Del Worsham hoists his first NHRA amusing auto title

The team’s previous best finish in the amusing vehicle standings was sixth in 2014 with Worsham as the driver.

Although he has won only one round in seven previous Top Fuel appearances in the Finals, the talented Texan hopes to channel 2005, the year in which he was runnerup at Pomona en route to a world championship in the Top Alcohol Dragster division. Beckman had been quicker than Worsham in each of the first two rounds and Fast Jack had lane choice in the matchup with Del.

“It is an unbelievable feeling”.

“When I put this trophy next to my other one at home it will be real”, Worsham said. I am not going to tell you it was like any other race, because it wasn’t. Johnson is 94 points behind Worsham.

“I don’t know what to say right now”, Worsham said after winning his race against Beckman. “I am beyond words”. They have not made a mistake since September. “Every time I looked up there was a Schumacher auto sitting there in my face”.

“Racing for (the late) Scott (Kalitta) and (team owner) Connie Kalitta, my teammates and all my sponsors”.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, championship hopeful Savoie rode to his third No. 1 qualifying performance in a row and fourth in the Countdown playoffs, posting a 6.803 at 197.51 on his White Alligator Racing Suzuki.

“What the NHRA has done with the countdown, it worked out exactly as they envisioned”, Worsham said. This was literally a head to head run for the NHRA championship.

Ron Capps, the fastest qualifier in amusing vehicle for the finals, had the longest odds. He was eliminated from championship contention in the first round even though he won his race against Jeff Arend.

In round 1 of eliminations, Capps, Hagan, Johnson and Beckman all won with their Dodge Charger amusing cars, but so did Worsham, Hight, Pedregon and DeJoria. However, since Worsham had been a consistent final round runner-up during the first 18 races followed by winning 3 of the 5 Countdown races ahead of the final event of the 2015 season, Del’s Toyota was the leader when the cars took to the track for the final run of the year. “We started racing together in Super Comp and now here we are racing in Top Fuel with (crew chief) Richard Hogan and (car chief) Bobby (Lagana) and the guys”. At 32, he is the youngest driver in NHRA history to win five drag racing championships. Hines beat Hector Arana Jr.in his second-round race. Sitting in the burnout area, Hines had a ringside seat for the deciding match, in which his Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson teammate, Eddie Krawiec, defeated challenger Jerry Savoie, who broke just off the starting line. “If it doesn’t, then we ended on a great note”. Hines lost to Krawiec in the semifinals.

Hines’ most recent win in Las Vegas was the 42nd of his career, which moved him past Angelle Sampey into sole possession of second place on the all-time wins list in Pro Stock Motorcycle behind Schultz, who tallied 45 victories during his career. “If it happens, it’ll be the best deal I’ve ever had”.

Brown won the Top Fuel championship. He wrapped up the second title of his career at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks ago. All day long, Johnson used a better reaction time on the “Christmas” tree to win his rounds – including the finals – never quite hitting the setup spot on his Johnson & Johnson Magneti Marelli/Mopar Dodge; rather, he used his ability to work the tree to perfection. He beat Vincent Nobile in the final race. Antron Brown (Top Fuel) and Erica Enders (Pro Stock) had already clinched their titles.