Championship Drag Racing

Pontiac Performance NHRA Nationals
Columbus, OH
(May 19-22)

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Driver Profile

Del Worsham DHL Toyota Funny Car

Columbus, Friday: The word "challenging" may well describe the track conditions on this Friday evening in Columbus, but may also represent a stout understatement. For Del Worsham and his red Checker, Schuck's, Kragen team the challenge was only met in relative terms, as Worsham will spend the night in the No. 8 spot, much higher than many of his peers, though his best lap was only a back-pedaled 5.329-second effort.

Misty and overcast skies gave way to partial clearing in time for the 5:00 session, but the track would only yield full runs to three drivers (Robert Hight, Eric Medlen, and Gary Densham.) Worsham took a shot at pedaling his car once or twice, and got it to hook up well enough to land the 5.329 while many big hitters lifted and gave up.

On Friday night, cool temperatures and an excessively tight track made it a truly "all or nothing" adventure, and the left lane absolutely seemed to be far more difficult than the right. By the time it was over, only six cars out of 19 made strong full runs, and five of those six came in the right lane. Worsham, like nearly everyone else, shook hard on the sticky track, and had no chance in the left lane.

"That was not a good show for the fans," a frustrated Worsham said. "I'm sure they weren't too impressed with the Funny Car session, and by the time the Top Fuel guys ran after us the track was even tighter. The entire Top Fuel class struck out, so you can tell it was very difficult out there. Looking at the data, we probably don't have a tune-up that could make it down that left lane. It was so tight you could barely spin the tires at all, and we leaned all over it trying to get some wheel speed up, but it grabbed and shook anyway.

"Tomorrow will probably be all different again, and we'll be back over in the right lane for the first run. It's supposed to be sunny, and a little warmer, so hopefully that will tame the track a little bit. We want to put on a good show for the people who are paying to see this, and we want a chance to earn a spot high in the field based on a good effort, rather than having our time simply be the least of all of the bad runs."

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