I'm Back!

Hello Readers, it's been a while but I'm back. First off, I'd like to say belated congratulations to Del Worsham, Matt Hagan, Jason Line and Eddie Krawiec for winning the 2011 championships. 2011 was an awesome season and the competition was closer than I can ever remember. NHRA fans were treated to having 3 of the 4 championship battles come down to the last race and in 2 of the classes the championship was decided in the semifinals! I am looking forward to seeing how the 2012 season plays out.

Besides the great action on the track, 2012 will be an incredible year for social media in the NHRA. Teams and drivers are clearly Tweeting and posting updates to Facebook more than ever before. If you are a fan of Terry McMillen, you can even join their Google + Hangouts during race weekends which puts you right in the middle of the action in their pit! Don Schumacher Racing fans are also enjoying increased social media presence with the addition of contests and a great blog written by Don's daughter Megan after each event. The NHRA itself has also stepped up its social media game by adding a new weekly video feature called 'NHRA Now' hosted by Alex Baca. Links to driver / team / media social media profiles can be found on my blog home page in the right hand navigation.

Speaking of social media, I am asking the drag racing community to come together and help the Michaelek Brothers Racing Team win a sponsorship in the 'Search for a Champion Contest'. Because of your help, they've made it to the final round are competing against 4 other contestants. It is now time to push them to victory. Please spread the word through your social media platform of choice and encourage people to vote every day. The Michaelek Brothers are even giving away T-Shirts to voters on a regular basis just for voting.

Last year I was fortunate enough to attend 4 NHRA races. Along the way, I made a lot of new friends and am looking forward to seeing everyone again and making new friends in 2012. So far, my plans are to attend the 4-Wide in Charlotte, Englishtown and Maple Grove. If you will be attending any of those races, please let me know so we can arrange a time to meet up.

Don Schumacher Racing 2011 Funny Car Season Review

Overall, Don Schumacher Racing had a great season in Funny Car. Their teams won 8 of 22 races and in 4 of those races there was an all DSR final. DSR also won 4 of the 6 races in the Countdown. Here are some highlights for each of the drivers:

Matt Hagan
Round Record: 33 - 20
Wins: 2
Runner up: 2

To say Matt Hagan had a successful season would be an understatement. Matt won the Funny Car championship and was the first and only driver to dip into the 3 second zone in the 1,000 Foot era by running a 3.995 in Charlotte 2. Tommy Delago’s master plan worked perfectly. Matt hovered around 5th place during the regular season with no wins, but when the Countdown started the Diehard Funny Car stepped up performance in a big way. Matt dominated the Charlotte 2 race by earning the win and 20 bonus points for setting the record. The team came into the final race of the season in 1st place with a one point lead. Matt clinched his 1st ever championship by winning his semifinal match over Cruz Pedregon. He then went on to win his 2nd race of the season in dominating fashion with a great 4.009 ET in the finals over Robert Hight. 

Ron Capps

Round Record: 30 - 19

Wins: 2

Runner up: 3

Ron Capps had a pretty successful season considering everything that happened along the way. The Napa Funny Car team got off to a slow start and Don Schumacher decided to make a change with Ron’s crew chief. John Medlen was released from his duties following the 4-Wide race and DSR announced that they hired the veteran crew chief tandem of Tim & Kim Richards. Tim & Kim took over the tuning responsibilities at the Atlanta race and it took them a few races to get back into the swing of tuning a nitro car. Starting with the Norwalk race, the Napa funny car began running consistently well and by Sonoma, the team appeared in their first winner’s circle. Ron would go on to win the Las Vegas 2 race and would finish the season in 6th place.

