Championship Drag Racing

Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals
Pomona, Calif.
(Nov. 6-9)

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Phil Burkart Jr. Checker, Schucks, Kragen Funny Car

Reports: Sunday Saturday Friday Thursday Pre-race

Pomona, Sunday: In one sense, it was a storybook finish to a great yet challenging year, and at the same time it was one of the more confusing and odd final rounds in Funny Car history. After four years, Worsham Racing finally placed two cars in a final round, guaranteeing the team a win, but the win light was deceiving, as an official ruling had to sort out the final score.

In summation, Del Worsham won his third race of the 2003 season, and his Artisan Home Entertainment teammate Cory Lee was the runner-up. What a wild way to complete the season.

Worsham paced the team with a great qualifying effort with a strong 4.809 that landed him in the No. 6 spot. Phil Burkart, in the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen car, exactly duplicated Lee's effort, as each posted a 4.864. The two were ranked on the basis of speed, with Lee's T2 machine running 315.71 mph, which just barely edged Burkart's 315.42 mph.

Perhaps never have two teammates qualified so uncannily close. On race day, Worsham chose to run as the first pair of the day, facing Scotty Cannon. The red team then picked up where they left off in qualifying, only this time they stepped it up a bit as well, posting a 4.793 at 318 mph to vanquish Cannon.

Lee and Burkart followed, and Burkart suffered the saddest consequence, as his car broke on the burnout. Though he took the green light and made an effort, the blue CSK car was dead in the water by 330 feet and Tim Wilkerson plowed to a very strong and well deserved win, running 4.770.

Lee took care of business for the Artisan team, however, running not only his best E.T. of the event but also his best E.T. of his career, screaming to a 4.822 at 316 mph to end Tommy Johnson's day.

In round two, Worsham had the unenviable task of taking on the No. 2 man in POWERade points, Whit Bazemore, while Lee had an even tougher task facing the No. 1 man, Tony Pedregon, who has already wrapped up the POWERade Championship. This would be no easy round for Worsham Racing. Worsham's 4.834 was way more than he needed to send Bazemore packing, as Bazemore shut off early and pulled to a stop before the finish line while Worsham was screaming to the win. The red CSK car was on its way to the semifinal at Worsham's "home race" in front of hundreds of family and friends.

Lee faced Pedregon, playing the role of David to Pedregon's Goliath, and when he streaked to a 4.870 and Pedregon had traction problems, the Artisan team levitated off the ground on the starting line. They were going to their first semi of the year, and were doing so after having beaten one of the best cars in the sport.

In that round, one step from the big dance, Worsham faced the always tough Tim Wilkerson and their race was one for the ages. Worsham and Wilkerson left in lockstep, then paced each other for the full 1,320 feet. In the end, Worsham's 4.797 was a strong one, though Wilkerson's 4.803 was right there with him. Margin of victory for Worsham, about four inches.

Lee faced Gary Scelzi in his semi, the same man who had ripped off so many stout numbers at recent races it has become difficult to keep them straight. How could Lee and his underdog group take out this fast running team? How about in a thrilling match that featured Scelzi going up in tire smoke, Lee flirting with the center line so closely a television analysis was needed to determine the winner. And in the end, Lee kept the T2 car off that centerline and took the win. In a stunning turn of events, Worsham and Lee were matched up in the final round of the season's final race.

"This is what we've dreamed of for four years, having two of our cars in the final round of a race," Worsham said. "To do it at Pomona, in front of all the people we love and all these people we know, is almost too much to comprehend. This is the ultimate."

With both teams making their own tune-up calls on this one, Garry Kennedy led the T2 team to the line to face their boss and teammate Worsham, as a huge throng of friends, relatives, CSK sponsors, Artisan sponsors, and other supporters followed them to the ultimate stage.

Then the weirdness ensued.

It began with Worsham jumping the gun and red-lighting. Leaving too soon, but not sure of his transgression, Worsham took off down the track and posted incremental numbers far better than his best career marks. Finally, just past half-track, Worsham took a peek at the scoreboard and saw Lee's win light on.

