BILL STEPHENS “IN THE GROOVE” 2/15/10

Hallelujah! 

After 40 races and what seems like a never ending string of misfortunes, mishaps, tragedies, and disappointments, John found his way back into the winner’s circle on Sunday and it was entirely fitting that he did so at the 50thh anniversary edition of the Winternationals.

If you’ll remember, John picked up another historic victory at Auto Club Raceway at the special 50th anniversary event held during the NHRA’s Golden Anniversary season in 2001. But this win was an even greater treat for John and the team since his last national event victory was scored in Topeka in 2008. That’s a very long dry spell for a 14-time champion.

I wasn’t able to personally attend the race due to other commitments but I called John Monday morning to offer my congratulations and he was hardly able to speak since he had yelled, screamed, and carried on so much during the victory celebration after the race that he was hoarse! But he did express a tremendous amount of satisfaction in how the whole team performed all weekend and how the recent changes in the team alignment has already begun to pay off.

The fact that John beat Ron Capps in the final on a hole shot was the icing on the cake, since in recent years John has been victimized a few times by hole shot losses and a red light or two. The fact is, even though John will be 61-years-old in May, he still possesses the reflexes and driving finesse of a man half his age. And, because John and I are both the same age, it gives me hope that my somewhat limited skill set will also be serving me well for a while to come.

Defending Full Throttle champion Robert had a weekend of mixed results. He suffered a tough break in Round 1 when he crossed the centerline against Cruz Pedregon and got a DQ, but wound up setting low elapsed time and top speed of the weekend in Funny Car. Ashley lost to her dad in Round 2 but watching him to go on and win the race was more than enough consolation, while Brittany and Courtney ran into some tough sledding in Top Alcohol Dragster—Courtney fell in Round 1 (crossing the centerline similarly to Robert) and Brittany was beaten in Round 2.

But John’s long anticipated win—his record 127th—made the opening race of 2010 an event to remember and it gave John the points lead for the first time since his championship season in 2006. It’s now off to next week Phoenix for the second race of the year and here’s hoping JFR comes away from Firebird International Raceway with another triumphant victory!

More after the race!