5/8/06

That was one very weird weekend..........................

As I wrote for ESPN.com, when you look at the chain of events which took place in Atlanta this weekend—in all four professional classes—you’d have to believe that the earth is spinning off of its axis. Just the series of inexplicable episodes which rippled through the Funny Car category could fill a program on the Sci-Fi Channel.

From Eric’s second round win over Gary Scelzi after Eric’s Mustang shuddered to a stop a few hundred feet off the starting line—only to have Scelzi cross the centerline and get disqualified, to John’s second straight hole shot loss in as many weeks is proof enough that the Southern Nationals was no ordinary race.

The incredible string of round-winning consistency that Ron Capps has enjoyed over the first six races of the year came to a stop when Cruz Pedregon outran him in the first round. John was able to pick up 20 points on Ron by advancing to Round 2 but that wasn’t where John and the team wanted to leave it. The door was open to tighten things up by another 80 points but that will have to wait until Columbus, Ohio in two weeks.

There were other odd twists to the weekend: Doug Kalitta winning back-to-back races in Bristol and Atlanta in Top Fuel—which is exactly what he did last year. Melanie Troxel, who fouled out in the second round in Bristol last week advanced to yet ANOTHER final round, giving her six out of the first seven races of 2006. And Dave Connolly winning Pro Stock was as unpredictable as things could get. Dave has had some real struggles this year and only days ago replaced his crew chief, Terry Adams, with another veteran setup man, Tommy Utt. Dave failed to qualify a week ago in Bristol but came out of nowhere in Atlanta to win his sixth career national event.

But back in Funny Car, the enigmatic season of 2006 continues to defy explanation. John has, based strictly on performance, the most formidable car in the class. Take a look at his elapsed times and speeds during qualifying this year and the issue is settled. Nobody has posted the kind of numbers he has (except maybe Eric and/or Robert on various occasions). But on race day, the 13-time champ has been snake bitten and it’s incomprehensible that he is still winless in ’06 after crushing everyone time after time in qualifying since February.

I’m sure everyone in the class knows John can break out of this winless streak without warning and once he gets hot, he can stay hot for a long time. And it’s not out of the realm of possibility for Eric and Robert to start putting together a couple of hot streaks of their own. The unvarnished truth is that all three JFR Mustangs are very much dialed in with Austin, Bernie, John (Medlen) and Jimmy giving their drivers quick and fast racecars. None of the tuners are lost, fighting any mysterious gremlins, or wondering why the wins haven’t been coming. Take a look at some of the other teams in the class that are far outside the performance window John, Eric, and Robert have been running in and you begin to realize that this year’s championship battle has hardly begun. The best is yet to come.

And let’s not overlook Ashley’s second win of the season in Top Alcohol Dragster. Her final round opponent—another female, Karen Stalba—fouled out and gave Ashley a victory that everyone at JFR could really use.

In two weeks, we get back to business in Columbus, Ohio. I’ll be on the road over the next few weeks covering the NHRA and the NMCA for ESPN2, and the Champ Car World Series for SPEED Channel. If anyone thinks I’ve got the best job in the world----they’re absolutely right! Hope you’ll catch me on the tube and drop by this space in two weeks for more from “In the Groove”.

Thanks!