On NHRA Off-Weekend, Worsham Plans To… Go Racing!
May 06, 2008
NHRA
ORANGE, Calif. (May 6, 2008)— Del Worsham is a racer. It’s what he does, it’s what he loves, and it defines him. So, faced with a string of 12 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series events in 18 weeks, what did Worsham choose to do on the first of only six off-weekends between now and Labor Day? He chose to pull his popular Blue Max Nostalgia Funny Car out of the shop to take it racing, of course.
Worsham has entered his Blue Max in the “Funny Car Fever II” event, set for this Saturday (May 10) at Southwestern International Raceway in Tucson, Ariz., where he will compete with other dedicated nostalgia competitors in search of low E.T.’s, bragging rights, trophies, and purse money. Though strictly a Worsham side-project, the carefully restored version of Raymond Beadle’s 1977 Mustang II Blue Max has impressed crowds and racers alike, while either making exhibition runs at NHRA National Events or competing at a select few sanctioned nostalgia events and match races. Worsham’s first full lap in the car, an exhibition pass at the ‘05 NHRA Dallas race with Beadle in attendance, resulted in a 5.97-second time slip, making his Blue Max the first Nostalgia Funny Car to dip into the 5-second range.
“We just love racing the car, and when I heard about this event in Tucson I knew we wanted to go have some fun, if the weather didn’t mess up our NHRA schedule,” Worsham said. “We’ve had some iffy weather at the last two NHRA races, in Atlanta and St. Louis, so I was keeping my fingers crossed and I couldn’t commit to this deal until I knew for sure we could go. I don’t know if the fingers being crossed helped or not, but we dodged the rain drops enough at both races to get them in on time, and now we have the chance to go nostalgia racing this weekend.
“We’ve been to the track in Tucson a lot of times, and it’s a really nice facility with a great racing surface. We used to test our Checker, Schuck’s, Kragen Funny Car there, so we’ve made quite a few laps at S.I.R., and the fans in the area have always been great. Even in pre-season testing, they’d come out in big numbers and it felt like a real event, not just a test session. I’m sure they’ll pack the place for this nostalgia race, because these cars are so popular and people love to come out and watch the teams run them.”
A great part of drag racing’s allure is its open pit area, where fans can take in the behind-the-scenes action while just a few feet away from the working crews. That benefit is even more personal at nostalgia racing events, as the massive 18-wheel transporters and plush hospitality areas are replaced by more era-specific equipment, including the 45-foot trailer Worsham will haul to the track behind a heavy duty pick-up. While he loves his full-time job, racing as a pro on the NHRA tour, he sees these events as a chance to relive the early days of Funny Car racing, and just have fun.
“That’s what it’s all about, and it’s why we built this car and take it out whenever we can,” Worsham said. “I guess it was about four years ago, when my dad was helping out Nathan Bugg and his nostalgia team, and he really got into that because it was so much like the old days. I was just a little kid in the 70s, but my dad was racing by then so you know it really hit home with him. When we started talking about messing around with this ourselves, I knew I wanted to build a Blue Max replica. It was my favorite car as a kid, and I’m sure more than a few grade-school teachers could verify that, considering how many pictures of it I drew in my notebooks.
“It’s great to go to these events, get our hands dirty, work out of a small trailer, meet the fans and the other nostalgia racers, and just go back in time for a couple of days. The only pressure I feel is just to make sure we don’t hurt the car, and make sure we have enough fun. And let me tell you, driving this thing is serious business, but it’s a ton of fun.”
Worsham will be assisted by his father Chuck, as well as Marc Denner, Grant Downing, John Fink, and Robin “Silky” Silk.
