BILL STEPHENS “IN THE GROOVE” 11/2/09

105 points.

Incredible, uncanny, inconceivable. You can add your own description here as Robert now holds that big a lead in the Funny Car standings heading into the final race of the season in Pomona. His win on Sunday in Las Vegas may just be the biggest of his career since he can now lock up his first Full Throttle championship without having to win the AAA Finals in Pomona.

It’s not that Robert winning the championship is so impossible to fathom. We all know he races with the very best team in the sport and has developed into as solid and skilled a driver as there is the class. It’s just that five races ago, he was in 10th place in the points. Well, by virtue of Robert’s Indy runner-up finish, he was able to make the Countdown to One and has now since then won three out of five races and proven beyond any shadow of a doubt he deserved to be in the closing segment of the title tournament.

Keep this in mind: Robert’s final round appearance in Indy was his first final round of the year! Throughout the season, you’ll recall the trials and tribulations he and Jimmy encountered trying to find a consistent tune-up. John played Musical Crew Chiefs at one point this year and every possible option was either discussed or attempted to get all four team cars dialed in. For a while, things looked a bit dicey.

Want another eye-opening stat? Robert suffered six first-round losses prior to Indy and two DNQ’s! But as we’ve seen, he has been a terror in the Countdown to One, proving that it doesn’t matter in what place you’re in when the Countdown to One begins as long as you make it into the elite ten driver playoff.

Fans of the Countdown will point to how level that makes the playing field. Opponents of the Countdown will claim it penalizes drivers who ran strong over the first ¾ of the season and tail off as the season winds down. Maybe both sides have defensible arguments but there’s no disputing that since Labor Day, Robert and the AAA team have been the leader of the pack in Funny Car. And it would be absolutely miraculous for Robert not to wrap up the championship in a couple of weeks in Pomona. He would literally have to miss the field to give anyone—including Ashley or Tony Pedregon—any kind of opening to catch him and with the way Robert and Jimmy usually perform at AAA Raceway, the likelihood of a DNQ is remote at best.

The other item which will need some attention in Pomona is John avoiding his first winless season since 1987. It’s not that pressing a concern for John but I know his team would really like to get him a win out in Pomona and end the drought. But regardless, should Robert wrap up the championship and Ashley finish No.2, which would give everyone plenty to celebrate.

Of course, Mike would really love to pick up career victory No.1 and I’m honestly stumped as to why he hasn’t done so before now. He’s been to five final rounds and hasn’t quite been able to cash in, so a victory at one of the sport’s longest-running and respected events at the legendary track where so much history has been recorded would make that first trip to a winner’s circle more than memorable.

Nothing has been settled yet so we’ll have to be patient and wait for the 2009 season finale in two weeks. It has been quite an eventful ’09 and from my perspective, it seems to be leading to a happy ending for JFR.

I’ll be hear after the AAA Finals with my final run “In the Groove” for the season so I hope you’ll come back after the race. Until then, drive safely and sanely.