BILL STEPHENS “IN THE GROOVE” 10/12/09

JFR first and second in the points and two games left to play. No too shabby.

Granted, nobody on the team was able to go the distance on Sunday down in Richmond, but as a wise, sage, perceptive drag racing observer once said, “Don’t concentrate on winning races as much as you concentrate on winning rounds, especially in the Countdown.” OK, it was me who said that here “In the Groove” a while back.

In fact, let me amplify a little on that drag racing perspicacity (I love that word). NOT losing in an early round is the absolute cardinal rule in the season’s closing events and this past weekend, such drivers as Tony Pedregon, Jack Beckman, and our Fearless Leader Himself, may have seen their championship hopes slip away with first round losses.

And how about defending NHRA pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr., who has now lost three straight first round matchups and has just about given up any real chances of defending his title—especially with Mike Edwards scorching everyone with two races to go in the season.

Of course, the team orders issue was the big buzz in the opening round of Funny Car when John drew Robert to begin the day. No need to hash and rehash the topic again so soon after the major dustup we saw in Indy on Labor Day, but in the opinion of just about all credible observers, John and Robert went after each other without reserve. Robert’s win was well earned, helping to put him into the points lead just 13 markers ahead of Ashley until the next race in three weeks in Las Vegas.

I didn’t make the trip to Richmond this weekend because of some other commitments, but I was able to sneak away to a stock car race with my 19 year-old son, Will, on Sunday. The race was held at Seekonk Speedway, one of the few remaining short tracks still operating in New England with weekly programs during the racing season. It’s always a lot of fun to watch these mostly amateur racers compete on the 3/8-mile oval in several different classes of cars, banging fenders, spinning and wall-banging, and putting on a great afternoon of excitement for a crowd of around 5000.

It’s such a reminder to me of how quaint and unsophisticated drag racing was back in the early years of the sport. Who could have possibly predicted that the NHRA universe in which we exist today would have grown from its humble and meager beginnings a little more than 50 years ago into the immense, multi-million dollar big league sport it is in 2009? Of course, it was at small, rural, out-of-the-way tracks like Seekonk, predominantly in the deep south back in the 1940’s and ‘50’s where stock car racing first began its journey from backwoods obscurity to worldwide acclaim and unlimited financial success.

So the stage is set for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle wrap-up between now and November 15th. Las Vegas and then Pomona with all four professional class championships still there for the taking. It’s the time of the year that fans like you and me anticipate from the moment the schedule kicks off in February. Everyone is feeling the heat, the pressure, and the anxiety of performing to perfection. It’s gut check time…..

I’ll check back with you right after the Las Vegas Nationals.