Racin' in the Sun

by Phil R. Elliott

Phoenix sunshine, after so much Pomona rain, was a welcoming embrace as the big rigs entered Firebird Lake International Raceway for the Checker-Schucks-Kragen Nationals. But most of the professional crewchiefs that had tested there a scant few weeks before held trepidation for their ability to put horsepower to the fragile surface.

TF
From the smiles that crossed the face of Tim Richards early in qualifying, it appeared that at least in his mind, the Budweiser-backed TF entry driven by Brandon Bernstein was the class of the field. A 4.553 in Q1 showed they were ready, even though the run was overshadowed by David Grubnic's 4.497 and Darrell Russell's 4.513/326. Russell, under the guidance of Wayne Dupuy, had been the star of earlier Phoenix testing.

In Q2, the Budweiser King's consistent 4.566/320 was again outshone. It was side-by-side with Grubnic's improving 4.486/324 that dazzled the "nightro" fans. "Ausie Dave's" Connie Kalitta-wrenched ride would remain at the top of the list. Tony Schumacher had earlier run a 4.511/325, and the Kalitta cousins, Scott and Doug, had duplicate 4.553 numbers, at 325 and 323 respectively, all which relegated Brandon's earlier 4.553 to 6th in the field.

It was at this race, after a mediocre Pomona performance, that Dick LaHaie chose to debut the en vogue setback blower technology on the Miller machine. A half-tracker in Q1 gave the team tuning data, and a 1000-foot 4.649/266 gave Larry Dixon confidence that his ride was on its way back.

Another story that unfolded at Phoenix was that just fifteen fuelers showed.

Saturday, thanks to smiles from Fram/K&N Filters, Virgil Hartman unloaded a backup car and gave Glen Mikres the nod. The entry smoldered its tires in Q3, an 8-second run that earned the team a berth in the field. Interestingly, the run was competitive in that session, as it would have ended 9th. Only Tony Schumacher ran what can be considered a respectable number, a 4.548/318.

With just sixteen cars, Q4 was basically a formality, a crewchief's dream to gain tuning knowledge in race conditions. LaHaie put things back pretty much the way they had been in Q2 and gave Dixon strong early numbers. But the car spun its tires at 1000-feet. Late in the session, Bernstein picked up a 4.586/320 timeslip, and Schumacher and Grubnic closed the round with a nice 4.531/324 to 4.534/320 showing.

An hour later, when R1 draws were held, whispers went through the assembled drivers and crewchiefs. Usually, the #1Q chooses the last pairing of round one, an advantage should tuning or lane changes be necessary. So if the Kalitta Air machine was indeed "only" for R&D, Connie would choose an earlier pairing for David Grubnic, handing the advantage to his son and/or nephew. In a shocker, the nearly five-decade veteran of dragrace controversies far greater than this one, loudly proclaimed, "last" when that decision was necessary.

In round one, with a track temperature right at 100 degrees, tire smoke was inevitable. Doug Herbert was first to fall to it, followed by Clay Millican. Millican's qualifiers had been good enough for 7th, but no amount of pedaling would get him off the pad on raceday. John Smith struck his tires almost immediately, followed by an instant replay by his wife, Rhonda Hartman-Smith.

Next up, Dixon faced Scott Kalitta, and following nearly duplicate reactions, the Miller car took a popular, no-tire-smoke, 4.582/298 to 4.597/316 win over the Mac Tools/Jesse James car, but not without ramifications. At 1000-feet, a fuel line let go behind Dixon causing an immense pressure drop and all eight pistons fried at once. The fog bank created would have made any special affects team proud, and the amount of oil that burbled out of the puke tank was totally out of character for the reining world champ. But Dick LaHaie, upon discovery of the severed lifeline, left the tune-up alone.

Darrell Russell showed continued strength by powering around Scott Weis' 4.722/308 with a 4.538/329. Tony Schumacher's 4.535/326 did likewise to Mike Strasburg's much improved 4.870/263, and David Grubnic's 4.593/317 easily dispensed a tire-smoldering Glenn Mikres.

