All-Mopar final round at DRO AA/FC Challenge at Cordova

Joe Haas in Frank Ousley’s “Crop Duster.”

The third stop on the 2012 schedule for the Mickey Thompson Tires DragRacingOnline.com AA/FC Challenge was Aug. 24-25 at the 59th Annual World Series of Drag Racing at historic Cordova Dragway Park in Illinois.

A record 12 teams attempted to make the eight-car field at the most prestigious race in the Series. There were teams from eight states at the event: Texas, California, Wisconsin, Illinois, South Carolina, Missouri, Indiana and Ohio.

Del Worsham in the Worsham Racing Arrow tuned by his father, Chuck Worsham.

The Illinois-based "Crop Duster" AA Funny Car, owned and tuned by Frank Ousley and driven by Joe Haas, defeated California's Del Worsham in the final round with a solid 5.931/231.00. Worsham, the 2011 NHRA Top Fuel champion who now is crew chief for Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria, ran an amazing 6.106 at 229 mph. It was amazing because his car did everything but crash as Worsham manhandled the ’77 Plymouth Arrow down track, never lifting until he crossed the quarter-mile stripe.

Surprisingly, John Hale, the 2011 DRO Series champion who had won both previous DRO 2012 events, did not make the eight-car field at Cordova, showing just how tough the competition was. As in the past three years of the series, points awarded at Cordova were multiplied by 1.5 for this event only, meaning the points chase has tightened considerably going into the next race.

Next for the Mickey Thompson Tires DragRacingOnline.com AA/FC Challenge presented by Comp Cams and Victory Performance is Sept. 7-8 at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan.  (Jeff Burk photos) [8/29/2012]

That’s a world record

On August 25, a total of 273 proud Ram and Dodge pickup truck owners gathered at the Dresden (Ontario) Raceway to successfully break the Guinness World Record for the “Longest Parade of Ram and Dodge Pickup Trucks.”  (photo courtesy Chrysler Group LLC) [8/29/2012]