CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals
Chicago, Ill.
(Sept. 30-Oct. 3)
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Fourth annual |
| Sunday |
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the door in CARQUEST Nat's final |
Top Fuel driver Doug Herbert scored his first win in more than two years Sunday to complete an upset-filled final round of the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals. Like Herbert, Funny Car winner Del Worsham and Pro Stock victor Dave Connolly also won their respective categories by dismissing the POWERade points leader.
Herbert's win over Tony Schumacher was colossal as he drove away from the pending champion to take the stripe by two-hundredths of a second. Worsham moved to a perfect 5-0 in money rounds when he dismissed a tire-smoking John Force. A wildly out-of-shape Connolly got a big gift from a red-lighting Greg Anderson and actually had to restart his car to get down the track. Nevertheless, he took his third win in the last five races.
It took a career-best run of 4.516 seconds at 329.75 mph for Herbert to earn his first victory since the 2002 event in Sonoma, Calif., but it was worth the wait as he took out the best car in the class in a thrilling finale. Herbert and his Snap-on Tools dragster left first with a .087- to .102-second head start and never relinquished the lead, clicking the timers just in front of Schumacher's 4.527 at 329.18 mph.
 Doug Herbert
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"My fun-meter is pegged," Herbert said. "I told my crew chiefs we needed to run the best pass of our lives in the final if we wanted to win and that's exactly what we did. I love it when a plan comes together.
"It's awesome to win at the fastest racetrack there is. It just doesn't get any better than this. Beating that team is something because they've been unbelievably tough all year. They're leading the points because they're the best team out here.
"This Snap-on team is on a big upswing right now. Ace and Brissette [crew chiefs Ed MuCulloch and Jim Brissette] have so much experience between them. Now that they've been working together for awhile and they have a feel for what each guy is thinking they're just not making a lot of mistakes."
Herbert's first final since last year's Bristol race came after a pair of 4.5-second wins over Brady Kalivoda and John Smith, and a two-tenths of a second dismissal of surprise semifinalist Bob Vandergriff, 4.62 to 4.80. The Cherryville, N.C., driver is now 8-9 with an NHRA trophy on the line.
The U.S. Army team showed it was up for the challenge early on when Schumacher posted a 4.477 in an opening round win over Dave Grubnic, who carded a track-record top speed of 333.58 mph in his losing effort. Schumacher dodged a bullet after that when his off-pace 4.83 beat Rhonda Hartman-Smith's tire-smoking 5.25. He then used a slight holeshot to edge Brandon Bernstein by .009 seconds.
Schumacher did extend his POWERade points lead to 273 over Doug Kalitta. He could wrap up his second POWERade title as soon as next week in Reading but is more likely to finish the job in Las Vegas. Top Fuel results
Worsham and Force were side-by-side for the first 300 feet but the Castrol Mustang suddenly lost traction and Worsham was able to zip away for a 4.809-second, 329.75-mph win in his Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Monte Carlo. Force gave up when he saw Worsham wasn't going to falter and just drifted through with a 6.854 at 131.11 mph.
 Del Worsham
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The victory moved Worsham into second place in the championship chase, 237 points behind Force. It also moved him into the class lead for wins this year with five. (Force has four wins in nine finals.) Additionally, the win made this a career season for the 19-time national event winner.
"Early on we thought that maybe this was our year," said Worsham, who also won last weekend in Dallas. "Then we came apart a bit in the summer with the rule changes, but here lately we've been right back where we were. We seem to have found it again. Maybe one of these years we'll get it all together for the whole season.
"We go into the final and I know they've out-performed us. I mean, when he ran that 4.66, even I got excited. That was huge. But I've learned over the years that the best way to race Force is to just run what you can run and don't worry about them. You still know who's over there and my knees were knocking and my stomach was turning, but you still go for it and race the best you can. Any win is great. A win over Force is even better. We are fully stoked."
The CSK team was steady, if not spectacular, all day. Worsham opened with a 4.76 over Tommy Johnson Jr., used a 4.86 to get past Jerry Toliver, and a 4.80 to take a holeshot win over Eric Medlen, before using another 4.80 to punch-out Force.
For his part, Force started with a double-world-record run of 4.665 seconds at 333.58 mph against Tony Bartone. He then used a 4.71 against Tony Pedregon and a 4.72 opposite Cruz Pedregon to reach the 177th final round of his career. Funny Car results
Connolly's victory was sweet for so many reasons, but none meant as much as the fact he shared the winner's circle with his father Ray, who won Super Gas. That feat alone -- a father and son winning a pro and a sportsman category at the same race -- has only been accomplished twice in the history of the sport. Kenny and Brandon Bernstein are the other pairing.
 Dave Connolly
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It didn't hurt that Connolly beat all-conquering Pro Stock giant Anderson in a crazy finale that featured Connolly actually shutting off his car and restarting it to get to the other end in a slow-paced victory pass. Connolly's Bullet Motorsports Chevrolet Cavalier was way out of shape at the hit of the throttle and he was prepared to throw in the towel until he looked up and saw that Anderson had left early by three-thousandth of a second.
"I don't know if we were too aggressive but as soon as I let the clutch out it went dead right and I had to shut it off to stay out of trouble," Connolly said. "Then the guys got on the radio and they were screaming that he went red. They told me to take it to the line so I re-fired her up and went through the gears nice and slow. I needed to go down there and get my trophy.
"Having dad win at the same time makes this a day I'll never forget. He did a good job and I can't wait to put both of our cars in the winner's circle tonight. That'll be a picture we'll put on the shelf and look at for a long time."
Connolly just pounded away with low 6.7-second runs to get to his eighth money round of the season. He beat Ron Krisher, Larry Morgan, Steve Johns, and Anderson in winning his second straight national event.
The Chicago curse continues for Anderson as he remains winless at this facility. His 43rd career final-round appearance came at the expense of JR Carr, Jeg Coughlin, and Bruce Allen. The fact Anderson set both ends of the class record with a 6.661 at 207.75 mph in qualifying seemed to make little difference to the bewildered new champ. Pro Stock results
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