Del Worsham raced to his second straight Top Fuel victory and third in five events this season, beating teammate Larry Dixon on Sunday in the NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway.
Worsham had a 3.880-second run at 318.99 mph, while defending series champion Dixon finished in 3.900 at 316.82. Worsham, a longtime Funny Car racer who has 28 career victories, joined Mike Dunn as the only drivers to win the Houston event in both categories.
Jeff Arend (Funny Car), rookie Vincent Nobile (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won their divisions in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.
Arend took the Funny Car victory when final-round opponent Mike Neff fouled at the starting line. Arend’s finished in 4.259 at 297.68 for his first win of the season and third of his career. Washington Post
“I was up there, and he prestaged, and then I prestaged,” said Arend, whose final pass was clocked at 4.266 seconds and 297.69 mph. “He staged, then I staged, and then it was a long light. I heard him go ert, ert, and I went down the track thinking I should probably shut this off, but it was too much fun.”
“We went up there knowing that we needed a little help,” Arend said. “(Co-crew chief) Nicky (Boninfante) and Jon have been making some great calls this weekend. Making the car get down the track is what we needed to do. The right lane was a little tough, but it was a great day for the DHL Toyota.”
Neff still leaves Houston with the Funny Car points lead over John Force Racing teammate Robert Hight — 399 to 381.
Arend moves up to fifth. Houston Chronicle
Rookie driver Nobile used a near-perfect reaction time of .007 of a second to earn his first Pro Stock victory. Nobile, 19, became the youngest driver to win in the history of NHRA’s 41-year-old factory hot rod category when his Mountain View Dodge Avenger finished in 6.625 seconds at 209.72 mph to edge local favorite Rodger Brogdon, of nearby Tomball, Texas, who posted a quicker but losing 6.624 at 208.78 in his Racers Edge Pontiac GXP.
“It was close, I didn’t even know who won at the stripe,” said Nobile, who also defeated Kurt Johnson, Jason Line, and Greg Stanfield en route to his second career final-round appearance (Nobile was also one of the final-four drivers in Charlotte, but he finished fourth in the title round, registering it as a semifinal). “Then everyone was screaming in my ear that we won. It was incredible. It’s crazy how competitive Pro Stock is. Every driver is great out here. There are no easy rounds. I race with a bunch of great people. We are definitely living on a high right now.”
Hines defeated Chip Ellis, Jerry Savoie, and Karen Stoffer to advance to the final round and successfully defend his win here from a year ago.
“To come to Houston, a track that was our nemesis for 20 years, and get two wins in a row is pretty special,” Hines said. “These pewter Wallys are really cool. Eddie [Krawiec, teammate] won his in Gainesville, and I told him I didn’t want to touch it until I got one of my own. I didn’t expect to win mine this fast, but I am glad to get it. My brother Matt [crew chief] gave me a great motorcycle all weekend long, and it was consistent and going perfectly straight down the track.” NHRA.com
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