9/29/08

Well, at least you can’t say we didn’t have our chances.

It’s been a while since JFR has had three cars in the semi-finals, and when that happens, the odds of pulling out a victory are greatly multiplied. And in Memphis on Sunday, it looked pretty hopeful that either Ashley or Robert or Mike would find some way to get around Tim Wilkerson—who had upended John in the second round.

But Wilkerson prevailed, beating John in the second round, Robert in the semi’s and Ashley in the final, adding even more distance between himself and everyone else in the points standings with only three races left to go in the chase. Tim keeps winning and he keeps beating the drivers he has to beat to win his first championship. That’s’ six victories for him now in 2008 and the most wins he’s ever had in a season before this year was two!

Here’s the basic arithmetic: Tim leads Robert, who’s in third place, by 74 points. He leads Ashley, in fifth by 112. With three races remaining to decide the championship, the reality is beginning to come into focus that it will be Robert or Ashley making the strongest bid to get around Wilkerson from here on out. Tim continues to avoid serious mistakes, lost the points lead because of a first-round loss in Charlotte before regaining the lead right back last week in Dallas, and John is now almost 200 points out of first with a race car that can’t shake its Jekyll and Hyde personality.

But I have no doubt that if either Ashley or Robert get red hot in the last three races and overhaul Tim for the title, John will be just as thrilled for them as he would have been for himself—maybe more so if Ashley gets that POWERade crown!

Another real problem for drivers trying to close the distance on Tim is that the most points a pro racer can earn at a national event now is 108, instead of 138. Why? Because before the track was shortened to 1000-feet, setting a new national record during a race weekend paid 20 points. Now, with no national records being logged at the new distance, 20 potential points have gone out the window. And with races coming up at two tracks where national records have been set in the past—Richmond and Pomona—that 20-point possibility could have figured into the championship’s closing moments. (Remember Tony Schumacher at the last race in Pomona in 2006???)

But as racers like to say, “It is what it is.”

Wilkerson is definitely in the driver’s seat (Lousy pun. Sorry.) and he has been most of the season. Everyone has had their shots at him but nobody has been able to challenge him consistently this year. Robert was on the verge of changing the direction of the title hunt back in February when he held the points lead after the first three races of the year, and then flirted with taking it back during the Western Swing. But when Tim started heating up around St. Louis, he stayed that way right up until yesterday. He’s going to be very tough to get around. In fact, maybe we already have a pretty good inkling where the two nitro titles will be headed in November. Tony Schumacher is literally racing in a parallel universe. He has lost one round of racing—last week’s final in Dallas—since the race in Norwalk in June. I don’t know if there’s any way to accurately summarize just how otherworldly his 2008 performance has been.

It’s unprecedented in Top Fuel, unless you go back to the 1960’s when Don “The Snake” Prudhomme was truly invincible in the old Greer-Black-Prudhomme front-engine dragster that, according to legend, totaled a 236-7 win-loss record between 1962 and 1964. There are many old timers who claim that stat is accurate, but in the modern era, Tony’s 67-8 mark so far this season is almost as spectacular.

After three straight race weekends, everyone finally gets a breather. Next stop is Richmond, VA in two week and I’ll have more from “In the Groove” right after the event.

Until then, use those directional signals well before you get to your turn, buckle up, and drive safely!