POMONA >> Del Worsham can vividly recall his inaugural NHRA quarter-mile run in 1990, running his family’s Funny Car in the season finale against Ed McCulloch. He also remembers the hard work everyone put in and the loss to the Miller Lite-sponsored car.
On Friday afternoon, Worsham will returns to his racing roots after eight seasons that produced a pair of championships in different classes. Late last year, following his seventh-place Funny Car finish in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, Worsham opted to step away from his ride in the DHL-sponsored Kalitta Motorsports entry.
It was a stunning decision to many in the industry, but not to those close to the Worsham family.
“It was a hard decision to leave a championship-caliber team such as Kalitta Motorsports,” the 46-year-old said at the time of the announcement. “However, there is so much unfinished business with my family’s team and I felt now is the time to do it.
“I am excited to see what the future holds.”
What the future holds is getting the old band together. The last time Worsham competed with the family was 2008 with father Chuck tuning the car. They won one national event and made five quarterfinal appearances.
Since then, Worsham has won a Top Fuel championship for the Al-Anabi Team in 2011; took 2012 off to serve as crew chief for Alexia DeJoria before returning behind the wheel in a Funny Car for Kalitta and taking the title in 2015.
“There’s always been a little bit of a hole or a little bit of unfulfilledness,” said Worsham, who resides in Villa Park, as the team prepared for the season-opener. “I really hadn’t done 100 percent of what I set out to do, and that was to try and win the championship with my dad. He and I built this team, we raced together for 18 years. As time went on, I thought if I ever had the opportunity or the time ever came along, I’d give that opportunity another chance.
“I walked away from one of the best rides in 2011 after I won the Top Fuel championship and I feel the same way now. The time is just right and I know this is the right decision for me and my family.”
In his Funny Car tenure with Kalitta, Worsham had six victories, 10 additional final-round appearances and 120 round wins. He has 39 career wins, including 11 in Top Fuel.
There was a series of events late in 2016 that prompted the decision.
“At the end of 2016, the Kalitta’s came to me and said they were going to make some changes to the team. At the time, my dad’s car had been running pretty well with Jim Campbell driving it,” Worsham said. “I thought, ‘You know what, if I’m ever going to do this, while he’s still able, in good health and he still wants to do it and is able to do it, and I can still drive and feel I can still contribute something as a driver, I should do it now.’
“If I wait any longer, either he’s going to get too old and not be able to do it or I may get to the point where I don’t want to drive and do it and this would never happen. It just seemed like a good time.
“It was a decision I just had to make. I don’t regret it at all. I feel good about it every day I come into work right now.”
Even the hard part of selling his team and trying to secure funding for the season. Worsham’s decision to go with the family was reached after many sponsors had already set their budgets for the 2017 season, but he has been able to land financial backs. He tailored his request, trying to land four sponsors for six races.
Toyota immediately came on board and will provide a body and engineering assistance. Late in January, Lucas Oil signed to sponsor Worsham for six races, including the first four of the season and the prestigious U.S. Nationals.
“I was working with Morgan Lucas,” Worsham said about the former Top Fuel driver who helps run the Corona-based company. “It’s been great that our organizations and racers have offered to help us, even some who we would be competing against. It just says quite a bit about the integrity and character within our sport.”
As for the weekend, Worsham reverted to sounding like a newcomer to the sport.
“We just want to qualify, that would be great,” he said, noting 18 car are on the entry list. “We know our competition: Don Schumacher Racing, John Force Racing, Kalitta, that’s nine cars right there. Then you add veterans like (Cruz) Pedregon, (Tim) Wilkerson and (Jim) Dunn; that’s a lot of experience right there.”
Yet, Worsham can’t wipe the smile off his face as he thinks to the upcoming days working with his father and some old team members.
“First, qualify,” he said. “At that moment, that’s the most important thing. Then, we’ll look down the road. I can remember the days we could collect our winning from race day to get to the next event.
“Now, that was adventurous.”
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