<img src="http://gallery.nitromater.com/files/6/5/d_worsham06.jpg" alt="d_worsham06" align="left"borders="0"/>
He could taste the semi-finals. He could even allow himself a chance to look far ahead, and wonder if this was going to be "one of those days" when magic things happen. In the end, though, Del Worsham ran into the Robert Hight juggernaut in round two, after beating Mike Ashley in the opening stanza, to finish his Reading weekend with a quarter-final finish. In the larger scheme of things, it was every bit of a magic day, but the "abracadabra" was working on the other side of the Team CSK pit, where Phil Burkart and his Havoline/CSK team rolled through a forest of "giants" on their way to an emotional and well earned victory.
Worsham's qualifying effort here was one part strategy and one part good fortune. After suffering some parts breakage on his first lap, he came back on Friday night to put a solid, if unspectacular, 4.843 on the board. The decision to soften the tune-up for the late run was all strategy, as Worsham as looking for a way to break out of a frustrating string of missed opportunities during session two.
"We've had all sorts of problems, all year, in session two," he said. "When everyone else is hitting bombs, we seem to find a way to shake, spin, break something, or whatever, and we come out of Friday night with nothing. We decided the best thing to do was get down the track, period. I didn't want to go out there trying to run 4.75 and end up making a mistake. The 4.84 wasn't anything to write home about, but it gave us a baseline we really needed. We had something to tune from, we were way more confident that the car would go A to B, and we felt like we were gaining on things."
On Saturday, Worsham and the rest of the racing community had to wait out nearly day-long spritzes of almost imperceptible rain. Never enough to even get the asphalt wet in the pit area, the random drops were plenty wet enough to put a hold on racing, and they kept the Funny Cars off the track until late in the afternoon. When Worsham finally got to the line, his place was already secure in the field, as two of the cars behind him on the sheet failed to improve, and he felt it was his time to step up higher in the program.
"I think we had a really good idea going up there, and it should have run well enough to move us up a few spots," Worsham said. "Unfortunately, we had a miscommunication in the pit area, and we ended up with the wrong pulleys on the car, leaving us way underpowered compared to what we wanted to be. As soon as I hit the throttle, I could tell the car had no jump to it, and it went into tire shake almost immediately. There's no one to blame, because there must have been six of us, myself and my dad included, who were involved in putting the car together, and we all missed it. It cost us that run, but we were in and we got to race today."
After Saturday's forecast called for clouds but no rain, Sunday's called for day-long drizzles with a few passing thunderstorms. As the CSK teams left their hotel at 7:00 am, the skies were dry but the parking lots were still very wet and covered in puddles. Oddly, yet fortunately, by the time the team vehicles arrived at Maple Grove, the skies had cleared and the sun was breaking through.
"I think weather people have the biggest cake jobs in the world, because they never seem to be right," Worsham said. "But there can't be a spot in the country worse than this, when it comes to getting the forecast right. It must have something to do with the jet stream, the hills, the ocean, and who knows what else, but you get the impression they just throw darts at a 'forecast board' around here, because when they miss, they miss big. It was great to see the sun come out though, because none of us wanted to race here on Monday."
As Worsham pulled forward to face former teammate Mike Ashley in round 0ne, he knew he was racing a car that had qualified No. 2, with a stunning 4.694. He also knew Ashley had posted that number in the first session, and had then failed to negotiate the full track in either of his other laps.
"They hit a massive home run on their first lap, so you can't take that a way from them," Worsham said. "We were just coming at this round from a totally different direction. They way things have been going for us, we were just trying to find a way to go down the track consistently, and we surely weren't shooting for the stars. Even in the first round, our goal was to give ourselves a chance to win. I did not want to smoke the tires, period."
At the flash of amber, Ashley got a way first by just a bit, but Worsham made up the difference in the first 400-feet. Then, as Ashley's car encountered problems, Worsham's plowed straight down the groove to take the win, with a solid 4.834 on the scoreboard. It was Worsham's quickest lap of the weekend, and his first round win since Brainerd.
If Worsham's win lifted the spirit of the CSK camp, the victory posted by teammate Phil Burkart took everything up to yet another level. Burkart stunned points leader Ron Capps (and no doubt thrilled John Force) with a huge 4.783, and every member of Team CSK was thinking of going additional rounds.
For Worsham, the second round match-up would be of the "extremely difficult" variety, as Robert Hight was the opponent. Hight had dispatched Tim Wilkerson in round one, with a jaw-dropping 4.748, so Worsham knew he had his hands full.
"Robert, and Jimmy Prock, are just right on it now," Worsham said. "They're fearless, and the car is flying. Once again, we weren't going to go up there trying to run a 4.74, so we aimed for a low 4.80 or maybe a 4.79, and if they had any problems at all, we planned to be there to take them out."
Unfortunately, the fact Hight actually improved on his first lap, running a 4.740 against Worsham, left no room for an opening. Worsham's day was done, but it finished with its own share of positives.
"We can go down the track again, which is really nice," he said. "We can start to get a little brave now, inching up on it a little here and there, until we're back to where we can just flat run by people, but it takes time. I know it's late in the season, but we're getting our act together here and I'm starting to feel better about it all. And right this second, taking into account how well both teams worked today and how great the Havoline team did, winning the race when we needed it the most, I'm smiling for a good reason. This is all good."
