2005 Archive

  2004 Archive

11/8/05

The end came too soon.

Everyone knew that the odds were anything but in John’s favor as eliminations at the Auto Club Finals began on Sunday. As I wrote for ESPN.com, John would probably have to face a series of familiar adversaries if he were to pull off the upset of the century and come from behind on the last race day of the year to win championship No. 14.

It started out well when he beat Whit Bazemore in the first round, setting up his all-so-important second round run-in with Tony Pedregon. What made this race so utterly climactic was that John had seen both Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps lose in the two pairs that ran right before him. And the irony of this race couldn’t be any more apparent to those who remember the final round of the 2002 AC Delco Nationals in Las Vegas when John clinched championship No. 12 by beating Tony on a holeshot.

This time, it was Tony winning with a better reaction time and ending John’s chances for his 14th POWERade crown.

John was gracious in defeat, congratulating Gary and the entire the Schumacher team which pulled off the ultimate “two-fer” this season with championships in Top Fuel and Funny Car. John also promised that his team will be back and more than ready to regain the Funny Car top spot in ’06.

But there was more work to do on Sunday with Eric poised to win the event and put a positive conclusion to what had been a disappointing day for JFR. But it seemed that Lady Luck had taken the weekend off when Eric beat Tommy Johnson Jr. in the semi-finals, but tossed the engine down track and hit the sand trap and top end barriers pretty hard. Eric was OK, but the car was wounded, and although all three of the JFR teams thrashed on Eric’s Mustang to try to get it repaired, it was a long shot at best.

And the supreme irony? Eric was due to face Tony Pedregon in the final—the man who Eric replaced in the Castrol Syntec Mustang last year.

As we now know, Eric made it to the starting line but the car never launched, giving the win to Tony and ending one of the most fascinating, unpredictable, and totally engrossing Funny Car seasons of all time.

As fans, we should feel a tremendous swell of gratitude to this year’s Funny Car elite, who fought hard and tirelessly, bringing us a 23-race free-for-all that will be difficult to top next year. The many, many fans that root for John, Eric, and Robert are surely disheartened with how 2005 shook out but the future looks extremely bright for the entire team. With John having already signed a new deal to drive his Castrol Mustang for the next six years and everyone committed to bringing the title back to Yorba Linda, 2006 shapes up to be a season of renewal.

What was the key factor that kept John from that landmark 14th championship? Without question it was the demoralizing stretch of bad luck which began right after his win in Topeka in May to his next final round appearance seven races later in Brainerd in August. During the intervening six events, John won but a single round of eliminations. Remarkably, the drivers who ultimately challenged John for the championship down the stretch, Scelzi and Ron Capps, also went ice cold during that period, but those first round losses that John suffered kept him from piling on the points as he usually does over the course of the entire schedule.

So, it’s on to 2006, and it will be here sooner than you think. Before we head into the off-season, let’s extend congratulations to all of the 2005 POWERade champions: Tony Schumacher in Top Fuel, Gary Scelzi in Funny Car, Greg Anderson in Pro Stock, and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

As for me, I’ll be popping up occasionally on ESPN2 on a variety of shows—including some re-telecasts of some of this year’s event coverage, and I’ll be following any breaking stories between now and next February that you’ll want to know about for ESPN.com. And when the 2006 NHRA POWERade season rolls into the burnout box in just a few months, I’ll be here with more from “In the Groove”.

Have a safe and prosperous off-season, Holiday season, and New Year and I hope to run into you again in ’06.

Thanks!

10/24/05

Well, it’s going to happen, isn’t it?

The entire championship “gang war” is coming down to the last race and if you’ll remember, that was the scenario I envisioned back in Reading, PA. Just about the worst possible luck that could have befallen John ruined his race day in Las Vegas. Not only did John lose to Del Worsham in the first round, but it was by an almost imperceptible margin of victory. Did you happen to take note of the numbers?

Worsham: 4.848/323.81 John: 4.849/323.43

Ouch….!

All John could do was watch helplessly as Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps sliced through eliminations. John’s only chance to stop the Schumacher Racing onslaught was to somehow will Eric past Scelzi in the second round. But Scelzi prevailed and with Robert already on the sidelines after his first round loss to Mike Ashley, the points standings have taken another shift, with Scelzi leading Capps by two points and John by 28.

Can you imagine the tension that will be enveloping the Fairplex in two weeks when qualifying begins for the Auto Club Finals? To say that there’s a bitter rivalry between John Force Racing and Schumacher Racing would be a flagrant understatement. These teams have had quite a history.

We’ve seen John and Whit get in each other’s face a few times, especially after an altercation a few years ago at the top end in Memphis when Whit accused one of John’s crew members of deliberately hitting him with the prop rod for the Castrol Mustang’s body. Then, it was in Memphis again when John and Lee Beard had their memorable beef after John accused Lee of taking too long to get Whit staged during a qualifying match up.

Of course, in 2003 when Tony Pedregon was on his way to winning the championship as a member of JFR, he and Whit had several issues spill into the public domain over the course of the year. I could rehash even more examples of the friction that has been generated between two of the all-time great drag racing teams in NHRA history, but I think the point has been made. Both sides like nothing better than beating up on those “other guys”.

Historically, we’re looking at something that we may not see again for a long time. A three-way jump ball for the championship at the last race of the year. We’ve seen similar situations in the past but it has been almost exclusively between two drivers, not three. And it could have been a five-way tangle had Robert and Eric not fallen off the pace in the last few races.

So the battle lines have been drawn. Force-Scelzi-Capps—all veteran drivers with their own reasons to use every ounce of skill and competitive octane they can muster to take this year’s championship. Will John’s phenomenal talents to perform in the clutch be enough to out-distance Scelzi, who already has three Top Fuel championships and can remember that dismal 2002 season when there were many that claimed he couldn’t handle a Funny Car?

And what about Capps, who debuted in the category in 1997 and twice finished second in the points to John? Has there ever been a driver with as much talent who has yet to win the NHRA’s biggest prize?

