The combined total of 10 wins for Del Worsham, Mike Neff and Jason Line in the top levels of drag racing equal the number of races completed in 2011 for the NHRA Full Throttle Drag racing Series. Worsham has four wins in Top Fuel Dragster. Mike Neff has three wins in Funny Car and Jason Line has three wins in Pro Stock Car.
Accumulating wins and securing first place could be very welcome when NHRA resets the points after race 16 during the U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, Ind., a full week including Labor Day in September for the six-race playoff, the Countdown to One. Points leaders get an extra 20 points after the final top 10 are separated by 10 points.
Carrying 30 points into the last six races can be crucial. Staying in the top-10 in each class after Indy is essential to any championship bid.
Worsham leads Top Fuel by 61 points. Neff has a more comfortable margin in Funny Car with his 124 point lead. Line has the fewest points to spare in Pro Stock Car with a 49 point advantage.
Eddie Krawiec has two wins in Pro Stock Motorcycle and leads by a slim seven points after five regular season races over Karen Stoffer who held the lead for much of the two-wheel tour.
All NHRA Full Throttle contenders take their side-by-side power to the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., this weekend.
Television fans can enjoy tandem speed bursts on ESPSN 2 with July 9 qualifying at 9:30 p.m. and July 10 eliminations at 9:00 p.m.
Worhsam, Neff, Line and Stoffer shared comments going into the highly competitive fray known to drag racers as “win or go home” turf.
FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of topics by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com. Quotes derived from motorsports industry press releases.
Del Worsham (Top Fuel Dragster)
“I’m feeling great about our Al-Anabi Toyota team as we head into the summer months,” Worsham said. “Our last win in Norwalk was definitely big because we hadn’t won in a while and because we won in the warmer conditions we’re going to have through the summer so it was a good win. Racing conditions have changed a lot; we’re all gonna have to race this way for next few months and probably first couple of races in countdown. We’re looking forward to fine tuning our summer tune-up.
Mike Neff (Funny Car)
“My team does 99% of the work on the car,” Neff said. “With all of them involved, it makes it a lot more manageable. I’m getting better at it. I’m getting in better shape, physically, because it’s a long day, especially when it’s hot out there. It wears you down.”
Jason Line (Pro Stock Car)
“We got off to a hot start, but lately we just haven’t shown the competitive consistency we need to win, which is something we are working on,” Line said. “It all comes down to every person on this team doing a better job on race day, making sure to not make any mistakes, because to win in Pro Stock, you have to almost be perfect.”
Karen Stoffer (Pro Stock Motorcycle)
"The points lead might be the outcome, but our goal is really just to go down the race track as many times as we can on the weekend in a safe, fast, straight method," Stoffer said. "If we continue to focus on going down the track as many times as possible, then we know we're turning on the win light and we know whatever numbers come up are going to be good.
"It's nice when the points come out of it, obviously. And that's the ultimate goal. But for us, every race, every round is go down the race track straight, fast, and consistent in how we do everything."
Photo credit: Gary Larsen at Racetake.com
Comments