NHRA: Del Worsham Q&A on Funny Car title

Del Worsham (ABOVE) claimed his second NHRA championship title and first in Funny Car at the season finale at Pomona last weekend.

Q: Del, in Funny Cars with the 3-second runs, and the national records that we've seen set and even passing hands, back and forth, but how important was it for your team to take your own course and run your own car and not worry about maybe some of the outside influences?

DEL WORSHAM: It was very important. We had a small lead going into the event, but that lead can obviously get gobbled up pretty easy with national records and round wins. And, to tell the truth, we were definitely keeping track of points and watching where we were and I knew at all times where we were and what the stakes were, like when Jack Beckman first round, when he went out and won his round and set the record, we had a 36-point lead, well that gave him 40 points, and I knew first round had we not won, he would not have had enough points to overtake us. So it was pressure, it was a lot of tension, but the guys pulled through and we were able to pull it off.

Q: Del, what would be your advice to any champion out there that has just one championship? What would be your advice to them on getting that second championship?

DEL WORSHAM: After the first, I probably did it unconventionally because the first championship I won in Top Fuel and ended up quitting that job and taking on a new job. When we agreed to put this thing together for the Funny Car with DHL and Kalitta Motorsports, I took a look at the program and made sure it was something that could be built into a championship caliber team. I knew that the funds of there, I knew the account was there, Connie Kalitta has a great team here, a great crew chief, great baking with DHL and Toyota and Red Lion, everybody, so you have to align yourself with the right people and make sure your goals are definitely attainable.

Q: As far as you look into the future, you thinking of adding something to set you up better? Maybe not a different class but something that gives you a different championship, another edge?

DEL WORSHAM: Really what I want to do is drive that Toyota Camry with the No. 1 on it. In 2011 when I quit at the end of the year, I didn't get a chance the next season to drive the car with the No. 1 on the side of it, so next year I'm going to go out and enjoy that and know that we were the World Champions and try and win a second one. When I was growing up, the greats, Don Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein's the Frank Holly's, and Raymond Beadle, the won multiples, you know, so hopefully we can try and back up what we did this year and maybe we can do it a little bit better before the count down, so it's not a surprise.

Q: When you were the crew chief for Alexis DeJoria, did you learn anything, bring anything back to the seat of the car that helped you focus on this championship?

DEL WORSHAM: Yeah, I think I did. It's not big things, it's just little things, like when you're backing up from the burn out, you try and pay attention getting the car lined up. You don't want to make a whole lot of moves once you get behind the starting line, get tired of watering like that, so I maybe I got complacent through the years backing up fast and not paying attention as much as I should have, being behind and helping Alexis and working with her, I rethought and refocused on some of those things. Also the importance of just every run. If you lose a run somewhere during the weekend, that could have been the run that could have qualified you, or positioned you or had something to do with it. Really focus and pay attention and make sure we get everything out of every run we possibly can.

Q: All day Friday, Saturday, an emotional roller coaster on how hard the cars were running, you get into them, see the natural record fall, then see the natural record fall again and the emotional swing had to be tremendous but at the end of the day when you win the championship, what kind of emotions did you feel knowing that you'd won that in Scott's car?

DEL WORSHAM: Relief was one, for a couple of motion it had been stress filled. Ever since Maple Grove, the event where we had that big lead and lost it all in one day there, it's definitely been an emotional roller coaster since that race, and feeling relief once we had won the semifinal round race, but we still have the final round, so I didn't want to relax or forget the task at hand, which is still to win the race, so we had to stay focused there for another hour and a half, but I felt relieved and felt like a very big sense of accomplishment, and I felt like maybe in some way that could bring some kind of healing or closure to the Kalitta family and Scott Kalitta, because when Scott decided to keep this car going it was in the memory of his son, and we basically attained the highest goal we could, and that would be to win a championship for Connie and his family.

Q: Have you talked to Connie now? Can you share what that conversation was like?

DEL WORSHAM: Yeah, did I and he called me up, and he was in a great mood. He was excited, and the biggest thing he told me was we would you have made Scott (Kalitta) proud, and that was enough of a conversation for me. He thought of his son, and he knew that we were all thinking of him. So I think we accomplished the goal of carrying on Scott's memory and finishing what he started to do back in 2006.

Q: Are you surprised at the performance gains in Nitro Funny Cars this year?

DEL WORSHAM: Yeah, very much surprised. I never believed you could make that kind of gains in this day and age. We had all been picking away at performance, 100ths here and 100ths there, but what took place this year in the second half of the season, basically from the western swing on was nothing short of remarkable. I tried to think back to when these kind of gains were made when I was around, and I don't think it ever happened when I was driving. I think you would have to go back to a lock-up clutch or the two fuel pumps or Billet heads to see this kind of gain. It's amazing how all the teams were able to rise up as soon as somebody raised that bar everybody jumped up with it and it took us a couple of races to get there with it but we did, and I am surprised.

Q: John Oberhofer tunes this car. Is it a cooperative effort between the clutch department with Nicky Oberhofer? John's got to be the leader but do you feel that there is such an incredible team behind that you you're just heading into the Winter Nationals with a tremendous lead?

DEL WORSHAM: Yeah, you know, Nicky and Jon-O, besides working together, they're great friends also so they know each other well and they have been working together for a long time. I think they started working together on Doug's dragster before they came over to Scott's Funny Car, so they've been working together for quite a while, and I watched them work together, and they know each other's limits and they know how to push each other and what to do so they definitely cooperate among each other and they have goals and boundaries that they know about and working together they're able to pull this thing together.

Q: Have you had a chance to think about how unbelievably amazing this is, winning this championship to fill all the dreams you've had since first entering drag racing?

DEL WORSHAM: I wish I had, I just haven't had much time yet. A little bit on Sunday night when we got home my wife and I and the girls we had a chance to kind of reflect on it a little bit but come Monday morning I was already out at the track helping out with my dad's car. We have licensing for drivers that we wanted to upgrade this week, and I already put it on the books and you gotta do what you say. So I'm up here in Bakersfield right now getting ready to go out and make some runs with a guy, and we are going to run basically through Sunday. So come Monday, we're going to sit down and reflect on it and relish what took place here.

Q: Of all of the individuals involved in your entire racing career, who do you wish you could reach out to and just say thank you, thank you for everything you've done for me?

DEL WORSHAM: Right, right, there are – the one guy who is not around anymore who passed away besides my father who gave me this opportunity was – there was actually two of them, Ron Toddran, he was my dad's partner, and he basically owned the car at the time when I started driving it. He – he believed in me enough to give me that opportunity to let me drive. Him and my dad were partners but he thought it was a good idea and we had another individual, Dennis Thompson working for us who really pushed it hard, too, so those two guys I would like to really reach out and say thank you.

Q: Was it enjoyable as well as being pressure packed to be racing against this guy at the top of your game?

DEL WORSHAM: In qualifying you know it's fun, because there is not a whole lot of pressure because it's not do or die at that point. We definitely had some fun runs with him. I think 2Q, when we both ran close to 391, or whatever, those were both great runs and that was exciting at that point. But on Sunday when it came down to.

Q: How do you think it's going to change NHRA, the way it's perceived among the big motorsports?

DEL WORSHAM: I hope it increases our viewership. Personally, you know, I don't go back and watch a baseball game when I know who won, and I don't watch a football game when I know who already won. So hopefully by going live we will get a lot of people there, and they will really pay attention and tune in and watch us on Fox. It's going to be exciting, and I think it's definitely the next step for NHRA Drag Racing. I just don't see any down side to it whatsoever, I just think it's going to be great.