What a sensational way to wrap up what has been a fabulous year of Funny Car racing.

Win or lose, I’ll be here with some final thoughts on the season John, Robert and Eric have had in ’05 and no matter what the outcome, we’ve all been treated to a drag racing saga that we’ll all remember for a long time.

There’ll be more from “In the Groove” following the Auto Club Finals. Hope you’ll stop back here then.

Fasten those safety belts!

10/10/05

Well, I did say that the championship standings could look entirely different Sunday night. How did I know?

I’d love to be able to say I’m just a remarkably perceptive drag racing observer who can analyze and predict the course of future NHRA events, but I’d be guilty of serious truth-stretching. The fact is, any time the points are as close as they are and the season is winding down, there will always be incredible turns of fortune which defy explanation.

John’s clutch victory in Dallas was an amazing story which really needs to be looked at with a sharp eye to be fully appreciated. First of all, John was all over the Tree all day and was never left on in the three rounds in which he faced an opponent. But the most telling stat of the day was the combined elapsed time advantage he scored over Tommy Johnson Jr. (4/100), Tim Wilkerson (2/1000), and Tony Bartone (6/100). Altogether, John was about 1/10 of a second quicker than the three drivers he beat on Sunday. Is that a sign of a real champion? I’d say so.

I was in John’s pit as his crew was finishing up the between-round rebuild on the Castrol Mustang when a sudden emergency developed. When the crew was installing the left-side cylinder head on the engine, they inadvertently bent a valve. With the second round soon approaching, the guys had to remove the head, replace the damaged piece, and button the motor back up.

Not only did they get the job done, as we now know, John went out and dropped Wilkerson in a very close race—the closest finish John had all day. That’s sensational teamwork.

The final round was anti-climactic as Frank Pedregon suffered an oil leak in his engine just after the burnout and was told by starter Rick Stewart to shut the car off. John then rolled up and ran his quickest pass of eliminations, a 4.79 to put the finishing touch on a dramatic victory.

John now leads the points by 36 over Gary Scelzi, who left too soon in the first round against Phil Burkart. The title is still very much in question with two races remaining, but it is a relief for the entire JFR team to see John’s name up top—the first time since June and the Sears Craftsman Nationals in St. Louis.

For Robert and Eric, the day ended much too soon for them. Both lost in the first round after they both had strong performances in qualifying. Robert was beaten by Tony Bartone and Eric was defeated by Tim Wilkerson. They have dropped far enough out of the points lead to consider that they’ll be focused on ganging up on the Team Schumacher drivers in the last two races, if the opportunities present themselves, to help send John on his way to championship No. 14.

Ashley would have liked to have joined her dad in the winner’s circle (Last year’s double win at the AAA Finals in Pomona seems like a million years ago, doesn’t it?) but her up-and-down season continued in Dallas with a semi-final loss to Steve Torrence. It looks like Torrence may be on his way to his first Lucas Oil World Championship as he now leads the points with the sportsman schedule gradually closing out. Ashley led the points earlier on this year but has slipped into a sixth-place tie with Hillary Will, who’ll be moving to Top Fuel next year.

The next stop on the 23-race schedule is the 21st event of the year in two weeks, the AC Delco Nationals in Las Vegas. It should be another thriller as the 2005 Funny Car championship wars continue to be the best in history. I’ll have more from “In the Groove” after the race and I hope you’ll swing over here then.

Thanks!

10/3/05

What a wild affair in Joliet!

The Funny Car standings keep bouncing around and changing from race to race. Look at the winners from the last half-dozen races and you can see that things are being spread around from driver to driver.

Ron Capps this week, Tony Pedregon two weeks ago, Del Worsham at Indy, Eric won the previous two events after Gary Scelzi won before those, etc. etc., etc.

The upshot? It’s far from over.

John’s semi-final loss to Ron Capps on Sunday was one of the most memorable side-by-side races of the season. One-thousandth of a second difference on the Tree and one-hundredth of a second difference at the finish line. Wow!

That was the deepest anyone on the team went on Sunday, and that didn’t bode well for Robert or Eric, who have both slipped off the pace with only three races left. Robert is suddenly 70 points out of first and Eric is an even 100. Certainly those deficits can be made up since there’s still 12 rounds of eliminations left to go and each one is worth 20 points, but it’s getting to the point in the season when you need the drivers you’re chasing to go out early on Sunday. Just keeping pace with the rest of the contenders won’t be enough.

Some other observations from Joliet:

Tony Schumacher is going to be a very difficult driver to beat—not only for the rest of this year but for years to come. He’s only 36-years-old (his birthday is on Christmas Day), his dad can bankroll the team with the best of everything, and Alan Johnson has a very sweet deal which can easily make him the winningest crew chief in Top Fuel history. Those guys are second to nobody right now and the future doesn’t look too bad for them either.

Tony Pedregon seems to be emerging from his lackluster season with a win and a runner-up in the last two races. Maybe 2006 will see him contending for the championship.

And what happened to Del Worsham this year? Everyone expected him to build upon his career-best second-place points finish last year but 2005 has been a rough road for him and his excellent team. Del’s day ended in the second round in Joliet at the hands of Gary Scelzi, who still leads the points.

And Erica Enders gets my vote for the racer who showed me the most on Sunday, advancing to her first Pro Stock final round after a long, hard climb through a learning curve that seemed would never flatten out. There has been a legion of skeptics who have voiced their opinions expressing doubt that the 22-year-old from Houston could make it in the P/S ranks. Sure, she fouled out against Jason Line in the final, but she now holds the distinction of being the first woman to get to a Pro Stock money round in NHRA history. That’s something to be proud of.

It’s right back to work this coming weekend in Dallas, where John has had many a successful outing. He can surely use another one this year as he’s a little more than two rounds behind Gary Scelzi for the points lead. This one is going right down to the proverbial wire.

I’ll have more from “In the Groove” next Monday so if you have a few moments, I’ll catch you then. In the meantime, don’t forget to take a crack at the trivia question you’ll find elsewhere on the JFR website.

Later!

