Media Matters: Drivers try to reach mountain top
Phillip Gary Smith, go2geiger Media Columnist
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
An unlikely set of circumstances gathered like the early raceday fog from Mt. Rainier, vaporizing into a weekend of firsts at the Northwest Nationals.
Where else but Seattle can you go to a drag race and find volcano evacuation routes interspersed with routine traffic signs. By one measure, the massive Mt. Rainier mountain range exceeds the infamous K2. For the first time since the last century (22 years), the Western Swing starts in its shadow, changing conditions normal for this venue. The result? Unique, historic -- and tragic -- outcomes.
Teams throughout the country gather at this faraway corner of the country site where they plan to summit one special Rainier peak: Point Success. Success is measured many ways in life and in racing.
The heartwarming success story of this weekend had to be a 73-year-old driver attempting 66 times over a quarter of a century to qualify just once at a NHRA Pro Stock event. Jim Cunningham nailed it on this attempt at Pacific Raceways by qualifying his dazzling red Cunningham Motorsports Mustang while a long way from his Maryland home. Paul Page commented, “He finally has done it. What a great story.” Gary Gerould in a live interview asked if spending millions for this moment was worth it. Jim humbly responded, “I’m enjoying it.” The visual of him embracing the moment was far more poignant than those three words. The single biggest upset story of the season, maybe the decade, would be Cunningham overcoming Mike Edwards’ Penhall GXP in Round 1. Edwards is a driver who has likely qualified the last 67 times he tried with many of those as No. 1. A red light ended any suspense, so Jim will have to wait until next time to win his first round. However, this story dominated the heart-warming class of racing over the weekend.
Doug Kalitta, as statman Lewis Bloom reported, went 84 events between No. 1 qualifying honors in Top Fuel. The last time he notched the pole position was the 2006 Pomona Finals.
Sporting a striking black paint scheme, Brian Thiel’s Case Agriculture III Impala lined up in the Funny Car ranks for the first time this year, only to catch a first round match with a top funded team, Al-Anabi Racing and veteran Del Worsham piloting his Solara. Mike Dunn noted, “It’s been cooler every day since we’ve been here,” meaning records were predictable; Tim Wilkerson boldly took it to a new level on ESPN's "NHRA RaceDay” show saying, “I expect both ends of the records to be broke in all three pro classes.” Del Worsham parked Thiel’s Impala for the remainder of the day by setting a speed record, one of several drivers who broke records just as Wilkerson predicted. Additionally, Tim Wilkerson won the day, which was the first time he has ever been to three straight finals. The LRS team’s 11 wins over the past three years is the most of any in the ultra-competitive Funny Car class.
Washington Top Fuel racer, Ron Smith, had such a monumental task on Sunday that if offered to climb Mt. Rainier instead, his odds would have been better lacing up his hiking boots. Qualifying for the race, a first for this racer, was a major step in his racing resume. Having to meet Tony Schumacher racing the Army rail in the first round, a daunting task, ended his day. Schumacher managed to add credibility to Wilk’s forecast by setting the track ET record.
When was the last time you remember an entire pro class backing off the start line, in effect calling a mini-strike during eliminations? This piece of theater one could never script was triggered by the anger of Warren Johnson, palpable to the cameras as he shouted-out the NHRA.
“This race track is flat-out dangerous.” His beef was the “track being prepped for nitro cars, that’s all the NHRA wants. They didn’t prep the track correctly for our class.”
Reporting from pits and cars scattered about, Dave Rieff and Gary Gerould came up with the story for the viewer: Was this just a tirade by the peppery Professor of Pro Stock racing or something else indeed? Greg Anderson confirmed Warren’s view by boldly pronouncing, “It’s a miracle we didn’t crash in the first two rounds. It’s a simple, simple fix” of adding track glue to the surface for the entire quarter mile, not just stopping at the nitro distance of 1,000 feet. In other words, add another 320 feet of track prep, which seemingly is an easy fix. The issue evidently had been bubbling below the surface for some time like a Mt. Rainier volcano. That has now changed and at this race. The issue has now officially erupted with a lava of words succinctly summarized by Mopar’s Allen Johnson: “They didn’t prep the track correctly.”
Sounding very much like a racing version of the IRS, the NHRA “invited” the class back to the line after the nitro class ran their next rounds. Television reported the winners of the first two pair would race for the Wally “final” if the field did not come back. That message from those in charge said, in effect, to the Pro Stock teams, “There, crybabies, take that!”
