2005 Archive

  2004 Archive

11/14/04

The season’s last race of the year was in many ways the best race of the year.

Let me explain.

The Auto Club Finals at the Fairplex this past weekend could have been a pretty uninspired affair, considering that by the end of qualifying, every POWERade championship had been wrapped up. When Andrew Hines slipped his Harley-Davidson into the #12 spot on Saturday, he clinched his first Pro Stock Motorcycle title and the suspense was over. Everyone could relax, right?

No hardly!

Some of the fiercest racing of the year was unleashed on Sunday with Del Worsham and Gary Scelzi in a heated battle for second place in the final points standings, John having to race Scelzi (Again!) in the semi-finals, and plenty of drama in the other three pro categories.

But in Funny Car, Team Castrol put on quite a show all weekend. In Saturday’s final qualifying session, Gary took the No. 1 spot away from Scelzi who had just run a blistering 4.72 when the AAA Mustang rocked to a 4.70/329 rip. Both numbers were career-bests for Gary and he was really jazzed when I interviewed him on our ESPN telecast. But the euphoria was cut short when John came up in the very next pair and ran yet another 4.60’s pass—a 4.69 at over 329 miles-per-hour—to take the pole away from his departing teammate.

On Sunday, Scelzi and Worsham knew that whichever driver advanced further would lock up second place in the points. It would be a career-best F/C points finish for both drivers and both wanted it very badly. The issue was settled in the semi-finals when Del took out Gary Densham while John finally got the best of Scelzi in their match up. In the round previous, Del was faced with the touchy subject of “team orders” as he had to face his teammate Phil Burkart—knowing that were he to lose to “Nitro Phil”, he could hand the No. 2 spot in the points to Scelzi.

Del issued no mandates to his blue team, but Phil’s tuners, Chris Cunningham and Mark Denner made no bones about setting up the blue car to smoke the tires, thus making sure Del’s chances at second place would be kept alive. A very tough call for that team to make, since they have always taken pride in racing heads-up whenever the two teammates race each other. But multi-car team strategy dictates that when one driver is in position to nail down a better points finish, which could be worth an extra $50,000, his teammate has to do the right thing. Just ask John. He has had many a sleepless night wrestling with the very dicey scenarios that racing his teammates have confronted him with.

The good news for John was that Ashley ended her first year in an A/Fuel dragster with a victory on Sunday—beating Mitch Myers on a holeshot in the final round. Mitch had clinched the Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster championship one round earlier so to beat him in the payoff round was quite an achievement for Ashley.

Moments later, John beat Del Worsham in the Funny Car final for his 5th win of ’04 and a perfect way to wrap up the ’04 season. It was pandemonium at the top end when John, Ashley, John’s wife, Laurie, and the entire complement of crew members from all of Team Force’s racecars celebrated simultaneously. It was a great way to bring the 2004 season to a close.

And so, with championship No. 13 in hand, Ashley’s Division 4 T/AD title in the bank, and a new granddaughter to fuss over, the Champ can enjoy the off-season to the fullest until it’s time to begin all over again in 13 weeks.

Have a great holiday season and we’ll catch up with you in February, 2005!

10/31/04

It wasn’t the most dramatic finale to a championship race but the end result was the same as in the other 12 titles John had already won. In what is unquestionably the most astonishing career record of any driver in any motorsport, John iced his 13th POWERade championship this weekend just by qualifying for the 16-car field at the 4th AC Delco Nationals in Las Vegas.

He entered race day in the No. 7 slot, thanks to a solid 4.77 pass on Friday. The ESPN audience was shown the 13-time champ being driven slowly past the packed Las Vegas grandstands on Saturday after the field was set, holding his huge trophy as Ashley proudly rode beside him. The championship pays $400,000 but John will have to wait until the NHRA Awards Ceremonies (which I’ll be hosting) on Monday following the Auto Club Finals in Pomona in two weeks to get the check from POWERade.

On Sunday, John took out Ron Capps, Eric, and then Gary—basically wiping out his own team—until facing his newest and most formidable rival, Gary Scelzi. Scelzi had raced John in two previous final rounds this year and had won them both. In St. Louis, John smoked the tires in that final and he did it again in the Reading final three weeks ago. But this time, John ran the second-quickest elapsed time of the weekend, 4.754, and lost to Scelzi on a holeshot thanks to Gary staging deep and shortening the racetrack. Scelzi ran a 4.79 and that was quick enough to pick up his third win of the year and give him a flat-footed tie with Del Worsham for second place in the POWERade top ten.

Despite losing to John in the semi-finals, Gary Densham moved up from 6th to 4th in the F/C standings, while Eric continues to cling to 6th.

Sunday night, John and the team got to celebrate their latest championship in a big way as the entire second level of the ESPN Zone inside the fabulous New York, New York Hotel & Casino was reserved for them between 8 and 10 PM for a major blowout. The fact that the guys can now loosen up a little and start looking ahead to next season will remove just about all of the pressure and uncertainty they have carried around since last February when the season began. And John, most of all, can unwind just a bit, now that he has the championship back after a year’s absence and Ashley can savor her Division 4 Top Alcohol Dragster crown.

This past week, Gary Densham and John both went public with their parting of the ways at the end of this season. Gary is already actively searching for a sponsor to come onboard for ’05 so he can race his own operation and he vows that he will be in a Funny Car and at the Fairplex next February at the Winternationals. He decisively proved over the past four years that he can still drive and still win. His sweep at this year’s Mac Tools U.S. Nationals was further evidence that he can run with drivers half his age and shows no signs of slowing down. John has stated numerous times that one of his priorities during the off-season will be to help Gary land a sponsorship deal for next year.

Meanwhile, with one more race left in ’04, there is a long list of questions hanging over several Funny Car teams concerning their 2005 plans. Ron Capps has not announced where he may be next year after giving his resignation to Don “The Snake” Prudhomme a few weeks ago. Could he somehow wind up at Team Castrol? And what about that on-and-off-again rumor that John could be planning to bring out a Top Fuel dragster. Will John’s son-in-law, Robert Hight, be in the car being vacated by Gary Densham next year? And when will the team be bringing out the new 2005 Mustang bodies?

Maybe we’ll have a few answers by the time we get to Pomona for the Finals in a couple of weeks. As always, “Silly Season” is living up to its name.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back with more “At the Top End” as the season wraps up in two weeks at the legendary Fairplex and the Auto Club Finals. Hope you’ll come back then.......

10/12/04

In all the time I have been contributing my columns to John’s website, I can honestly say that this is the first time I haven’t been “At the Top End”.

This past weekend, ESPN dispatched a pared-down crew to Maple Grove to cover the rescheduled eliminations of the 20th Lucas Oil Nationals and with several other commitments on my plate; I was elsewhere when the event was completed. But I monitored the round-by-round updates which were provided by NHRA.com and followed the action right up until the final rounds were decided.

John, again, was deprived of his 114th national event win after slicing his way through eliminations quite handily. Although he lost to Gary Scelzi in the final, we all know that John is within sight of his 13th championship. You won’t see him breaking out the champagne just yet, since he is one of those racers who doesn’t take anything for granted until the icing is on the cake.

But let’s be honest: This one is as definite as definite can be without being definite—if you follow that twisted logic. And the biggest round last Sunday wasn’t the final round; it was the semi-final round when John beat Del Worsham, who could have placed himself in a much better position to make the stretch drive more indecisive had he been able to beat John. But in true Force fashion, John won another round he just had to have—very similar to his semi-final win against Tony Pedregon at the 2002 Auto Club Finals to clinch that year’s title.

Eric continues to show great poise as a driver and his low qualifier performance at Reading was just another indication of that. It was a disappointment to everyone on the team when Eric lost to Tony Pedregon on a holeshot in Round 2. One of the things that will be a big priority for Eric on the off-season will be tightening up his reaction times. He’s lost several rounds this season that he should have won because of reaction times that cost him the race. All part of the learning curve!

