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Del Worsham became the 15th driver in NHRA history to win races in Top Fuel and Funny Car when he defeated seven-time champion Tony Schumacher in the Top Fuel final round of the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals Sunday at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.
The other winners at the second of 22 races in NHRA’s 60th anniversary season were Mike Neff (Funny Car), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
Worsham was four-thousandths slower (.044 to .040) off the line and eight-thousands quicker (3.858 to 3.866) on the track for a finish-line winning margin of an almost imperceptible .004. It was Worsham’s first win in Top Fuel after compiling 25 wins competing exclusively in Funny Car for the last 15 years. USA Today
Making his much-publicized debut in professional drag racing, NASCAR star Kurt Busch held the Gatornationals spotlight for most of the weekend at Gainesville Raceway.
But he gave it up quickly Sunday.
In just a matter of seconds, Busch went from being the story to a spectator at Gatornationals when he lost to seasoned Pro Stock driver Erica Enders in the first round of eliminations.
“I’m ready to grab a corndog and a cold beer and go watch the nitro cars and the Pro Stockers finish the day,” said Busch, who made a strong pass and lost to Enders by only three-hundredths of a second (6.538 seconds to 6.541).
“It was a great experience, the whole weekend, to be competitive like we were. It was the best run we ever put together and we just came up short. It’s three-hundredths of a second, and in this game of drag racing, that’s enough to put you back in the trailer.
“I feel we can hold our heads high. To make the field was an accomplishment, and then to see our run (in the first round). We could have beaten half the field.”
But it was not the Army-Al Anabi final that many race fans were anticipating heading into Gatornationals: Tony Schumacher vs. Larry Dixon.
Instead it was Schumacher vs. Dixon teammate Del Worsham — and Worsham pulled off a stunning upset for the first Top Fuel victory of his career after winning 25 races in Funny Car. Gainesville Sun
“It feels great (to have won in both classes). I actually had a chance at the U.S. Nationals in 1993, could have won in Top Fuel, and I made a huge mistake, red light against Kenny Bernstein, and he went on to win. I felt bad about that and it’s kind of weighed on me for 20 years…” Worsham said half seriously.
“It is almost surreal, I’m driving (2010 Top Fuel champion and teammate) Larry (Dixon)’s car from last year, it won 12 races last year, now it’s won 13. It shouldn’t surprise anyone (that it’s back in the winner’s circle but) it surprises me,” he said.
In Funny Car, Cruz Pedregon (7.819, 99.32) spun the tires on his Snap-on Tools Toyota at the hit of the throttle and was no match for Neff (4.092, 310.48), whose Castrol GTX Ford Mustang was the best performing car in the class all day.
“Just a great day for our whole team. We needed this to keep the Force string going, that’s four in a row for Team Force,” said Neff, who’s in John Force’s car that won the 2010 championship. “The hardest part is just trying not to mess it up as a driver.”
In Pro Stock, Line (6.554, 211.96) defeated Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson (6.545, 212.43) to win his second straight to open the 2011 season and second straight at Gainesville.
It was, almost, a perfect weekend: “We could have got the record,” Line said.
The national record, which Line missed the record by two-thousandths and Anderson missed it by a thousandth, went to Rodger Brogdon with a 6.495 from Friday qualifying. NHRA.com
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