The Silly Season

Ok well as long as the Mayan Calender isn't correct and on December 23, 2012 the big blue marble doesn't  implode or something,  then NHRA Championship Drag Racing in 2013 should be an interesting season for sure when the teams show up in West Palm for testing, and then if there is a track to hold testing on the west coast. 

With that being said, it appears as though, Silly Season is running at a fever pitch.  For all four of you who read this blog ( which I have designated as and from now on will refer to you as The Faithful Four) who might not know exactly what Silly Season is, it is when there are big changes happening in the sport for the next season which brings out all kinds of rumors and gossip.  Some of which is actually true! :) 

First off the NHRA and its umbrella marketing partner, the Coca-Cola company have decided to make a change in the presenting sponsor for the 2013 season. Mello Yello will be the presenting sponsor for the NHRA Drag Racing Series taking over from Full Throttle Energy Drinks. Now just one question, cause I'm silly like that. Was any thought given to the unintentional consequences, color of the product, the product itself, and what kind of negative connotations could be constructed? Just wondering.

With that being said, there is big news in the on of the major teams in NHRA, Don Schumacher Racing.  First of all, there is the whole Spencer Massey debacle, which as more is found out the better things are left unsaid.  It is just a shame, in many ways. 

The other news from DSR is the fact that Matt Hagen's crew chief Tommy Delago has taken his leave from the team and is rumored to be heading for Ypsilanti, Michigan, the home of Kalitta Racing.  

Also in the Top Fuel world there are postings stating that  Alan Johnson/Al-Anabi Racing 

have also been told that the funding fountain  has dried up. This was also rumored last year too, right after Del Worsham won the Top Fuel World Championship. So we will have to see what happens as we proceed through the off season. 

Kalitta's have been rumored to be putting Alexis Dejoria' crew chief from 2012 and 2011 Top Fuel World Champion  Del Worsham back  into a funny car to drive, with partial backing from the folks at Tequila Patron. No word if this will be third  funny car or will it be a repaint of the DHL Toyota driven in 2012 by Jeff Arend. If so where does that leave Arend?

Speaking of other flopper teams, another hot tid  bit coming from Bobby Bennett and Competition Plus .com  is that Lee Beard and Cruz Pedregon have decided to go their separate ways at the conclusion of the season, even after winning the World Finals. That was one of those relationship, from my perspective that seemed doomed from the beginning. Both gentlemen have "healthy" egos which sometimes is like oil and water.  There wasn't a great deal of happy happy joy joy on Beard's face after Cruz took the win at the World Finals.

On the good news front, it is being reported by the "Burkster" at DRO is  that Grime Boss Hand Wipes will be on Jim Dunn's flopper for the 2013 season. Great news for this team who got more of their share of challenging ink with three engine explosions of biblical proportions this past season. Two at the US Nationals and one at the World Finals. Let's hope that 2013 is a better year and Dunn and Company and they  get some ink for going rounds and winning races.

And speaking of tracks it has been announced that Firebird International Raceway, the one in Chandler, Arizona will be closing down after their national event in February.  The Indian Tribe who owns the land is not willing to renew Charlie Allen's lease, so that leaves the desert southwest with out a race in 2014. Or does it. There is speculation that there are numerous other business men who have had talks with the Tribe and there might be a possibility that it is a relationship thing with Mr. Allen, and that another management team could take over the operations of the track and give it the proper update it needs.  Which might then secure the Phoenix track another year of national event fun.  Maybe even a back to the warm up series that was a huge success in the past. Stay tuned. 

Just a few things for the Faithful Four to chew on.  

Just to see if anybody notices.

Mark Lyle manages to have find success as the next NHRA starter

Mark Lyle (NHRA)

In NHRA Drag Racing, there have been just three men who have been in charge of sending racers down the track at national events. Those men were Buster Couch, Rick Steward, and now Mark Lyle.

Mark who hails from the Pacific Northwest just outside of Seattle is proud to be just the third person to hold this prestigious position in the sport. For those who have never met Mark the first thing that strikes a person is that Mark has this uncanny ability to manage things.  Being a former parts manager for a Kenworth dealer, has taught him well. Mark has the tools to balance and manage business and fun.  Lyle had been the Division Six starter since 2005 and was part of the Division Six team since 2001. Lyle stated that, “I treat the starting line like a business. And the most valuable part of being business-like is being consistent.”