Although Jason Line won in Pro Stock last week and seems headed for this year’s Rookie of the Year honors, Eric could surely make that voting more interesting with another win or two before the end of the season. On sheer numbers alone, Jason would clearly be the favorite at this point to win ROY, but in Eric’s favor, I’d have to point to a couple of factors.

First, Jason is a former Stock Eliminator world champion after taking that crown in 1993. Racing under intense pressure is something he’s experienced before. Not so with Eric. This year has truly been a maiden voyage for him. Secondly, no team receives the amount of media intrusion that John Force Racing receives and Eric has been thrust squarely into the bright lights and relentless limelight that Jason has only barely tasted.
I’m not sure which young driver will be on the stage at this year’s awards ceremonies being presented with the ROY trophy, but there are certainly solid arguments for choosing either of them.

Meanwhile, it was a rather uneventful weekend for Gary who was another victim of Scelzi, this time in the semi-finals. I’m trying to check and see if Gary Scelzi has ever beaten two Force-owned cars on the way to a national event win. Regardless, he did it last Sunday.

Ashley lost the Top Alcohol Dragster final to her good buddy, Morgan Lucas. Ashley was a little late on the Tree herself and got outrun by a couple of hundredths of a second, but it was still a good showing for her. Anytime father and daughter can each make it to the finals, it’s not a bad weekend.

By the way, a lot of people may not know that one of the sport’s biggest youth movements is going on right under our noses. Ashley, Morgan, Eric, and Brandon Bernstein have a pretty tight friendship going and when they’re not racing, they hang out together a lot. You’ll see all of them head up to the starting line to watch each other race and after the day is over, the four of them will meet up later and unwind. They’re all very much friends and the fact that they’re all headed into long and successful drag racing careers makes it a relationship the fans can relate to.

In two weeks, we’ll be in Las Vegas, where John should put the lid on championship No. 13. With Tony Schumacher’s fabulous season having led to his second career Top Fuel championship and Greg Anderson’s second Pro Stock title in hand, the Funny Car and Pro Stock Bike championships are very close to being settled. It will all be over soon!

NHRA2day comes from Charlotte this Sunday at Noon, before I head to one of my favorite stops on the schedule, The Strip in Las Vegas. Following the AC Delco Nationals on Halloween weekend, I’ll have more “At the Top End”. Hope you’ll check back then!

9/27/04

Another red light!

For the third time this year, John threw away the chance to win a race and fouled out in the semi-finals in Dallas racing Del Worsham. John had the No. 1 qualifying spot, had run low elapsed time in the first and second rounds, and very definitely had the car to beat.

But he made a slight slip-up in the semi’s, went .093 red, and gave the round to Del, who went on to win the race and move past Whit Bazemore for third place in the POWERade standings. Ironically, there was only one other red light all day in Funny Car and it belonged to Tim Wilkerson, who John fouled out against in the final round in Sonoma in August.

Note: In over 11,000 rounds of racing in his NHRA career, John has fouled out only 11 times. That’s truly remarkable!

On our ESPN coverage, John was gracious enough to invite our cameras into his team trailer after he got back to the pits on Sunday and televise the apology he offered to his crew. John felt deeply sorry for making a driver error in the middle of the points chase and lost an opportunity to virtually close out second-place Gary Scelzi. Scelzi made it as far as Round 2, where he lost to Cruz Pedregon, widening the gap between him and John, which now stands at 228 points.

The most points you can score at an NHRA national event is 138, but to get that many, you’d have to set a new national elapsed time record—highly unlikely on 85% nitro. So, realistically, the most single-race tally a driver can expect is 118: 100 to win the race, 10 to make at least one qualifying attempt, and 8 for qualifying No. 1. With only four races to go in 2004, that means there’s really only 472 points available to any driver. For Scelzi to catch John, the 12-time champ would have to literally not qualify for two of the last four races and lose in the first round at the other two, while Scelzi would have to win twice as many rounds as John does. I wouldn’t bet on those odds, believe me.

Gary came into Dallas riding on the euphoria of his twin win in Indy. But he lost to John in the second round while Eric was stopped by Cruz Pedregon in the semi-finals. That left Ashley.

The Mac Tools U.S. Nationals Top Alcohol Dragster winner picked up her second straight national event win by beating Bill Reichert in the final round. While Ashley’s dad had a weekend he’d just as soon forget, her win helped to take the sting out of John’s disappointing foul.

So, John is that much closer to championship No. 13 and could clinch as early as the race in Maple Grove in two weeks. If he leaves that race with a 276-point lead, it’s a done deal, and the real celebration can begin!

Next week, we’ll be in Chicago for the CarQuest Nationals at Route 66 Raceway. We’ll have complete coverage on ESPN and NHRA2day Sunday at Noon ET. And I’ll have more “At the Top End” next Monday. Check back then!

9/7/04

What a weekend!

The ESPN crew tied together 12-and-a-half hours of coverage of this year’s 50th Mac Tools U.S. Nationals and there were some incredibly dramatic stories unfolding during the four days of the NHRA’s most enduring race. It was a tremendous experience!

As a long-time drag racing fan, the chance to spend time talking to “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, Tom “Mongoose” McEwen, and so many other fantastic personalities who made history at Indy was something I’ll never forget.

But for John Force Racing, the Big Go was unbelievable—pure and simple. Gary’s “double-up” win worth $250,000 for both the Skoal Showdown and the U.S. Nationals was a very popular pair of victories. Despite the fact that John has now lost in the final round of the Showdown two years in a row to his teammate—last year it was Tony Pedregon—John was thoroughly excited that his friend for over 30 years had at last won Indy—two times!

However, there could have been no bigger thrill for John and the entire Force family than Ashley Force winning her first career national event in the sport’s biggest and most important race. And Ashley won the race from the No. 1 qualifying spot to boot! Plus, she became only the third woman to win the U.S. Nationals in a professional class, joining Top Fuel legend Shirley Muldowney and Pro Stock Bike’s Angelle Savoie.

Want more history? Ashley’s final round opponent was Shelley Howard, making it the first all-female U.S. Nationals finale.

John edged a little bit closer to clinching his 13th championship, even though he lost in the second round—on a holeshot—to Gary Scelzi whose second in points. Scelzi lost in the semi’s to Gary, which prevented John’s points lead from getting sliced even further. Right now, John’s points lead is 206 points with only 20 rounds of racing left in the season. It would be fairly inconceivable for Scelzi to make up that much ground in only five more national events.

Two more notes: I was very pleased to have talked to Julie Russell, Darrell Russell’s wife, who attended the race with Darrell’s parents Burnell and Gwen. Julie wanted to come to Indy to personally thank everyone who offered condolences and support to her after Darrell’s death in June in St. Louis. And secondly, after Tony Schumacher won Top Fuel on Monday—his fourth Indy win and third consecutive U.S. Nationals crown—he graciously presented his trophy to Julie. It was a very sincere and heartfelt gesture on Tony’s part and one of the reasons I’m such a big fan of this great champion. It was ironic to me that Tony would present the trophy to Julie, since in 1996; Kenny Bernstein presented his series championship trophy to the family of Blaine Johnson, who was killed at that year’s U.S. Nationals. Of course, Tony’s crew chief is Alan Johnson, Blaine’s brother.

The tour now takes a much-deserved break before the next race in two weeks at beautiful Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, PA. Right after the race, I’ll have more “At the Top End” here at johnforceracing.com!

8/22/04

It’s still too early for Team Force to open up the victory champagne but it might not be too early to at least put it on ice.

