2/26/07

Robert keeps saving everyone’s bacon.

Two races, two finals and the two quickest elapsed times in NHRA history. He and Jimmy Prock are demonstrating to the world just what horsepower is all about, and unfortunately, they haven’t been able to convert that horsepower into a victory. But Robert’s name sure looks good at the top of the POWERade standings with two consecutive runner-up finishes combined with a low qualifier award in Phoenix and a near-miss at the No. 1 spot in Pomona by .001-second. Maybe Gainesville will turn out to be a bit better.

Of course, it was anything but a rock-and-roll weekend for the rest of JFR. John almost missed the Funny Car field for the first time since November 1987 and had to pull out a 4.81 in Saturday’s final qualifying session to avoid a DNQ and lift him into the lucky No. 13 spot. John convened a team meeting in the Castrol Technology Center down in his pits just before that final session, and although I didn’t hear what was said, apparently it worked.

Raceday was a bummer with John falling by inches to Ron Capps in Round 1 when both cars shook, smoked, and swerved down the dragstrip. Eric got as far as Round 2 when Robert took down his teammate.

Ashley, however, continues to impress in her rookie season. She qualified No. 6, and in the first qualifying session on Friday, clearly exhibited some raw driving talent. On that pass, her racecar veered right, veered left, and was on the verge of giving her more than she could handle. But she skillfully kept the car headed straight and made it to the finish line under power. I was standing in the Firebird International Raceway media center watching her wrestle that car down the track and I turned to the people who were standing nearby and softly uttered, “That girl can drive”.

But she needed every ounce of that talent in the first round of eliminations on Sunday when she built a sizable lead over Bob Gilbertson but had her Castrol Mustang make a strong move to the right just before the finish line. She crossed the centerline, punched out a timing block, but somehow muscled the car back into her lane and avoided any contact with Gilbertson who was about three lengths behind her. She obviously had the round win right in her hands before the car crossed the centerline and when she got out of the car and was interviewed by ESPN’s Gary Gerould, she was very upset and visibly shaken.

It was the first mishap of her young career and she was most upset about putting her opponent in possible danger. The good news is that I saw her down in her pits about a half-hour later and she told me she was feeling a lot better. “I’ll have to learn to deal with those kinds of things if I’m going to race”, she said. “That was the first time I’ve been in that situation with a car in the other lane so I know how something like that feels like now”.

John and I were speaking shortly thereafter and he said, “You’ve gotta be tough out there. It’s a dangerous business and you can get bitten even when you’re doing everything right”. And John should know. The first few years of his career were filled with big fires, trips into the guardrail and a few journeys into the sandpit. As bad as those times were, he walked away from each incident having learned something that would benefit him later on.

I had a chance to sit in John’s motor coach for a while on Sunday and talk to Courtney and Brittany. Those two girls have the kind of intelligence and star-quality that’s going to take them just as far in their future careers as they want to go. I don’t get to talk to them too often because their hectic schedules competing in Super Comp and my various responsibilities during a race weekend don’t allow much time for schmoozing. And a few moments into our conversation, the production crew from the A&E show, “Driving Force” slid into the coach with their cameras rolling and I got a real taste of what it has been like for all the Forces to go about the business of being themselves in front of video cameras. At first, it’s a bit unsettling, but after a couple of minutes, it really is possible to tune out the cameras and just have a candid conversation.

Brittany, by the way, had one of her better S/C weekends, advancing through three rounds in a very tough field before falling in Round 4. Courtney didn’t have quite as much luck as her sister, losing in Round 1. But mark my words, with Ashley already on her way to becoming a superstar in the sport, Courtney and Brittany give every indication they’ll be climbing the success ladder right behind their dad and older sister.

A well-deserved break now awaits everyone at JFR with three weeks of R&R before the AC Delco Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida on the weekend of March 15-19.  I’ll be back with more from “In the Groove” after the Gators so we’ll look for you then!

Buckle up and drive safely!