"I had a funny feeling I had left just a hair early," Worsham said. "The car was just hauling, I knew we were on a career pass, so I took a peek at the scoreboard and saw Cory's win light on. When I did that, the car got a little out of the groove on me and headed for the wall, so I lifted, knowing we'd lost."

Lee, also unaware of Worsham's foul, tore down the track in a valiant attempt to catch the red CSK machine he thought was leading him. As his car neared center line, the tires broke loose, and somewhat unbelievably Lee's T2 mount crossed the center line. With two fouls involved, both teams stood at the starting line, on live national television, and waited for the ruling. Finally, like an NFL referee checking with the replay booth for the official ruling, NHRA Chief Starter Rick Stewart waited for the report from the tower and then signaled that Lee's foul was worse than Worsham's, naming Worsham the winner.

"It's the old 'first or worst' rule," Worsham said. "When I red-lit, I lost at least to that point. But Cory crossing the center line was worse than my red light, so the win comes back to us. I apologized to my team, many times, because I not only screwed up at the lights, I cost us a career best set of numbers. We were on our way to a 4.74 at least, maybe a 4.73 or even better. But, we got the win in the most improbable way. What a bizarre way to end the season, huh? Incredible."

Lee was sad, but philosophical in defeat. "I had no idea he had red-lit, so I was just giving it everything I had to get it to the other end," he said. "It got over on the center line, and I wasn't lifting. I figured I was in a race for a trophy, but it got the cone and I was done.

"What I really need to do is thank everyone who gave us this chance. Arnie Karp was here, every step of the way today, and he was on Cloud 9 being in the final with us. The Worshams are the best, and Del is one of my best friends in the sport. Artisan Home Entertainment gave us the chance to do this. What a wild way to end a wild season. We wanted it more than anything, I know I did, but we got beat by one of the great guys in all of drag racing, and they had a great race car all weekend. It was wild."

Pomona, Saturday: Phil Burkart made a solid pass, running a little quicker than teammate Worsham, but then nicked the mile per hour timing block near the finish line, disqualifying his run and knocking him back to the No. 9 spot with one run left:

"Thursday was the first time I've ever missed the 'chute levers, and this is the first time I've ever hit a timing block on a full run. I hit one once before, when my old car did a wheel stand and came down hard enough to break an A-arm and I couldn't steer, but this time it just kept drifting and drifting and it wouldn't come back. I finally thought I had it going more or less straight, and then it just gave a little juke to the left again and we just kissed that block. We almost missed it, but almost doesn't count."

Burkart then torched a head gasket at the top end, slowing to a 4.896 at only 276 mph, which landed him in the No. 10 spot:

"It was running pretty well down there, but it lit up on me pretty fast when the head gasket gave way. When a head gasket blows, you get bright orange flames instantly, but the motor doesn't go sour like it does when you're kicking the rods out of it. We kept the damage to a minimum, so we're okay going into tomorrow. We've made some really good runs here, and all I want right now is to turn that into some round wins tomorrow."

Burkart will face Tim Wilkerson in round one. He has not faced Wilkerson this season.

Pomona, Friday: In an uncanny show of nearly impossible consistency, all three Worsham Racing Funny Cars made solid laps within 12-thousandths of a second of each other, with the blue and black cars making identical laps in terms of E.T. and nearly identical speeds.

Phil Burkart posted a 4.864, identical to teammate Cory Lee's run in the Artisan car, at 315.42 miles per hour, just a hair slower than Lee's 315.71:

"Just when you think you've seen it all, huh? You know, maybe the deciding factor in us running just about identical laps is the fact we had to go with our backup body because of the sand trap incident last night, and the wing on this car is the same as the wing on the black car. The body we hurt last night had our only carbon fiber wing, and we didn 't have the time to swap wings on these cars, so we went with the old style one. The other wing probably would have given us another mile an hour. As it was, it's just too cool that we all ran so well and did it right in a row, all three of us in the same lane, in three straight laps. Very cool."