John’s win in Memphis where his all-time favorite singer, Elvis Presley, is still the city’s most renowned citizen, was only his fourth at that event, but it was his fourth of the season—more than anyone else this year. More importantly, it gave him a 220-point lead over Gary Scelzi, who John beat in the semi-finals on a holeshot, and with only six races to go this year, that’s a pretty formidable lead.

The day was an eventful one in Funny Car. With the track temperatures soaring under a scorching sun after two days of clouds and cooler track temps during qualifying, all of the drivers chasing John in the points ran into tough luck. By the end of the semi-finals, Whit Bazemore, Del Worsham, and Gary Scelzi were out of business. John took out Tim Wilkerson in the Memphis final, the driver who John lost to in the Sonoma final when he fouled out.

You should know that John has an enormous amount of respect for Tim. He has said numerous times that Tim could be a world champion if he had the kind of multi-million dollar budget that several other teams have. I’d have to concur with that. Having watched Tim since he was campaigning his own alcohol Funny Car in Division 3 during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, I’ve admired and respected his humble personality, but fierce competitiveness. He always has a kind word for his opponents—win or lose—and has a team that never falls into the blame game when things aren’t going well. They really do get along like family—the same way John’s team does—and that’s something John relates to.

The championship point’s race has now shifted directly into John’s favor. As we head to the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in two weeks, John is leading Scelzi by 11 rounds of racing—with only 24 rounds remaining in the season. The likelihood of John’s team falling into a late-season tailspin is pretty remote. And with the cool weather of early autumn just around the corner as we head into the schedule’s final half-dozen events, the Castrol Mustang may become even stronger.

As for Whit, it has been an unfortunate turn of events for him and his team over the last 8 races. Following his last victory in Topeka, it has been an excruciating slide for the championship hopeful who at one time this year led the points. He’s now 243 points behind John. That’s a bunch.

Eric looked for a while as if he was going to have a strong follow-up to last week’s big win in Brainerd. He qualified 6th but went down to Phil Burkart in the first round. Still, for Eric to be holding on to 5th place in the points in his rookie season is definitely impressive. And Gary exacted some revenge on Burkart in the second round with a solid win, before getting the short end of his race with John in the semi’s when he smoked the tires.

Now, all eyes will be on Indy in two weeks and the 50th “Big Go”. I’m told that the NHRA has a tremendous amount of special activities planned for that week and I really can’t wait. I’ll be at John’s newly completed shop just outside Indianapolis in Brownsburg before the race, MC’ing his grand opening to the media. Accompanying me to the event will be three-time Top Fuel champion, the legendary Shirley Muldowney, who I am working with on a new book that relates many of her remarkable experiences during her Hall of Fame career. It should be released in time for this Christmas.

There will be more “At the Top End” right after the U.S. Nationals so drop back here on Tuesday after the race.

8/15/04

We love great stories on our ESPN television shows and Eric’s win on Sunday was one of the best ones we’ve had this year. The unpredictable nature of the race in Brainerd certainly made for great TV—not only Eric’s victory but the other strange and unusual developments we witnessed all day.

For example, Tommy Johnson Jr. has had a dreadful season and began the year with 5 round wins in the first half of the schedule. So what does he do in the first round Sunday? He beats Whit Bazemore, who desperately needed to have a good race to regain some of the ground he has lost to John over the past six races.

When was the last time Del Worsham broke at the starting line just before a first round match up? I can’t remember. Well, on Sunday, a broken oil line forced him to shut off before racing Ron Capps and before we knew it, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme’s Skoal Monte Carlos had wiped out the No. 2 and No. 3 drivers in the points!

By the time we got to the semi-finals, John had beaten Jeff Arend and Tony Pedregon, Eric had beaten Jim Head and Tommy Johnson Jr., and Gary had been upset in Round 1 by Tony’s brother Cruz.

Then things got weird. John inadvertently staged deep in his semi-final race with Scelzi and got beaten on a holeshot—the second race in a row that a starting line miscue cost John a round. Remember, he fouled out to Tim Wilkerson in the Sonoma final. I talked to John off the air at the top end shortly after he lost and I asked him what Austin said when he got back to the pits. “Austin had a piece of tape over his mouth!” said John—an indication that despite a couple of round losses that should have been round wins over the past two races, there’s still room for a good chuckle.

Of course, Eric’s first career victory was special for everyone on Team Castrol. Beating Scelzi in the final was not only dramatic but much-needed, since Gary had moved past his teammate, Bazemore, into second place in the points. Eric’s win gave John a 168-point cushion with 7 races left in the season, while Eric did himself some good in the Rookie of the Year chase by winning a national event and moving to within 53 points of Scelzi. Remember, Pro Stock’s Jason Line had been in the best position to win the ROY voting by virtue of his two wins this year. Now, Eric has put a new wrinkle on that picture.

Back in Englishtown, NJ, Ashley was racing in the Division 1 Lucas Oil event at Raceway Park. She had to fight her way into the field after some early struggles and before the rains came and postponed the rest of the event, she was a first round winner in Top Alcohol Dragster. She’ll be back in NJ for the rescheduled conclusion of the race and looks to win her second point’s race of 2004.

It’s off to Memphis next week—where John can rub elbows with a legion of other Elvis fans—for the O’Reilly Midsouth Nationals. Last year, John and Lee Beard had their famous top end dust-up as Whit won the race and temporarily took the points lead. This year, it will be Whit’s teammate, Scelzi, who has the best chance at tightening up the championship stretch drive. Hope you’ll catch our ESPN coverage of the race and swing by here next week for more “At the Top End”.

8/1/04

John fouls out in the final round? When was the last time THAT happened?

John has a few red lights this season but on Sunday, his -.034 foul against Tim Wilkerson was the last thing in the world anyone expected. I saw John down in his pit area after the race and he was pretty much over his miscue by then. “Driver screwed up”, was about all he had to say about it and I guess that’s about all he can say.

John would have almost assuredly gone quicker than Tim’s 5.08 in the final, based on John’s previous three elapsed times in eliminations—especially his 4.89 in the second round and 4.85 in the semi’s. Tim’s best e.t of the day was his 4.94 in Round 2 which was his only 4-second pass of the afternoon. Even Tim admitted he had more than his share of luck on his way to his second win of the year, but John was very gracious in defeat and expressed the feelings of virtually every person in the Funny Car pits when he said, “If you have to lose to someone, that’s the guy you want to lose to.”

John’s success on the Western Swing—1 win out of 2 finals—helped to give him a bigger points lead over Whit Bazemore and Del Worsham with 8 races remaining on the schedule. John need not win another race this year to clinch his 13th championship, but rather, he needs to avoid first round losses and rack up at least a semi-final finish down the stretch. After two extremely consistent performances in Seattle and Sonoma, he really is poised to pick up that 13th title this year.

Eric lost to Tony Pedregon in the second round, a little payback for what Eric did to Tony in the first round last week in Seattle. You may remember that Eric beat the driver he replaced at John Force Racing with a huge holeshot, with Tony running low elapsed time and top speed of the weekend at that point, but losing to Eric nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Gary had an excellent racecar heading into eliminations, qualifying No. 8 and scoring low e.t of the entire race with his 4.821/321.27 shellacking of Phil Burkart in Round 1. In Round 2, Gary faced John and it was unfortunate that Gary smoked the tires against the boss, since John has always stated that he races his teammates on the up-and-up until we get to Indy. Then, if one of the JFR cars needs some help to keep the points lead or get the points lead, everyone understands what has to be done. Gary and tuner Jimmy Prock were obviously hoping to run another 4.82 but the track was a bit warmer by then and it wouldn’t hold their tuneup.

Ashley had mixed results in Sonoma as she ran a career-best elapsed time and top speed in Top Alcohol Dragster—5.242/273.61 but lost in the semi-finals to No. 1 qualifier Duane Shields, who lost to Morgan Lucas in the final.