Mark feels that being consistent in pivotal in working with the track crew and safety safari, but that consistency in how that core group of people works transfers over to the racers. “I felt that we were accepted by the racers, and crew chiefs, early on in the year. We felt it was essential to have strong two way communications with the racers and crew chiefs, in regards to track prep we exchange ideas, and it all seems to work out very well.” His plan was to give the racers the confidence that the track would be safe and consistent and that his decisions on the track would be the same.

It was not that easy at first as there was a case of nervousness that Mark felt that first weekend in Pomona. “When I got up and went to the track it felt normal, and I tried to tell myself this just like a Division race, except the cars are faster, and there are a lot more people in the grand stands.”  He tried to put it into perspective and no let the event overwhelm him. “It did feel a bit surreal, but, I just wanted to make sure I did not make any mistakes. At the end of the day I thought to myself, well I pulled that off.” His to manage again helped him keep his focus in front of those nearly one hundred thousand people over the course of the weekend.

The other time was at the book end event in Pomona as the top fuel cars of Brandon Bernstein and Tony Schmacher staged for the final, a race that would determine the Top Fuel World Championship, either going to Schmacher if he won, or to team mate Antron Brown if Bernstein. “I was nervous keep saying to myself, ‘Mark don’t screw this thing up, don’t make a mistake.”’ Lyle said he could feel relief in watching both cars cross the finish line. “I could kinda tell that Brandon had won it” Lyle stated. However, he did not know how close it was until watching the replay on the jumbo-tron. Unfortunately, Lyle did not have time to celebrate as there was still a full group of sportsman cars to run and they were under a time constraint, which is the curfew that is in place at Pomona. “We wanted to get that thing done by six o’clock or we would have had to come back on Monday.”

 When Mark is on the starting line, he is not oblivious to the fact that there is a lot of attention paid to him on the starting line.  “Rick, I think sometimes played to the camera, which is fine, that was his style, I know it’s there, but I just am so focused on what is going on and communicating with my guys, I just kinda put that thought aside.” He is not overtly going out to look for any additional attention. He knows that people especially this year would be watching him closely, especially the racers.

Mark’s first and only test happened at Gainesville, the first race of the year for the Pro Stock Motorcycles. In the second round of eliminations for the bikes which featured a race between Matt Smith and Hector Arana. The two protagonists did there burnouts and then proceed to pull up to the starting line and engage in a staging duel. Thus, Lyle waited for a moment, to see what the two riders would do, and then told them to stage. Both riders sat there paying Lyle no mind, so he motioned again, and still neither rider would stage, so Mark managed the situation. “I said to myself that is enough, and I shut them off and motioned for them to go back to the back of the line and think about it.”  According to Lyle, Arana, though that Lyle had disqualified the two riders for not staging for which Arana was concerned. “I communicated to Hector that he wasn’t being thrown out just given some time to think things over,” stated Lyle.

Therefore, when the two riders came up again to race Lyle’s messages were received loud and clear, as both racers staged right away with Smith taking the win. “After that point I had no more problems with any of the racers for the rest of the year” opined Lyle.

In looking back on Lyle’s first year, he readily admits to being his own worst critic, and if he had to give himself a grade on his performance for the entire season. “ I think that I would have to give myself a solid B plus for my freshman season.” Lyle thinks there are always ways to improve and improve his team.

Mark puts a immense deal of effort into making sure his team on the starting line is as a cohesive unit. “We don’t just work together, when there is time we plan side trips together and eat together, I feel that bonding is essential to making a team that works well together on race day. I look at these guys like they are a family we spend so much time away from our home families, which it is important to get along.”

On the subject of being away from home, Mark knows that the NHRA schedule is a grind. He said the he analyzed his travel briefly as he was in the hotel room in Pomona on Sunday morning and started thinking about the travel this year.  Twenty-four races, eighty-five days of racing, 141 days on the road, seventy-two airplane flights, total over eighty-two thousand miles. What is so funny about that is what Mark said he after being home for a week. “I started looking for something to do, I don’t know what to do for the next three months.” Sure Marks wife has a different outlook on that subject. It is a good bet she too knows how to manage to facilitate the completion of those “projects”