Championship Drag Racing

O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals
Houston, Texas
(March 28-30)

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Driver Profile

Del Worsham DHL Toyota

, pre-race:   Looking back over the past two years, Del Worsham has no problem spotting the moments when things went well, when he knew his race car was back in sync enough to win races. Others may see a star driver now on a winless streak lasting more than two full seasons, but Worsham knows there have been numerous times when, but for the want of an inch here or a foot there, he easily could have made the trip to the winner's circle. The trick of course, through good times and bad, is to make big power while also managing to cleanly apply it to the racing surface, and as Worsham heads to Houston Raceway Park for this weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil, he feels quite confident in his ability to put those two disparate techniques together. It's simply a matter of making horsepower with his special-edition K&N Filters Impala while he also gets it to hook up with the track.

No team is completely immune to the wide variety of ailments that can infect a race car. Whether it's dropped cylinders, tire smoke, or the more costly proposition of engine explosions, the volatility of drag racing on nitro will, at some point, cause every tuner and driver to experience a few sleepless nights, wondering where the mojo went and how they can get it back. For Worsham, it's all about maintaining that delicate balance of speed and traction, and although the stress of his winless streak wears on him, he's sure it will finally end.

"I never say never, and I never promise things I can't guarantee, but I know in my heart that we can win," Worsham said. "For whatever reason, or string of reasons, we've been experiencing just about every form of frustration you can imagine for the last couple of years. We've run great and lost by inches. We've gotten lost and blown up everything in the trailer. We've bounced back but somehow been unable to close the deal. When we break out of this and win a race, I firmly believe we'll go on a roll. We're good enough, we work hard enough, and we have a fast car. We just need to get this big ape off our backs and break out of it.

"And, you know, as bad as our results have been this year, we're actually better off than we were a year ago. Last season, we came into Houston with two DNQs and a first-round loss, so we only had 51 points and were pretty much buried down around 20th place in the points. Now, we've got the same two DNQs, but we won a round in Gainesville, so we're a full round ahead of last year. Of course, we made it to the semifinals in Houston in 2007, but it wasn't because we came out and dominated. We got a little lucky last year, and I'll always accept that, but we're running so much better now than we were then it's not even close. If we go rounds this weekend, I think it will be because we're good, not lucky."

Worsham's 2007 semifinal showing in Houston did present itself as a bit of a gift, though without ribbons or bows. After qualifying 16th and losing in the first round in Gainesville last season, he bounced back with a strong No. 7 spot in Houston, but then smoked the tires early in his first-round race with Gary Densham. Fortunately for Worsham, Densham fouled, and the glaring red-light handed the CSK driver his first 20-point round of the year. Worsham took out Tony Bartone with an A-to-B lap in round two, but then succumbed to tire shake against Ron Capps in the semis. In one day, Worsham more than doubled his points total, but it was hard to escape the fact his car still wasn't running well.

Now, in 2008, Worsham heads for Houston with a much more solid race car, giving him the confidence he needs to aggressively take on one of the quicker tracks on the tour.

"If the weather cooperates in Houston, you can fly," Worsham said.  "It doesn't always cooperate, because you can see everything from thunderstorms, lightning, and high humidity all the way to hot sunshine and a slick track. But if it doesn't get too hot and we get a little cloud cover, you'll need to be aggressive if you want to win. You have to put the power to it but still not smoke the tires, and that's the same challenge we face every week. Houston is usually one of those tracks, though, where you don't have to tiptoe to make it, and we've had some big laps, and some big days, at this place.

"This year, all I want to do is to keep making progress and keep making solid laps. We put a pair of really nice runs on the board in Gainesville, which got the little qualifying monkey off our backs. The big ape is still on there, though, and if we stay consistent and stay aggressive, I think we can knock him off too. He's going to make a nice thud when he hits the ground, because he's been hanging around for more than two years.  I can't guarantee anything, so I won't promise a win, but I know we're capable of it. If we're celebrating at the end of the day Sunday, it might surprise some people, but it won't surprise us."

And should Worsham qualify well and string four good laps together on Sunday, placing his K&N Filters/CSK Chevy in the Winner's Circle, he most likely will have done it by hooking up the horsepower.

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