9/19/05

The championship race is still a total free-for-all after the race in Reading on Sunday. Nobody really made a big move, although John’s runner-up finish to old friend Tony Pedregon moved him into third place, only 31 points behind Gary Scelzi.

Robert, however, lost some ground, but on the other hand, Eric moved from fifth to fourth, thanks to Ron Capps going out in the first round.

See what I mean? There’s no clear-cut evidence as to who will be the favorite to win it all by the time we get to the AAA Finals at Pomona in November.

It was quite a big victory for Tony who finally notched his first win as a car owner—a journey that began almost two years ago when he left JFR to go out on his own with his brother, Cruz. Cruz had another bad outing following his DNQ at Indy with another failure to make the field in Reading. Cruz is still looking for his first victory since he and Tony partnered up in 2004 and it has to be doing a number on Cruz’s confidence and attitude to be battling a two-year winless streak.

So, is anyone ready to predict how this year’s championship picture will eventually pan out? John, Robert, and Eric obviously feel that after all is said and done, the title will return to JFR as it has for fourteen out of the last fifteen years. If the title should make its way to Schumacher Racing thanks to Scelzi or Capps, it would deal a very disappointing blow to John and the team who aren’t ready to give up that No. 1 that is worn by the reigning champion’s racecar.

By the way, last week, prior to the race at Maple Grove, John and Eric made a special appearance at Tasca Ford just outside Providence, RI for their annual John Force Day and Open House. I drove down from my home on Cape Cod with my wife, Debby, and my two sons Billy and Sean, to schmooze a little with John, Eric, and the great people in the Tasca Family who did a tremendous job once again in putting together a super event.

The weather was perfect, there was a huge turnout of fans, and there was an all-Ford car show held in the dealership’s parking lot that was filled with high performance Fords, including an impressive number of original Shelby Mustangs. As the owner of a genuine Shelby CSX4000 427 Cobra, I was in heaven. So was Debby, who owns an original 1970 Mustang Mach I that’s she’s owned since new! In fact, that’s the car we drove down to the event in!

Tasca also had a special display of factory muscle cars including a couple of Ford GT’s, a CSX4000 Cobra, an original 1965 Shelby GT350 Mustang, and the new 2007 GT500 Shelby that was breathtaking.

John was his usual wild and zany self, signing hundreds of autographs alongside Eric and having his picture taken with fans, some of whom were the owners of the show cars parked nearby.

John and I shot the breeze for a while and I playfully took Eric to task for missing the $100,000 check from Skoal when he runnered-up to Del Worsham in the Skoal Showdown at Indy the previous week. All in all, it was a great day and the entire Tasca family, from Bob Sr. all the way down to Bob III deserves congratulations for a superb event.

This week, the NHRA train arrives in Dallas, the first of the final four races of the year. The Funny Car championship war will be turned up yet another notch and what happens at the Motorplex this weekend will almost certainly have a significant impact on who our 2005 champion will be.

So, keep your fingers crossed and head back here next week for more from “In the Groove”.

Thanks!

If ever you needed proof that there are no sure things in drag racing, all you would have to do is look at the results for Team Castrol at this year’s Mac Tools U.S. Nationals and you’d have all the proof you need.

Anybody want to calculate what the odds are that John, Eric, and Robert would all be gone by the end of Round 2?

Monday was nothing short of kookie. Of course, Eric came into the weekend with three wins out of the last four races and had the most consistent car in the class. It was a genuine shocker that he sliced through the first two rounds of the Skoal Showdown on Sunday only to lose in the final to Del Worsham, who has never won anything at Indy and hasn’t won a national event since June. Del goes on to win the U.S. Nationals on Monday for a “double-up” bonus and a cool $225,000 weekend at IRP. Did anyone predict THAT? I didn’t think so!

John was low qualifier and the buzz going around the pits on Monday morning was that he’d be the man to beat in eliminations. It was beginning to look like John and Austin were hitting their stride after a long and disappointing summer when nothing seemed to be going right. But Phil Burkart, a driver who has victimized John in the past—especially in some early round matchups—did it again when John smoked the tires and that was the end of that.

In fact, by the end of the second round, all three Force Racing entries were out of the program, and even worse than that, when Gary Scelzi advanced to the semi-finals, he moved into the points lead for the first time in his Funny Car career. But despite the grim results, you have to respect the poise and confidence that John showed when the race was over. He was very calm and collected and displayed the kind of leadership and positive attitude that comes from his many years of experience.

“We’ll be okay,” he said. “We didn’t get hurt too bad. There are still five races left and I expect we’ll all be there at the end.”

And that really is the overall picture in a nutshell. The championship race for the POWERade Funny Car title will probably be decided at the last race of the year in Pomona in November. Without any fear of contradiction, this year’s title chase is the best in the history of the class. How can I say that? It’s easy.

Take a look at the F/C championship battles of old. In just about every year since 1975, there has been one driver who dominated the competition and had to fight off no more than one or two other drivers to nail down the championship. Between 1975 and 1978, it was Don “The Snake” Prudhomme. In 1980 through 1981, it was the great Raymond Beadle. In 1982 and 1983, it was Frank Hawley. Mark Oswald won his only championship in 1984. Then, Kenny Bernstein ruled the class from 1985 to 1988 before Bruce Larson scored his only championship in 1989. Then, of course, John took over and has won them all except in 1992 when Cruz Pedregon won his only championship to date, and 2003, when his brother Tony took the crown. But in all of those years, there was never a FIVE MAN BATTLE for the championship and that’s exactly what we’re looking at this season. Plus, other than Cruz’s title in his rookie year of ’92, no other F/C rookie has been in as strong a position to win the championship as Robert has been this year. And so, I repeat: This year’s Funny Car championship battle is the best one we’ve ever witnessed in the history of the category.

It’s going to be a stretch drive for the championship that we’ll all be talking about for years to come. John is absolutely correct. They’ll all be there at the end.

In two weeks, it’s the next national event at beautiful Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, PA and a track where John has enjoyed racing for many years. Team Castrol will be out to regain the points lead and Team Schumacher will be doing everything it can to keep that from happening. This is going to be fun!

