan on every lap,
and we
accomplished what we wanted to do. Now, we have to make it pay off at the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Nationals."
Ah, that's part of this annual pressure-packed weekend. The team
arrived early in Phoenix and put in a full week of promotional work in
support of their primary sponsor and the event sponsor -- in the
sponsor's hometown.
Winning here is something Worsham has done twice, in 2002 and 2004. But
he said he remembers the stress-filled weekends at Firebird
International Raceway, too.
"We've had some real nail-biters over the years here," he said. "Every
team out here has experienced the stress of getting into the field on
the last qualifying run, but as nerve-wracking as that is, it's nothing
compared to doing it at your sponsor's race. I don't know why, but
we've somehow managed to create that stress for ourselves on more than
a few occasions in Phoenix. Every year we say we're not going to let it
happen again, and this year I'm sure we're not.
"There's no getting around the fact it's a big deal," Worsham said.
"We've won all over," he said, "and we've won some very big races,
including the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, but being handed that trophy in
Phoenix is really special. We've been associated with CSK Auto since
1997, and they've been through good times and bad with us. They're one
of the greatest sponsors in this sport, and to give a huge group of
them a chance to celebrate, at their home track is about as good as it
gets."
TOP FUEL
Hungry for championship -- With Doug Kuch out as crew chief for
Doug Herbert's Snap-on Tools Dragster -- "a mutual decision,” Herbert
said -- the Lincolnton, North Carolina, driver is looking for his first
victory since the second Chicago race of 2004. And he's depending on
reliable mechanical mastermind Jim Brissette to help him.
“Brissette and I have worked together for years," Herbert said. "We
have a great record and want to win a championship. With the rest of
the team still intact, we are going to take our time and make the right
decision. Right now, we are looking inside our team to find the right
person to assist Brissette.”
He wants to go quick on the race track, and he wanted to move quickly in making changes to the team.
"When you want a championship like we do, sometimes things have to
change," he said, "and have to change quick. You can't take too much
time making a decision. The rest of the team is still intact, and we
are hungry for a win."
The Herbert-Brissette combo can account for four International Hot Rod
Association championships, Herbert’s first NHRA national-event victory,
and his historical first pass into the 4.80s -- at the 1992
Winternationals, 15 years ago.
"We're ready for things to go our way," Herbert said.
Change for Lucas -- Like Doug Herbert, Morgan Lucas
decided he needed to shake things up with his Top Fuel team. So when he
takes to the Firebird International Raceway quarter-mile, John Stewart
will be there with him. Stewart has a new co-crew chief, though --
Lance Larsen. Gone is Ronnie Thompson.
And while the move, Lucas indicated, was simply a business decision,
he's getting a bit weary of fans thinking of him as a Victory Waiting
To Happen. He wants to record that first Top Fuel victory this weekend.
"I'm excited to see what is going to happen after this weekend and see
where things go from there. I'm excited about running this race car and
being competitive," Lucas said. "Over the past couple of years, we
haven't been competitive, and after a while, it takes its toll on you.
I'm going in with the intention that it is time to win!
"We're moving in the direction we need to go and working to make our
car identical to Melanie Troxel's car. It's one of those things we have
to do in taking the right steps in making the process happen," he said
Lucas was direct. "What we're doing is trying to turn our season around
now,” he said after just one race -- one for which he didn't qualify.
"There are no guarantees, but we're making changes. That's the most
important thing: to make the changes we have to make to make this work.”
As for Thompson, Lucas said, "We love Ronnie Thompson, and he did a
great job for us. He's like a brother to me, but sometimes that doesn't
solve all the problems."
He expressed confidence in Larsen's experience: "Lance has years of
experience, and I've watched him with other teams for years. I know
Lance has the capabilities and a winning attitude, and that was proven
with the Clay Millican team. If he can bring over that same success
that would get us on the right track, who knows? We might win a race
pretty soon. We hope he is our missing link to our situation."
