NHRA in Richmond, Villeneuve in NASCAR
By: Drew Hierwarter
When the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series completes elimination rounds this Sunday at Virginia Motorsports Park near Richmond, the field for the two race “Countdown to One” will be set. Then, only four racers in each of the professional categories will be eligible to win their championship, which will be decided over the final two events of the season in Las Vegas, Nevada and Pomona, California.The battles for those final spots are tight and fierce. Brandon Bernstein is in the fourth and final cutoff spot in Top Fuel but is only 21 points in front of Bob Vandergriff, Jr. In the Funny Car category, injured John Force currently holds the fourth spot. But since he will be unable to race this weekend, that leaves the door wide open for Jack Beckman, Ron Capps, Gary Scelzi, and Mike Ashley to make a run for the last two spots not already clinched. Things are just as tough in Pro Stock with Allen Johnson and Jeg Coughlin holding down the third and fourth place respectively. But Jason Line and Kurt Johnson are both close enough in points to make a big move and get themselves in to the Countdown. It should be fun and exciting to watch what happens so be sure to, as they say, check your local listings.
The big news in NASCAR this week as the Nextel Cup Series heads in to Talladega, Alabama is the entry of former Formula 1 World Champion, and former Indy 500 winner (Does this sound familiar?) Jacques Villeneuve. He will be driving a Bill Davis owned Toyota and some, on both sides of the pit wall, have expressed concern about his lack of experience in this type of car, drafting in a tight pack on such a high speed track. The normal procedure for anyone coming into NASCAR’s top series is to get their feet wet on smaller, slower tracks. They must demonstrate their ability to not only drive the car, but work with the other cars around them on the track. Villeneuve’s credentials as a race driver are certainly impeccable but all of his experience is in open cockpit, open wheeled cars on road courses. One only needs to look at another, equally impressive open wheel driver, Juan Pablo Montoya, to see how difficult the transition to NASCAR style stock cars can be.
But, before we get too concerned about what may happen during the race, Villeneuve first must qualify. Bill Davis Racing is not exactly one of the top two or three teams in NASCAR these days. And spreading their already limited resources over another team with an inexperienced driver, albeit a very talented one, will make qualifying difficult enough. All of the concern over how Villeneuve may, or may not, handle himself in the race just might be for nothing.
There’s still plenty of short track racing going on all over the country. But as the leaves begin to change colors and the mercury in the thermometer begins its slow decline to winter levels, there will be fewer and fewer opportunities to see some great racing in person. Make sure you don’t go into the winter season wishing you had seen just one more race.