O'Reilly Fall Nationals
Dallas
(Oct. 10-13)
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17th Annual |
| Sunday |
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Worsham, Jeg also score victories |
Doug Kalitta became a part of drag racing history today by winning the 500th Top Fuel race in NHRA history at the 17th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec in Texas. Funny Car driver Del Worsham and red-hot Pro Stock ace Jeg Coughlin Jr. joined Kalitta in a joyous Texas Motorplex winner's circle.
It was a day of high drama with dramatic explosions, numerous twists of fate in the POWERade championship points standings, and a stunning double-track-record Pro Stock run that featured just the second 204-mph pass ever.
Kalitta is arguably the hottest Top Fuel pilot in the series at the moment with victories in three of the last four national events. He took care of business against McClenathan with a 4.582 at 322.58 mph against Cory Mac's tire-smoking 6.565 at 130.62 mph. His recent string of victories has lifted Kalitta from sixth place to third place in the standings.
 Doug Kalitta
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"When we won our first race in Reading a few races back we decided we'd play the role of spoiler for the rest of the season and that's kind of what we've done," Kalitta said. "We started the year wanting to win the championship and we were humbled early. It's satisfying to rebound like this and get some momentum up for next year's charge, especially at the expense of those beer cars because they beat on us pretty good early on.
"It's a pretty cool accomplishment to get the 500th win. We were wondering if Connie [Kalitta, crew chief and team owner] was one of the first winners. We sure got a little help today, especially against Kenny Bernstein when we were both smoking our tires. I kept expecting him to come around me, but he didn't.
"I don't know why we turned the corner like this and if I did know I sure wouldn't tell a soul. It's amazing that we're all the way up to third place. Now I guess we need to fight off the other guys and keep that spot."
Kenny Bernstein had a golden opportunity to gain some serious ground on POWERade points leader Larry Dixon after taking him out in a primetime second-round showdown, but a semifinal loss to Kalitta ended up netting him just 20 extra points and he still trails Dixon by 108 points with two races to go.
The soft-spoken Kalitta let his Mac Tools rail do the talking today. It was a rocketship in the first two rounds with Kalitta posting 4.5-second passes against Clay Millican and No. 1 qualifier Andrew Cowin. It was in the semifinals where Kalitta really earned his pay, out-pedaling a desperate Bernstein and winning with a 5.46 to Bernstein's 5.88.
McClenathan made the most of his one-race sponsorship with local automotive chemical company Berryman Products with his third final-round appearance of the season and 41st of his career. He also helped himself in the points, beating Tony Schumacher, Doug "Zilla" Herbert, and Rhonda Hartman-Smith, who broke after her burnout. Top Fuel results
The Funny Car finale took a little longer than expected after challenger Bruce Sarver suffered a dramatic engine failure just off the starting line. It's unlikely Sarver saw Worsham streak away for his fourth victory of the season as his Toyota seemingly shuddered for several seconds before stopping a few hundred feet downtrack.
 Del Worsham
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Just as he had been all day, Worsham was a formidable opponent to Sarver, as witnessed by his steady 4.862-second, 319.48-mph winning time.
"It's great to be back in third place," Worsham said. "We had to break up that John Force Racing 1-2-3 deal. That just doesn't sit right. Now we need to keep it up and make sure we're there at the end of the season.
"I know John [Force] and Tony [Pedregon] have gotten all the attention lately with the points race, especially Tony with all his wins in a row and catching up to John, but today we got the check and we got the win and that's all I wanted.
"We looked at the ladder this morning and there's never an easy side but today it seemed ours was a little easier path to the finals. Normally when that happens we lose in the first round but dad kept this Checker-Schuck's-Kragen car tuned up in these great conditions and we ended up here [in the winner's circle.]"
Worsham powered into third place in the POWERade standings just by reaching his sixth final round of the year. His Checker-Schuck's-Kragen carried him past Bob Bode, Frank Pedregon, and Tommy Johnson Jr. in the early rounds.
Sarver's 10th career final-round appearance and fourth of the season came after he drove Alan Johnson's White Cap Toyota Celica past Dale Creasy Jr., John Force, and Team Force racer Gary Densham.
