Greg Anderson won a dramatic Pro Stock final four where it was impossible to tell with the naked eye which driver reached the finish line first.
Jack Beckman won in Funny Car after previously unbeaten John Force Racing didn’t even get one of its three drivers in the final quad.
And Del Worsham, easily the surprise of the season in his move to Top Fuel, edged teammate Larry Dixon by about six inches in a thrilling four-wide dragster finish to end the day.
Once again, four cars blasting down the zMax Dragway at the same time in the second annual Four-Wide Nationals was something special and fun to watch—unless you’re looking from the driver’s seat, apparently.
For some of the NHRA competitors, drag racing four at a time remains a quadruple pain in the rear, win or lose.
“I lost twice today [finishing second in the first two rounds] and still won the race,” Anderson said after his first victory of the season. “How crazy is that?
“This four-wide thing, well, I don’t know where to begin. It’s so easy to screw up, but thank the Lord I didn’t. It’s wild and I almost feel relieved that it’s over. But it sure didn’t lack for excitement.” ESPN
New Top Fuel driver Del Worsham has the process down-pat four races into the season. During the NHRA VisitMyrtleBeach.com Four-Wide at zMaxDragway, the driver of the Al-Anabi Top Fuel dragster scored his second national event victory of the season by defeating the final quartet of racers, including teammate Larry Dixon, Spencer Massey and Shawn Langdon.
Dixon was his closest foe and inches at the finish line meant the difference between first and second place.
“One thing I’ve learned about Top Fuel racing already in my little short career is that it’s a matter of thousandths,” Worsham said. “I’m a pretty lucky guy, you know? We’ve won all these close ones. I went to Alan Johnson and said this is going to be just a matter of inches and he knew that.” Spartanburg Herald Journal
Also at the event, Top Alcohol Funny Car dominator Frank Manzo achieved another milestone, scoring his 200th NHRA win. Monroe Guest (Top Alcohol Dragster), Dan Fletcher (Super Stock), Robbie Shaw (Stock), Kyle Cultrera (Super Comp), Scott Albrecht (Super Gas), Steve Cohen (Top Dragster), and Anthony Arcuni (Top Sportsman) and also won NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series titles.
The 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Series resumes in two weeks with the 24th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil at Royal Purple Raceway in Houston. NHRA.com
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