News and Notes
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FORCE CLINCHES 11TH CHAMPIONSHIP; DENSHAM WINS O'REILLY NATIONALS

Photo by Randy Anderson

On the weekend that he mourned the loss of his mother, John Force clinched an unprecedented 11th Winston Championship and teammate Gary Densham won the second race of his career.

Force, the sport's most prolific winner, secured his ninth straight title when the only driver with even a mathematical chance of catching him, Whit Bazemore, was upset in the second round by Del Worsham.

His major goal secured, Force drove his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to the finals before losing to Densham in a classic battle, 4.832 to 4.852 seconds. Densham, who went 243 races before winning for the first time, now has beaten his boss in two straight finals.

Force, who is stuck on 98 careers wins, lost to one of his Castrol teammates for the fourth straight time in final round competition. He has lost twice to Tony Pedregon, driver of the Castrol SYNTEC Ford, and twice to Densham, driver of the Castrol/Auto Club of Southern California Ford.

Among the other winners was former Team Castrol driver Pat Austin, who earned his 73rd career victory when he beat Jay Payne for the Federal Mogul Dragster title.

Photo by Jeff Burk

FORCE VS. DENSHAM FINAL ROUND NOTES

Force versus Densham: 20-2 overall; 3-1 in final rounds.

Densham ended a 243-race victory drought Sept. 23 when he beat Force in the final round of the AutoZone Nationals at Memphis, Tenn.

This is Force's 153rd final round appearance; his eighth final in his last nine appearances at Texas Motorplex.

John is seeking his fourth straight victory in the O'Reilly Fall Nationals.

John clinched a record-breaking 11th Winston Championship when Whit Bazemore lost to Del Worsham in the second round. Force has won an unprecedented nine straight championships. He has clinched three times at the Motorplex (1995, 1999 and 2001).

John is bidding for his 99th career win; Densham for his second.

John has lost the last four times he has faced one of his teammates in the final to Tony Pedregon at last fall's Matco SuperNationals at Houston, Texas; at this year's Matco SuperNationals at Englishtown, N.J.; and at this year's Advance Auto Parts Nationals at Topeka, Kan.; and to Densham this year at Memphis.

This is John's 13th final round appearance of the season. He has six wins, twice as many as anyone else in the Funny Car division.

This is the first time in five final round meetings that Densham has enjoyed the choice of lanes.

John Force/Gary Densham finals

Aug. 21, 1994 Brainerd, Minn.	Lane Choice	Reaction Time	1/4 Mile Time	Speed
FORCE	Force	.502	5.136	291.16
Densham		.465	6.654	141.70

Aug. 20, 1995 Brainerd, Minn.	Lane Choice	Reaction Time	1/4 Mile Time	Speed
FORCE	Force	.535	5.284	291.91
Densham		.539	5.850	231.06

May 19, 1996 Englishtown, N.J.	Lane Choice	Reaction Time	1/4 Mile Time	Speed
FORCE	Force	.501	5.087	298.80
Densham		.513	5.287	285.53

Sept. 23, 2001 Memphis, Tenn.	Lane Choice	Reaction Time	1/4 Mile Time	Speed
FORCE	Force	.541	5.111	283.73
Densham		.537	5.070	290.01

AIR JOHNSON

Tommy Johnson's first-round win over Jerry Toliver was highlighted by a ride wilder than any found at the country's finest amusement park. The car's front end came up twice, the second lifting all but one wheel off the track, then came crashing down.

"It shook real hard and I pedaled it," Johnson recalled. "As soon as the front end hit, I hit (the throttle) again and the front end went back up. I thought it was going to be OK, but it suddenly went up higher. "I couldn't see where I was (on the track) and I wanted to smack the throttle again, but I didn't want to hit the guard rail." He did get the throttle down one more time, finishing with a 5.595 at 236.84 mph.

JERRY HAAS ON RESIGNATION FROM PRO STOCK TRUCK ASSOCIATION

Jerry Haas, who resigned from the board of the Pro Stock Truck Association last week (week of October 8th), had the following comments regarding his resignation:"I have put the last five years of my life promoting the Pro Stock Truck Class. With the recent decision of the NHRA to reclassify the Pro Stock Truck class, I felt it was time to introduce new blood onto the board of the Pro Stock Truck Association so that they might develop a new direction for the trucks during this trying time.

I will continue to support the trucks, but not in the capacity of a board member. I am thankful and appreciative of the time that I spent as part of the truck association board."

BERNSTEIN AND DIXON MATCHUP IN SEMIS COULD DETERMINE SEASON

When Kenny Bernstein and Larry Dixon meet up in the semi-finals the results could be enormous in determining who wins the Winston title. If Dixon can back up the 4.500 pass he made in the quarter-finals, beats Bernstein in the next round, and wins the race he will leave the Motorplex trailing Bernstein by just five points going into the Las Vegas race next weekend. Dixon has to be favored against Bernstein based upon the incredibly good numbers the team had on the 4.500 pass. Dixon's reaction time was a very good .448. The car itself tuned by "Dangerous" Dick LaHaie had a .885 sixty footer, ran the eighth mile in just 3.044 seconds at 274.05 mph. The car went to the 1000ft mark in just 3.823 seconds and then perhaps nosed over in the last 300 ft as the speed through the traps was only 327.27. Based on those numbers it has to be advantage Dixon in the next round

Cerney Cighting

Wes Cerney who up to last week was tuning Scotty Cannon's Fuel Coupe didn't take too long to find another job. This week he was seen in the Doug Herbert camp serving as a consultant engineer. Agent 1320 hears that Cerney is in negotiations to work for Herbert full time next year in an advisory capacity to crew chief Larry Frazier.

Super Comp

Kyle Fickler who is occasionally DRO's consigliere and is a full time Super Comp racer went to the semi-finals at Texas. Fickler who drives the sister four-link dragster to DRO's B racket Racing Editor Jok Nicholson's Project four-link dragster. Fickler lost in the semi-finals to Mike Thomas. Fickler is fresh off of a win at the division race at Indy last weekend.

Comp Eliminator

David Rampy - 0.585 - 7.352 - 166.20 MPH

Rob Slavinski - 0.506 - 7.307 - 187.77 MPH

Larry Pritchett - 0.521 - 8.109 - 154.95 MPH

David Rampy who qualified number one in Comp Eliminator with a .69 under 7.173 with his B/A Bantam Altered. Rampy will meet number three qualifier Terry Pritchett and his D/SM Grand-Am who qualified third with a 8.03 in the final round in a classic 'slammer vs open wheel car final. Rampy finished third in point in 2000 and Pritchett finished second.

Garlits to race at Las Vegas and Pomona

Agent 1320 got a rumor that Don Garlits has worked out a deal with the Gary Clapshaw Top Fuel team to race at the last two NHRA events of the series. If it is a real deal then that would be pretty cool if Garlits had a ride at Pomona where it is a good bet that he will top the 50 greatest NHRA drivers of all time.

Howdy from the 'Plex

UPSET CITY

The Pro Stock category saw four of the eight races go to the lower seeded car. The biggest upset was Brad Jeter taking out the No. 1 qualifier Mike Edwards after Edwards fouled at the starting line. No. 15 seed V. Gaines slapped a hole-shot on No. 2 seeded Jim Yates to advance to round two. Tom Martino beating Troy Coughlin and Darrell Alderman taking out Hurley Blakeney were the other two upsets in the first round.