After spending the 2012 season as Alexis DeJoria’s crew chief at Kalitta Motorsports, 2011 Top Fuel champ Del Worsham gets back behind the wheel of a Funny Car at his home track, Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in California, for this weekend’s NHRA Winternationals, the season-opening event on the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.
“I definitely have some unfinished business there,” said Worsham. “I want to try to win a championship in a Funny Car. When this whole thing came about, I was for it. I felt honored that the Kalitta organization asked me to do this. I’m going to really work hard at being the best driver I can be and hopefully bringing something back to the team. The first thing we want to do is qualify for a race. Then we want to try to make the Countdown (to the Championship playoffs). I’d sure like to get in the top 10 and position ourselves to race for a Mello Yello championship in Funny Car, which I originally set out to do 20-something years ago.”
Worsham spent 20 seasons in the Funny Car ranks before moving up to Top Fuel for just one season – and one very successful season at that. Now the 42-year-old driver looks to get back in the swing of things in Funny Car.
“There will probably be a little bit of knocking the rust off,” said Worsham. “As far as just driving the car down the racetrack, I can probably do that. Getting up there and having a good reaction time and keeping the thing in the groove and doing the job of driving everyone expects out of you will come with practice.”
The 53rd annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries kicks off the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, Thursday through Sunday, February 14th through 17th – follow this weekend’s action at www.nhra.com and on the NHRA Twitter page.
Quotes in this piece provided by the NHRA.
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