Championship Drag Racing

Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals
Pomona, CA
(November 1-4)

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Driver Profile

Del Worsham DHL Toyota

Pomona, Sunday: Like a magician finishing a magic trick, Del Worsham's Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala Funny Car made a season disappear in the blink of an eye, with an accompanying puff of white tire smoke. After having valiantly forced his way into one of the most difficult and competitive 16-car fields in history, Worsham faced off with Ashley Force in round one, and simply overpowered the race track. In that instant, Worsham faced the two-sided prospect of watching one season come to an end, while he also looked forward to a clean slate in 2008.

The unique qualifying set-up in Pomona, which features a single run on Thursday, another lone run on Friday, and a pair of laps on Saturday, always seems to cause the red CSK team problems. With so much time elapsing between Q1 and Q2, it's difficult to build any momentum, and any combination of bad luck and bad performance can send a team into Saturday with its hindquarters squarely against the wall. That was the fate that befell Worsham, who failed to negotiate the full 1,320 on the first two days, leaving him with only a sunny Saturday afternoon to make good on his desire to finish this season with the longest current qualifying streak in the class (21 races), a stat which surprises anyone who recalls Worsham's back-to-back DNQs to open the season.

During Q3, Worsham faced a warm track and bleak prospects, coming into the lap from the distant 24th position, near the bottom of the list at this race attended by a huge gathering of 26 Funny Cars. With a big challenge ahead of him, and not wanting to push his chances to the fourth and final qualifying session, Worsham calmly ripped off a big 4.821-second lap, moving, at the time, to the No. 8 spot. When qualifying was over, Worsham had slipped back a few slots, into the 12th position, but he was racing and his qualifying streak was intact.

Sunday dawned as another postcard image of Southern California, with a scattering of high white clouds framing an otherwise clear blue sky. Worsham's assignment included a first-round match-up with Ashley Force, whom he has had a habit of running into lately. As the third pair, they were quickly at the starting line.

At the flash of amber, Worsham and Force exactly matched each other in terms of reaction time, each leaving with a .096 reading. In terms of E.T., it was only close to near half-track, where Worsham's car went into tractionless tire smoke, while Force continued on to a 4.843 to take the win light and end Worsham's season.

"The car just picked that run to have more power than it should, but there was nothing mechanically wrong with it, it just blew the tires off for basically mysterious reasons," Worsham said. "We looked back at the log book and found two other runs where it did the same thing, just picking up more power than we expected to have, as if it could just decide to do that, and I really don't understand it.

"So, there you have it. One second you're strapped in the car waiting for the lights to flash, and two seconds later your day, your race, and your season is over, done, finished. This sport is pretty cruel like that. It's just over. There's no chance to spend the next hour picking up the ground you lost. You're done. And now we'll decompress for a few hours and then get right to work. We are absolutely intent upon being completely ready to come out of the box ripping next year. By tomorrow morning, we'll be tied for first place."

The finality of this sport is exactly how Worsham described it, and in this case the magician pulled the 2007 rug right out from under his feet in the blink of an eye, with a puff of smoke.

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