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Del Worsham put a pair of solid laps on the board in Dallas on Friday, and he did so in vastly different conditions. During Q1, when the air temperature hovered near 99 and the track temperature was tipping 140, Worsham set the pace for the entire class, running a 4.958 at 313.37 mph, which also led all Funny Cars in terms of speed. In the nightcap, which represented a "make it or break it" hero session if there ever was one (temperatures in the high 90s are forecast for Saturday, when two daytime sessions are on the docket), Worsham had slipped all the way to the 15th spot by the time he ran as part of the final pair. His red CSK Impala tore down the track to a big 4.808, good enough for the No. 4 spot, even though Worsham clicked it off well before the finish line.
"It locked up the clutch down there, and instead of really pulling hard coming out of that, it just felt like it was laboring to me," Worsham said. "I didn't know if it was hurt or had just dropped a cylinder, so I went ahead and said 'That's enough,' and lifted. By the time we got back to the pit, I was laughing about it because I had myself convinced I was just hearing things, and I might have cost us the top spot, but it's easy to laugh when you're number four with two scalding hot sessions to go. Once the guys got the heads off the car, and found the broken lifter, I felt better about the whole thing. It might not have blown up, but there was a good reason to get out of it with broken parts in the motor, so I'm glad I did.
"Both runs, today, were great. We were number one in the first session and number four in the second, and I personally wouldn't ask for me than that. Looks to me like our buddy Timmy Wilkerson is going to finish number one here, because if anyone runs a 4.78 tomorrow, they ought to have their car impounded. If the weather is what they're telling us it's going to be, you'll have a hard time running 4.93 tomorrow, but we'll just have to wait and see."
TWO STRONG RUNS HAVE WORSHAM 4th AFTER FRIDAY
Del Worsham put a pair of solid laps on the board in Dallas on Friday, and he did so in vastly different conditions. During Q1, when the air temperature hovered near 99 and the track temperature was tipping 140, Worsham set the pace for the entire class, running a 4.958 at 313.37 mph, which also led all Funny Cars in terms of speed. In the nightcap, which represented a "make it or break it" hero session if there ever was one (temperatures in the high 90s are forecast for Saturday, when two daytime sessions are on the docket), Worsham had slipped all the way to the 15th spot by the time he ran as part of the final pair. His red CSK Impala tore down the track to a big 4.808, good enough for the No. 4 spot, even though Worsham clicked it off well before the finish line.
"It locked up the clutch down there, and instead of really pulling hard coming out of that, it just felt like it was laboring to me," Worsham said. "I didn't know if it was hurt or had just dropped a cylinder, so I went ahead and said 'That's enough,' and lifted. By the time we got back to the pit, I was laughing about it because I had myself convinced I was just hearing things, and I might have cost us the top spot, but it's easy to laugh when you're number four with two scalding hot sessions to go. Once the guys got the heads off the car, and found the broken lifter, I felt better about the whole thing. It might not have blown up, but there was a good reason to get out of it with broken parts in the motor, so I'm glad I did.
"Both runs, today, were great. We were number one in the first session and number four in the second, and I personally wouldn't ask for me than that. Looks to me like our buddy Timmy Wilkerson is going to finish number one here, because if anyone runs a 4.78 tomorrow, they ought to have their car impounded. If the weather is what they're telling us it's going to be, you'll have a hard time running 4.93 tomorrow, but we'll just have to wait and see."
