ESPN2's broadcast of the 57th Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway were full of images: dragsters, people, weather and explosions.ESPN2's broadcast of the 57th Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway were full of images: dragsters, people, weather and explosions.
But what really stood out were the words. One of the most entertaining and satisfying ESPN racing broadcasts, the U.S. Nationals defined the ultimate highs and lows of the passion in drag racing.
This marathon of race coverage, launched long before the television broadcasts with the plethora of press notices from teams, sponsors and the NHRA, provides avid fans with a deeper understanding of race teams and the drama coloring their lives.
It is difficult to keep up with it all; one can only begin to fathom the incredible efforts by the competitors in all categories to race 4,207 runs down the drag strip, as reported on the television broadcast, even before Monday’s final eliminations.
In a prelude of the events to come, broadcasters Paul Page and Mike Dunn opened the first of two qualifying shows by casually strolling through Nitro Alley: "Chills running down the spine…this is why you race.”
And why we watch. We want to see those chills run their course.
The immediacy of stories provide information on important moments in a broadcast like this early nugget where Bob Tasca entered Sunday’s fourth and fifth qualifying sessions (as Page pointed out, “Indy’s so big there are five qualifying sessions”) not qualified for the race in his Motorcraft / Quick Lane Mustang. Tasca had also yet to secure a spot of the Funny Car Countdown group.
But after sneaking in the lower half of the field, Tasca ran three decent passes on race day, while opponents John Force, Melanie Troxel and Ron Capps didn’t.
So Tasca found himself in an all-Ford final of the biggest drag race of the year with Mike Neff’s Castrol GTX Mustang.
At the opening of the telecast, the Tasca team didn’t know that outcome. They had to be white-knuckled just wanting to make the field and secure their Countdown spot.
"I feel like I own an aluminum recycling plant with all the parts we used up," Tasca said.
He explained drag racing is all about managing passion, "The highs are unbelievably high, the lows are unbelievably low," like the formula for a movie.
Results by themselves don’t tell the story of the Funny Car brackets. If that’s all someone looked at, they would have missed Force’s crackling comment sizing up his chances before the race: "Ashley won Indy twice with this car; why can’t I?" The answer was too obvious: it didn’t smoke the tires with her behind the wheel.
All eyes – and ESPN's cameras – were on top qualifier Cruz Pedregon’s Snap-On Solara smoking his tires, while almost missing Troxel's run entirely.
Dunn quickly exclaimed, "What a pass!" Troxel, thoroughly beaming after getting out of her In-N-Out Burger Toyota Solara, said, "We were happy to get that performance that round."
ESPN dusted off the former NHRA RaceDay set for Indy, and reporter Dave Rieff interviewed Capps. The broadcast has toyed with various interview schemes this year, such as sitting on chairs one-on-one to the side of the pits or up front where fans gather in a kind of casual chat with less immediacy than, say, a standing interview in the middle of an engine swap.
The set was used throughout the broadcast weekend with other guests like the combo of Force and Neff. Now it goes back to mothballs after its only use this season. Having the stage available when this much time can be devoted to the broader aspects of drag racing make it practical. Sadly, that is not the case for the standard broadcast slots.
Capps noted that in his early days he learned from senior drivers like Dunn, who told him to "shut up and listen," as opposed to spouting off to the world. "Words of wisdom (for new drivers)," Rieff noted.
The NAPA driver qualified with a track record for speed, providing credence as the weekend broadcast unfolded. This could be his year to win Indy and by doing so make up for past disappointments.
Capps scored a first-round win over two-time Indy winner Jim Head, and his second pass put rookie Dan Wilkerson on the trailer.
It was the aftermath of his semifinal round with Tasca where one of the more poignant scenes of the broadcast weekend occurred as Capps’ Charger nearly scraped the wall at the launch in the loss.
Off by himself in a scene best titled "Agony," Capps had back to the camera and was no doubt talking to himself in disgust — you could see it in his body language — tossing first one glove, then the other against a banner, along with other gear he could strip off.
Moments later, ashen in color, he mumbled to reporter Gary Gerould, "I’ve got a lump in my throat. I feel like crap," even causing the most casual fans to feel for the guy.
"There’s passion here at the U.S. Nationals," Page said. The words and actions of the racing warriors reflect that.
Passion for winning at Indy was reflected by Andrew Hines running his Screamin’ Eagle Harley during "13 test runs Wednesday and (we) picked up speed." He pointed out that was four more sessions than they had ever run in a day. Three Full Throttle championships but no victory at the U.S. Nationals will do that to you.
The work paid off in his No. 1 qualifying position with an ET of 6.909, far quicker than No. 2 qualifier Matt Smith’s 6.936 in his Buell.
Yet, Indy was Indy. While in a first-round pairing against the No. 16 qualifier Shawn Gann’s Pirana Z Racing Buell, cameraman Nelson Jones broke in on the start line with this astonishing news: "Hines can’t get it in gear."