Swing back here after the race for more from “In the Groove”.

Thanks!

8/1/05

If you’re a John Force fan, I think it’s time to be nervous.

7/25/05

Well, which question should we tackle first?

“What’s wrong with John?” or “How about that Seattle final?”

Let’s begin with John. How do you explain 7 first round losses so far this year after winning three straight races in the spring and four in all? That makes three straight first round losses and only one round win since Topeka.

Obviously, there are some mechanical issues going on that are far too complex to discuss here (That’s Austin’s department) but the fact that John is in danger of falling to third in the points next week emphasizes the critical nature of situation for him.

Now, about that second question. Thanks to Eric’s win in Seattle, beating Robert in the final round, JFR is in position to sweep the Western Swing. If you believe in cock-eyed destiny, you’d have to ponder the possibility of John winning in Sonoma next week, which would give all three drivers on the team a win on the Swing.

The Seattle final was the first time there has been an all-JFR final and John wasn’t involved. When Gary Densham and Tony Pedregon were driving the other two team cars, they never met in a final round. Eric’s win was a very much needed boost for him, his dad John, and the rest of the team. Eric hadn’t won a race since his first career victory in Brainerd last year and this one seemed as if it was never going to happen, especially with all the lousy luck he had been suffering through during the first half of the year.

“We had some bad races in the beginning of the season (while we were) changing over to this new combination and we got a lot farther behind than we wanted,” said the former high school rodeo champion. “Then the car started to run, but we just couldn’t get a break. We’d run 4.81 and the other guy would run 4.80. Just stuff that happens. Hopefully that’s all behind us.

“Really, I don’t think we’re too far out of this thing to at least give them a run (for the championship), so that’s what we’re going to try to do right now.

“I can’t say enough about Robert’s car,” Medlen said, “because he’s been on the leader board for this team all year and if it wasn’t for him running so strong, we might not have been able to get our own combination sorted out.

“My dad and Jason (Morton) work with Robert’s tuner Jimmy Prock a lot, and finally we’ve got both our cars kind of the same and they’re starting to run the same. And that’s important. Believe it or not, all the Funny Car crew chiefs and their assistants (also) talk to Jerry Darien (crew chief on Ashley Force’s Castrol/Hot Wheels A/Fuel dragster).”
Robert wasn’t able to bag his third win of 2005, but he has been a phenomenon this year and I have to keep reminding myself that he’s still a rookie. And that brings up another topic.

For years, Funny Car drivers have steadfastly maintained that fuel coupes are the most demanding and demonic racecars to master. It’s true that their front-engined layout, short wheelbases, and tendency to roam all over the track have given them a legitimate reputation as barely controllable animals.

So how is it that Eric was able to climb into one last year with virtually no prior experience in a high-horsepower car and perform with admirable skill and poise? Sure, he had a few misadventures last season and it’s still possible for the car to throw him a curve or two at times, but he’s has literally adjusted to driving an 8000-horsepower F/C at the very highest levels of the sport with hardly any perceptible difficulties.

And that leads to the almost incomprehensible debut that Robert has made this year. He’s already all but locked up the rookie of the year voting and if John continues to stumble through the second half of the year, Robert could be the one to bring the POWERade championship back to JFR for the 15th time. No rookie has ever won the NHRA Funny Car championship and only Gary Scelzi has the distinction of winning a professional crown as a freshman—his Top Fuel championship in 1997. For Robert to even be in the position to win the whole thing with only 9 races left on the schedule is staggering—and begs the question we began with. Are Funny Cars really that difficult to master? And if they are, is it possible that Eric and Robert are two of the most naturally gifted fuel drivers in NHRA history?

I ask you to ponder that premise.

As far as Ashley’s weekend went in Seattle, it was a bummer. In qualifying, she looked great, qualifying third in a very stout field. But in the first round of eliminations on Saturday, the pendulum swung in the opposite direction. Ashley was due to race Bill Edwards, but he failed to make the call and that put Aaron Olivarez into Edwards’ slot as an alternate. Aaron had beaten Ashley in the Gatornationals final in March and there was some “revenge factor” involved in this one. But Aaron pulled off the upset, making his best run of the weekend as Ashley was making her worst and that was the end of her day.

Ashley has dropped to second in the national points, trailing Randy Meyer by 28 points. Ashley has no more national events at which she can earn points (TAD drivers can claim points at 8 national events and 8 divisional races) while she has two more divisional races left to claim. Meyer has three national events left and four divisionals, so he clearly controls his own destiny.

Next week, it’s up to the wine country of the Napa Valley and the third race on the Swing—the Fram Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway. I’ll be here next Monday with more from “In the Groove” and here’s a reminder that you’ll check in every Sunday morning at 11AM EDT for my latest adventures on “Inside Drag Racing” on ESPN2.

Thanks!

7/18/05

Rookie? That depends on how you define the term.

Robert’s performance at Bandimere Speedway over the weekend was the kind of blitzkrieg that John himself would have been proud to pull off. Simply stated, Robert’s second career win combined with his No. 1 qualifying performance topped off by his incredible consistency which gave him low elapsed time of every round, plus both ends of the Bandimere track record followed by his leading the points for the first time ever (not to mention beating Gary Scelzi in the semi-finals which guaranteed Robert would leave Denver with the points lead) adds up to a milestone weekend for….a rookie?

Great credit has to be given to Robert’s tuner Jimmy Prock, who quietly goes about his business week after week without a lot of fanfare and folderol. Jimmy is quiet, studious, incredibly intelligent, and can tune the daylights out of a nitro engine. I have been a big fan of Jimmy ever since he really began to emerge as a future star when he tuned for Joe Amato in the mid-1990’s. While he never won a championship with Joe, Jimmy was the man behind some of Joe’s most memorable performances which allowed him to retire as the winningest Top Fuel driver in history.

