6/11/07

I’m sitting in my hotel room in Portland, Oregon after serving as one of the three pit reporters covering today’s Champ Car World Series event this afternoon for ABC Sports at Portland International Raceway.

I’m still in somewhat of a state of shock.

The course of events which unfolded this weekend at JFR is bewildering no matter how you look at it.

ROBERT DIDN’T QUALIFY? ROBERT DIDN’T QUALIFY??

Who in the world would have expected that one of the most unstoppable artillery shells in the Funny Car class would miss the cut at one of the quickest and fastest tracks on the schedule? Not me.

Sure, there was that big explosion at the last race in Topeka that kept Robert from racing in the Summer Nationals final round but you certainly can’t lay the blame for his DNQ on that. And how ridiculously ironic is it that the driver Robert is chasing in the points, Ron Capps, didn’t qualify in Topeka a week ago?

Want to add insult to injury? John and Ashley both lost in the first round. Put it all together and the trip to Joliet was anything but a smash hit.

Of course, we won’t even mention Ashley’s scary engine explosion and fire during qualifying that shook everyone up. Not very pretty.

Luckily, the next race isn’t for another two weeks when everyone will truck into Englishtown, NJ for ProCare Rx Nationals. I think the team could use a little break after what has been a punishing start to the 2007 NHRA POWERade season. It’s almost inconceivable to me that a team like JFR that has assembled the best of everything—including people and personnel—could be staggering as much as John, Robert, and Ashley did this past weekend.

Good news has been in short supply of late, but if you look beyond race results, there is some cause for optimism if you’re a fan of the NHRA. The recent announcement that the POWERade side of the NHRA is expected to be sold to an acquisitions group, HD Partners, could be easily interpreted as something that will move the sport forward at a speed much more in keeping with a professional motorsports series in the 21st century.

There’s still a lot more to be learned about what the new ownership has planned for the NHRA and its national event structure but it’s difficult to find anyone in the sport that isn’t excited and hopeful about where we’ll be going from here.

But in the short term, it’s imperative for JFR to start kicking out the jams and figuring out how to reverse what has been a real nasty series of tough breaks and frustrating defeats. Now there are only eight races until the 2007 Countdown to the Championship begins and it doesn’t even make the slightest bit of sense to discuss where John is in the points.

Robert and Ashley are inside the top eight at this point and if they can solve the puzzling inconsistency they’ve been battling recently, you have to like their chances of making the Countdown. But John is a different story and he’s going to have to go on an extended winning streak to put his Castrol Mustang into the upcoming tournament. Not even race wins but round wins. Far be it from me to rub salt in a wound but the 14-time champions and winningest driver in NHRA history has a total of one round win after nine national events this season.

And I think I’ll leave things at that. There’s no sense in overstating the obvious. John and his outstanding team know what needs to be done and in countless situations in the past when a big turnaround has been necessary, they’ve come up with one. Well, that’s exactly what the current situation calls for now.

In a couple of weeks, it will be show time in E-town. I’ll be about 1500 miles way in Cleveland, Ohio for the next Champ Car World Series event, this time working for CBS Sports. But I’ll be keeping a close eye on the developments in Englishtown and will offer my opinions and observations right here following the race.

Until then, buckle up and drive safely!