Jack Beckman 

Round Record: 34 - 19

Wins: 3

Runner up: 2

Before the 2011 season began, there were many questions surrounding Jack’s racing status due to a lack of sponsorship. That all changed when Aaron’s signed a last minute deal with DSR to be one of Jack’s sponsors. Little did Jack know that this would be his best season ever. The team started off strong and was a top 3 car throughout the regular season. The Aaron’s / Valvoline NextGen team tuned Jack to two wins during the regular season - the 4-Wide and Atlanta. During the Countdown, Jack won the Phoenix race and in doing so took over the points lead with two races to go. He came into the final race of the season just one point out of 1st place. He would fall to eventual champion Matt Hagan in the 2nd round and would finish in 2nd place.

Johnny Gray

Round Record: 26 - 18

Wins: 1

Runner up: 4

After several years of driving in NHRA Pro Stock, Johnny Gray made his return to driving a nitro Funny Car in 2011. He could not have chosen a better organization to come back with. Johnny got off to a slow start in the Service Central car and it was decided to make a crew chief change after the Norwalk race. Don Schumacher moved assistant crew chief Rob Wendland into the crew chief position, relieving Lee Beard of his duties. After just five races as crew chief, Rob tuned Johnny to his first ever funny car win at the Brainerd race. Unfortunately, because of the slow start the team was not able to overcome the points deficit to make it into the Countdown. It is a shame because Johnny had THE best car in the Countdown. He played a major spoiler role, winning 14 of a possible 24 Countdown rounds and beating the top contenders along the way. If Johnny would have made the Countdown in 10th position, he would have finished in 2nd place. Instead, Johnny settled for 11th place and the satisfaction that he helped his teammate win the championship.

Don Schumacher Racing 2011 Top Fuel Season Review

Overall, Don Schumacher Racing had a very successful season in Top Fuel. Their teams won 10 of 22 races and in 5 of those races there was an all DSR final. Their innovative safety cockpit design did its job; saving their drivers from serious injury from fire throughout the season. Here are some highlights for each of the drivers:

Antron Brown
Round Record: 50 - 16
Wins: 6
Runner up: 2

Antron had a great season in the Matco Tools / US Army / Aaron’s dragster, capturing 6 wins in 8 final round appearances. While he came up short of winning the championship, he won the next best thing – INDY! In winning Indy, Antron became the first driver to win that prestigious race in Pro Stock Motorcycle and Top Fuel. Antron had a consistent car all year long, advancing to the semifinals a whopping 13 times. Because of this consistency, Antron appeared in 66 out of a possible 88 rounds of racing. In addition to those accomplishments, Antron won 3 races in a row from Brainerd through Charlotte 2. He entered the Finals in contention to win the championship, but lost in the 2nd round and finished the season in 3rd place.

Spencer Massey
Round Record: 45 - 17
Wins: 4
Runner up: 4

Coming into the 2011 season, Spencer Massey had big shoes to fill. He replaced fan favorite Cory Mac as the driver of the Fram top fuel dragster. Because of Spencer’s ability to cut a great light and the success of crew chiefs Todd Okuhara / Phil Shuler, expectations were very high for the Fram team. Spencer’s car was very consistent all year long and his reaction time was the best in the class. He won the Topeka and Englishtown races back to back for his first 2 wins with DSR. Spencer’s season had many highlights, but there were two that really stood out. The first highlight was when the Fram dragster went 40 consecutive passes down the track without smoking the tires – a remarkable achievement. The second is when Spencer beat Del Worsham in the Reading final round on a hole shot when Del ran the quickest pass ever with a 3.735. Spencer came in to the Finals with a two point lead, but lost to eventual champion Del Worsham in the semifinals by a mere .0004 of a second and finished in 2nd place.

Tony Schumacher
Round Record: 38 - 22
Wins: 0
Runner up: 7

In 2011, Tony Schumacher and the US Army Top Fuel team did not walk away with a win, but it was not for a lack of trying. As the old saying goes, to be the best you have to beat the best. That is exactly what happened to Tony this year. Tony’s opponents fired moon shots against the US Army dragster at every race. Tony lost races this year by the slimmest of margins, sometimes by thousandths of a second. He had a consistent car all year with great performance numbers. The Army crew tuned Tony to 4 straight final rounds, 3 of which were part of the difficult Western Swing. During the Charlotte 2 race in September, Tony ran the fastest speed in the 1,000 foot era at 327.90 MPH. Tony entered the Finals with a mathematical chance to win championship, but needed way too much help for it to be a possibility. He would finish the season in 5th place.