For Jimmy to be able to make the jump from Top Fuel to Funny Car and remain a dominant threat at whatever race and whatever racecar he puts his attention to is a stunning achievement. It’s easy to see why John made it a priority to hire Jimmy when he was released from Don Schumacher’s team in 2000, knowing that here was a tuner who could bring even greater firepower to the Coil-Fedderly-Medlen threesome. John definitely knew what he was doing.

And he also has shown his eye for talent is as sharp as ever thanks to the sensational season that Robert is having. While Eric and John have struggled lately with some mechanical issues that have kept them from winning many rounds, Robert has been a real pick-me-up for the entire team. And let’s not lose sight of the fact that the Western Swing has now begun and the three-race-in-three week enduro will almost certainly play a role in the championship stretch drive in 2005. With Whit Bazemore out of contention—at least for now—and the only immediate threat to Team Castrol coming from Gary Scelzi, a JFR three-peat on the Swing would help John sleep a little better at night.

Since his three straight wins in Atlanta, Columbus, and Topeka, the going has been rocky for the Champ, who has won a single round in the previous four events. John watched Robert take the points lead in Denver but the fact that Scelzi is within a handful of points of both of them AND that John’s racecar has been a real nightmare to sort out could make this year’s Swing a very dicey proposition. Seattle will be a very important race for John (and Eric) as the second-half of 2005 rolls along.

I’ll have more from “In the Groove” after next weekend’s race in Seattle and I hope you’ll tune in to “Inside Drag Racing” on ESPN2, every Sunday morning at 11 AM EDT where I’ll have more interesting stories and exciting race coverage from the world of drag racing.

See you then!

6/27/05

Things are getting a little edgy…..

It wasn’t that long ago that John was looking for his fourth straight win, Robert and Eric were putting up some incredible numbers, and there wasn’t a whole lot that the rest of the Funny Car class could do to put a stop to it.

My, how times have changed.

John has now won exactly one round of racing in the last three events. He lost in the first round in Chicago, the second round in Englishtown, and the first round on Sunday evening in St. Louis. He still leads the points, but only because the driver closest to him in the standings, Gary Scelzi, has also hit some rough water, and John’s lead is a mere 55 points.

It never ceases to amaze me (and you, I’m sure) how teams can go from virtually invincible to totally helpless in such a short length of time. A perfect example is the fact that all four professional winners in St. Louis this year hadn’t won a race all season! Brandon Bernstein hadn’t won Top Fuel since Topeka last year, Ron Capps hadn’t taken a F/C victory since Phoenix of 2003, Kurt Johnson’s last win in Pro Stock was Phoenix last year and Angelle Sampey’s last win was at the Auto Club Finals in Pomona last November.

Everyone in St. Louis was chattering about the top end interview John gave on the P.A. at Gateway International Raceway on Saturday after qualifying a disappointing 15th. When he climbed from the Castrol Mustang, he shook his head and said, “That’s the biggest piece of sh___ I’ve ever driven!” The fans, obviously, got a charge out of another one of those “Force Moments” but his remark revealed an even greater truth that separates John’s team from every other operation in the NHRA.

There isn’t another driver in the sport who could have said something like that and not had a real problem with his crew chief and team when he got back to the pits. Can you imagine what the response would have been in the Schumacher pits if Whit or Gary Scelzi had said that on the P.A. after a run? Why can John say that and not touch off a firestorm of bad morale with his guys?

Because John is the first to tell his team how much he loves each and every one of them and they understand that no matter what kind of emotional outburst he displays in a moment of frustration, he’s behind his guys 1000%. John has created an environment on his team that is devoid of infighting, petty politics, and silly ego battles. How he has done it is one of the great mysteries in drag racing. I’ve seen it play out before my very eyes for the better part of the last 10 years and I still can’t explain it. If it were that easy to do, every team in the pits would have that same synergy, but trust me, NOBODY ELSE DOES—regardless of what they may tell you.

Another reason that John’s exasperated quote on Saturday didn’t cause any great waves is because of the long and trusting relationship he has had with Austin Coil. They know each other as well—or better—than their wives do and despite the differences of opinions, disagreements, and occasional turf battles that have cropped up over the last 20 years that they’ve been together, the upshot is that the two of them are in this to the end—plain and simple. There are times that John has issues with his car (such as on Saturday in St. Louis) and there are times Austin has issues with John’s driving (Remember the red lights and holeshot losses last year?), but through it all, they each know they are the most successful organization in the history of the sport and nothing is taken personally.

The first half of 2005 is now over and there’s a three-week hiatus before the Western Swing starts on July 15. I’ll be back here after the race in Denver with more from “In the Groove” and I’ll see you Sunday mornings at 11AM EDT on “Inside Drag Racing” on ESPN2.

See ya’ soon!

6/20/05

“Wha’ happened?!”

Not a whole lot to get excited about in Englishtown, that’s for sure. It was another one of those race weekends when the door of opportunity was shoved wide open for John, Eric, and Robert but none of them could step through. We’ve seen these kinds of things happen before and the team always feels as if they let one get away, but the fact that John held on to the points lead helps take away some of the bitter aftertaste from Sunday.

Of course, whenever teammates race each other in the first round like Eric and Robert did, it certainly minimizes the advantage of a multi-car team. You don’t mind it happening too much in the second round because that means you’re guaranteed of getting one of your cars into the semi-finals. When it happens in the semis, you can rejoice that at least one of your team drivers will be in the final. But when it happens in the first round, you’re losing one of your cars with a lot of racing remaining that day.

Robert took out Eric in the first round on Sunday, and then dropped Jim Head before falling to eventual race-winner Del Worsham in the semi’s. But the golden opportunities that beckoned to Team Castrol went unfulfilled when both Whit Bazemore and Gary Scelzi lost in the second round and John followed suit. John was in position to add a considerable amount of daylight between himself and the Schumacher boys but Worsham ended John’s day in Round 2 on his way to his first national event win of 2005.