The other big news is John’s grand opening celebration planned for his brand new shop in Brownsburg, IN--near Indianapolis. I was flattered when John asked me in Sonoma if I would serve as Master of Ceremonies for the opening and I gladly accepted. The new Midwest headquarters for John Force Racing is a huge, state-of-the-art facility as big as a couple of city blocks and we’ll be giving you a good look at it on an upcoming NHRA2day.

In two weeks, we’ll be in Brainerd, MN for the Lucas Oil Nationals as we head into the final 1/3 of the 2004 NHRA season. After the race, I’ll have more “At the Top End” here on this site. Stop back then!

7/25/04

Of the three wins that John has scored in 2004, the one this weekend in Seattle was the kind that could have been drawn up on the blackboard ahead of time. It was as calculated and commanding a victory as he has ever scored out of the record 112 he has rung up.

He qualified No. 1, and on race day, was consistent enough to outrun all four of his opponents as everyone was adjusting to the new 85% nitro rule and the recently mandated Goodyear D2300 slick. The win gave John a more comfortable lead in the POWERade points over Del Worsham, 73-points—who he beat in Round 2—and a 102-point edge over Whit Bazemore, who lost in the semi-finals to eventual runner-up, Cruz Pedregon.

It was a very entertaining race and the new 85% rule seems to be popular with many fans, who appreciated the rarity of oil downs (Two all weekend!) and the side by side racing. The closest margin of victory in eliminations was .0012 of a second enjoyed by Eric in the first round when he beat Tony Pedregon on a holeshot as Tony was running what was then low elapsed time and top speed of the weekend.
That was big!

There were several other very close matchups and tire-smoking, lopsided pedaling contests were at a minimum.

One of the funniest moments of our ESPN telecast was when I interviewed John after his second round win over Del Worsham and he thanked Winston, the former sponsor of the NHRA series. John got pretty flustered, realized his mistake, and tried to explain where he was going. Of course, we all know that in that minute or two just after John climbs from the racecar after a big round win, he’s liable to say anything!

The recent slump of Bazemore and the inconsistency of Del Worsham as the second half of the season begins have been the most predominant storylines in the Funny Car class. Both Whit and Del have had red hot winning streaks earlier this year but after each had led the points, they both have been unable to sustain any momentum. That has played into John’s hands and his three wins in no less than 6 final rounds has proven that avoiding first round losses is step one toward building a championship effort. John has only two first round losses in 2004 and a 28-11 round record—two stats that bode well for a strong second half.

Meanwhile, Eric’s Sunday went from elation to disappointment when he lost to Whit Bazemore in the second round on a holeshot. Eric had an excellent .077 reaction time against Tony Pedregon in Round 1 in that holeshot win and could have used it against Whit, but his .108 light sealed his fate and allowed Bazemore to use a 4.911 e.t. to beat Eric’s 4.891. Ironically, Tony also ran a 4.891 when he was beaten by Eric in the opener.

Ashley ran into some tough luck in Top Alcohol Dragster when she dropped her semi-final match up with eventual race winner Duane Shields. Ashley had an outstanding .031 reaction time in that race but got outrun by one of the most formidable teams in the category. Had Ashley won, it would have resulted in an all-female TA/D final since Kim Palmer advanced all the way to the payoff round on the other side of the ladder. Close, but not quite.

The Western Swing winds down next weekend in Sonoma, one of our favorite stops on the tour. We fly into San Francisco—one of America’s most beautiful and fascinating cities--and then make the one-hour drive up Highway 101 to the Napa Valley and the wine country of northern California. I personally am looking forward to it and after next week’s Fram-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway; I’ll be here with more “At the Top End”. Check back then!

7/18/04

Without any fear of contradiction, I can state flatly that the Mile-High Nationals this past weekend was one of the downright weirdest national events I have ever witnessed in my 11 years working on the NHRA’s television crew.

It seemed as if the weirdness would never stop from the moment we finally got to begin qualifying on Saturday until the final rounds were completed late Sunday afternoon. Can I give you a few examples?

In Top Fuel, we saw Doug Herbert lose his brakes in the first round as he took the win light against Mike Strasburg. Doug missed the turnoff and skidded into the sandtrap at the end of the track at Bandimere Speedway. We don’t usually see Top Fuel cars wind up in the sand, although Larry Dixon did in Columbus three races ago, but it was very unusual to see Doug plow into it on Sunday.

Tony Schumacher missed Saturday’s first qualifying session because of a fuel leak, then on Sunday, advanced to the final round after qualifying 10th with a 4.91. He lost to Scott Kalitta in the final—the first win for Scott since he returned to the sport at Indy last year.

Rhonda Hartman-Smith advanced to the semi-finals after A) Cory McClenathan broke in the other lane in the first round, and B) she beat David Grubnic on a holeshot in the second round. It was great to see Rhonda move to the semi’s after a very difficult first half of 2004.

Brandon Bernstein barely got past Doug Kalitta in the second round when his .112 reaction time nearly cost him the race. But then, in the semi’s, he got left on by Doug’s cousin Scott by 2/100’s of a second and lost on a holeshot—all of this coming after Brandon had qualified No. 1.

And that was only Top Fuel...!

In Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Bike, there was a wild twist of fate in almost every pair. The biggest? Whit Bazemore, who qualified No. 1 by a bunch, was upset by first-time NHRA national event entry, Robert Schwab, an Australian racer who has been match racing for many years in the Salt Lake City area. Schwab then beat Eric in Round 2 before losing to Cruz Pedregon in the semi-finals on one of the most cock-eyed holeshot anyone had ever seen: 5.54/272 beating a 5.39/272.

John left Denver with a 27-point lead over Del Worsham at the top of the POWERade standings despite losing to Tommy Johnson Jr. in the second round. Both Del and Whit’s first round losses prevented them from benefiting from John’s second round defeat as the Western Swing now moves to Seattle.

The new Goodyear tire now mandated by the NHRA was responsible for much of the tire-smoke and wild back-pedaling we saw on Sunday. It will be at least another race or two before the nitro crew chiefs get a real handle on the Goodyear D2300 rubber, a tire that is considered an improvement by just about everyone. But with the 85% Rule about to go into effect next week in Seattle, it may be a few races before we see the kind of consistency we expect from the better teams—especially on hot racetracks.

I had a chance to speak to many of the Top Fuel and Funny Car tuners in Denver and they all were unanimous that the 85% nitro limit will be only a slight hurdle to overcome and that increased fuel volume will have the better cars running close to the elapsed times and top speeds we’ve been familiar with. But the new tire and newly instituted minimum air pressure rules will require some extensive testing to ultimately be mastered.

The scorecard for Team Force in Denver was a disappointment for all three operations. It’s true that John maintained the points lead but neither him, Eric or Gary advanced past Round 2. They’re hoping for better luck in Seattle, the second event of the Western Swing with the final stop in Sonoma coming one week later.

More “At the Top End” next Monday. Come on back then!

6/14/04

As I’ve said on our ESPN telecasts and here on this website, the Funny Car class this year is going to resemble a wild west shootout with a host of drivers ambushing each other until the championship is decided later this season. The parity is striking, much as it had been in the Pro Stock class until the past year-and-a-half when Greg Anderson began to dominate.

Del Worsham’s third win of ’04 in Columbus this past weekend was his first since winning back-to-back in Phoenix and Gainesville early in the schedule. But he still hasn’t regained the points lead and with Whit Bazemore losing in the second round to Eric, the logjam in the standings tightened up just a bit.

It was a strange weekend for our television crew with heavy rain again turning National Trail Raceway’s access roads and parking lots into sticky, glutinous pools of slimy mud which clung to everything. Our television compound was inundated with water, just as it was last year, and our catering tent and our food service area had to be moved on Saturday when it was slowly flooded out.

