NHRA News: Worsham's perseverance pays off handsomely (12/1/2001)

Worsham's perseverance pays off handsomely

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
12/1/2001

"Everyday, believe me, I know that I'm the luckiest guy alive."
-- Del Worsham

Some people, it seems, live a charmed life. A select few of these people do so with the blessing of everyone they know. In NHRA drag racing, that lucky soul belongs to Funny Car ace Del Worsham, who recently wrapped up his best season ever with a third-place finish in the championship points standings.

A flurry of personal bests highlighted Worsham's sunshine-filled season. Despite averaging a bottom-half qualifying effort, he claimed four race titles in five final-round appearances in his Checker-Schuck's-Kragen Pontiac Firebird. Adding icing to his seemingly bottomless cake, the 1991 Rookie of the Year saved his two elimination-round wins on the season over John Force for final rounds. Not lucky enough? Don't forget, his beautiful wife is expecting twins in March.

Hot shoe with a rabbit's foot
"Everyday, believe me, I know that I'm the luckiest guy alive," the 31-year-old Worsham said. "Think about it. I get to do what I love for a living. I get to spend all my time with friends and family and the best group of professionals ever; it's awesome.

"We've been drag racing so long now that it's really the only thing I know how to do. Even though it hasn't always been the way it is now, with a two-car team and a huge sponsor, I was still racing and doing what I wanted to do the most. It's a dream life, really."

To be fair, it hasn't always been a walk in the park for Worsham. After his promising rookie season, which included a victory at the Southern Nationals that made him the youngest Funny Car winner ever at age 21, Worsham and his family-owned operation bounced around in relative obscurity for several years. He even separated from the group to field a Top Fuel car for a brief period before his strong family ties brought him back home again.

Quite simply, the Worsham clan never gave up, or changed their cheery outlook, to the point where decorated crew chief and NHRA stalwart Alan Johnson tabbed Worsham and family for the 1998 Blaine Johnson Award, which recognizes perseverance and determination in the sport.

It's all about family
"That meant so much to me and my family," Worsham said. "We've all dedicated our lives to the sport, but a lot of families have done that. I don't know how they came to decide on us but I do know that it was very cool for them to recognize our effort.

"We've made a real successful go of it and having a year like the one we just had makes it all worth it, for all of us. Everyone in my family celebrated this. And when I say family I'm not just talking about relatives, I'm talking about the entire team, because we're all family. We live, eat, and breath this stuff together. We're family.

"I've experienced life outside my family. Those two years driving for Roger Primm were great. He couldn't have been better to me. But my dad missed me and I missed him. The right place for me to be was with my family, even if we were in a position where we couldn't even dream about winning the championship like we do now.

"And I've had times where I've questioned why I was doing this. I got burned up pretty bad in 1994 and spent a month in the hospital. I'd be lying if I told you I didn't sit there and think I needed to find another way, a safer way, to make I living. Man, I was hurting.

"But, looking back on it now, even that fire was part of the plan in a weird way. It was life-altering in a good way. I think I had seen so many guys climb out of cars after nasty fires or wrecks and they were fine. I was starting to think you couldn't get hurt in these things. That month off reminded me to always respect these cars. It doesn't take much to remind me of that now. I have such a new respect for these things."

His lucky day
If there was a point where their personal clutch finally locked up and started pulling this team into the spotlight for good it was in Seattle during the 1999 season. That's when a lightly regarded Worsham beat an all-star cast of drivers, including Force once again, to win his first national event in eight years.

The progress shown in that fateful race, and the resulting second straight top-10 finish in the points, also helped the Worshams solidify their relationship with auto parts giant Checker-Schuck's-Kragen. To date, the two entities have benefited from one another's company for six years, three as Worsham's title sponsor.

"I'm not so sure that if I hadn't won that race in Seattle that I'd be here right now," Worsham said. "That really solidified everything with CSK. It proved to them that we could do it. It was a lucky day for me. A typical underdog win. We took some chances, got some breaks, and the old racing story you always hear actually happened for us. It changed our lives."

The agreement with CSK also blossomed to the point where the team could afford to add a second car, which they did at the start of the 2000 season. With Frank Pedregon behind the wheel, the "blue" car has racked up a win in two final-round appearances with an 11th and seventh place finish in the points. Worsham, meanwhile, has blossomed to an eighth- and a third-place finish with the aforementioned four wins in five finals over the same time frame.

The blue team will continue forward even though Pedregon left to become a free agent at the end of the 2001 season. Veteran Johnny Gray, who is basically cut from the same cloth as the family-oriented Worshams, will join the team in 2002.

"Every reason you can think of why you would want a two-car team is true," Worsham said. "You get twice as many runs. You get twice as much info. You have two teams working towards one goal. You double your chances of winning. Changes can be made in the middle of a session from one car to the other. It's all good.

"Adding the second car lifted us to another level. So did hiring Rob Flynn last year in Denver. Our biggest improvements started right there. Between Rob, my dad, and Dave Fletcher, we've arrived at this point now where we can win way more rounds then we lose. Where we can legitimately contend for Force's spot."

End of rainbow approaching?
Worsham finished his finest season with a steady 35-20 elimination record, a .636 winning percentage.

"You always want to improve from year to year," Worsham said. "But this season was so great that I'd be ecstatic if we can just repeat what we did. Still, do we want to take Force's place? You bet, and I think we can do it. The only thing we're missing is consistency with those world-beater numbers.

"These CSK cars can run low 4.90s and 4.80s all day. But now [Whit] Bazemore has lowered the bar again to 4.70s. We've run those numbers a few times but not consistently. If we want to move up, which means running as good as or better than Force and Bazemore, then we need to be consistent with a low 4.80 or a 4.7-second tune-up. That's our next goal. Of course, that will take a little luck also."

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