John will head into St. Louis next weekend with a 62-point lead. The Sears Craftsman Nationals marks the halfway point of 2005 and that means the points situation becomes more and more critical from here on out. John was very lucky that Scelzi and Bazemore got dumped in Round 2 or else the weekend could have been even more disastrous. The second half of the season will be filled with fireworks and the points lead could very easily change hands once or twice before the POWERade title is decided.

Any bright spots in Englishtown? Well, Ashley advanced to the Top Alcohol Dragster final round—reversing her recent trend of losing early in eliminations. She didn’t win in E-town, losing to former class champion Randy Meyer in the final, but the runner-up finish will boost the team’s spirits and help to guard her points lead which she has held just about all year.

Things get back into action this coming weekend in St. Louis, which will end a three-race-in-three-week triple play for the POWERade tour. I’ll have more from “In the Groove” after the race and more up to the minute stories from across the country on “Inside Drag Racing” Sunday morning at 11AM EDT on ESPN2.

Well, the term “mixed emotions” would be an appropriate way to summarize the race in Joliet. It was anything but disastrous for John, Eric, or Robert but the overwhelming impression I was left with was an opportunity was missed.

Granted, Eric advanced to the final round after John lost in a major upset to Dale Creasy Jr. in the opening frame –the same driver who upset Whit Bazemore in the first round in Columbus—while Robert lost to eventual race-winner Gary Scelzi in Round 2, but at the end of the day, John remained in the points lead. Scelzi is a little more than two rounds behind John which adds a tremendous amount of significance to this weekend’s race in Englishtown. Robert took his second low qualifier award of the season, which is just another example of how the rookie has taken on all the appearances of a veteran after only 10 starts.

The missed opportunity I was referring to obviously relates to Whit’s DNQ, a stunning surprise when you consider how many teams were able to run pretty strong elapsed times during qualifying. Whit’s team is in a real tailspin and prior to the DNQ, he had suffered four straight first round losses. Just to put his predicament into perspective, the last time he won a round of racing was April 17th in Las Vegas, when he won the SummitRacing.com Nationals.

Whit’s teammate Scelzi may wind up being the Funny Car standard-bearer for Schumacher Racing this season. With 13 races remaining in the season, a Force-Scelzi fight to the finish would be a real blast for every fan of the NHRA. You’d have two of the most offbeat, unconventional characters in all of motorsports going at it from race to race until November. John and Gary have had their share of matchups since Gary moved into the Funny Car ranks in 2002 and every time they race you can expect quite a scene at the top end—regardless of who wins or loses. They both really like and respect each other, in fact, Gary was on the short list of potential drivers when John added a third F/C in 2001. But Gary was still driving the Alan Johnson-owned Team Winston Top Fuel car at that time, so John decided to hire another Gary—Densham—to drive the AAA Mustang.

John was disappointed with the loss on Sunday to Creasy. He could have put an even bigger chunk of distance between himself and Whit with a few round wins but it just wasn’t to be.

“I’ve said it a million times before and I’ll keep saying it as long as I race. You can’t take anything for granted out there, especially in the first round against a hungry team like the Creasy family. They go out there and just wait for you to leave them an opening and they take advantage. We had a misfire in the ole’ hot rod today and it cost us. But there’s a lot to be happy about because we still have the points lead, we’ll be racing again in Englishtown this weekend and we like it there, and Eric came close to winning the race today. We’ll be looking for a win this Sunday”.

Ashley wasn’t having any luck down in Rusk, Texas at the Division 4 Lucas Oil point’s race where she lost in Round 2 to the eventual winner of the race, Steve Torrence. Ashley has had a rough stretch this season, taking the lead in the World Championship points standings but having a hard time stringing wins together on either the national or divisional level.

But what really had everyone talking was her chance to make a test pass in her dad’s nitro Funny Car on Monday following the race in Topeka. It had a lot of people speculating about Ashley’s immediate future and whether she might be making the jump to the pros as early as next year. John has said repeatedly that Ashley will be in her A/Fuel dragster at least another two years before the decision is made what she’ll be racing next. So, don’t expect any big announcements until at least 2007.

I’ll be back here with more from “In the Groove” on Monday following the K&N Supernationals in Englishtown, NJ. And I hope you’ll catch my next appearance on ESPN2, this Sunday at 11AM EDT on Inside Drag Racing.

Catch you then!

“Robert and Eric both had stronger cars than me today,” John said later. “But me and Coil and Bernie (crew chiefs Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly) have been doing this a long time. Against Eric, that was a close race. I was on oxygen before the round ‘cause these young kids, they go after you. We just barely beat him.”

Ashley had a real rough go of it in Topeka with a devastating first round loss to Gene Snow, who ironically, Ashley had beaten at last year’s race in Topeka. It was also coincidental that Ashley had run side-by-side with Snow in the final qualifying session earlier on Saturday and had totally outrun the old pro.

Ashley leads Chris Demke—who was the Topeka runner-up--by 62 points for the Lucas Oil World Championship, but Ashley can only claim one more divisional race this year while Demke (and just about everyone else in the category) has more events that can be counted toward their individual points total. What it all boils down to is that Ashley may find herself playing the role of a blocker as the season continues, hoping to get in the way of those other Top Alcohol racers who have a shot at getting past her in the points.

After a week to relax, it’s off to Joliet, IL and the Carquest Nationals at Route 66 Raceway. I’ll be back here after the race with more from “In the Groove” and I hope you’ll catch up with me every Sunday at 11 AM EDT for “Inside Drag Racing” on ESPN2.

See you then!

I won’t go into a laundry list of the champions I’m referring to but Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, Shirley Muldowney, Kenny Bernstein, and Bob Glidden immediately come to mind.

And, oh yeh, John Force.

It was only a few races ago that John was in the midst of a performance struggle that was perplexing the entire team. He lost in the first round in Las Vegas after coming into the event with the points lead. Whit Bazemore won the race and took the points lead away. In Bristol, TN, Whit lost in the first round and gave both John and Robert a golden opportunity to take the points lead back to JFR, but they lost early as well and the chance to pick up plenty of ground went by the boards.