The racing, especially in the nitro classes, was outstanding. We saw new track records for elapsed time and top speed in qualifying in both Top Fuel and Funny Car and on race day, there were a number of surprising upsets that made for a very entertaining event.

Cruz Pedregon ran an awe-inspiring 4.76 to qualify No. 1—his first pole since 1998! But he lost to Jerry Toliver in Round 1-which is exactly what happened 6 years ago when Cruz scored his previous low qualifier award! But Team Castrol had mixed results in Columbus, a race where John hasn’t exactly dominated. He’s has only won the race three times and that’s very un-Force. Tony Pedregon won it last year when racing for John and had another Columbus win in 2000 while Gary hasn’t won more than just a handful of rounds in Columbus in all the year’s he’s raced there.

Del Worsham took the victory on Sunday, his first at this race and won two rounds thanks to his masterful job of pedaling his racecar—once against Jerry Toliver in Round 2 and again against Gary Scelzi in the final. It was Del’s third win of the year and put him only 21 points behind Whit for the points lead—something he lost after Whit’s win in Atlanta.

John’s second round red-light loss to Phil Burkart was a stunner. Burkart smoked the tires moments after John fouled out, which would have given John an easy win had he gone green. When interviewed by Dave Rieff later on, John graciously took the blame and admitted it was all his fault. It was last year at this time that John suffered back-to-back fouls at Englishtown and Topeka—the first time in his career he went down via the red-light at two straight races. Explanation? Just drag racing!

There were a few bright spots on Sunday. Eric beat Whit Bazemore in the second round which helped prevent Whit from taking a bigger lead in the points, while news came back from the Lucas Oil Division 4 event in Rusk, Texas that Ashley scored her first national event win in Top Alcohol Dragster. She qualified No. 1 at the race and saw the old veteran Gene Snow try again to snatch the pole from her on Saturday. Ashley’s victory in her Darien & Meadows A-Fuel dragster went a long way in erasing the frustrations John endured in Columbus.

This coming weekend, it’s time to head for Englishtown, NJ and the outstanding facility owned by the Napp family, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park for the 35th K&N Supernationals. Hope you’ll tune in for our ESPN coverage along with NHRA2day on Sunday morning at 11:30 ET on ESPN2. And as always, there will be more “At the Top End” on Monday. Swing by then!

5/30/04

It has been a season of remarkable twists and turns of fate with only 9 races completed. As I travel from race to race on the NHRA tour with my ESPN colleagues, the incredible changes in the fates and directions of the many teams we all enjoy watching are, to say the least, unpredictable.

This past weekend at the 16th O’Reilly Summer Nationals is a perfect example. For John Force Racing, our primary storyline was whether John’s dramatic win in Joliet a week earlier, with a final round victory over Whit Bazemore, would be the catapult he needed to take control of the championship struggle as we move into the hot summer months.

Instead, John’s day came to an end on Sunday at the hands of....Eric!!!

I had a chance to speak to John before Sunday’s eliminations began, shortly after I interviewed him on NHRA2day. He had looked at the Funny Car ladder and noticed if he and Eric both won their first round matches, they would race each other in the second round. Of course, the issue of team orders and whether their race would be without any predeterminations always comes up whenever the situation presents itself. But John made it abundantly clear that they would race...period!

John wasn’t kidding. They did, indeed, square off in Round 2 and in one of the most exciting runs of 2004, Eric ran a career-best and track record 4.739 at 319.45 MPH to John’s 4.793/323.43. Team orders? Not this time.

Of course, hopes were riding high that Gary could put a stop to Whit one pair later but it wasn’t to be. Whit beat Gary and went on to win a dominating victory by defeating Eric in the final. Eric smoked the tires, an instant before Whit hazed his, but there was no stopping the current points leader. Whit’s win has definitely placed him and his team in a strong position to challenge for the 2004 POWERade championship. He’s gone to four straight finals and has won two of them...the only two he missed were the finals in Bristol and Joliet where John got past him.

So, how far did the pendulum of the fates swing? In Bristol, John won and Whit was the runner-up. Whit came back and won the Atlanta final beating his teammate, Gary Scelzi. John beat Whit in the Joliet final last week and Whit came back to beat Eric in the Topeka payoff. Back and forth the momentum goes.......

John’s incredible record of 7 wins at Heartland Park over the past decade-and-a-half was of little consequence this year and succeeds in pointing out that the level of parity in the F/C class far outweighs anyone’s previous track record at a national event. I recently made the comment that Funny Car has become the class that Pro Stock used to be. There are a host of excellent teams comprising every 16-car field which assembles, and although there’s every chance that Whit or John could build on their recent victories and make this year a two-car skirmish, you’ve got to expect this title hunt to be a wild affair before it’s over.

Ashley ran into some tough luck in Top Alcohol Dragster on Sunday, losing to the legendary “Snowman”, Gene Snow, in the second round. But Ashley continues to impress everyone with her poise and skills in the racecar tuned by Jerry Darien and Ken Meadows and she is still very much in the running for the 2004 Lucas Oil championship. In fact, she leads the national Top alcohol Dragster standings, so this could wind up being one of the most amazing “rookie” seasons in A/FD history.

Finally, after three straight weeks, there’s a short break next weekend before another three consecutive events crank up beginning in Columbus. I’ll be hosting the next edition of NHRA2day from our ESPN studios in Charlotte this coming Sunday at 11:30 AM on ESPN2 and I’ll have more “At the Top End” following the race in Columbus. Hope you’ll catch both!

5/23/04

The 7th NHRA Route 66 Nationals ended a few hours ago but I am still in a state of utter shock! The performances in the nitro categories, especially Funny Car, were beyond anyone’s expectations this weekend and I feel fortunate to have been there covering the event for ESPN. 

5/3/04

After the utter disaster in Houston two weeks ago, with Team Force barely leaving town with their dignity, the results in Bristol were very much more to their liking. John’s win has put an entirely different center of gravity in the championship chase and suddenly, the prospects for a 13 th title look much better.

 The conditions on Monday were very much in contrast to the ones in which qualifying had been held. The ESPN crew had to break out the sweatshirts, gloves and hoods when the temperatures at Bristol Dragway dipped from the 70’s on Saturday to the low 50’s on Monday. But as we mentioned on our telecast Monday afternoon, the cool air and tight (meaning grippy) racetrack would serve up some big numbers in all three classes.

 Funny Car was a phenomenal show all by itself. Eric beat Tony Pedregon in the first round, gaining revenge for Tony’s win over Eric in the Phoenix semi-finals. Whit Bazemore beat Bob Gilbertson in the first round, despite blowing the engine in his Team Schumacher Dodge right at the finish line. Poor Tim Wilkerson, the Houston winner, would have beaten Phil Burkart in Round 1, but before crossing the finish line, Tim’s car dropped a cylinder, which pushed him into the right-side wall, disqualifying him. And another tough break befell Tommy Johnson Jr., who has lost a number of races during his career on holeshots. It happened again in Round 1 when he ran a spectacular 4.79 but lost to Gary Scelzi’s 4.87 due to Tommy’s .178 reaction time.

 In the second round, Whit got past Scelzi with a tremendous 4.77, equaling his low qualifying e.t. Eric beat points leader Del Worsham in a great race while John dropped teammate Gary in the next pair. But the most entertaining match of that round had to be the wild pedaling contest between Cruz Pedregon and Burkart, which Phil won—believe it or not on a holeshot—9.25 to 9.23!

 In the final, Whit smoked the tires as John ran his third consecutive 4.78, giving him his first national event win since Dallas last year. He’s only 42 points behind Del for the points lead as we head to Atlanta in two weeks. Everyone on our crew is hoping for sunny weather and no rain delays at the Southern Nationals. With all of the time we spend away from home during the season, nobody enjoys having to wait an extra day to complete the races, especially when the weather turns so cool and damp as it did in Bristol this weekend.