Pomona, Thursday: Phil Burkart ran a fine 4.922, placing him 8th after one session, but then ran off the end of the track, into the sand trap, and tore up the blue CSK Firebird body:

"It was running great, 313 miles per hour in the lights, and I went for the parachute levers and missed. At this place, which probably has the shortest shutdown area on the tour, if you miss the 'chutes you have to grab the brake, because you use your right hand for both, and you won't have time to reach for the 'chutes again. So I got on the brake, and I could see the sandtrap coming. I was going fast, very fast, and I knew if I went straight into the trap that the car would go through it and into the catch fence. Nothing good is going to come out of that. The catch fence will demolish the body and probably flip the car over, tail over nose. So as I hit the sand I turned left a little, which kept us off the fence, but that move dug the right front into a mound of sand and that's what tore the whole right front off the body. Then, it tipped up on the left side tires, and almost went over. I actually thought it was going to tip over, but right at the balance point it stopped, hesitated for a minute, and then slammed back down on all four tires. You feel bad when you tear your stuff up, but you feel worse when you tear someone else's stuff up. There's just no room for error here, and that's what happens if anything out of the ordinary happens. We go most of the year without seeing cars in any sandtrap, but you can't go a day here without seeing a couple."

Pomona, pre-race: Having taken over the driving duties in the blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Pontiac Funny car in early September, Phil Burkart knew there was never any chance he could be a factor in the '03 POWERade points chase. He also knew, however, that the talented team he was joining could be every bit a factor at every race they attended. Now, heading to the final race of the 2003 season, the Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona, Burkart plans to announce his presence one final time this year, as his team gears up to go out on a high note.

"I'd like to think we're a pretty dangerous bunch, and we have a chance to break some hearts this weekend," Burkart said. "We have a very fast car, and it's getting more consistent by the week. We have nothing to lose, we're not worried about our points, so we'll put the hammer down and see what we can do. Some other teams may be playing that game where they're trying to win as many points as possible but also trying not to lose a position. We're 17th with no chance of even finishing 16th, so we don't care. We just want to win."

Burkart's co-crew chiefs, Marc Denner and Chris Cunningham, have provided him a stout racing machine every week, and this time around they've already whispered in his ear about their plans for the season finale.

"Marc and Chris have already let me know, we're not going to be shy," Burkart said. "They'll take a look at the track, and the conditions, and lay it all out there. I guess you could say we're going to swing for the fences. If we connect, stand back.

"And you know, as much as I'd love to win this race, it would probably mean even more to Marc, Chris, and the whole team. Justin King, Nick Casertano, Tom Leskovan, and Chris Stockton have worked through a lot of adversity this year. They've busted their rear ends all year, and since I've joined this team I've been blown away by their chemistry and their dedication. They've earned a trophy, but so far it hasn't been handed to them. There's no team out here that deserves a trophy more than these guys. It would be an honor to help them get one in the last race."

Burkart's confidence in his team and tuners is based on sheer fact. Since taking over the ride immediately after the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Burkart is 7-5 in terms of his round record, and has advanced as far as the final round in Chicago. Along the way he has reset his career best numbers, and consistently run quicker than he ever had before joining Team CSK. The thrill ride has been exhilarating, and Burkart doesn't want it to end just yet.

"A lot of guys are worn down and worn out by the time they crawl into Pomona for the Finals, but not me," Burkart said. "I basically ran about 40-percent of the schedule after the Worshams called prior to Brainerd to put me in the Artisan car, so I'm still amped up and raring to go. I hate to see the season end, but I'm coming to Pomona to make the most of the final weekend. Between myself, Marc, Chris, and the entire crew, we don't want to leave anything on the table. We want to make it a weekend we can savor all winter long."

And with nothing to lose, the blue CSK gang could leave Pomona with more than just smiles and handshakes. They hope to leave with a trophy.