2 races to go and a lot to be resolved

We are down to 2 races left in the NHRA season. This is perhaps the best season to be a fan of NHRA drag racing. The points in 3 of 4 professional classes are so tight it is impossible to predict who will win the championships. I am not going to use this blog to recap the points. The points can be found here. Instead, I thought I would provide a list of questions for everyone to think about:

• Will someone named other than Dixon or Schumacher win the Top Fuel championship?
• Will Del Worsham or Mike Neff win a championship after being so dominant in the regular season?
• Will Matt Hagan be able to win the championship after coming so close last year?
• Will Spencer Massey be able to bounce back from his DNQ in Phoenix?
• With 5 cars in contention, will DSR double up on championships?
• Will a rookie win the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship for the 2nd consecutive year? (Hector Arana Jr.)
• Will Erica Enders get her first win in Pro Stock?
• Will Tony Schumacher win a race this season?
• Will Johnny Gray continue to spoil the hopes of championship contenders?
• Will the drama in PSM get overheated to the point where punches are thrown?
• Who will win the Road to the Future Award?
• Will NHRA apologize to Don Schumacher for making his top fuel teams remove the shrouds without having any evidence of a performance advantage?

Please feel free to leave your comments below. We will know the answers to all of these questions in just a few weeks.

A Great Start to the Countdown for Spencer Massey

Heading into the 2011 Countdown to the Championship, Spencer Massey was 3rd in points with 3 wins and 5 final round appearances. Once the points were reset after Indy, he was 50 points behind Del Worsham. Fast forward to today and Spencer is now the points leader with a 65 point lead over Antron Brown after 3 countdown races. You might be asking how he was able to accomplish a 115 point swing in such a short period of time. The answer is that he’s won a race and has been to all 3 finals in the countdown. Spencer’s path to the points lead has been impressive. Along the way, he’s steadily been beating the best of the best. Here is brief summary of Spencer’s incredible run so far:

• In Charlotte, Spencer beat perennial powerhouse Larry Dixon in the semifinals, but came up short to Antron Brown in the finals. Following Charlotte, Spencer was in 2nd place just 16 points behind Antron Brown.
• In Dallas, Spencer’s path to the finals included beating Al-Anabi powerhouse Del Worsham in the 2nd round and his DSR teammate Antron Brown in the semifinals. With his win over Antron, he took over the points lead. Spencer smoked the tires in the final round and handed Bob Vandergriff his first ever top fuel win.
• In Reading, a race I personally attended, Spencer broke through with his first countdown win of 2011. To achieve the win, he had to beat 7X champion Tony Schumacher in the 2nd round, Larry Dixon in the semifinals and Del Worsham in the finals. He had a bracket car pretty much all weekend, running a steady stream of 3.77s. In the finals, Del Worsham ran the quickest ever ET with a 3.735. Spencer ran a 3.770 and yet still came away with the win on a holeshot! At the end of the event, Spencer increased his lead to 65 points over Antron Brown.

At this point, Spencer has to be considered the favorite to win the championship. He’s had the most consistent car in the countdown and if it continues, he will walk away with the Top Fuel championship in just his 2nd year as an NHRA driver. Besides having a consistent car, Spencer is the best leaver in top fuel and usually averages around a .060 light.

