Worsham Looking To Start Streak Of Success In Houston

Del Worsham

Two-time NHRA world champion Del Worsham is hoping that his past successes at the NHRA SpringNationals will aid him in beginning a streak with three 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series races in a row.

At the last race, in Vegas, Worsham lost to Matt Hagan in the first round. However, the SpringNationals is only the fifth event of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, so it’s still early in the season. For now, Worsham and his team are choosing to just focus on making their car consistent and reliable.

“I’m hoping with the stuff we learned in Vegas and the testing we did on Monday out there, that we made progress and that we’ve got a car that’s consistent in going down the race track. We’ll work on making it fast after we’ve got a car that we know what it’s going to do," Worsham said.

Worsham has won this race twice in Funny Car, in 2001 and 2008, and once in Top Fuel in 2011. In 2011 this was the second win on his hot streak towards a NHRA world championship. Houston holds a special place in his heart.

“I love racing in Houston. I’ve had lots of success here, I have lots of friends here, I’ve won this race multiple times, and so it’s one of the races I really enjoy coming to. I’ve got lots of solid reoccurring fans that I’ve known for years here. So I’m definitely looking forward to coming here," Worsham explained.

Currently Worsham sits in 13th place in the Mello Yello championship points standings and is only seven points behind Alexis DeJoria. He stayed in Vegas on Monday to test to prepare him and his team for the group of races ahead.

“For the last two weeks we’ve been working hard at basically just preparing ourselves for these three races in a row. We’re racing in Houston, Charlotte, and Atlanta, and it’s a lot of racing," Worsham said. “We’re still working on our new body. It’s at the point now where it’s just about ready to go on the track, so we may run the 2018 Camry at the four-wides."

Qualifying starts Friday at 4:30 p.m. for Worsham and the rest of his fellow Funny Car competitors.