Larsen said he appreciated Lucas' energy but cautioned that he didn't
think he could wave a magic wand and conjure victories in a snap.
"Morgan is young and aggressive, and I know they want to win and they
have the resources of doing it the proper way," Larsen said. "I hope by
coming on board, I can help them achieve their goals."
He laid out his goal for this first weekend with the team. "If we can
turn it around and get it to run at the same level as the other team
car driven by Melanie Troxel in a very timely manner. I'll be satisfied
with that for the first race," Larsen said. "Obviously, we want to
qualify in the quick half of the field and win a couple of races this
year and build a program. I'm not a magician, nor are any of us are; we
have to see what's there and work out the issues."
FUNNY CAR
Will Firebird be lucky track for KB? -- Kenny Bernstein has a
distinction here at Firebird International Raceway. And he hopes the
magic will rub on him this weekend, as he seeks to qualify for his
first race in his second stint in the Funny Car class.
The six-time series champion is the only driver to have won at this
facility in both the Funny Car and Top Fuel classes. He did it in a
Funny Car in 1986, and he reached the winners circle with the Budweiser
Dragster in 1991 and 1996.
This weekend will mark Bernstein's second appearance in his driving comeback in the Monster Energy/Lucas Oil Funny Car.
Bernstein retired at the end of the 2002 season but was pressed into
action again in 2003, when son Brandon suffered back injuries that
sidelined him for the remainder of the year. And now he's back, part of
the wildest Funny Car contingent in the sport's history.
"This category promises to be filled with much drama," Bernstein said.
"At Pomona, the qualified field was the quickest in NHRA history, and
there were big names bumping in and out of the starting line-up."
He missed it but focused on his team's progress.
"We started this team from the Mac Tool box up," Bernstein said. "We
have spent many hours in pre-season testing, and between the
season-opener in Pomona and this race, we went to Las Vegas to put more
runs on the Monster Energy/Lucas Oil Funny Car. Our team is dedicated
and has been putting forth every effort to get this car running quick
and fast."
It was at Firebird International Raceway where Kenny Bernstein
completed his requirements to cross-grade his license -- and where
Brandon Bernstein made the first pass of his pro career, in testing in
2003.
Brandon Bernstein also won the Checker, Schuck's Kragen Nationals twice in the Top Fuel category -- in 2003 and 2004.
Positive sign? -- Winternationals Funny Car winner Gary Scelzi
said he thinks the Chandler, Arizona track "shouldn't be a whole lot
different than it was in testing."
That's pleasant news for Scelzi. He's already brimming with confidence
in the performance of the Mike Neff-tuned Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger
after setting his career-best elapsed time (4.690 seconds) and
career-best speed (333.49 mph) at Pomona.
And looking back at his results here just four weeks ago, he has to feel even better.
"[Track preparation specialist] Chad Head came in and prepared the race
track, and NHRA will do the same thing this weekend. The track will be
at its best and hopefully so will we," he said.
"We ran really well there in testing," Scelzi said "Phoenix is one of those really tricky,
narrow-grooved race tracks, and the Mopar/Oakley Dodge seemed to go down
there at will and the slowest we ran in testing was a 4.77 (-second
E.T.) and ran our quickest at a 4.73. [Teammate Ron] Capps ran really
well there, but our car again was one of the most consistent in
testing. Sometimes that doesn't mean much because other guys are trying
things, but we made six out of eight runs without tire smoke. And the
two runs where it smoked the tires, we were trying something totally
different."
This is the first time since November 2005, when he won the Funny Car title, that Scelzi has led the standings.
Fond of Firebird -- Despite a nasty crash during testing at
Firebird International Raceway last season, Scott Kalitta indicated
he's cautiously optimistic about the potential performance of his
Kalitta Air Toyota Solara this weekend.
"We got our first round-win with our new Funny Car program in Phoenix
last year," he said. "It was our first really positive step with our
new deal, so we're definitely looking forward to returning. We've
started off the ’07 season on a good note. It could be better, but at
least we qualified in Pomona this year. We couldn't even get that done
last year."
