FUNNY CAR

Del Worsham claimed his second NHRA world championship title and first in Funny Car, and then raced to the event victory Sunday at the Auto Club NHRA Finals near Los Angeles.

(Ron Lewis photo)

Southern California native Worsham defeated Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship playoff rival Jack Beckman in the semifinals to secure the Funny Car season title at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona and become just the third driver in NHRA history, joining Kenny Bernstein and Gary Scelzi, to win world championships in both nitro categories. Worsham won the 2011 Top Fuel world championship.

Despite a seven-win season by DSR's Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team led by crew chief Jimmy Prock with assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham, the team and DSR fell about one-tenth of a second short, which gave the championship trophy to Worsham by 56 points.

"We said whoever would win it would earn it, and they did," said Beckman, who is the 2012 Funny Car world champion. "Nobody is holding their head down here. We did amazing things on the racetrack and amazing things for our injured vets with Infinite Hero."

The weekend of Funny Car competition, especially Sunday's elimination rounds, will become part of NHRA drag racing lore.

Beckman and the Infinite Hero Dodge won its first round race with a potential NHRA record of 3.897 seconds that would earn 20 points if he ended the event without anyone else topping the mark that bettered his previous national record of 3.897 set a month ago at Reading, Pa. 

But teammate Ron Capps, the No. 1 qualifier with the Rahn Tobler-led NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge, took that record away from Beckman in the second round with a run in 3.885.

Unbelievably, the Infinite Hero team was the next pair to run and produced a time of 3.884 - one-thousandth of a second quicker than Capps - to take the record back and eventual earn the bonus points.

Beckman entered the semifinal round paired against Worsham trailing and needed to win that race to clinch the championship. But Worsham ended Beckman's remarkable year and comeback with a time of 3.900 (328.14) to Beckman's 4.088 (324.83).