Championship Drag Racing

Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals presented by Pontiac
Commerce, Ga.
(May 1-4)

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Del Worsham Checker Schuck's Kragen Funny Car

Reports: Sunday Saturday Friday Pre-race

Atlanta, Sunday: This Atlanta event was the seventh stop on the 23-race NHRA POWERade Drag Racing tour and, after today, in those seven races Team CSK drivers have appeared in the final round five times. On this steamy Sunday, Johnny Gray took his blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Pontiac to the final, and although he finished the day as Runner-Up for the second time in this young season, he was philosophical and humble at the end of the day.

"This team has a lot to be proud of, and I mean the overall team, Team CSK, because we are one big team here," he said. "We thrashed and clawed our way to this final, it wasn't easy and the conditions made it a battle for everyone, and in the final round we got beat by a better car, but we don't see it as a fluke that we were there. We got to the track today and expected to do well, and we did. We're just getting better, and our day will come."

It all started with a three session qualifying effort here, as the annual "dodging of the raindrops" festival repeated itself at Atlanta Dragway. When it was completed, Del Worsham's CSK red team had claimed its fifth top half ladder spot of the year, heading into race day eighth with a 4.90. Gray's blue squad managed a 4.92, which put them in the number 13 spot, their first bottom half position of the season.

"You know something? We weren't worried about it," Gray said. "It was a tough qualifying deal here, and we knew we'd left a lot on the table with that 4.92, so we just figured we'd step up and run like we can in round one, and we had every bit as good a shot at winning from the 13th slot."

On Sunday morning, with the Georgia sun beating on the race track, Gray lined up against Gary Scelzi in the first round, and his Marc Denner / Chris Cunningham machine powered to a stellar 4.864 to take the win light. Ready to rock, the blue team marched into round two.

Worsham had to square off with Cruz Pedregon, who has been improving at recent races, but he also bettered his qualifying time by posting a 4.892 to advance to the second round.

"Both of our teams went through one of those qualifying deals where we never caught up to the weather, and we were sure we could step up on Sunday no matter how hot it got," Worsham said. "Cruz was a tough opponent, but we were thrilled to advance in a battle of the auto parts sponsors, and we had our eyes on a Bristol replay."

One week earlier, in Bristol, Worsham faced John Force in the second round, dispatched him, and then faced his teammate Gray in the semifinal for the right to head to the final round. Here, at Atlanta Dragway, the scenario was the same as Worsham faced Force in round two and knew a pair of Team CSK wins would set up an all CSK semi. On this day, Gray had to face Force's teammate, Gary Densham, who had qualified fifth here.

Gray took care of his side of the bargain, beating Densham in a tough battle on a slick track. Worsham's mount was soft at the hit, and the recently resurgent Force (who qualified No. 1 here) took the win, advancing to face Gray in the semi-final.

In that match-up, it was Gray all the way as he left on Force with a huge starting line advantage, and never saw the Castrol car at all. Johnny Gray was heading to his second final round of 2003, his second final round of his professional career, and Team CSK's fifth final round of the season.

With an army of teammates working on his car and accompanying him to the starting line (not only the red team, but also Arnie Karp's black team, which came here to complete the Artisan Home Entertainment team's licensing procedures on Monday) Gray made his way to the starting line, with hope and respect.

"Tony Pedregon's team is the best out here, by a long shot, right now," Gray said. "We wanted to give them a battle, and make them earn it. Teams that go up there intimidated, and blow the tires off at the hit, don't have a chance. They might as well red light and call it a day. We wanted to go A to B, and make him get there first."

In the final, Gray maintained his outstanding reaction times, and left first. The blue CSK car and Pedregon's green mount paced each other to half-track, and the capacity Atlanta crowd knew the winner of this race would earn every bit of the trophy. When Pedregon's machine pulled ahead in the final 500-feet, the race was over, but Team CSK continued to assert its position in the class.

"I would have loved to have won that one, for my team and for my wife Terry," Gray said. "But you just have to tip your hat when a team lays a 4.87 on you in the heat of the day like that. We're okay, and we're getting better all the time, so I'm not as depressed as I would be had we paced everyone all day and screwed up in the final. We beat Densham, we beat Force, but we couldn't get all three of those guys. It's not an easy thing to do, but we have a lot to be proud of."

Gray edged up the points sheet for the third straight race, ending the day fifth in POWERade points. Worsham's second round appearance allowed him to hold on to the third spot, behind Tony Pedregon and Whit Bazemore.