Then, in Atlanta last week, John and Robert crushed the field and faced each other in the final round. John won in a very close race—so close that the usual catcalls of “team orders” were silenced as John retook the points lead. Then in Columbus on Sunday, the 13-time champion displayed that quality I referred to above in which when under the attack of his most bitter rivals, he becomes even more dangerous.

Whit qualified No.1 for the first time this season and gave every indication that he was out to recapture the points lead. But he was upset in the first round in a real shocker by Dale Creasy Jr., once again giving John an open door to put some real distance between himself and Whit in the points.

This time, John wasn’t going to drop the ball again.

He thundered to his second straight win, beating Whit’s teammate Gary Scelzi in the final—on a holeshot—and re-established himself as the championship frontrunner as we creep up on the season’s midway point. Oh, and by the way, prior to Sunday, John had never beaten Gary in a final round. In their three previous final round races, Gary has prevailed. This win went a long way in erasing some of those unpleasant memories.

"It was a great race,” said John in the press room following his win. “Scelzi always gets up for me and I always get up for him. I've said all along that he's the guy to watch. We'll see him a lot more down the road. In the past I’ve said the racing was tough in Funny Car, but this is definitely the toughest season. There are so many strong cars out there and there’s a lot of close racing. It’s great for the fans and it’s fun for me because I am motivated by the competition.”

I rest my case.

Both Eric and Robert ended their day in the second round, but each remain in the top ten with Robert third and Eric seventh. I guess there wouldn’t be very much debate about this year’s Rookie of the Year voting if the ballots were to be cast right now. Robert is proving he’s got the talent of a veteran and I expect him to win a few more races before 2005 is over.

Ashley was having a rough outing at the Lucas Oil Division 4 event at Red River Raceway in Gilliam, LA while her dad was enjoying his victory in Columbus. Ashley went into Gilliam with the 2005 Top Alcohol Dragster points leads firmly in hand, but an untimely first round loss to Brandon Pierce may come back to haunt her when the latest points standings are posted on Monday.

After a few days off, John and the rest of the team will be going back to work this coming weekend in Topeka for the O’Reilly Summer Nationals ending a three-race-in-three-week marathon. I’ll be back here with more from “In the Groove” after the race and I hope you’ll remember to catch me on “Inside Drag Racing”, every Sunday morning at 11AM EDT on ESPN2.

See you soon!

“We had a chance to make up some ground and we didn’t,” said John. “All we can do is regroup and try to do better at Atlanta.”

Gary Scelzi won the race—the first victory for the former 3-time Top Fuel champion at Bristol Dragway which now leaves him winless at only three other venues: Gainesville, Englishtown and Denver. I spoke to Gary after he received congratulations from his team at the top end and he quietly said to me, “After all the talk about my driving and some of the rounds I’ve lost because of it, this is an emotional thing. No matter how many times you win, you still feel all choked up when it happens again”.

The alcohol cars were not on the schedule for Bristol so John couldn’t count on Ashley to save the day this weekend. She was racing at the Division 4 Lucas Oil event in Dallas and the news from Texas wasn’t very upbeat, either. Ashley lost in the semi-finals to eventual race winner Randy Meyer.

And so the Thunder Valley Nationals were a thunderous disappointment for the JFR gang. There’s a week off before the Summit Racing Southern Nationals are called to order at Atlanta Dragway and maybe better luck will be waiting for the boys down in Dixie.

I’ll have more from “In the Groove” after the race and I hope you’ll look for me every Sunday on “Inside Drag Racing” at 11AM EDT on ESPN2.

See you then!

THE ROOKIE DID IT!

Robert didn’t take long to prove to everyone that John’s gamble by putting him in the Triple-A Mustang would pay off. In his fourth Funny Car start, he ran a tremendous race, and beat John’s ol’ adversary Cruz Pedregon in a thrilling final. Robert is beginning to rack up some impressive stats. It was the second race in a row in which he was low qualifier and he moved into third place in the points with his win.

John was ecstatic and had a big chuckle when members of the team doused Robert with a POWERade bucket loaded with ice-cold water after his interview on ESPN2. Robert was hardly able to grasp what had happened on his way to his first career win. He was solid as a driver all day and even left on and outran John in the semi-finals.

After the race, I spoke to John for a couple of minutes as he prepared to join the celebration in the winner’s circle. He was happy, but also philosophical about what Robert had accomplished. He said, “It’s really special to win your first race so soon. Some drivers take years to win that first one; some never win one at all. He’s come a long way in a short time and it was a great day.”

Of course, Ashley got all choked up when I told her Robert won. She had already left the track and she was in the process of getting towed because her car broke down when I called her on her cell phone to tell her what Robert had done.

John’s semi-final finish gave him the points lead again, made all the more sweet because of his second round victory over former points leader, Whit Bazemore. In John’s ESPN interview, he extended his sympathies and condolences to the Howard family, who are still struggling through the tragically freak accident in Tulsa last weekend that killed Top Alcohol Dragster star Shelly Howard and her son, Brian. I was in the Castrol pits shortly after John made his heartfelt comments and I thanked him for expressing the sentiments of so many racers and fans. John remarked how utterly improbable the accident was and how the odds against something like that happening must be immense. It will take all of us some time to recover from the Howard’s heartbreaking loss.

It was a “good news—bad news” kind of weekend for Eric. He qualified well, thundered in the first round past defending event champion Tim Wilkerson by running low e.t and top speed of the weekend at that point, 4.764/325.61, but then lost on a holeshot to eventual race runner-up Cruz Pedregon in Round 2. Eric apologized profusely to his crew as they arrived at the top end, but the great thing about John Force Racing is that there is never, ever any finger-pointing. NOT ALLOWED.

Ashley was again denied a national event win in Alcohol Dragster, losing to Duane Shields in the semi-finals. Duane then went on to beat Jeff Wilson in the final round, with Jeff running the only supercharged, alcohol burning dragster in the field. Ashley was also devastated by the fatal accident in Tulsa that claimed the lives of Shelly and Brian Howard. Ashley loved to race Shelly (Remember last year’s all-female TAD final at Indy—the first time that’s ever happened?) and took great pride in winning the Division 4 championship last year, Shelly’s home division in which she was also a former champion. The two racers had a great relationship and Ashley will truly miss her rival and friend.