While Spencer is a great driver, it takes an entire team of people to be successful. These are the guys behind Spencer’s success:

• Todd Okuhara – Crew Chief
• Phil Shuler – Crew Chief
• Scott Okuhara – Car Chief
• Tom Boyington – Mechanic
• Mike Knudsen – Mechanic
• Shane Boyington – Mechanic
• Justin Jones – Mechanic
• David McCombs – Mechanic
• Jason Jones – Mechanic
• Jay Ryskey – Mechanic
• Last but not least, you cannot forget about all of the people back in the DSR shop that manufacture the best parts and pieces

I had the pleasure of talking to Spencer and watching him race at 4 events this year. He is a true professional at driving a race car, interacting with fans and at conducting himself in interviews. He has great respect for the sport and his organization. He refers to his team owner as “Mr. Schumacher”, which reminds me of when the great Derek Jeter refers to his team owner as “Mr. Steinbrenner. Overall, Spencer is a class act and would be a great person to represent NHRA as a top fuel champion.

Spencer, Steven and I on Saturday October 1st at the Uni-Select Auto Plus NHRA Nationals

My NHRA Championship Predictions

Before any racing action begins in NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship, I’d like to take a few minutes to provide my championship predictions for the professional classes.

Top Fuel – My pick is Antron Brown
While Del Worsham has the most wins so far with six, Antron has won three of the last four races and is peaking at the perfect time. He is just one win behind Del with five. Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald have the Matco Tools / US Army / Aaron’s dragster running great and Antron is one of the best leavers in Top Fuel.

Funny Car – My pick is Ron Capps
While Ron is starting the countdown in 5th place, he is running well lately and is very hungry for a championship. Ron is in his 15th season as a Funny Car driver and has finished in 2nd place three times in his career. Plus, with Six-Time champion crew chief Tim Richards by his side I expect the team to step it up big time in the countdown.

Pro Stock – My pick is Vincent Nobile
Even though Vincent is a rookie, he has performed consistently well throughout the regular season. He has been to five final rounds and has won two races. He is the best leaver in the class and has a very good car. While he has a performance disadvantage compared to the KB team, I think his reaction time advantage will be a big factor in the countdown.

Pro Stock Motorcycle – My pick is LE Tonglet
LE has come on strong lately and is entering the countdown in 2nd place. He already has four wins this season and is deadly on the tree. His motorcycle is very fast and he knows what it takes to win a championship. While he may have a slight performance disadvantage to the Harleys, I believe his reaction time skills will be the difference.

Please visit the Nitro Twitter Group Facebook Page and post your championship predictions. After the season ends on November 13th, it will be fun to see who had the most correct predictions.

Our First U.S. Nationals Experience

As of Monday August 29th, going to Indy for the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals was not in my plans. However, that all changed within a matter of minutes that day. I was working from home off my generator because we had lost power due to Hurricane Irene. While I was working, I was watching Twitter updates and saw an interesting Tweet from @ToyotaRacing. They were running a contest where the first correct response to a trivia question would receive a pair of tickets to the entire U.S. Nationals. I thought to myself that I had a good chance to win based on my knowledge of the NHRA. I had stepped away from my computer to go check on my generator and when I came back I saw the question. It had already been 30 minutes since the question was asked and I figured I had no chance. The question was “Name the youngest Toyota Sponsored #NHRA Top-Fuel driver. 1st correct response wins”. I replied with my answer (Morgan Lucas) and was shocked to get a reply back from Toyota Racing that I had won! I knew I had the right answer, but figured someone would have submitted the correct answer before me. It was at that point I decided I was going to Indy! The tickets arrived on Wednesday and I told my son Steven the next day that we were going. His jaw dropped and the look on his face was priceless. We were going to the Big Go! We would only be able to go from Friday through Sunday since I had to get him back home for his first day of school on Tuesday. We would be driving to Indy from New Jersey, which was a 13 hour drive.