Atlanta, Saturday: Del Worsham posted a clean 4.90 to take the No. 8 spot with one session remaining:

"We were soft, there's no denying that, but there were a lot of factors in play there and we made a conscious decision to go about it that way. We weren't sure how the track was, we knew there were a lot of good teams needing to step up and the ladder would go through quite a bit of shuffling, but we wanted to get a solid lap on the board so we went out there trying to run a mid-4.80. By the time we ran I knew we'd missed on it a little bit and we ended up with a 4.90, which isn't anything to write home about but gives us a solid baseline for later today and for tomorrow. We'll try to step it up quite a bit on this last one, but I hope the sun stays off the track for us."

Worsham did not improve on his second run and enters the race in the No. 8 spot:

"We put a cylinder out on the right side for most of that run, and it never really got going. We stepped on it pretty hard for that run, but we need to cure the cylinder deal for tomorrow. We have lane choice, but frankly I don't think that's too big of an issue at this track right now. It's just going to be very interesting to see what kind of weather we have tomorrow, since we've had just about everything so far." Worsham will face Cruz Pedregon in round one. Worsham is 1-0 versus Pedregon this season.

Atlanta, Friday: Del Worsham slipped and slid his way to a 5.10 and the No. 6 spot after one session.

"That's the single toughest session we've had this year, for air and track conditions. Seems like we went from early spring to the middle of summer here, it's so hot and humid. We put a cylinder out for most of that run, which isn't hard to do in these conditions, so we've got to address that issue before the next one. I'm thinking this is going to be one of those critical Friday nights, where you better put up your best shot if you want a good slot on Sunday. It should cool off a little tonight, and give us a better track to run on."

Atlanta, pre-race: Individuals who make a living, and a mark for themselves, in the high profile world of NHRA POWERade Drag Racing, are not typically like Del Worsham. In a sport where self-assuredness comes with the territory, the driver of the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Pontiac Funny Car is humble to a fault, never quite sure the success he has achieved is well earned or simply thrust upon him. Only in retrospect does Worsham grudgingly concede that the start of the 2003 campaign, and the two full seasons before it, simply can't be anything but well earned.

Heading into this weekend's Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals near Atlanta, Worsham is still feeling the afterglow of his stirring Funny Car victory last weekend in Bristol, and he knows that win and the two runner-up performances in the three races preceding it can't be anything but a sign of his team's talent and dedication.

"Every single person on this team feels the same way," Worsham said. "We demand a lot of ourselves, but we don't have enough collective ego in this pit to make one arrogant individual. Every time we do well, we're thankful and proud of what we've done, and when we win, it's a huge celebration. You just never know when you're ever going to win again or even make it to the final round again.

"A lot of the guys around here have grown up with us, and have been here when making a final round seemed like an impossible dream. I think we all have to look back over the past two and a half years and pinch ourselves to really appreciate it and understand it. I still don't really believe it myself."

After winning his first career Funny Car trophy at this same Atlanta Dragway back in 1991, as a youngster in a man's world, Worsham then added one more trophy in '91, but not another until 1999. He went winless in 2000 as well, but won four races in 2001, four more in 2002, and now has one more POWERade champion's hat to hang on his wall in 2003. It's been an impressive upward curve to his career path, but Worsham and his team take nothing for granted.

"I have never once come into a race track and thought 'We're the favorites here, we should win this.' or anything approaching that," he said. "We all look around the pit area at John Force's compound, the Schumacher conglomerate, the Skoal camp, and all the other great teams, and just hope we can run with them. To beat them, on any given Sunday, is a huge honor.

"Our guys take this to heart, and they want to win so badly. It was great to win in Bristol, especially because we've often gone through a little slump this time of year. Last year we struggled for a couple of races at this time, and maybe that little mini-slump took us out of the real race, the big race, the POWERade Championship. If we can stay hot this weekend, and win some more rounds, we're giving ourselves a chance to dream about the ultimate dream."

Worsham enters this weekend's event 101 points behind Tony Pedregon, which breaks down to just a hair more than five rounds of racing. Five rounds over the next 17 races is very manageable, but Worsham knows the secret is to take each weekend as it comes.

"You can't think in terms of rounds for the rest of the year, or you've already mentally conceded that you're too far out," he said. "You have to try to beat all these teams each weekend, or at least not let them get more than a round or two on you. You play the big game one period at a time, and try to stay with them. We gained ground on everyone in Bristol, and I hope we can gain ground on more teams this weekend. But, all we can do is our best."