With track temp up to 115-degrees, the second round became a nail biter to decision makers. First up, Cory McClenathan side-stepped a major bullet when Grubnic's tires shook loose early, especially considering that his own engine went flat just beyond halftrack.

Dixon faced the other Kalitta in the second pairing, a match that saw the top two in points following 2003. Both cars launched mightily and marched downtrack side-by-side, until both spun their tires at about 1000-feet. Both drivers feathered their right foot and upon reapplication of power, Dixon's powerplant blew and Kalitta's responded, giving the Mac Tools car the tight win, 4.843/293 to 4.853/243. Under the new NHRA oildown penalties, the previous Prudhomme/LaHaie/Dixon juggernaut was assessed a loss of both money and points.

Arguably the two most consistent cars on the property raced next, and an odd scenario developed. Both Russell and his Joe Amato-owned ride fell off, while Bernstein did not. A late start and a 4.678/311 was not even close to "big red's" 4.572/323. Tim Richards smiled again.

Only the tuning genius of Alan Johnson was able to stay even, a 4.569/319 for Schumacher winning out over an up-in-smoke David Baca.

Although track temp remained consistent in the semi-finals, corrected altitude had increased to nearly 3000-feet causing tuners to wince again.

Cory Mac got things underway as he pounced on the tree (RTs .040 to .108) only to have the American Racing Wheel dragster go into hard tire smoke within a few hundred feet. This allowed Doug Kalitta to score an easy, albeit engine damaging, 4.740/304 victory.

The other pairing saw a much closer start (RTs .068 to .071) and a better race, as Tony Shoe and Brandon B seemed to be welded together nearly the entire distance. Only a flash of flame just before the stripe and an imperceptible power-loss by the Army car allowed the beer wagon a 4.552/321 to 4.564/320 win.

As usual, predictions before the final ran the gamut. In Brandon Bernstein's favor, he was the defending race champion, a surprising situation in 2003 when he won in only his second start. After fully recovering from injuries, this too would be his second start of a revitalized career. Those two sentimental points seemed to swing the vote. On the other side of the coin, Doug Kalitta was in his second final of the new season, and he'd never been beaten by the younger Bernstein.

Personally, I would have bet on Tim Richards over Connie Kalitta/Jim Oberhoffer/Rahn Tobler, basically because his track savvy guaranteed that he would leave things alone.

With mechanical woes taking his personal involvement away one week prior, Doug Kalitta made sure this time with a miraculous .019RT, but his mount seriously overpowered the racetrack. By 300-feet, the Budweiser King nosed ahead and continued on to a 4.537/326 to put a period on the weekend.

I'm not sure which moment made Kenny Bernstein prouder -- that first win by his son in 2003, or this one following a life-threatening crash and the anxiety of months of recovery.

FC
Unless you've been in a cave with no internet hook-up, rare these days, you know that the biggest story in Flopper City was that Winternationals winner Jerry Toliver failed to qualify his Toyota.

Gary Scelzi led Q1 (4.878) just ahead of John Force (4.891), and another seven drivers dropped into the "fours." The night session Friday, Q2, gave the crowd their money's worth with thirteen 4-second runs, bumping, fires and drama. It began with Keith Jackson's great 4.978/293 and ended with Eric Medlen's 4.846/312, and just about everything else in between.

Cruz Pedregon (4.900/311) had a nice ride, followed by Bob Gilbertson's fiery 4.938/310. Then came Gary Densham's 4.815/325.77 that set a track speed record. Del Worsham beat Tony Pedregon in a great side-by-side, 4.904/314 to 4.950/311. Ron Capps did likewise to Tony Bartone, 4.908/306 to 4.996/295. Whit Bazemore grabbed #1 with a 4.809/322 that whipped Tim Wilkerson's 4.861/312. John Force stole #1 by .001 with a 4.808/319 on a run where Tommy Johnson Jr. was ahead all the way until his motor "whumped" and he recorded only 4.823/283. In the last pairing, Gary Scelzi looked to take #1 back until the Dodge streamliner pushed out of the groove and he was forced to gather it in, slowing him to a disappointing 5.112/235. Meanwhile, Eric Medlen cruised to a 4.846/312.

