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TOP FUEL

Del Worsham lends a hand in the pits.  (Ron Lewis photo)

Del Worsham raced to his fifth victory of the season in Top Fuel, powering his Al-Anabi Racing dragster past David Grubnic in the final round. A three-time Funny Car winner at Joliet, Worsham joined Gary Scelzi as the only drivers to win in both nitro categories at Route 66 Raceway when he posted a 3.978 at 299.40 to hold off Grubnic’s Kalitta Motorsports machine, which trailed with a 4.055 at 294.50.

“What a day we had here,” said Worsham of his 30th career victory. “It started off not so good. We went down the track only one time out of four in qualifying, but when you have a guy like Alan Johnson (team manager) in your corner, you’re never out of it. It showed the depth of our team.  To win for the fifth time this year is like a dream come true.
When the whole [switch from Funny Car to Top Fuel] was announced I had
mixed emotions. It was (team owner) Sheikh Khalid’s call and
now he looks like a genius. I just feel very lucky to be in
this spot. I never expected that we’d be
able to do so much so
soon this year.”

David Grubnic  (Ron Lewis photo)
It was a good day for the Kalitta Racing team. Native Australian David Grubnic, driver of the Candlewood Suites Top Fuel dragster, and Canadian Jeff Arend, driver of the DHL Funny Car, both raced to the final round in their respective classes in the final eliminations of the Route 66 NHRA Nationals.
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