 We’ll have our next installment of NHRA2day coming up this Sunday at 11:30 ET on ESPN2 and we’ll have highlights of the Bristol race, a look ahead to Atlanta, and a few surprises. Hope you’ll remember to turn on the tube.

 And, I’ll have more “At the Top End” after the Southern Nationals right here following the event.

John’s difficulties began in qualifying when his two best runs, a 4.96 and a 4.95, came on Saturday. The Castrol Mustang was clearly unable to get all of its power to the Houston Raceway Park asphalt. John began race day at No. 12 and that resulted in an amazing statistic. After qualifying 9th in Las Vegas at the previous race, John did something he hadn’t done since 1989: qualify in the bottom half of the field at two straight races.

Eric fared a bit better when he qualified 7th, while Gary was the real hero for Team Force by taking the No. 1 spot with his 4.846/311.20 shot on Friday afternoon. But Sunday was a major disappointment for all three drivers.

The first round went well for the team with all three advancing. But by the end of Round 2, only Gary had survived. Eric’s first round holeshot win over Cruz Pedregon was followed by an ugly, tire-smoking loss to eventual race winner, Tim Wilkerson. But John had an even more dire situation unfold when a main bearing problem during warm-up necessitated swapping the engine with time running out in the 75-minute turnaround period.

All three crews worked feverishly to get John up to the starting line and much of the frenetic repair work was shown on our telecast. It was compelling and nerve-wracking, to say the least. John made it to the starting line to face his old friend, Jerry Toliver, who had all kinds of wild episodes of his own Sunday, but when the Tree went green, the Castrol Mustang expired at about 100 feet and it was all over.

Gary got as far as the semi-finals where he lost to, yup, Jerry Toliver. Gary smoked the tires and had his Auto Club Mustang been able to hook up, he would have almost assuredly beaten Toliver who pedaled his way to a 5.42/273.

Tim Wilkerson won the race and it’s fascinating to me that a single-car team can still be a threat to win on any given Sunday. It just doesn’t happen very much anymore, mainly because there are 13 different drivers employed by 5 different multi-car teams on the NHRA trail. (Can you name them all?) Of course, Tim won last year’s Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, then came right back and won in Reading, and has now logged a win in 2004, giving him a total of 5 career victories. With early round losses by Whit Bazemore, Gary Scelzi, Phil Burkart, Ron Capps, Tommy Johnson Jr., Cruz Pedregon, Tony Pedregon, and Jim Head (along with John and Eric), the door was wide open for Wilkerson’s single-car outfit to capitalize—and he did.

Meanwhile, the news wasn’t very upbeat for Ashley, who looked for a while as if she was poised to win her first national event. She advanced to the semi-finals on Sunday with a string of strong runs, both in qualifying and eliminations, behind her. But David Wells ended her day in the semis and her shot at the victory went by the boards.

With an off-week, everyone will take advantage of the break between now and Bristol and shake off a disheartening trip to Houston. There are still 18 races left on the 2004 schedule so there’s plenty of time to things sorted out.

I’ll have another NHRA2day coming up from our Charlotte studios this Sunday at 11:30 AM on ESPN2. Hope you’ll tune in and there will be more “At the Top End” in two weeks following the O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals.

For a while on Sunday at the SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas, Team Force was in a perfect position to take control of Funny Car eliminations. All three drivers—John, Eric, and Gary—had advanced into the second round, the first time this year it had happened. But, the second round saw Gary fall to Whit Bazemore, a race Gary was really hoping to win. The rivalry between JFR and Schumacher Racing may be the sport’s most bitter.

For the first time since going their separate ways, John met Tony Pedregon in Round 2 and beat him. In fact, John single-handedly eliminated the Pedregon team on Sunday after beating Cruz in the first round.

Both John and Eric went to the semi-finals but each hit some rough luck and the day was over both. John was beaten for the second time this year by eventual race winner, Phil Burkart while Whit Bazemore struck down Eric on a holeshot.

Eric continues to work hard at improving as a driver but his three reaction times on Sunday show that there’s more work to do: .114, .116, and .127.

Burkart’s win underscores the parity in Funny Car this year. His teammate and car owner, Del Worsham, has two wins this season and leads the points, but Jerry Toliver has won a race, there has been a different low qualifier at each event, and a different runner-up at all four races so far. Compare that to what’s happening in Top Fuel—three wins out of four races for Tony Schumacher, a Connie Kalitta-owned car qualifying No. 1 at every race, and three different runners-up in four races—and you can see F/C is more unpredictable at present. We won’t even talk about Pro Stock! (Can you say, “Greg Anderson?”)

Meanwhile, Ashley had an early exit in Top Alcohol Dragster when she lost in the first round to Mitch Myers. Everyone on the team was disappointed, especially after she qualified No. 1 at the Division 4 points race in Memphis a week earlier and advanced to her first career final round, losing to Randy Meyer. But you can’t help but be impressed with the way Ashley has handled herself in that injected-nitro car of Darien & Meadows. That first win isn’t far away and I hope you’ll watch for a story on Ashley I wrote for ESPN Magazine which will be published soon.

This weekend, we saw the fastest run in NHRA Top Fuel history, Doug Kalitta’s 335.57 MPH shot in qualifying. It seems like only yesterday that Kenny Bernstein was breaking the 300 MPH barrier in Gainesville, which, of course, was actually 12 years ago. The last major drag racing performance milestone that we’ll see broken in our lifetime is probably the first 330 MPH Funny Car pass. We may even see a Top Fuel pass in the 4.30’s but not before a 330 MPH lap in a fuel coupe. Who will be the one to do it? We may get our answer at the next race in Houston, a sea-level facility with a grippy track surface which has been the site of many, many record-breaking times and speeds.

Remember to catch the next edition of NHRA2day which I’ll be hosting from our ESPN studios in Charlotte, NC this Sunday morning at 11:30 ET on ESPN2. And I’ll have more “At the Top End” right here after we wrap things up in two weeks at Houston Raceway Park.

3-21-04

If you measure the success of a drag racing team’s weekend strictly on whether or not it wins the race on Sunday, then John’s runner-up finish to Del Worsham at the Mac Tools Gatornationals this past weekend will leave you with an empty feeling.

But despite the loss—on a holeshot, no less—John has moved up to second in the POWERade standings behind Del by 110 points with 20 races left to go in 2004. That alone puts John way ahead of where he was last year at this time.

Eric and Gary had less than spectacular luck at the Gators with both drivers out in the first round. Not a great showing for them, especially Gary who came in as the defending event champion and in position to jump past Del for the points lead. Eric lost to Jerry Toliver in the first round, the second time in three races that’s happened, and had himself a wild ride in the process with the Castrol Syntec Mustang skating all over the track and taking out a couple of timing blocks.

John’s tough luck actually began in the first round. He beat Ron Capps but had the blower bang off the engine, deflecting an interior body panel, and allowing some flame to sneak into the cockpit, singing his legs. Afterwards, I interviewed John on our ESPN coverage and I’m still not sure exactly what he said. But then again, with John, it’s not always what he says but the way he says it that makes him so entertaining.

Del’s win was his second straight, the first time he’s won back-to-back in his career and his car was incredibly consistent all day—just as it was in Phoenix. But it was another tough outing for the Schumacher team with both Whit Bazemore and Gary Scelzi losing in Round 1. Don “The Snake” Prudhomme’s two cars driven by Ron Capps and Tommy Johnson Jr. also continued their struggles with Ron losing to John in the opener—his third first round loss in three races—and TJ falling in the second round to Cory Lee. The Snake’s cars have won a total of 3 rounds combined in 2004.

