An uplifting competition after tragedy
Written by Sheila Scarborough · June 30, 2008
The first half of the season is wrapping up, the Western Swing is about to start and the drag racing community was shocked last week by the tragic death of Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta (preliminary findings about the Englishtown crash were released by NHRA.)
Some uplifting news was needed, and it come from Dougzilla.
In the 2nd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, Top Fuel driver Doug Herbert achieved his goal of winning one “for the boys;” his sons Jon and James, who were killed in a January auto accident.
Herbert defeated Brandon Bernstein’s Bud rail with a better reaction time (0.018 to 0.081) and a 4.636 at 311.70 mph.
“Unbelievable,” said Herbert. “It’s such an emotional day, and I’m just happy to get the job done. Going up there I knew I was going to dig down and give it everything I had. I just wanted to do everything I could do to beat [Bernstein] because I didn’t want to have a mistake that I made cost us the race. Luckily, I have my little lucky charm [daughter Jessie] with me, and we did a lot of thinking about her brothers today, and I’m sure they were riding with me on that final-round win.
“Winning a race was important to me because that substantiates and justifies what we’re trying to do. I feel like I’m a winner, and I want my kids to be proud of me and think of me as a winner. I set some real high goals for myself this year, and they haven’t changed. I’m going to drive the wheels off that car every run, I guarantee you.”
This was Herbert’s first win since Reading last season, and Bernstein’s second final in a row.
In Funny Car, Tony Pedregon beat Robert Hight (the low qualifier) for the Wally, with a 4.882 at 306.26 mph.
“We knew we had a tough opponent in the final round, it always is any time you race a Force car, and my crew chief really nailed it for the conditions,” said Pedregon. “We expected a tough race, and they were right there. Just to reach the winner’s circle at any race is good, but this one puts us right back in the game, and I think every race from this point on is going to be very important.
“I’ve dedicated the race to Scott’s [Kalitta] kids and his wife. I think it’s important that everyone out here wants them to know we care about them. I think the time coming up we’ll use to regroup and heal, and we’ll never forget him.”
Greg Anderson was bounced in the first round of the $50,000 K&N Horsepower Challenge bonus event (won by Allen Johnson) but he beat a redlighting Larry Morgan to win the Pro Stock title in Norwalk.
“I certainly got slapped in the [Horsepower Challenge] final,” said
“I would love to have the No. 1 spot [heading into the Countdown to 1]; it’s worth 20 points. That’s really the goal. We haven’t done too well up until the last couple of weekends. We’ve got a great race team, and we’ve kind of been getting shown the way home this year, but it looks like we’re making a recovery. It sure feels good to come to a race with a chance to win, and for the last couple of months, we didn’t have too good of a chance to win and needed a miracle. I think we’re back in the fight, and we’re going to keep swinging out there, trying to make it better by the time we get to the Countdown [to 1].”
Hector Arana reached his last Pro Stock Motorcycle final back in 1997, but the stars aligned for him in Ohio and he defeated Craig Treble in the finals with a 7.027 at 187.60 mph.
“I have to thank Forrest and Charlotte Lucas for believing in me and believing I could do this job,” said Arana of his longtime backers. “I never gave up, and my crew guys never gave up, and I’ve met a lot of wonderful people who have given me a hand over the year and never stopped trusting in me, and I’m glad I was able to do it. It’s an awesome, awesome feeling, and it hasn’t sunk in yet, but it feels great to accomplish what I’ve been working for all these years.”
“We figured out what’s been wrong with the bike since Englishtown where we ended up in the sand,” he said, “and yesterday I had a bucking-bronco run that almost threw me off, and I’m glad it happened in qualifying because we were able to figure out the problem, which was an electrical switch was shutting the bike down. We got it figured out and started the day off good in round one.”
The Western Swing kicks off with high altitude challenges at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, July 11-13 at Colorado’s Bandimere Speedway, near Denver.
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