Del Worsham found his stride just days too late in the 2007 Countdown to the
Championship at the NHRA Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. Worsham, deep in the standings
for much of the season, came on strong down the stretch but ended up 38 points
out of the playoffs.
Del Worsham Defeated Gary Scelzi in Round One
Team CSK uses K&N Engineering Products
The driver of the red Checker, Schuck’s Kragen Funny Car with K&N Products
picked up points at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Indiana, but they
were one race too late. Worsham defeated Gary Scelzi in round one,
defeated Ashley Force in round two and lost to Mike Ashley in the semi-final at
Indy.
Del Worsham in CSK Funny Car
Del Worsham's CSK Crew
No matter how well Worsham drives, he is now relegated to no better than 9th
place. The good news is, Worsham knows he has a race car capable of winning and
he plans to do that before the 2007 campaign wraps up at Pomona.
At Indy, all went well for Worsham during three days of qualifying and one long
hot day of racing. On Friday night he grabbed a top-half spot and ran the
second-quickest lap in the final session in the heat on Sunday afternoon. In the
end, the lane choice issue caught up to Worsham, and there was little he could do
to avoid defeat in the semi-finals.
“When it gets as hot as it was today, you start to worry about lane choice
really being a big issue, and it finally got to that point after the first
round,” said Worsham. “We lost in the semi-finals, but the truth is we were
toast after the first round, although it was through no fault of our own. We ran
great in the first round, one of our best laps of the year, but Ashley Force was
our second-round opponent and she laid down an incredible number in her
first-round race. That put us over in the right lane, and even though we were
able to pedal through the second round, we were stuck back over there again to
the semi.”
Worsham entered the first round race in the No. 7 spot. He grabbed a slight edge
at the tree, picking up 4-thousandths in reaction time. “At the strip Scelzi’s
4.972 was brilliant and was the fourth-quickest lap in round one,” said Bob
Wilber of Team CSK. “Del’s 4.841 was better, and the win light was on in the CSK
lane. Del’s first round E.T. was third-quickest in the class, but Ashley Force
was able to take out Tim Wilkerson with a jaw dropping 4.784. This put Del over
in the rapidly deteriorating right lane.”
“It was fairly even in round one, but the right lane had gone away by the second
round,” said Worsham. “We tried to back it down, just to make sure we could go A
to B against her, but the car just rolled right into tire smoke. As soon as I
pedaled my car, I saw her disappear behind me, so I figured they had traction
problems too. At that point, I just focused on getting the car to the finish
line. The car actually hooked up really well after I pedaled it, and it tore
down there like it was on rails. It was a tough way to win a round, but it was
important to us and we were thrilled to get to the semi’s.”
Worsham again was in the right lane when he faced Mike Ashley, and in a puff of
tire smoke, his day was over. “There wasn’t much we could do about it, but we
ended up in that right lane position back in round one,” said Worsham. “As great
as we ran, we still lost lane choice, and it took that issue another round to
kill us off.”
Next up for Worsham will be Memphis, Tennessee where he said he will do
everything he can to keep winning rounds.
Follow Del Worhsam's progress throughout the racing season at the
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