Meanwhile, Team Castrol will be taking a little time to regroup with the next race coming up in a couple of weeks in Las Vegas, the http://SummitRacing.com Nationals at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It’s where Eric made his first pass in a nitro Funny Car last October after the Fall Las Vegas race and impressed everyone with his talent and composure. With John in 2nd in the points and Gary now 3rd, it’s entirely possible that both drivers could be 1 & 2 when the race is over.

Next for ESPN? NHRA2day on Sunday morning from our studios in Charlotte at 11:30 AM. Hope you’ll tune me in and after things get wrapped up in Vegas, I’ll have more “At the Top End”..... so stop by again then!

3/7/04

If the first two races of the 2004 season are any indication, the NHRA’s Funny Car class will be as unpredictable to handicap as it has been in a long, long time.

Two races, two different winners. Jerry Toliver won in Pomona, didn’t qualify in Phoenix. Del Worsham loses in the Pomona semi-finals, wins in Phoenix. Eric, John and Gary qualify well in Pomona, all come up short in eliminations. Same deal in Phoenix, where Gary was No. 1 qualifier, John was No. 3, and Eric was No. 5.

I spoke to my ESPN colleague, Mike Dunn, who has a fair amount of experience driving a Funny Car, and even he says that this year’s championship race could be a wild affair. By the end of the second round in Phoenix, two of the three Force cars were out—at a race where John has won 7 times—more than any driver in any class at the CSK Nationals. But when you look at the big picture in the class, nobody has gotten out to a red hot start.

Both the Schumacher cars, driven by Whit Bazemore and Gary Scelzi, have advanced no further than the semi-finals at either race so far. Ron Capps and Tommy Johnson Jr. driving for Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, have a total of 1 round win in Pomona and Phoenix, and although Del Worsham leads the points at this early juncture, out of his six rounds of competition in 2004, he’s been in the 4.80’s only once. Like I said, this year’s POWERade championship is going to be quite a scramble.

Tony Pedregon won, at least, a psychological battle of sorts in Phoenix when he beat Eric in the semi-finals. It was the first time they’ve faced each other and you could tell that there was a personal element to their match up. Tony won when both cars smoked the tires and he was able to pedal his car to the finish line first, and after the race, both Tony and Eric enthusiastically shook each other’s hand in a great show of sportsmanship. And if you’ve been watching our ESPN coverage this year, you’ve seen what a lovable oddball Eric can be when he’s interviewed. You’ll be seeing him a lot on the tube this year.

By the way, John got a little crossed up inside the Castrol GTX Mustang in his first round loss to Phil Burkart as he was staging, leading to a disastrous .148 reaction time, which contributed greatly to John’s hole shot loss. Ironically, the last time John lost on a hole shot in the first round of eliminations, it was two years ago in Columbus, when he was beaten by Johnny Gray, the previous driver of the Burkart’s blue CSK Pontiac!

By the way, I want to extend my deepest best wishes to Cruz Pedregon who learned just moments before the Phoenix final that his stepson, Josh Baltimore, had been injured seriously in a motorcycle accident. I know you join me in extending our prayers for Josh’s speedy recovery.

We’ll take a week off and then head for the Mac Tools Gatornationals in Gainesville, one of the quickest and fastest tracks on the slate. Remember to catch NHRA2day, whether there’s a national event or not, at 11:30 ET on ESPN2 every Sunday morning. And there’ll be more from me “At the Top End” after the Gators!

2/29/04

BILL STEPHENS FROM THE INSIDE
Every time the ESPN crew arrives at an NHRA national event, one of the first jobs we tackle is identifying the storylines that will have the most compelling impact on the race results. We try very hard in the time we have to explain what makes the stories significant, and whether we succeed or not is always up to the audience to decide.

This weekend, the major storyline in Pro Stock at the 44th K&N Winternationals in Pomona was whether the biggest names in the category would be able to stop the consistently quick performance of reigning POWERade champion Greg Anderson. Team JEG’S was certainly aware of who the enemy was coming into the first race of the year and it came as no surprise to anyone that Anderson was exhibiting championship form right out of the box.

Realistically, only three or four teams in the class have the talent, resources, equipment and experience to give Anderson a run for his money this year. The Johnson’s—Warren and Kurt, Larry Morgan with a revitalized Mopar effort, and Team JEG’S will most likely play the most central roles in putting up an effective barrier to Anderson’s second straight title.

Team JEG’S had the disadvantage of starting eliminations without both Troy and Jeg in the field. Troy’s disappointing DNQ was just another indication of how diabolically competitive Pro Stock continues to be. He missed the field by a scant 3/100 of a second, about how long it takes to type a single letter on this laptop. However, Troy was in some pretty heady company with drivers like two-time Pro Stock champion Jim Yates, Ron Krisher, Mark Pawuk, and V. Gaines also missing the cut.

Jeg started the day from the No. 7 spot by virtue of his 6.77/203 pass on Saturday. But like the remainder of the class in general, Jeggie and Team JEG’S knew they’d have to come up with some extra firepower to overhaul Anderson, whose 6.71 led qualifying.

Jeg made a strong run in the opening round of eliminations, powered by the engine he had used last week before rain forced postponement of the event. The engine had gone back to the engine shop in Columbus in the interim and got some freshening up. JEG’S 6.78/203 wasn’t even needed against Kenny Koretsky, who fouled out. But his draw in the second round against Kurt Johnson, the No. 2 qualifier, wouldn’t be so easy.

JEG’S Chevy Cavalier experienced tremendous tire-shake through his first couple of gear changes—tire-shake that was so severe, we showed it on our super slow-motion replay on our ESPN telecast to illustrate how violent tire-shake can be. I spoke to Jeg as he climbed from the car, obviously disappointed, but he sounded convinced that they’d have it figured out and completely corrected for next week’s race in Phoenix, the CSK Nationals.

Anderson charged to the event win, and beat his old employer, Warren Johnson in the final. This was a grudge match in every sense of the word. Warren has been an outspoken critic of Greg and his team, alleging that Anderson has taken a few liberties with the NHRA rulebook.

Greg had taken exception to those accusations and following his semi-final win over Larry Morgan, Greg told the ESPN audience, "Warren and I may like each other deep down inside, but in the final, I’m going to kick his butt". And true to his word, Greg won easily. Yes, sports fans, this one was personal.

The outcome of the race proved that Anderson will once again be a handful to contain this year, but nobody is about to concede the 2004 championship to him just yet, especially at Team JEG’S. They have too good a team and too determined a crew to be happy with anything short of the Pro Stock title. There's a lot of racing yet to come in 2004 and this fight is just beginning. Everyone at ESPN agrees on that.

Remember to tune in to NHRA2day on ESPN2 this coming Sunday at 11:30 AM ET from the CSK Nationals in Phoenix, along with our ESPN coverage of qualifying and eliminations on Saturday and Sunday. And I'll have more "From the Inside" following the race!

2/22/04

If there was ever a question as to whether or not Eric Medlen was capable of driving the Castrol Syntec Mustang, that question was answered conclusively last Thursday afternoon at the K&N Winternationals in Pomona. Rain postponed the race until next weekend, but there was one pro qualifying session Thursday afternoon and Eric’s 4.840/319 was good enough to put him No. 1 until qualifying ends next week.

He was the first driver out, ran his pass all by himself with the entire drag racing world watching his every move, and he came through with flying colors. Make no mistake, there were a bunch of very quick Funny Cars taking aim at him throughout the session, including John and Gary, but nobody could spoil Eric’s debut.

Gary did put up a 4.847, putting him No. 3, while John shook the tires and shut it off, placing him outside the field when qualifying resumes on Friday. But with John’s last DNQ coming at the NHRA Finals in 1987, the odds of him making the field are heavily in his favor.

