(Pre-2013) NHRA Silly Season

[ocdart]

Wow! The "Silly Season" leading up to the 2013 NHRA season has started off with a big bang. I just read on NHRA.com that:
* Don Schumacher announced that Spencer Massey will not be back in a DSR Top Fuel car next year. No word on where Massey will be going.
* Tommy DeLago has left DSR and the Matt Hagen-driven Funny Car team and is now the Crew Chief for Kalitta Motorsports and the Alexis DeJoria-driven Tequila Patron Funny Car. Glen Huszar is the co-Crew Chief.
* But that doesn't mean Del Worsham is out of a job. Del's back in a driver seat in the DSL Funny Car for Kalitta Motorsports. Jeff Arend is looking for a ride.

I'm sure there's more to come! You're going to need a whole new game program to keep track of all the changes as the dominos keep falling leading up to the 2013 race season.

 

[bad440]

i really don't see them doing any better switching drivers.del worsham is good but arrend is good too.they just need better luck! i dont know maybe del is a good luck charm.....

 

[70aarcuda]

i really don't see them doing any better switching drivers.del worsham is good but arrend is good too.they just need better luck! i dont know maybe del is a good luck charm.....

more then likely Del is able to bring more jingle to the table then Jeff...

 

[bad440]

more then likely Del is able to bring more jingle to the table then Jeff...

yeah that sounds about right.still dont think that car will fare any better,even though dels giving connie his $$$ back.arrend did get valuable seat time in that fuel car though....

 

[ocdart]

Latest news (seen on NHRA.com today) is that Jim Head is turning over the driving duties of his Funny Car to his son Chad. Jim will concentrate on the tuning.
Here's a link: http://www.nhra.com/story/2012/12/4/head-2013/

 

[ocdart]

Here's the latest news:

• Matt Hagan's got a new sponsor in Rocky Footwear and Apparel. They signed a multiyear sponsorship agreement with DSR and will be on Hagan's Funny Car for all 24 races of the 2013 NHRA season.
• Jeff Arend has a new ride as a the driver of the Grime Boss Funny Car for Jim Dunn Racing. Arend finished in the Funny Car top 10 for the second year in a row qualifying for every race on the 2012 schedule. Should be a step up in drivers for Big Jim Dunn.

 

[70aarcuda]

Love Big Jim Dunn...but he needs to get a tune up that will get down the track without blowing off the tires or blowing off the body....

 

[ocdart]

More Funny Car news out of the NHRA for the 2013 Mello Yellow (not near as good a series name as "Full Throttle") Drag Racing Season:

Chuck Worsham is teaming up with Todd Lesenko and will have a brand new car out for condensed (10-12 outings) season in Funny Car. The new car will a Dodge Charger body over a Grant Downing chassis that will be built here in SoCal at the Worsham Racing facility.
Lesenko drove for Jim Dunn Racing on a limited basis in 2012. He owns the Fountain Tire chain of stores in Canada and the growth of his business will only permit a part-time schedule in 2013. However, he says he plans on bringing new sponsors to the sport and the goal is to run a full schedule in 2014.

Here's a link to the full story: http://www.nhra.com/story/2012/12/27/lesenko-worsham/

 

[ocdart]

Some Pro Stock news on nhra.com today. Rickie Jones is returning to Pro Stock for 10 races starting at the GatorNationals in early March. He'll be driving a new RJ Race Cars 2013 Camaro and will be utilizing Elite Performance’s equipment leasing program for the hauler and car, as well as taking advantage of Elite’s newly revamped engine program headed by Nick Ferri.

 

[ocdart]

Bunch of 'Silly Season' news on NHRA.com today:

• John Hall will not be back riding for Sovereign-Star Pro Stock Motorcycle program in 2013 as he's too busy with work and family to commit to a full 16-race season. Michael Ray will join Scotty Pollacheck as the riders of the two Buells for 2013. In addition, George Bryce is bringing back their Suzuki PSM engine program and 18-year old Chaz Kennedy will be the rider for several races during the later part of the year after their development program gets the Suzuki competitive.
• Bob Vandergriff has a new 3-year agreement with Parts Plus and is bringing Clay Millican and his team on as the second Top Fuel car to complement his C&J Energy Services team. The 2-car team will provide more information for both of them.
• Leah Pruett will drive the family-owned Dote Racing Top Fuel car at 11 races in 2013, starting with the Winternationals next month.

Still haven't seen any news about either Larry Dixon or Spencer Massey driving in 2013. Sad to see both very talented drivers without a ride yet.

 

[ocdart]

Big announcement at a press conference at John Force Racing today:
* The 2013 NHRA season will feature the first JFR Top Fuel car with Brittany Force driving and Dean "Guido" Antonelli as the Crew Chief
* JFR will still have 4 fuel cars running all the races this year, but only 3 of them will be Funny Cars. John's car will now be tuned by Mike Neff as Crew Chief. Mike Neff will continue with Jimmy Prock. And Courtney Force will drive the third Mustang Funny Car.

Looks like John's going to be around the starting line even more now than he has in the past since he now has cars and kids running in both fuel classes.

 

[ocdart]

More Top Fuel news on NHRA.com: Larry Dixon and Lee Beard are both back in Top Fuel but we're only going to see them on a part-time basis in 2013. Both Larry and Lee have signed on with Santo Rapisarda's Rapisarda Autosport International Top Fuel team out of Australia - Cory McClenathan drove the Santo's Cranes TF car at 15 NHRA events in 2012.
Here's a link to the full article on NHRA.com http://www.nhra.com/story/2013/1/15/rapisarda-2013/

 

[ocdart]

duplicate post - sorry