Friday

We left our house at 2:30 AM on Friday and arrived at the track at 3:30 PM. When we arrived, we were greeted by 100 degree temperatures, which is something I had not felt since July. The parking lot was massive and we were parked down by the top end of the track. As soon as we entered the gate, we went into the stands to secure our spot for the evening session by placing our cooler down. Next, we began walking around the Pro pits to check out the lay of the land. The first thing we noticed was that the place was massive. We found it strange that the Pro Stock Motorcycles and Pro Mods were pitted on the opposite side of the track. It didn’t make sense since PSM and Pro Mods are considered Pro classes and NHRA chose to pit the Alcohol cars on the Pro side instead. I hope they change this next year. After stopping by to say hi to some of our driver / team friends, including @NancyBenza, Steven and I hit the midway displays to play games. He loves playing the games and winning prizes. Next, we made our way over to the Toyota Racing Pit Pass Display where we met the person who runs their Twitter account. She brought us inside to cool off and gave us water and very nice hats. Minutes later, Morgan Lucas and Shawn Langdon stopped by the area for an autograph signing and we were given a private meet and greet with them. It was awesome! Soon, it was time to hit the stands to watch the only pro session of the day. Since it was so hot, cars were not running big numbers but it was awesome to watch the action on the historic track. In between Pro Stock and Funny Car, there was a cackle fest with nostalgic cars, which I had never seen before. At the end of the night, NHRA ran a pair of exhibition jet dragsters down the track. Unfortunately, one of the drivers (Darin Bay) crashed his car up and over the wall in a horrific wreck. Thankfully, he made it through the crash alive and was transported to the hospital. At the end of the 2nd round, we walked around the pro pits talking to more drivers and Twitter friends. While we were walking around, we bumped into @alexmbaca and @lmvaughn. We left the track very late and didn’t go to sleep until midnight. We had been up for almost 24 hours. It was a great first day!

Friday Pictures

Saturday

On Saturday, the action didn’t start until mid afternoon so we took advantage and slept in. We got to the track around 11:00 AM and did some more exploring. It was once again over 100 degrees but we were going to make the best of it. We crossed over to the Sportsman pit side using the bridge over the track near the tower. The bridge was enclosed and was very narrow. We progressed across the bridge at a very slow pace. I think it would be great if the track invested some money and built a much wider bridge / staircase that can hold a larger volume of people. When we made it across, we walked over to the PSM pits and found that most riders were not around. It was unfortunate because we really wanted to say hello to some of our friends. We made our way back to the Pro pit side and ran into NHRA track announcer Alan Reinhart. I am a big fan of his work, both as an announcer and the value he brings to WFO Radio Nitro. After a brief conversation, it was off to do more exploring. Later that morning, all of the Toyota Racing drivers would be making an appearance at their midway display to sign autographs. Steven and I were once again treated to a private meet and greet, but this time it was with Antron Brown, Cruz Pedregon, Larry Dixon, Del Worsham, Shawn Langdon and Morgan Lucas. All of the drivers signed our hats and we had good conversations with them. While I was there, I also met photographer extraordinare Mark Reblias (@rebilasphoto). Next we made our way over to the Full Throttle display where we met up with our friends Scott, @AutoAbby and David from @ FTTV. Soon it was time for the 2nd qualifying session. We made our way to the stands to watch the session in sweltering heat. The session started at 3:00 and it seemed to take forever. There were lots of oil downs in the nitro classes and it made for a very long time sitting in the stands. Between sessions 2 and 3, we ate dinner and then walked around the pits to meet more drivers. One of the drivers we always talk to is our friend Vincent Nobile. He is always outside his pit talking to his crew and his fans. While I was there, I ran into another Twitter friend @LaurenWW. Soon it was time for the evening session! The session was due to start at 5:00, but started much later due to the prior session running long. It cooled off in the evening and we saw some nice runs in the pro classes. At the end of the night, @shoeracing sent me a tweet to stop by Antron Brown’s pit area for a private tour. They did this as a thank you for being so supportive of their teams. Antron’s PR representative Ted took us around and showed us both trailers and even gave us a rod as a souvenir. We met up with Antron in the lounge of his trailer and he signed the rod for us. Once we finished there, we met up with the great folks at WFO Radio (@wfojoe, @pgdrews and Gio) along with Twitter friends @nitrojohn, @sfcski, @nhrachat and @ldcrust. It was so great to get together with everyone and talk drag racing. At the end of the night, Joe gave Steven and me a ride to our car which was much appreciated! We didn’t get to sleep until after midnight and would have an early wakeup call for Sunday.