Eric impressed everyone, not only with his driving, but also with his comfort level with the fans and his willingness to provide interviews for the many media representatives converging at his pit area each day of the event. He had some humorous one-liners, clever comebacks, and thoughtful responses to the many questions, which came at him from all directions. There were plenty of autographs to be signed as well, and you can expect our ESPN cameras to follow Eric around all season as he continues to embark on his driving career. You can also plan on seeing him contribute a series of personal experiences and observations on our ESPN coverage in 2004 as he provides an ongoing diary of his rookie season.

Meanwhile, John’s daughter, Ashley, has begun her rookie season in an A/Fuel dragster, driving for Darien & Meadows, and her debut in the 260 MPH machine was also worth congratulating. She made two qualifying runs; her first was a 5.51/243 followed by a quicker and faster 5.47/266, good enough for 7th on the ladder. She’s driving the car that Morgan Lucas drove to a second place finish in the Lucas Oil Championship standings last year and don’t be surprised if she wins her first national event in 2004.

Qualifying for the K&N Winternationals will resume in Pomona on Friday, finish up on Saturday, and eliminations will be set to go this coming Sunday. We’ll have plenty of coverage for you on ESPN2, along with NHRA2day at a special time this week only, 4PM eastern on Sunday.

Hope you’ll be watching and I’ll have more “At the Top End” after the race next week.

2/8/04

After a successful test session in Las Vegas last week in which John and the team rolled up some impressive numbers, the results at this weekend’s National Time Trials at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix were somewhat of a let down. Not because of anything the team did or didn’t do, but because the recently repaved facility just didn’t offer much in the way of bite.

Few teams were able to make full passes but they were able to get some useful short numbers. Other than Darrell Russell’s career-best 4.52 in Joe Amato’s Top Fuel dragster and Tony Schumacher’s 4.61, it was hard to find anything to really cheer about during the test sessions—especially when compared with the much better elapsed times and speeds we saw in Las Vegas last week.

Some teams, including John, Eric, and Gary chose to stay and test on Monday, but once again, nobody expected earth-shattering time slips. Hopes are that by the time we return to Firebird next month for the CSK Nationals, the racing surface will be much improved.

As I continue to talk to other members of the media and many of the team members who’ll be getting the new season underway in Pomona in a couple of weeks, it’s unusual that there’s such a wide range of opinions on who will be the driver to beat for the 2004 NHRA POWERade Funny Car Championship. There are so many intangibles this year!

For instance, will the new Mustang bodies prove to give JFR a measurable advantage? How about the new Chevy Monte Carlo bodies on the cars of Ron Capps and Tommy Johnson Jr.? Will Cruz and Tony Pedregon be factors with so many changes happening on their teams? What about the team of Bazemore and Scelzi? Both of those drivers made strong statements in 2003 and with another off-season to regroup, you’d have to expect them to be on their game right from the opening bell. The Worshams are due for a big breakthrough season and, pound for pound, Del Worsham and Phil Burkart may be two of the most solid drivers out there.

But it is still amazing to me how year after year; Team Castrol has been able to turn away all comers for the title. They seem to become even more dangerous when pressured and you can probably count on one hand how many times they have beaten themselves. That’s why, despite the changes we’ve seen in Yorba Linda since last November, it’s very difficult to envision a championship race that doesn’t involve at least one, or perhaps two, Team Castrol drivers.

And so, the season is only days away and how things will fall together for some, or falls apart for others, will once again provide ample grist for our television mill when ESPN brings you coverage of the 44th K&N Winternationals from Pomona. NHRA2day gets out of the gate on Sunday, February 15, at 11:30 AM on ESPN2 and I’m really looking forward to our seasonal debut.

Check back soon for more on the season ahead, here “At the Top End.”

1/19/04

I, for one, have never put a tremendous amount of weight behind test results. Maybe I’m just a cynic, but test results rarely paint an accurate picture of who will be the drivers to beat during the ensuing season.

However, to the teams that test, it’s a very important element of their mechanical game plan heading into the schedule and it’s easy to understand why there are at least four, and sometimes more, testing events on the calendar each year for all the professional teams.

While several Pro Stock teams got unwound in Bradenton last week, the Funny Cars were shaking the cobwebs off at The Strip in Las Vegas this past weekend and John, Eric, and Gary were flying.

How badly does John want to regain the championship he lost last year? Just take a look at the numbers he put up last weekend and you’ll quickly get the picture. He had both the two quickest elapsed times of the weekend AND the fastest speed of anyone by the time the test sessions ended on Sunday.

He rocked out a 4.763 on Friday, a 4.782 on Saturday, and a 329.18 speed to go along with them. That 329.18, by the way, is the current national record held by Gary Scelzi.

Meanwhile, Eric was impressive right from the moment he stepped into the Castrol Syntec Mustang. He looked like a seasoned veteran running a best of 4.797/324.28 run on Friday. In my opinion, this kid is going to be trouble!

Gary Densham’s best of the tests, a 4.784/319.67 was the third-quickest pass of the weekend and when you put it all together, the three of them appear to be poised to run amuck when the season begins in Pomona weeks.

In other Funny Car news, we’ll be saying “Hello” to an old friend this year and, perhaps, saying goodbye to another.

Jerry Toliver, who has had many a hard-fought battle with John and Team will be back in 2004, driving the Toyota Celica owned by Alan Johnson and previously driven by Gary Scelzi and Bruce Sarver. Jerry and John are good buds and it will be a kick to have Jerry jawing with everyone and adding some color to the class one again.

Meanwhile, Dena Skuza is planning on taking 2004 off unless he and his dad, Don, can put together a sponsorship deal in the near future. Everyone really likes and respects the Skuza’s and let’s hope they can get some bucks and come back to the tour in ’04.

More testing to tell you about next week from Phoenix. I’ll have some tidbits for you next week when they’re over………………………….Check back then!

BIG NEWS AT JFR!

The big announcement which just about every drag racing fan in the world was waiting for was finally made on Thursday, January 15, 2004. John made it official, substantiating the rumors, which had been circulating for the past few months when he issued the news that Eric Medlen would be the driver of the Castrol Syntec Mustang when the 2004 season got underway.

Eric is 30 years old and has quite an interesting resume, which includes everything from cattle roping to racing go-karts, to competing in alcohol dragsters and Funny Cars. The announcement ended what had been one of the most closely guarded secrets we had ever seen.

John had been continuously hounded by the media, fans, and anyone within earshot of the 12-time champion as to who would wind up in the seat of his No. 2 car, and after Eric successfully tested in one of the team’s Mustangs following the AC Delco National in Las Vegas last October, the question lingered as to whether Eric would get the ride or John would hire someone outside the team with more experience.

Of course, Eric has been an important member of the team for 8 years and has served as a capable mechanic on John’s Castrol Mustang. He’ll now join his dad, John Medlen, who willing continue tuning the car, and race together in the Funny Car category as the sport’s newest father and son team.

“I talked to my crew chiefs and they agreed with me that we should give a young driver a chance and Eric was our choice”, said John. “He’s a good kid, has done all kinds of things in the past and done them well, so now we’ll see what he can do in the driver’s seat.”

John also announced last week that Gary Densham would be back for one more year in the AAA Mustang. With the task of replacing one driver already on his agenda, John felt that having to find two new drivers would disrupt the continuity of the team. Gary’s happy, John’s happy, and the team can look forward to maintaining its chemistry when the season gets going next month in Pomona.

There will be three test sessions before the Winternationals kick off on February 19^th—Las Vegas, Tucson, and Phoenix, and I know I can’t wait until engines begin firing again. I’m sure there will be much to talk about once Team Castrol unwraps its 2004 lineup over the next few weeks and I hope you’ll be coming back and checking in with me “At the Top End”.

Oh, and 2004’s first episode of NHRA2day, with yours truly hosting, will be one week before the Winternationals on ESPN2. Check your local listings for airtimes on Sunday, February 15^th.