2nd ROUND FINISH AND BURKART'S WIN GIVE WORSHAM A REASON TO SMILE
He could taste the semi-finals. He could even allow himself a chance to look far ahead, and wonder if this was going to be "one of those days" when magic things happen. In the end, though, Del Worsham ran into the Robert Hight juggernaut in round two, after beating Mike Ashley in the opening stanza, to finish his Reading weekend with a quarter-final finish. In the larger scheme of things, it was every bit of a magic day, but the "abracadabra" was working on the other side of the Team CSK pit, where Phil Burkart and his Havoline/CSK team rolled through a forest of "giants" on their way to an emotional and well earned victory.
Worsham's qualifying effort here was one part strategy and one part good fortune. After suffering some parts breakage on his first lap, he came back on Friday night to put a solid, if unspectacular, 4.843 on the board. The decision to soften the tune-up for the late run was all strategy, as Worsham as looking for a way to break out of a frustrating string of missed opportunities during session two.
"We've had all sorts of problems, all year, in session two," he said. "When everyone else is hitting bombs, we seem to find a way to shake, spin, break something, or whatever, and we come out of Friday night with nothing. We decided the best thing to do was get down the track, period. I didn't want to go out there trying to run 4.75 and end up making a mistake. The 4.84 wasn't anything to write home about, but it gave us a baseline we really needed. We had something to tune from, we were way more confident that the car would go A to B, and we felt like we were gaining on things."
On Saturday, Worsham and the rest of the racing community had to wait out nearly day-long spritzes of almost imperceptible rain. Never enough to even get the asphalt wet in the pit area, the random drops were plenty wet enough to put a hold on racing, and they kept the Funny Cars off the track until late in the afternoon. When Worsham finally got to the line, his place was already secure in the field, as two of the cars behind him on the sheet failed to improve, and he felt it was his time to step up higher in the program.
"I think we had a really good idea going up there, and it should have run well enough to move us up a few spots," Worsham said. "Unfortunately, we had a miscommunication in the pit area, and we ended up with the wrong pulleys on the car, leaving us way underpowered compared to what we wanted to be. As soon as I hit the throttle, I could tell the car had no jump to it, and it went into tire shake almost immediately. There's no one to blame, because there must have been six of us, myself and my dad included, who were involved in putting the car together, and we all missed it. It cost us that run, but we were in and we got to race today."
After Saturday's forecast called for clouds but no rain, Sunday's called for day-long drizzles with a few passing thunderstorms. As the CSK teams left their hotel at 7:00 am, the skies were dry but the parking lots were still very wet and covered in puddles. Oddly, yet fortunately, by the time the team vehicles arrived at Maple Grove, the skies had cleared and the sun was breaking through.
"I think weather people have the biggest cake jobs in the world, because they never seem to be right," Worsham said. "But there can't be a spot in the country worse than this, when it comes to getting the forecast right. It must have something to do with the jet stream, the hills, the ocean, and who knows what else, but you get the impression they just throw darts at a 'forecast board' around here, because when they miss, they miss big. It was great to see the sun come out though, because none of us wanted to race here on Monday."
As Worsham pulled forward to face former teammate Mike Ashley in round 0ne, he knew he was racing a car that had qualified No. 2, with a stunning 4.694. He also knew Ashley had posted that number in the first session, and had then failed to negotiate the full track in either of his other laps.
"They hit a massive home run on their first lap, so you can't take that a way from them," Worsham said. "We were just coming at this round from a totally different direction. They way things have been going for us, we were just trying to find a way to go down the track consistently, and we surely weren't shooting for the stars. Even in the first round, our goal was to give ourselves a chance to win. I did not want to smoke the tires, period."
At the flash of amber, Ashley got a way first by just a bit, but Worsham made up the difference in the first 400-feet. Then, as Ashley's car encountered problems, Worsham's plowed straight down the groove to take the win, with a solid 4.834 on the scoreboard. It was Worsham's quickest lap of the weekend, and his first round win since Brainerd.
If Worsham's win lifted the spirit of the CSK camp, the victory posted by teammate Phil Burkart took everything up to yet another level. Burkart stunned points leader Ron Capps (and no doubt thrilled John Force) with a huge 4.783, and every member of Team CSK was thinking of going additional rounds.
For Worsham, the second round match-up would be of the "extremely difficult" variety, as Robert Hight was the opponent. Hight had dispatched Tim Wilkerson in round one, with a jaw-dropping 4.748, so Worsham knew he had his hands full.
"Robert, and Jimmy Prock, are just right on it now," Worsham said. "They're fearless, and the car is flying. Once again, we weren't going to go up there trying to run a 4.74, so we aimed for a low 4.80 or maybe a 4.79, and if they had any problems at all, we planned to be there to take them out."
Unfortunately, the fact Hight actually improved on his first lap, running a 4.740 against Worsham, left no room for an opening. Worsham's day was done, but it finished with its own share of positives.
"We can go down the track again, which is really nice," he said. "We can start to get a little brave now, inching up on it a little here and there, until we're back to where we can just flat run by people, but it takes time. I know it's late in the season, but we're getting our act together here and I'm starting to feel better about it all. And right this second, taking into account how well both teams worked today and how great the Havoline team did, winning the race when we needed it the most, I'm smiling for a good reason. This is all good."