The razor-thin lead Force has over his teammate Tony Pedregon was trimmed to 13 points in qualifying. That margin stayed intact today when both men lost in Round 2. Pedregon had his chance to take the lead, watching Force lose in front of him, but he gave up a .453 to .493-second starting line advantage to Johnson Jr. and lost by 15-ten-thousandths of a second, or about eight inches.
Ron Capps emerged unscathed from a spectacular engine explosion in the first round that destroyed his Skoal Camaro. "My first reaction was to go for the 'chute, but I couldn't reach it," Capps said. "Then I went for the brake and couldn't reach that either because of the debris around me. I did find the button to my crew radio and I started screaming, 'I need help! I need help! I can't steer it. I can't stop.' The explosion was the worst that I've ever been through." Funny Car results
To be the best you have to beat the best, which is exactly what Pro Stock points leader Coughlin did Sunday in his Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier. Entering this event, Coughlin was locked in a battle with Jim Yates and Greg Anderson for the POWERade championship points lead. He took care of both men, as well as George Marnell and final-round foe Gene Wilson, en route to his seventh win in the last 10 events.
 Jeg Coughlin
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Coughlin's final lap was little more than a victory parade as Wilson jumped the starting line with a .383-second red-light disqualification. Even so, Coughlin would have been tough to beat as he posted a 6.826 at 202.33 mph in front of Wilson's 6.833 at 202.33 mph.
"Those guys can't complain now," Coughlin said of Yates and Anderson. "They both had a shot at me but we came out on top both times. There have been lots of rumors and this and that floating around in the pits. We're not going to focus on that. There have been lots of pokes directed at us. I guess it comes with the territory. No one's pointed the finger at us directly and we've been in the barn [for NHRA technical inspection] at every race so it's all just stupid talk.
"Ever since Billy Meyer built this place I've always wanted to do well here. It's great to get our first win. I know it sounds funny but the way Billy built this place for the racers and the little things like the bricks out front with the names of the winners, it just makes you want to be a part of it.
"We beat two of the baddest cars out there today. Greg almost put a holeshot on me but we drove around him. Then Yates red-lit but I think we had something for him any way. Those were two gut-wrenching laps back-to-back. You definitely have to step back and pinch yourself sometimes."
With two races remaining, Coughlin has now increased his lead to 108 points over Yates and 196 over Anderson.
This was Wilson's second final in the last three national events. On this day he powered David Nickens' Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T past Tom Lee, Steve Schmidt, and Kurt Johnson with a string of 6.84-second passes.
Coughlin's semifinal win against Yates came on a .324-second red-light by Yates. The two men entered the round with identical e.t.s but Coughlin had lane choice due to his superior speed.
Kurt Johnson posted the second fastest Pro Stock pass of all time in Round 2 when he logged a double-track-record run of 6.785 seconds at 204.03 mph. It was just the second 204-mph pass ever. Mark Osborne went 204.35 last October in Reading, Pa. Pro Stock results
In the Lucas Oil Sportsman classes, David Wells upset Rick Santos in the Alcohol Dragster final on a major holeshot, leaving with a .524 light to Santos' uncharacteristically late .707 and holding on to win, 5.49 to 5.34.
Von Smith powered the Jensen Audio Firebird to victory in Alcohol Funny Car, driving around a holeshot to defeat Marc White, 5.632, 256.62 to 5.676, 251.81.
In a battle of GM machines, Topeka winner Mike Trumble Jr. scored his second Comp win of 2002, driving his A/SMA Grand Prix entry past the B/SMA Cavalier entry of Jeff Taylor.
Kevin Helms, who is leading the points in hopes of winning his second straight national championship in Stock, scored in Super Stockin Dallas, running a near-dead-on10.259 following Bobby Brannon's final-round red-light.
Dan Fletcher made it two straight wins in Stock eliminator, backing up his win at the Craftsman 75th Anniversary Nationals with a victory in Dallas with his B/SA Camaro, besting Sammy Pizzolato's A/SA entry in the final.
Anthony Bertozzi scored his first career NHRA win, doing it in Super Comp with a .406 light and an 8.95 to defeat Ross Laris' quicker-but-later 8.924. Clark Mundt also got his first career win in Super Gas, besting Jonathan Womack in a double-breakout final round, 9.894 to 9.891 Eric Sandlin wrapped up the Super-class winning with his victory in Super Street coming on Dan Dittmer's .499 red-light.
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