NHRA Newsmakers: Jan. 5, 2006
NHRA Newsmakers Your inside glimpse at the world's fastest motorsport WHO'S HOT! * BRANDON BERNSTEIN. In the Bud vs. Miller Lite vs. NHRA Media College Football Bowl challenge, the 2005-06 crown goes to Budweiser Racing's Brandon Bernstein, who somehow had the foresight to pick Wisconsin - a 10-point underdog! - to upset Auburn in the Capital One Bowl. That proved to be the decisive selection as he finished with a 6-4 record against the matching 4-6s for Miller Lite's Larry Dixon and NHRA's Michael Padian. As good as that pick was, however, he was nearly done in by the inexplicable selection of Texas Tech over Alabama. How is it that a Texas A&M alum could ever pick Texas Tech? At least he didn't also pick Texas in the Rose Bowl. Even if they were matched up against a sixth-grade flag football team, picking Texas would have been grounds for immediate revocation of his diploma. Larry Dixon Brandon Bernstein Michael Padian (Miller Lite dragster) (Budweiser dragster) (NHRA Media) VITALIS SUN UCLA-W UCLA-W Northwestern-L UCLA 50, Northwestern 38 CHICK-FIL-A PEACH Miami-L LSU-W LSU-W LSU 40, Miami 3 AT&T COTTON Alabama-W Texas Tech-L Texas Tech-L Alabama 13, Texas Tech 10 OUTBACK Florida-W Florida-W Florida-W Florida 31, Iowa 24 TOYOTA GATOR Louisville-L Virginia Tech-W Virginia Tech-W Virginia Tech 35, Louisville 24 CAPITAL ONE Auburn-L Wisconsin-W Auburn-L Wisconsin 24, Auburn 10 TOSTITOS FIESTA Notre Dame-L Notre Dame-L Ohio State-W Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 20 NOKIA SUGAR Georgia-L Georgia-L Georgia-L West Virginia 38, Georgia 35 FEDEX ORANGE Penn State-W Penn State-W Florida State-L Penn State 26, Florida State 23 (OT) ROSE BOWL USC-L USC-L USC-L Texas 41, USC 38 4-6 6-4 4-6 NEWS NUGGETS * START YOUR ENGINES. Anxious NHRA fans who just can't wait until the 2006 season-opening CARQUEST Winternationals will get a pretty nice appetizer Sat., Feb. 4 in the form of the 14th annual Pro Stock SuperBowl at Houston Raceway Park. The annual tuneup allows Pro Stock competitors one final shot at finding that magical tuneup before the race to dethrone two-time defending world champion Greg Anderson officially begins Feb. 9-12 in Pomona. * START YOUR ENGINES II. The Pro Stockers aren't alone in their quest to enter the 2006 season with the winning formula. The Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers will roll out their hot rods in each of the final two weekends in January, first at the Nitro Blast Off Jan. 20-24 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and then at the National Time Trials Jan. 28-30 at Firebird Int'l Raceway in Phoenix. * START YOUR ENGINES III: All of the pro drivers will get a final stab at preparing for the 2006 season at the Last Chance Pro Test Session Feb. 3-5 back in Las Vegas. The weekend of testing is open to all classes and will be highlighted by the Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown on Saturday, Feb. 4. The Showdown will feature the balance of Pro Stock drivers not participating in the SuperBowl in Houston. For more information on any of the preseason events, contact the NHRA media relations department at (626) 914-4761 or go directly to the track websites at http://www.houstonraceway.com <http://www.houstonraceway.com/> , http://www.lvms.com <http://www.lvms.com/> or http://www.firebirdraceway.com <http://www.firebirdraceway.com/> * LOOKING GOOD, WHIT. Whit Bazemore, the third arm of the powerful DSR Funny Car team that includes Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps, will be sporting a new paint job for his new Dodge Charger in 2006. For more information on the new paint scheme or to view a picture, click on the following: http://www.matcotools.com/MotorSports/hdPress.jsp TRIVIA QUESTION * GOING OLD SCHOOL: Can you name the make of the car Bob Glidden drove to Pro Stock victories at the Auto Club Finals in 1973, '74, '75 and '77? (Answer below) INSIDE THE NUMBERS * CLOSE ONLY COUNTS ...: Evidence of how difficult it is to win a POWERade Series world championship was as on display in 2005 perhaps like no other year in NHRA history. Former world champions Larry Dixon in Top Fuel, John Force in Funny Car, Warren Johnson in Pro Stock and Angelle Sampey in Pro Stock Motorcycle all had up-close looks at a POWERade Series world championship only to come up short. But each of those competitors has at least raised a world championship trophy in his or her career. Consider how it must feel for this distinguished group of drivers which will collectively be looking for their first world championship in 2006 1. Bruce Allen, Pro Stock: 16 career wins; best finish is 2nd (1989); also finished third four times 2. Whit Bazemore, Funny Car: 19 career wins; best finish is 2nd (2001, '03); also finished third twice 3. Antron Brown, Pro Stock Motorcycle: 14 career wins; best career finish is 2nd (2001); also finished third twice and fourth twice 4. Ron Capps, Funny Car: 17 career wins; best finish is 2nd (1998, 2000, '05); has five top-5 finishes 5. Kurt Johnson, Pro Stock: 32 career wins; best finish is 2nd (1993, 2000, '03, '05); also finished third four times 6. Doug Kalitta, Top Fuel: 24 wins; best finish is 2nd (2003, '04); also finished third twice 7. Cory McClenathan, Top Fuel: 28 career wins; best finish is 2nd (1992, 95, 97, 98); has eight top-five finishes 8. Del Worsham, Funny Car: 21 career wins; best career finish is 2nd (2004); also has two third-place and two fourth-place finishes HE SAID, SHE SAID * RON CAPPS (Carlsbad, Calif.), driver of the soon-to-be-unveiled Brut Dodge Charger (Stratus R/T in 2005), is still on the "Close Only Counts ... " list above because he came up, incredibly, just one round-win short of teammate Gary Scelzi in the appropriately hyped and well-documented 2005 Funny Car world championship race between himself, Scelzi and John Force. Immediately afterward, Capps expressed a sense of relief that the frenzied, two-month media blitz was finally over, but in a Q&A available on NHRA's media website ( http://media.nhra.com/apcm/templates/pr.asp?articleid=9609&zoneid=51), he looked back on the season with a little more perspective: "For me to finish (second) for the third time in my career, it was heartbreaking. I'm still not over it. And I know the guys are really starting to get going again, but every morning, I can tell you, without a doubt, sometimes within the first couple of hours after I get up I think about what could have been and how we could have won the championship and what we could have done at any time of the season to gain those eight points. It just hurts. It just motivates me, more than anything." TRIVIA ANSWER * Hint ... it was a FORD ... Glidden drove a 1973 Pinto to wins in 1973, '74 and '75 and he drove a new 1977 Pinto to victory in 1977. It began a stretch where he would win seven of eight Auto Club Finals. He used a Fairmont for his 1978 and 1980 wins, an Arrow in 1979 and a Camaro in 1981.