Saturday Pictures

Sunday

On Sunday, two more sessions were scheduled. This was bump day! We arrived at the track around 7:30 AM and got a nice close parking spot. It was early enough to watch the pits come alive. Crews were arriving in their tow vehicles and cars were being unloaded from their haulers. It is quite a sight to see! We walked around the pits taking photos and then made our way over to meet another Twitter friend @nitronate1320. Next, it was time to check in at DSR VIP Hospitality. As a guest of DSR hospitality, you get watch the crews work on the cars up close, interact with the drivers on a more personal level and are given a great meal. It is also your home base for the day if you need shelter from the heat / rain or if you just want to sit and relax. At 10:30, we headed over to the John Force Road Show to watch the unveiling of a 9/11 tribute car that he will be running in Charlotte. We also got John’s autograph on a special edition hero card with that car on it. Robert Hight was also signing autographs. Once we got their autographs, we headed to the stands to watch Q4. The temperature was about 30 degrees cooler from what it was the day before and we were actually wearing sweatshirts! Teams were running much better numbers and it made for a great qualifying session. Once the session was over, we headed over to DSR for lunch. Tony’s car blew an engine on his run in Q4 and we watched the crew replace the motor while we ate lunch. It was an awesome thing to watch. Between rounds, Ted welcomed everyone to DSR Hospitality and then Antron spoke for a while. He was a riot! I think he would make a great stand-up comedian. While he was speaking, he asked some trivia questions to win prizes. Steven answered his first question about how many top fuel championships Tony Schumacher has (7) and he got a Matco Tools hat. I answered a question about how long it takes a top fuel car to accelerate to 100 MPH (.8 sec) and won a piston. Once he was done speaking, he signed the hat and the piston. Next, we headed over to Terry McMillen’s pit area and met up with Twitter friends @nitrojohn, @sfcski and @nhrachat. When I got there, I also had the opportunity to meet Twitter friends @kschiewer and @Steveschiewer. Dina and Andrew Parise of @Pariseracing were also there who I had previously met in Englishtown. It was great talking with everyone, including Terry McMillen, Jim Walczak (@jimwalczak) and Cori Wickler. Next, we headed over to the Fram midway display to have our pictures taken in the top fuel dragster and to see what our reaction times would be. Let's just say our reaction times need some work! There, we met up with @miSs_aG and @dOrOtHy_EiLeEn who both work at the display. Finally it was time for Q5. This was the last opportunity for teams to make it into the show. As expected, there were lots of oil downs with the nitro cars as teams were throwing everything they had at the track to try and get in. The highlight of the day was Cruz Pedregon running a 4.026 in the final session to take the number 1 spot. At the end of Q5, we walked around one final time and said goodbye to some of our friends and then headed for dinner. We got back to the hotel around 8:00, then packed up and went to bed around 10:00 for another 2:00 AM wake-up call.

Sunday Pictures

Monday

We left the hotel at 2:45 AM on Monday for the long ride home. Along the way, we reminisced about the great time we had. We listened to the audiocast through my phone and we could picture everything as if we were still there. We arrived home at 4:15 PM and got to watch the finals on ESPN2.

Overall, this was an experience Steven and I will never forget. Besides attending the most prestigious NHRA race for the first time, it was great meeting so many new people and reconnecting with friends. Through it all, Steven was such a trooper. He never complained once about the drive or the long days at the track. I don’t know many 10 year olds that would endure what he went through and not complain. All he wants to know is which race we are going to next. Fortunately, the next race is less than a month away. We’ll be attending the Uni-Select Auto Plus NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway from September 30th through October 2nd. We hope to see you there!