Like the efforts of the "long cars", Q3 for FC was nearly a wash as few were able to negotiate the tricky track. Gary Scelzi's 5.086 was best of the entire session. Jerry Toliver's ferocious fire was the worst.

Q4 began with Jim Head running a very expensive 4.997/304 which missed Tony Bartone's bump by .001! Stephen Neese slowly hit both guardwalls in his attempt, missing Gilbertson's mount by inches and the field by a mile. Tony Pedregon advanced with a 4.881/310, only to place himself across from his brother/partner in round one. Scelzi's 4.843/318, run side-by side with Medlen's 4.836/316, helped him as well. Bazemore stepped up to #1 with an eye-popping 4.782/322, only to be countered by Densham's 4.773/323.

Two fouls occurred in R1, pretty rare in the nitro classes, and six of the eight "top-halfers" advanced. Del Worsham, somewhat "blessed" at Phoenix (in 2003, Del qualified last-ditch fashion in the final session, then went on to win his sponsor's event from #16Q), qualified 10th and advanced over Tim Wilkerson, 4.912/308 to 4.923/308. It was Del's C-S-K teammate, Phil Burkart from #14Q, that also squeaked through. His holeshot over John Force (RTs .069 to .148) caught the million-time champ with his firesuit pants down, and he scampered to a 4.949/293 win over a belt-shredding 4.932/304. Force would have had to run a sub-4.87 to catch Burkart.

Burkart began R2 with another holeshot (RTs .063 to .100) and a victory when Gary Scelzi puffed the tires and gave it up. Worsham chose to follow in his teammate's tracks and grabbed a big lead over Scelzi's teammate, Whit Bazemore (RTs .081 to .131) then held on for a rather startling victory, 4.954/304 to 4.958/303! Eric Medlen drove around a tire-sizzling Tommy Johnson with a 4.871/303, and Tony Pedregon took out a tire-smoking ex-teammate, Gary Densham with a 4.913/305.

So, the semi-finals had worked down to zero cars from Teams Prudhomme and Schumacher, one each from Teams Force and Pedregon, and two from Team Worsham. There were even signs posted stating, "I hope they know this means WOR(sham)!"

Unlike the Hollywood script where the teammates took out the opposition, met in the final and split a mathematical tie, Del and Phil match-raced the red and blue team C-S-K cars in the semis. Both moved together with Burkart pulling away until about halftrack when his engine began mixing cylinders. He was still a nose ahead when everything went wrong and Worsham took a tight win, 4.984/299 to 5.028/295.

All eyes were on Medlen during his preparatory burnout for the other match. Few in the place suspected all was well under the carbon fiber Mustang, and some quick work went on before his dad John signaled to re-lower the lid. At the start, TonyP left normally, Eric nearly a quarter-second later, abnormal for the youngster. Both cars went up in smoke, and both drivers pedaled. Again, the Castrol car reacted strangely, as if the throttle pedal was not properly connected to the injector. Pedregon won the smoky and engine erupting battle with a 5.896/231, leaving plenty of his sponsor Quaker State's product behind him.

The Pedregon camp had been hampered throughout the day with minor glitches that caused major hassles - stuff like leaking oil fittings and port lines. They'd been given warnings following both R1 and R2 about turnaround time violations, but their final thrash of a complete engine swap put them into the lanes with time to spare. Team Worsham likewise changed engines.

Predictions again were widely split. While Tony Pedregon was the only multi-time winner of the C-S-K Nats, all previous stats had to be thrown out due to the completely new team structure. The highly partisan Checker-Shucks-Kragen fans stated emphatically that their guy Del Worsham would be a repeat winner and hand his twin daughters a Wally as a present on their second birthday.