Kalitta said his Solara "still needs a lot more consistency, but we're
definitely making strides. We know we can run some big numbers, because
we have. We just need to find better ways to do that most of the time
and not just some of the time."
The Palmetto, Florida-based driver celebrated his 45th birthday this
past Monday, and dad Connie Kalitta, his crew chief and a drag-racing
pioneer, will celebrate his 69th birthday Saturday.
Comfort + chemistry = success -- Tommy Johnson likes the status
quo -- sometimes, anyway. He wouldn’t mind it if he leaves this
suburban-Phoenix track just like he did last year -- as winner. The
2006 event champion might have a new Funny Car body with the Don
Prudhomme-owned Skoal Racing Chevy Impala SS, but he said he's
comfortable and happy with his crew.
"The biggest thing I like about our team is that we didn't make a lot
of changes," Johnson said. "We made changes as far as the new body was
concerned and some things to make things go quicker, but the biggest
thing is that we didn't change any of the crew. We have one new
addition, and that's it. That's big as far as continuity and building
chemistry with your team. If you look over the past few years, the
teams that are really good are the ones that don't make changes. They
have a good group of guys, and they are able to build on that.
Chemistry is something you can't buy. You have to build it over the
course of a few race seasons. That's what we've done over the past few
years at Don Prudhomme Racing, and that's why we keep getting better
and better."
At the Winternationals, each of Wilkerson's qualifying passes was a 4-second run, and the last one was a career-best 4.723.
"I'm optimistic for what we are going to see out of our LRS Funny Car," he said. "When I look at our data, it shows me that the car has great drive-shaft speed and several other elements that are very important. Now, as long as we can get them all to work together at the same time at the right place, it should all be good for this year.
"The pressure is on us for Phoenix,” Wilkerson said. "We're going to have a ton of LRS guests all weekend, and we certainly want to show them what our car can do and give them a weekend to remember."
Some teams are hot -- The John Force Racing trio of Robert Hight, Force, and Eric Medlen are 1-2-3, respectively, in the updated Skoal Showdown points. The tabulation began at Indianapolis and will run through this year's race at Reading, Pennsylvania.
The Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car crew-chief tandem of Mike Neff (Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger) and Ed "Ace" McCulloch (Brut Revolution Dodge Charger) lead in Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge points. Fred Mandoline, of Tim Wilkerson's team, has the No. 3 spot so far. The challenge recognizes crews and crew chiefs in season-long competition culminating in $25,000 award to the top team.
PRO STOCK
Professors grades self tough -- Warren Johnson, last year's Pro Stock event winner, said he had better "pick up the pace on the driving end" if he is to repeat.
The GM Performance Parts GTO driver said his less-than-perfect start at Pomona was "a combination of both myself and the car. This chassis is a different design from any other I've driven, and for some reason I've never been able to cut great lights with it. So we may have to change its configuration in the driver's compartment to help my performance in that area. It's all part of the total package that we are constantly working on, trying to make it better."
He said he thinks he has at least one thing going for him this weekend.
"Firebird Raceway is my kind of race track, because it takes a driver to get it to the other end," Johnson said. "At some tracks, once you get it off the line, all you have left to do is talk to the announcer at the top end. But here, with the wind and sand blowing across the track, you have to be on your game all the way down or you can end up on your roof. With that in mind, and based on what we learned in Pomona, we're really looking forward to going back to Phoenix."
If he wins again here this year, he said he wants to get a better bounce from it this time.
"Naturally, the win in Phoenix last year was the highlight of our season," Johnson said. "We had a good weekend, fighting our way to the winner's circle from the eleventh starting spot. Unfortunately, from that point on, we proceeded to shoot ourselves in the foot. However, instead of dwelling on our mistakes, we prefer to see them as part of racing's learning curve, doing what we can to make our program stronger in the long run. This year, we're looking for a repeat performance as well as a strong showing for the rest of the year. We certainly have our work cut out for us, but we're pretty optimistic about our chances."
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