There won’t be much time to relax as the tour heads for Las Vegas for next week’s SummitRacing.com Nationals at the Strip at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I’ll have more from “In the Groove” right after the race, so check in next week.

Zero for four.......................

Not the kind of batting average John Force Racing enjoys ending the weekend with, but the Mac Tools Gatornationals were anything but joyful for John, Eric, Robert, and Ashley.

Things got off to an upbeat start when Robert won his first career No. 1 qualifying slot on Saturday (after Eric had held the top spot for a while) with a track record 4.749. Eric wound up No. 2 and John No. 3—exactly the way the team hopes to end qualifying at every race.

But on Sunday, after a first round in which Eric beat Tim Wilkerson, Robert beat Dale Creasy Jr., and John beat Jim Head, the wheels began to fall off in Round 2. Robert was dropped by eventual race winner Whit Bazemore, Eric was covered by eventual race runner-up, Bob Gilbertson, while John got by Jeff Arend.

In the semi’s, it was quite an eventful match up between John and Gilbertson. John lost power at about 800 feet; Gilbertson shot past but blew the engine and experienced a huge fire that inflicted his Monte Carlo with plenty of burn damage. Bob got out OK and somehow rallied his troops to get the car repaired for the final, which they did, but Bob left way too early when he staged against Whit for the event title and Bazemore not only got a free pass, he also took over the points lead.

I was covering the top end for ESPN 2 for the first event of the 2005 AMS Pro Modified Series presented by TLR and spent much of the day talking to a lot of the drivers and crew chiefs in all four professional classes. There’s a certain prestige to winning the Gatornationals, considered one of the “majors” on the NHRA schedule and it was clear from my many conversations that those who had never won the Gators before were hoping this weekend would belong to them.

Ashley advanced all the way to the final round in her A-Fuel dragster and faced the relatively unknown and unheralded Aaron Olivarez. Amazingly, it was only the fourth event Aaron has ever raced in and he was racing in the leased car that belongs to Ashley’s good friend, Morgan Lucas. Aaron and Ashley both ran 5.40 elapsed times, but the 8/100 second advantage Aaron took at the starting line was the difference.

I had a rather dramatic mishap in Ashley’s pit on Saturday morning moments after interviewing her mom, Laurie, for an upcoming issue of Drag Racer Magazine. As I was walking out of the pits, I somehow didn’t see the rear wing on Ashley’s dragster directly in my path and WHAM!, I walked right into the sharp corner of it. I received a deep but not terribly painful gash on my scalp that required a couple of stitches to close. In the 11 years I have been working at NHRA events that was the first time that had ever happened, and trust me when I tell you how stupid I felt. I’ll be sure not to let that happen again!

Everyone gets a week off before we travel to the O’Reilly Nationals in Houston for the fourth event of the year. Have a great Easter and swing by here after the O’Reilly’s for more from “Inside the Groove”!

2/14/05

One down, 22 to go……

The long NHRA POWERade season is underway and the many changes which have taken place in the off-season were all on display for the world to see at the Winternationals this past weekend.

One of those changes involves me, as I have moved from the ESPN/NHRA crew to the ESPN/Masters Entertainment crew which televises a host of racing and automotive programs including Inside Drag Racing, the AMS Pro Mod Series, the Mother’s Polish Car Show Series, and a bunch more. In fact, while the NHRA was racing in Pomona, I was in Dallas covering the O’Reilly Autorama at the Dallas Market Center for an upcoming Mother’s Polish TV show. Hope you’ll get to see it.

But there weren’t many smiling faces at JFR Sunday evening. All three cars out in the first round, racing against opponents who had qualified slower. That stung. Especially for Robert, who was hoping for a successful debut in his first professional start. After running great in qualifying, coming in at #5 with a sturdy 4.75, Robert was in position to trump Bob Gilbertson in the opening round, but fell short.

John and Eric also rocked in qualifying and it was only Tony Pedregon (Remember him?) who prevented JFR from taking the top three spots on the qualifying sheet. But in eliminations, trouble was waiting for John when he got loose at half-track against Jim Head, tossed the blower, and coasted the rest of the way. Ouch.

Eric had no luck against Del Worsham thanks to a -.133 foul. Del would have been history if Eric had cut a clean light, thanks to a 4.79/306, but his Eric’s red-light sealed his fate.

I spoke to John on the phone Monday morning and his first words were, “We really got spanked yesterday.” I couldn’t disagree.

Meanwhile, Ashley advanced to the semi-finals in Top Alcohol Dragster after having a close call in qualifying. Due to all the rain in Pomona and Friday’s qualifying being washed out, Ashley found herself not qualified heading into Friday’s final session. But, her team gave her a strong tuneup for that last shot, and after qualifying #2 (right behind Hillary Will—another young lady with talent), Ashley advanced to the semi’s where she fell to frequent adversary Steve Federlin by 6/100’s of a second.

But in all honesty, from a totally subjective viewpoint, the most disappointed man in Pomona on Sunday had to be Don Schumacher. With six different cars in three different classes heading into raceday, the farthest any of the Schumacher Racing teams got was the semi-finals in Funny Car, where Whit Bazemore was dropped by eventual winner Tommy Johnson Jr. Ron Capps never made it to the line in Round 1 in the new Brut Dodge Stratus thanks to an oil leak, Gary Scelzi lost on a holeshot to Phil Burkart in the first round when he must have been distracted by something and cut a horrific .154 light. What really made that loss so painful was that Gary’s 4.717 elapsed time was a career best and his 331.53 top speed was the fourth fastest in F/C history—and a career-best….for both Top Fuel and Funny Car!

But now there are a couple of weeks to go before the next race in Phoenix. Better results are expected at JFR and all it will take to erase the bleak memories of the past weekend is to come out and rock everyone’s world at Firebird Raceway. Check back here right after the race and I’ll have more from “In the Groove”.