SEATTLE — Point-leaders Hot Rod Fuller (Top Fuel) and Ron Capps (Funny Car) paid for their decisions to focus on testing rather than drag racing this past weekend, for each lost in Sunday’s opening round of the Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd Int’l Raceway.
They claimed it was necessary, but many of their colleagues didn’t have that luxury. Some still are scrambling as the Toyo Tires Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pa., will open Friday. And that last chance to make the new Countdown to the Championship cutoff is doing just what the National Hot Rod Ass’n wanted — making people pay attention as the U.S. Nationals approaches.
“We really were in test-mode this weekend and we needed to do that to learn some stuff. You always need to try and stay ahead and learn new things. We don’t have the luxury of testing like most teams,” Fuller said. “We don’t hardly ever drop cylinders and it dropped a cylinder at the hit of the throttle and (Clay) Millican made a good solid run and it wasn’t our day.”
After Capps lost to teammate Jack Beckman, he said, “Yes, we are still testing. We still have some parts in the car that we’re trying to learn from, and we think if we can corral them and find out what makes these parts work well, it will benefit us down the road. It may not be until next year these parts may benefit us, but we need to find out in case we have to run them in the Countdown.
“It’s a work in progress, for sure. We feel sorry for our fans that we’re testing some things and we’re giving up a few rounds here and there. I guarantee it’s going to pay off in the long run.”
At least they’ve clinched spots.
In Top Fuel, Dave Grubnic hangs on to his No. 8 position by a mere two points. He should be thankful for Seattle rain, for that Top-10 rule that added him to the field after a qualifying washout has kept him in business. Sunday’s opening-round loss to Whit Bazemore (the No. 7 driver who hasn’t nailed down a berth, either) was no help.
Melanie Troxel broke a string of eight first-round losses Sunday to close Grubnic’s margin to two. She says competing in the IHRA race at Martin, Mich., the week before (where she lost in the semifinals to eventual winner Bruce Litton by only .0175 of a second) improved her crew’s collective attitude. In the past four NHRA races, she has qualified first, second, and fifth.
“We have a great car right now. We also have some great momentum at this point with only one race remaining,” she said. “If we can just get there, I feel we have a car that has a chance at the championship.” That’s grim news for Grubnic, who said he has to win at Reading — a tall order to fill.
In Funny Car, Jim Head is the only top-eight driver who hasn’t locked in a Countdown spot. Nos. 9 and 10, Tommy Johnson, Jr. and Del Worsham (who are 83 and 84 points out of the championship field) would need a major miracle and the unlikely event of Head falling off the face of the Earth to get in to the Countdown.
The Pro Stock field offers more drama. Sixth, seventh and eight are up for grabs, and right now they belong to (in order) Kurt Johnson, his dad (and six-time champ) Warren Johnson, and cagey Larry Morgan. Only 74 points separate them. Lurking in ninth is Vieri Gaines, and a point behind him is Richie Stevens.
“We have one race left,” Stevens said. “The only good news that V Gaines also lost first round. With one race left, we’re almost going to have to be perfect.”
Everyone has Tony Schumacher’s last-blast heroics from last November to inspire them, I suppose, but that’s why it was stunning: odds against it are tremendously high.
As the rolling hills of eastern Pennsylvania prepare for yet another historic battle this weekend, one thing is for sure. Too many competitors understand what Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson, who’s in test mode, said: “We’ve learned what not to do.”