Rit Pustari Fills In With Bernstein Sidelined With Kidney Stones

READING, Pa. — Sunday’s eliminations were short-lived but dramatic, as the entire first round of Top Fuel match-ups played out, along with three Funny Car pairings.
Upsets highlighted Top Fuel action.
 They included No. 15 qualifier Doug Foley’s victory over No. 2 Tony Schumacher and lower-qualified J.R. Todd’s holeshot victory against a quicker and faster Bob Vandergriff. Todd’s margin of victory was four-thousandths of a second.
In Funny Car, point-leader Ron Capps and resurgent veteran John Force advanced. And Tim Wilkerson set low elapsed time of the meet (4.786 seconds) and top speed (328.14 miles per hour). He raised the speed mark by nearly five mph. Del Worsham had led the field with a 4.800-second, 323.97-mph qualifying effort.
 
• Top Fuel driver Brandon Bernstein, sidelined by a kidney stone this past weekend, yielded his Budweiser/Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster ride to journeyman Rit Pustari. Bernstein was released Saturday from Reading Hospital and Medical Center following a surgical procedure. He remained at his hotel Sunday, resting, while Pustari, who admitted he was “rusty” behind the wheel of a dragster, had a foul start against Dave Grubnic and wasted a 4.562-second run at 327.98 miles per hour.

• Del Worsham’s slim chance to make the Countdown to the Championship breathed new life at Reading when he led the Funny Car field in qualifying.
“To tell you the truth, coming into this thing as the No. 1 qualifier, my nerves were pretty wired this morning,” he said Sunday. “I went to bed early, but I was awake around 5 o’clock and there was no going back to bed. We have all this drama going and you’d almost think this whole thing was scripted, the way the rain came just as Tony [Pedregon] and Jim [Head] were pulling up to race.
 “We were all up there to watch that one,” Worsham said, “because the drama was either going to be all over for us, if Jim won that race, or ratcheted up even higher if Tony took him out. For Jim to clinch the last Countdown slot, and end any thought of us catching him, all he needs to do is win a round here, but Tony and his group are very tough.”

• When rain washed out the remainder of the day’s action, Worsham said, “Now, we all get to sleep on it at least one more night. The forecast for tomorrow [Monday] is lousy, but we’ve been told to just plan on staying here until we get this race completed. Of course, the forecast for today wasn’t all that bad, so maybe they’ll be wrong about Monday, too, and the rain will move out of here. One way or another, I guess, we’re going to find out how this all works out. For tonight, maybe we’ll all just go bowling.”

• The Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes set their fields for their bonus races at Indianapolis. The events will take place during qualifying for the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, NHRA’s marquee event.
John Force Racing’s Robert Hight is the runaway leader among the field of eight for the Sept. 2 Skoal Showdown. The winner will receive $100,000.
Ron Capps, Tony Pedregon, Tommy Johnson, Jr., John Force, Mike Ashley, Gary Scelzi, and driver Jack Beckman complete the field.
Angelle Sampey is the top seed for the $25,000-to-win Ringers Gloves Bike Battle. Competitors for the Sept. 1 event include Andrew Hines, Matt Smith, Chip Ellis, Craig Treble, Karen Stoffer, Antron Brown and Steve Johnson.

• Team owner Don Schumacher generated some buzz last week, announcing that 19-year-old alcohol altered and nostalgia drag racer Leah Pruett, of Redlands, Calif., will test and/or drive a Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car in the future.
Pruett was scheduled to try out one of the Dodge Chargers at this week’s two-day test session at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. But just as rain played havoc with those plans, so did gossip with Schumacher’s news. And at Maple Grove Raceway, he clarified his position.
“Leah’s got the desire, the drive and the determination to do it,” Schumacher said, “and I’m looking to have her just make a couple of short little squirts, 200- to 300-ft. passes at Indy during the test session — if we have time.
“The Indy test session is important to the whole DSR team for us to concentrate on trying to win championships and stay in the Countdown. So that’s our No. 1 goal. And if we have some time, which I believe we’ll have, depending on the weather, we’ll put Leah in one of the Funny Cars just to see how she can handle it, and go from there,” he said.
Gary Scelzi has said he’ll take a hiatus from the sport, but Schumacher said, “I really haven’t made a determination for a driver for next year. We’re getting closer to starting to think about that harder and who’s going to be the person, and why. But there’s been no determination at this point.”