And so it went. As much as he would like to have taken the win in only his second start with the new Quaker State Camaro, Tony Pedregon was late (RTs .044 to .094) then watched helplessly as Del Worsham's Firebird pulled away. His own mount was troubled and finally blew near the finish line, and the C-S-K team took the trophy, 4.970/303 to 5.098/251.

PS
Just like at Pomona, world champ Greg Anderson was the star of the Pro Stock show. In Q1, his 6.798/203 headed the field by nearly two-hundredths. In Q2, which ended with 13 of the qualified cars under the old 6.831 track record, GA soared to a mind-boggling 6.746/204.23. Second best in both sessions was another Pontiac, the Reher-Morrison entry that had previously held the track record, shoed by Bruce Allen. First, the car recorded a 6.812/202, then a 6.784/202. In third was Jeg Coughlin (6.792/203) followed closely by Warren Johnson (6.792/203), Dave Connolly (6.806/202) and Larry Morgan (6.809/203). Way down in 15th was Kurt Johnson (6.836/203).

As per usual, with raceday conditions for Saturday following the Hail Mary Friday nighter, few predicted many changes in the qualified field. But there were plenty of runs that showed minor movements on the ladder.

Mark Whisnant gave a mighty push (6.848/202) and gained the bump, while KJ found a brilliant 6.803/204.35 that gave him the track speed record. The 6.810/203, 6.819/202 and 6.818/202 by Rickie Smith, Jeg Coughlin and Larry Morgan, respectively, showed off in the heat, that is until Anderson sidestepped the clutch in the final pairing with WJ. His Grand Am recorded a 6.774/204.82. He was three-hundredths better than second best in the session and took back the MPH record.

In Q4, Troy Coughlin got in (6.846) only to be bumped out in the next pairing by Steve Johns (6.836) who was in turn drubbed by Mark Pawuk (6.828). A few pairs later, JR Carr upped his ante (6.821). Kurt Johnson's 6.811/203 was second best, again just taking the measure of Greg Anderson's 6.790/204, two-hundredths back.

With sun baking the oft-treacherous Phoenix track, Pro Stock looked to be a game of clutchcans and driver skill.

Carr had a -.001 foul in R1 against KJ who thundered on to a 6.818 win. Jeg holeshot Jim Yates only to break a rocker arm and watch an offpace 6.922 turn on the winlite. Anderson chose the 7th pairing and his .034RT/6.791 package won easily over Pawuk, and Allen's 6.818 tied for second best while barely nipping Mike Edwards.

Sophomore Dave Connolly drove around an again fading Yates to start R2, 6.868/201 to 6.927/200. KJ mastered old-master WJ, 6.834/203 to 6.861/202. Morgan put a whisker on Bruce Allen and held on, 6.861/202 to 6.862/201. And, with everyone slowing, GA stunned the assembly with an even better leave (RTs .021 to .023) and a 6.818/203 to beat Allen Johnson's game 6.883/202.

With most of the quick draw artists already defeated, most folk were pretty sure horsepower was once again going to overwhelm. And, of those still in, Larry Morgan had an .019RT in R1 and Greg Anderson a .021RT in the quarters. No slouches.

So when 21-year-old Connolly found a .017RT in the first semi-final pairing to put Morgan's Dodge behind with an un-Larry-like .054RT, and the Bill Jenkins-powered Cavalier into its first final, 6.862/202 to 6.838/202, the crowd knew an upset had just been made. But they were totally unready for what came next.

This time, it was the last Johnson in the field with the holeshot (.027 to .063) and a gritted-teeth determination that held off Anderson, 6.850/202 to 6.820/203! The crowd was stunned.

So it was that a pair of Cavaliers eased into the staging beams with their revs up for the final round. Dave Connolly knew his job and performed it well (RTs .032 to .057). At the stripe, no human could have made the call as the math - 6.835/203 to 6.860/202 - showed a dead heat. But, the Compulink timers showed a difference of .0008-seconds, and figured further that Kurt Johnson's AC Delco Chevrolet was ahead by a full three inches.