POSITIVE WEEKEND FOR WORSHAM, WITH 2nd-ROUND FINISH

Qualifying at Gateway International Raceway was a smorgasbord of weather and track conditions, as the racers and their teams faced a little bit of everything. What was supposed to be a rain-drenched Friday turned into a fine day, and Worsham's 4.848 during the second session was good enough to plant him above the now-feared 12th-place "cut line" mark, meaning his time was at least official while seven other drivers were relegated to "the field" status, when their times were not good enough to land 12th or higher. It was Worsham's quickest run of the season, to that point, but he wasn't ready to call all his relatives to announce the fact.

"It's kind of ridiculous that we're in the 10th place and we've won a race, but 4.84 was the quickest lap so far this year," he said. "It's just been a combination of track conditions, weather, and a couple of lousy races at the start of the year that all added up to that. I was just happy the run counted, and we had a good baseline to move forward from."

Moving forward, on Saturday, started with a major step backward. The weather forecasters got this one right, as very cool temperatures and high winds had been in the Saturday forecast all week. The cool temps and blustery breeze created a "feels like" temperature in the low 40s, while the dry air combined with the coolness to create very stout racing conditions. On Worsham's first run, he smoked the tires and immediately knew his spot for this race field was in real peril.

"We really wanted to stay right with everyone and stick a good one on the board there in Q3, but we messed up, and that put us in a really tough spot," Worsham said. "I think we were like 14th after that session, but I knew we'd be knocked out of the field by the time we ran in the last session. That's exactly what happened, so we basically had to deliver a home run to make this show. The bump spot was so low you couldn't luck into one or limp one down there and hope to make it. You had to go for it."

Not only did Worsham go for it, he delivered. With butterflies dancing in his gut and a focus in his eye, Worsham powered from end to end at a more legitimate "season's best" clip, running 4.797 to not only bump back into the field, but all the way into the top half. He eventually landed permanently in the 8th spot, and knew he'd have to deal with former teammates in the opening round, as Bob Tasca was his opponent and Tasca's team is made up of five former members of the Team CSK blue team.

After the chill of Saturday, Sunday dawned with nary a cloud in the sky and very little wind at all, allowing the temperatures to climb up through the 60s during the morning. As fast as things were shifting, it was difficult for the teams to prepare.

"All three days here were so different, you never really had a baseline to work from," Worsham said. "Each lap was all new, and you had to keep making tuning calls based on your best instinct and what you thought the track would hold. It wasn't easy, but after the big drama in qualifying I felt pretty good about our chances. We didn't just want to go A-to-B and hope we won by inches, we wanted to make a great lap and make sure we didn't leave anything on the table."

Worsham did just that. Although Tasca got a 3-hundredths edge at the tree, Worsham caught him quickly and then pounded down the track to not only take the win light, but also set low E.T. of the round with a big 4.817 clocking. The win kept him ahead of Tasca and in 10th place, and it moved him forward to a match-up with No. 1 qualifier and current holder of the "Hottest team in drag racing" tag, Tim Wilkerson and his Levi, Ray, and Shoup Chevy.

"Every time we race Tim it's huge, but this one was even more so," Worsham said. "He does it all over there. He tunes it, he drives it, and he even drives the tow vehicle back to the pit after the run. He's very old-school, but he's also on a total roll right now, and it almost looks like they're playing in another league, they're going so fast. We knew we had to back it down a little from round one, or it would probably smoke the tires, but we also were completely sure Tim would make a full lap, and a good one at that. It was a tough tuning call, but we thought we had it right."

Unfortunately, the bright sun was playing more havoc with the track than Worsham and his squad had anticipated, and the red Checker, Schuck's, Kragen car was into tire smoke early in the run, while Wilkerson powered to another big lap, running 4.826 during a round in which the next-best time was Mike Neff's 4.924. Playing in another league, indeed.

"I thought we had a plan for that, but I guess it was just looser out there than we thought," Worsham said. "But, we have to look at the positive side of this and getting that win in round one was just plain huge for us. If you can win that tough one, the first one, you've had a good day and you're in good company as one of the eight cars to advance. I wanted more, we all wanted more, but we got beat by a team that's so hot you can't touch them, and we got a round out of this. It's another step forward."

It was hot, it was cold, it was calm, and it was windy. It was good, it was bad, and it was dramatic. In the end, it was a quarterfinal finish, but even that is a net positive.

Worsham Racing
"Team CSK" NHRA Nitro Funny Car
www.delworsham.com