BILL STEPHENS “IN THE GROOVE” 6/10/11

 

 

How far Mike has come!

 

Travel back with me to 2005 when Mike was tuning Gary Scelzi to that year’s Funny Car championship. Mike was establishing himself as an elite crew chief in the NHRA and when Scelzi won the 2005 crown on the final day of the season, Mike was recognized as one of the primary factors in that title. But, honestly, did you think that Mike would be driving (and tuning) a nitro F/C for John Force Racing anytime in the foreseeable future?

 

Me neither.

 

And with each passing race and each victorious outing for “Zippy”, the enormity of his talents becomes more and more evident. Sure, there are other driver/tuners in the category and they certainly have displayed their versatility and impressive skill sets when setting up their rides and getting behind the wheel of them—Tim Wilkerson and Cruz Pedregon come immediately to mind—but both of those examples have been driving racecars a whole lot longer than Mike. Cruz began his pro career in 1992 while Tim raced a Top Alcohol Funny Car for several years before switching to a fuel coupe in 1996.

 

Mike’s driving career got underway in 2007, and as I said to begin this ITG, how far he has come.

 

Nobody likes to start prognosticating about who is going to win a Full Throttle Championship at this point in the season. You can really make yourself look like a fool. But let’s simply say that if Mike were to go all the way in 2011, it would be one of the great stories of this or any other NHRA season and if he continues to rack up the round wins and victories at the rate he’s going, you can’t rule out that possibility.

 

Another story that continues to gain momentum is what’s going on with Vincent Nobile in Pro Stock. I recently spent a couple of hours talking to him as I gathered the background I’ll need for the feature I’m writing about him for Drag Racer Magazine. He’s only 19, has never raced anything else but a Pro Stock car, never attended a drag racing school but learned all he knows about driving a racecar from his father, former IHRA Pro Stock champion and NHRA veteran John Nobile, and in his first full year of P/S competition, has already advanced to three finals, winning his second one in Houston in March.

 

Vincent is a great kid and I remember seeing him at NHRA national events with his dad back in the early 1990’s when he was only a tadpole. If he were to contend for the 2011 Pro Stock title as a 19-year-old rookie—driving for a team which originally had not planned on competing at every event this year—it would be a blockbuster story which would capture everyone’s attention. Vincent is a red hot rookie to be sure.

 

The next race coming up at Bristol Dragway June 17-19. Between now and then, be sure to catch the latest edition of Nitro Rewind which you can find on NHRA/YouTube, or by clicking on the link you’ll find on such websites as Competition Plus, NHRA, or John Force Racing. You’ll hear from Spencer Massey, Mike Neff, David Grubnic, Antron Brown, and you’ll get a new Nitro Trivia question to tackle. (No cheating by looking up the answer!)  Hope you’ll log on and give it a spin.

 

More after Bristol.