There did not appear to be an overflow of empathy for the racer’s predicament by the governing body, a racing situation given credibility by the fact all of the remaining competitors up and left the line. One driver complaining might make a situation suspect, but the entire class? The day ended safely as the clouds cleared, and the slicker early conditions evaporated.
Unexplained is why the remaining piece of track is so difficult to treat. Perhaps the answer lies in the famous book (and movie) by Joseph Heller, “Catch- 22,” which explains bureaucratic absurdity by explaining, “Oh, that’s done because of Catch-22.” The net result here, though, was the governing body stained its own safety initiatives by coming off like an authoritarian Mt. Rainier glacier -- not very smart but with lots of power.
Say it isn’t so! “I choked,” admitted John Force, nearly creating a tsunami in Puget Sound from the shock of this pronouncement. He was taking blame for blowing a round win by pedaling his Castrol Mustang across the center line, losing in the process to Jack Beckman’s coasting finish of 82 mph. Adding insult to the round was that all three JFR entries packed up their trailers by the end of the second stanza. Their highlight of the weekend was daughter Courtney’s safety after her savvy driving of the crippled Top Alcohol Dragster in Saturday eliminations.
Continuing to add to our vocabulary, here are a few gems from the Northwest:
The penalty box: this is the term John Force used to describe the ESPN broadcast booth. He enjoys it, but as racers would confirm, they prefer winning thus not having the time to broadcast during the competition from the penalty box. Force said, “They told me to get over here.” A smart piece of broadcast thinking by “they.”
On Saturday afternoon, Rick Green made this Summit FastNews entry:
“Looks like I have lost the TV feed, so it’s back to reading the numbers and listening to the track announcers in the Bat Cave.” That’s the answer we’ve all been waiting for! Many have always thought Bob Frey was secretly Batman.
Continuing our drag racing education, viewers discovered auto parts have ears. Here’s how: Jeff Arend continues pressing to get in the top 10 of The Countdown and bump Tony Pedregon out. Pedregon, after qualifying his Herzog Impala, indicated improvements involving changes in the car’s makeup were made in order to keep ahead of Arend, explaining the improvements this way: “It’s parts, and people telling the parts what to do.”
Aussie-born David Grubnic asked about his favorite food in an interview with Gary Gerould, recommended vegemite, a concoction consisting of left over yeast from beer manufacturing one smears on toast. There is always a first time for everything. “Vegemite tastes great,” he tells us. Its flavor reputation is well below David’s view. Paul Page concurs, “I’ve had it. It’s not that cool.” Do you remember the song making vegemite a popular word in the USA? Here’s a clue: it was before Jim Cunningham began his qualifying quest!
In 1982 the Australian group, Men at Work, recorded a bar song, “Land Down Under,” with the lyrics, “Do you speak-a my language? He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich.” Brandon Bernstein, now sporting the bright blue of the Copart dragster, once drove for a beer manufacturer who, no doubt, had plenty of yeast remaining from their brewing process. Yet, a bet is the Bernstein camp never had this spread in their luxury tents. Brandon and David met in the first round with big points implications. Grubnic’s Kalitta Dragster surprisingly ousted the Copart Blue machine.
The Northwest represents one of the strongest technology areas of the country, so it is fitting a new media was added to the menu of broadcasting options for today’s race: Channel ESPN3. This online network received favorable comments, like this fan from Knoxville, Tenn., who e-mailed, “This is like watching television, only better.” He had no problem clicking on the site and watching live racing, “just like I was at the track.” He particularly enjoyed watching real time sportsman racing, too, “a genuine treat.” Another added, “It was exceptionally clear.”
The negatives were few, but included not getting the round-by-round live feed from Paul Page and Mike Dunn (along with Statman, Gary Gerould and Dave Rieff) which adds so much to the broadcasts. Additionally the sound from the public address system didn’t carry into his pretty powerful speakers. One other note: when there is no action (as during the investigation and aftermath of the crash by Mark Niver), rather than having a static picture of trees, have a crowd shot that at least has activity and a change in the mix. No motor sport event, except for the Indianapolis 500, beats a live drag race for television viewing. ESPN3 allows real time, live enjoyment and is a wonderful arrow in the quiver of televised choices for fans.
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