Official Starter Rick Stewart launched Gann to victory while Hines straddled his machine, stunned and emotionally crushed. With reporter John Kernan, Hines seemingly was talking to himself as he answered a question, "I’ve never had this in my career," proving passion can be cruel.
Bob Vandergriff exhibited zealous behavior with his C&J Energy Services dragster when he was asked before facing the Tony Schumacher Army express how he planned to approach their critical first-round pairing.
To have a chance to earn the Countdown, Vandergriff needed rounds. It was almost as if Vandergriff hexed the Army Team with his mania: "Right now, I hate that team. I hope their car doesn’t start so I don’t have to listen to any more speeches the rest of the day."
On cue, the Army dragster popped, flashed, and launched the chute just past the start while Vandergriff sailed to a win.
Was Vandergriff over the line with that kind of talk? Are you kidding? This race doesn’t need cozy chatter. As Kernan explained, "This is the attitude you’ve got to have going into Indy."
The fervor of yet another team fighting to grab David Grubnic’s tenuous hold on the 10th and last Countdown spot for Top Fuel – after he lost in the first round – was demonstrated by the Amalie dragster of Terry McMillen.
Creating the single best visual of Indy 2011 was his first-round win accompanied by an explosion that looked more jet dragster-like than the jet dragster that crashed in a demonstration run Friday night. "We told you there would be drama here today," noted Page.
The brutality of the blast — "Tremendous explosion," an amped Dunn exclaimed, "Lots of parts and pieces" — was replayed in detail. Caught in the super slow-motion video were images of engine shrapnel flying above the fire of the blast while moving with the remains of the dragster to the finish.
It looked like the cloud above the Peanuts cartoon character "Pig-Pen" traveling along with him, though at 300 mph it was far more ominous.
McMillen is entertainingly torrid, giving great television like, "I blew this thing up bad!" earning him Page’s title of "Big Bang McMillen." That’s surely deserving of a poster.
His oildown penalty and the math involved were clearly explained to the audience: He had to rebuild — no easy task with the time constraints — and then win a round over the points leader, Del Worsham, in order to take Grubnic’s spot away.
To their credit, McMillen's team, with the aid of a few other oildown delays, made the start. But while McMillen out-launched Worsham, his day ended. "Congratulations to Grubnic," he graciously said to the rival now breathing a sigh of relief, "but this one hurt."
Antron Brown demonstrated his enjoyment of the sport by mimicking a pass in his Matco Tool dragster in words. Or as Dunn said, amazing. It takes two minutes to describe a four-second ride. Brown’s expressive words were the most vivid of the season by any driver or owner.
He felt his team was on a roll by coming to Indy "on a hot-streak." However, Brown described to Rieff how it was necessary to reel in the zeal. "Always nerves, but you’ve got to put them in check."
The titan teams — Don Schumacher Racing and Al-Anabi Racing — paired in the Top Fuel finals just as the sport’s kings intend for an event like this. Brown described it as "Our sport’s Super Bowl."
His Indy win over Worsham in their exhilarating lap led him to proclaim with voice cracking, "This is what it’s all about. A little kid from New Jersey. This all about the USA, baby, USA."
Waiting for the next run creates stress when there is passion involved. Neff said it better when he commented, "The nerve meter is pegged." Let a very bright tuner become a tuner-driver, give him all the parts he needs, and as Dunn exclaimed when he won his Indy day, "How is good is Mike Neff in tuning this race car!"
To win Indy from the bottom half of the field and improve his set-up in each round supports this appraisal. What of his self-appraisal? "This is the best one yet."
Sadly, remember passion can burn. Did you feel it when Greg Anderson’s Summit Pontiac won over teammate Jason Line in the Pro Stock final? Anderson now has a 6-pack of Indy Wallys while Line’s cooler is empty.
Line had qualified No. 1, with Anderson No. 2, and that was Line’s best start ever at Indy.
The last time Anderson won Indy was in 2006 when he qualified No. 1 and Line No. 3, but Line didn’t get out of the quarterfinals as his lost by a hole-shot. Anderson won in 2005 as Line broke in the opening round, in 2004 in Line’s rookie Pro Stock year when he was taken out by Warren Johnson’s holeshot in the first round.
Reading through those results makes Dunn’s assessment of this year’s race particularly poignant: "If Jason didn’t like this race in the past, he’s gonna hate it now; going low ET of the meet and losing."
Of course he’s going hate it; he has a passion for winning. Anderson couldn’t want it any other way. Having Line push him like that, not kowtow in any way, makes both better racers, a better team for Summit and Pontiac.
Besides, Indy is history. Line must be thinking, I’m only two rounds from leading — Anderson — in the points.
Admiral James Stockdale, a Vietnam POW for seven years and one of the most decorated officers ever in the Navy, gave key advice for handling challenges and utilizing zeal in an upbeat manner. "You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end, which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality."
That advice, though learned through the harshest of circumstances, is applicable to everyday life and the racing life, too. Line’s brutal current reality is that his teammate is the best Pro Stock racer in modern history. His faith must be that he will pass Anderson in wins, thereby prevailing in the end. His clenched lips indicate he believes that with a passion.
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