Worsham

COMMERCE, Ga. -- His team is rarely, if ever, the center of controversy. His crew is a tightly woven group of veterans which has avoided the pitfalls of petty ego battles. And even his opponents have little to say about him or his operation that's even the least bit unflattering.

Del Worsham gets plenty of respect from everyone, and now, he may be earning a whole lot more.

The driver of the Checker Schucks Kragen Pontiac Firebird, who was the Funny Car winner last week in Bristol, Tenn., and has now gone to three out of the last four final rounds, is expecting another big weekend at Atlanta Dragway where the Summit Racing Southern Nationals got underway Friday.

It was here in 1991 that Worsham scored his first career national event win. Although Tony Pedregon leads the points heading into this weekend's race, it has been Worsham over the course of the last several races who has had the most consistent car.

He ran a string of 4.90 passes two weeks ago in Houston when he lost to Pedregon in the final. Then, last week, he again had the most consistent car on raceday and got past Whit Bazemore in the Bristol final for his first win of 2003, putting him third in the standings.

"I can't say enough about the job my dad (Chuck) has done in the last few races," said Worsham, who is just 100 points behind Pedregon despite Pedregon's three wins. "We should have won the race in Houston but Tony got out on me just enough. We both ran 4.96s and when that happens it's up to the driver to make the difference and I didn't do it. But to be able to get down the track in the 4.90s at two straight races with tricky conditions shows you how great the team I have."

With John Force still fighting to climb out of his six-race slump, Bazemore winless in 2003 and Ron Capps struggling since his Phoenix win in February, Worsham knows the door to opportunity is wide open for him to make a move to his first championship.

"If we can keep doing what we did in Bristol last week, stay consistent, not beat ourselves, and win the rounds we know we can win, there's no reason we can't be in the hunt for the championship," he said. "There's lots of racing left this year and when Force isn't winning, it gives everyone else extra incentive to win as many rounds as they can.

"We needed that win last week and it was great. But we'll need a few more of them this year if we're going to win it all."