THE NHRA WinnerNATIONALS ? Ahhhh ... Maybe ...
3/8/04
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I don't care what the gospel spilling out of Financial Way was for 2003, but the company, to a certain degree, took it in the shorts, attendance-wise, at their national events. What was it? I think the ubiquitous and omniscient L.A. Times staffer Shav Glick said they were hampered severely by rain at nine out of 23 national events. Not a good thing. Just look at Billy Meyer and IHRA in 1988 ... rain all over the place and a Mafia stiff in the trunk of a Lincoln in airport parking at the end of the year.
And wouldn't you know it? NHRA's first national production for 2004, the Chinese year for the death of a president, gets rain on its first weekend. As Gomer Pyle might put it, "Shee-yoot."
However, even if the first weekend washed out to the sea, NHRA genuinely bounced back in its second try, on February 27-29. I know I was there, sorta.
I really can't remember a race that started out so bad, finishing so admirably. Just take a look at the numbers. Numbers count for something. Pete Rose will always, as in "forever" be considered for the Baseball Hall of Fame, because of his numbers at the plate in his 20+ year career. In drag racing, the E.T.s, and miles per hour mean a lot. No better temperature is taken than those qualifying numbers, in general.
At the start, Tony Schumacher and his U.S. Army Top Fueler cranked a 4.52 for a qualifying lead that lasted until mid-way through the final qualifying session at Pomona. Media darling (and deservedly so) Eric Medlen's 4.79 held up through all of Funny Car qualifying just like Schumacher's T/F number, until things changed in the last possible five minutes. Pro Stocker Greg Anderson ran the show, period. (Remember what I said a few columns back -- New "Bob Glidden", Greg Anderson!) Anyway ...
There was some drama to the slow-starting NHRA show.
Going into Saturday's final pro qualifying sessions, the race had all the looks of a ho-hum low Top Fuel E.T. 4.52, a decent 4.79 Funny Car pop, and a no-problem-with-that 6.71, 206.10 by Anderson and the Vegas Construction "Poncho." But much to my (and I'm sure others') delight, the pace stepped up noticeably in the final session and as Lucifer would have it, eliminations.
The second pair of Top Fuelers produced 4.56s, 325.22 and David Baca's 4.53, 317.81. After Scott Kalitta and John Smith's Prestone cars spun the tires into the proverbial popcorn machine, David Grubnic guided the Kalitta Air dragster to a 4.52, 315.49 alongside Clay Millican's Mike Kloeber-kicked 4.51, 320.81. After that, Brandon Bernstein's 4.52, 325.37 caused fans to go slack-jawed after being stretched out by Doug Kalitta's spinecrushing 4.48, 329.99 (277-mph at the 1/8th). Hey, the surf's up, I thought.
It was. World Champ Larry Dixon hit a 4.56. Tony Schumacher, and the sport's best Top Fuel mechanic Alan Johnson, pulled out a sap and nearly got low E.T. with a 4.49, 330.63 and Darrell Russell slammed Joe Amato's dragster through the lights at a 4.511, 323.55. All in all, the runs were better than I expected.
The same profile existed for me in Funny Car. It was kinda weird in some ways. Although I haven't talked with him since he's begun his driving career, Eric Medlen was one of those sorta happy-go-lucky cats in Force's camp. A nice guy in a camp full of nice guys. I'm ashamed to say I didn't know he was John Medlen's son ... I do know the senior Medlen. He and I are both diabetics and he never fails to bring the subject up when I drag my world-weary ass over to the Force/Castrol Nation. Dumb me ... his kid's the hottest property in pro drag racing and I've got a Penthouse in my lap at the Standard gas station. Go figure ... (again) anyway ...
After about seven lackluster pairs in the final session of Funny Car on Saturday, nothing was happening. No big numbers ... until ... (No, not John Force), TIM WILKERSON clocks a way early shut off 4.80, 287.96 in the world's greatest quotable crew chief Fred Mandolini-tuned Levi-Ray-Shoup Firebird. There were only a few pairs left at that time, but the way I figured it, Wilkerson had a probable mid-4.7 in the car on that run.
Then after a pair or two, up comes Medlen's boss, John Force. I really think my Bell Gardens pal is real close to tearing heads off. The winter tests produced low 4.70s at 329 mph, and as Dale Armstrong said to me 20 years ago (to paraphrase), That's the problem with Force crew chief (Austin) Coil. If he gets it (meaning the combo) he doesn't lose it. He grips it tight.
Evidently, Force's Castrol Ford speeds through the traps at a 4.74, 324.36 and suddenly all hopes are entertained. On the heels of that run, young Medlen comes out of the box and rips a 4.78, 320.58 to close the session. All in all, not bad.
But I've got this problem. Generally, in NHRA drag racing and other "HRAs", qualifying produces the better numbers and I thought I'd seen the pros shoot their
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At this point, I'm going to make an assumption ... namely that if you weren't there you saw the race on TV. You know that, among other things, eventual Top Fuel winner Schumacher ran as quick and fast as a 4.45, 332.18. You also know that the first racer driving a "Japanese" Funny Car (I know, I know, a drag racing Toyota Celica body is as much a Toyota as the Pope is a child molester), Jerry Toliver collected the Funny Car victory, and Greg Anderson (Did I tell you that I think this guy is the new Bob Glidden?) took Pro Stock. And they all ran better in qualifying ... a rare experience for me, to say the least. I was messed up. I shoulda left Niles at his crib and scampered off to Pomona myself, but whatdya gonna do?
The point? If you're a numbers freak, you can't always go what happened in qualifying. The Winternationals show actually improved for me with every day ... a not so common experience.
SOME OTHER OBSERVANCES
A.) The NHRA beats NASCAR in one fairly important area: its Media Guide is the best in auto racing. True, it's all NHRA, but what the hell did you expect? Love 'em, hate 'em, put 'em in jail, NHRA, drag racing-wise is the only game in town until IHRA really taps into Clear Channel's money. Anthony Vestel says the Media Guide is not for sale this year. Too bad. I guess maybe Bret Kepner and I are the only guys who would chase this book down the stairs. Awww... what the hell
B.) The Pomona Raceway Environs ... "The El Merendero" Mexican restaurant at Arrow Highway and "E Street" (right next to the Fairplex facility) is better than ever. Fellow DRO staffer Darr Hawthorne and I went there on Saturday and it's the best close-proximity restaurant on the NHRA trail. Spanish tile table tops, enlarged asphalt parking, the same great food, the place is nearly worth the trip to (Schwarzenegger-ese) "Colly-Fornia" for the grub, bub.
and ...
C.) NHRA's new oildown penalty rule sucks. Sorry guys, but the low-buck unsponsored racers and even the corporate suitees, never deliberately blow up equipment with the expressed purpose of holding up this big money-making jukebox. No one, but no one, throws 10s of thousands of dollars into the toilet for the hell of it.
One of the things that NHRA has done in recent months is bring itself a little closer (or at least, that's the way it appears to me), but this ain't one of them. Drag racing needs all the competitors it can get. This nose-down rule doesn't build on that. I want that rule tossed out, or else ...
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