The song was a major hit for Bono and U2, but it’s not a tune Del Worsham wants to be humming. After a nail-biting qualifying effort, where we worked his way into the field on the last lap, Worsham had high hopes for more progress in round one, though he also knew he’d be facing the baddest hombre in the sport, Robert Hight. In the end, it’s clear Del Worsham still hasn’t found what he’s looking for.
Qualifying for this year’s AC Delco Gatornationals was quite the adventure, for nearly everyone involved, but Worsham was able to end his two-race DNQ streak by holding tight to the No. 16 spot he earned on his final pass. In all, Worsham managed to almost make it to the finish line on two of his four qualifying attempts. Both E. T.s would have been better, had the car lived to the stripe, but nagging breakage problems continued to plague Worsham and his team, as they again demolished parts and pieces at a rate no one cares to maintain.
“This has been going on since last year, and we’re narrowing down the culprits, one by one, but obviously haven’t totally gotten past it yet, ” Worsham said. “It runs great, for about 1,000 to 1,200 feet, but right down there near the finish line it’s still banging and breaking and making a mess of things. We’re going through the car, the parts, the tune-up, and everything we can think of, looking for answers. And it’s not just the parts breakage and the broken motors that bother me. When your car doesn’t live to the finish line, it’s leaving a lot of E. T. on the table, and you just can’t do that anymore. The competition is way too tough out here, even when you’re running well, so you can’t keep trying to get qualified while you’re blowing up at 1,000 feet.
“We are getting a handle on it, finally, or at least we’re finding ways to keep it living a little longer and not hurt itself so bad. But, we have to keep working at it, trouble-shooting it, looking at everything, because this is not the way we race. We’ve won races with the same motor in the car for eight straight laps, and now we’re yanking them out after every run. It’s going to stop, and we’re going to start running better because of that. I promise you that. “
Throughout Friday and Saturday, the entire Funny Car class looked as topsy-turvy as possible for three sessions. With tire smoke an issue during the early runs each day, most teams were unable to negotiate the full 1,320, leaving the qualifying order looking as if names had been randomly pulled from a hat. Entering the final session, tour regulars Jack Beckman, Mike Ashley, Tommy Johnson, Gary Densham, and Bob Gilbertson were all outside the field looking in, while Eric Medlen and Tony Pedregon were clinging to the 16th and 15th spots, respectively. Everyone knew the final session was going to be dramatic, but the question was “Which big-time teams wouldn’t make the show? “
“We went into the last session sitting in the 11th spot, and usually that means you’re in pretty good shape to be in the field, ” Worsham said. “This time, with all these great teams beneath us, I knew for a fact it wouldn’t hold. As it turned out, by the time all those guys ran and we came up, we were not only not in the field, we were down in 20th position. We had to make a big lap happen just to work our way back into it.
| 
|