Championship Drag Racing

NHRA Carolinas Nationals
Charlotte, N.C.
(September 11-14)

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Driver Profile

Del Worsham DHL Toyota

Charlotte, Saturday: Del Worsham was fairly certain his 4.074 from Friday evening would stand the test of time of Saturday, and it did, but the real test for the capacity crowd at zMax Dragway on this day was surviving the blistering conditions.  High heat and humidity, along with a scorching sun, blanketed the massive throng and put a slight damper on the racing, but the superior traction of zMax Dragway's all-concrete surface allowed the tuners and drivers to put a number of solid laps on the board, sending the standing-room-only audience home happy, if not exhausted.

Worsham's 4.140 during Saturday's first session was a clean and solid lap, but it also helped set the benchmark for what was out there.  In the end, the bump ended up at 4.134, and notables such John Force, Tommy Johnson, Jerry Toliver, and Tony Bartone missed the cut, while reigning POWERade Champ Tony Pedregon could only hold onto the 16th spot.   

Worsham will enter the fray from the lofty No. 3 spot on Sunday, when weather conditions are predicted to mimic Saturday's, if it's not actually hotter.  He will face Gary Scelzi in round one.

"It was brutal out there, for us and the fans, but they all screamed and yelled and had a great time," Worsham said.  "I'm not sure I've ever raced in front of this many people, but I know for a fact I've never raced in a place this nice, or this big.  It was like being on the field at an NFL game, out there.  The crowd just went straight up, on both sides, and seemed to go on forever.  It's also a credit to the actual track itself that people were out there running 4.14s, and a few laps even better than that.  There aren't too many tracks I've ever seen that could hold these cars in this kind of heat.

"Now, we need to take all of this momentum, and all of the positive vibes we've been getting, and just have a big day.  I've been racing Gary for a lot of years, and we've always had a great rivalry and great races.  Neither one of us made the Countdown, and neither one of us had anything close to the kind of year we expected, so I know we'll be both be up there trying to make something out of this, at what might just be the biggest and most important race of the year.  We're here with a lot of NASCAR fans, teams, and sponsors watching us, and it's been 'Who's Who' of NASCAR around the track so far.  We want to let them all see just how amazing NHRA POWERade Drag Racing can be.  Tomorrow, we'll get our chance."

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