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Raw emotion could have been the theme of the memorable 9th annual Sears Craftsman Nationals at Gateway International Raceway. Every race class was its own story. Top Fuel led the way.
A year after the tragic death of Top Fuel driver Darrell Russell at Gateway, there were plenty of reminders and accolades. Gateway officials dedicated a grandstand in Russell’s honor. There were video highlights of his career. The drivers and crews wore “Darrell Forever”
tee shirts. And Linda Russell and numerous family members were on hand to honor Darrell.
But Russell’s replacement driver, Morgan Lucas, offered one of the best honors of the weekend. He qualified in third place for the final Sunday competition and made then to the final elimination bracket. His competition was Brandon Bernstein, racing the hometown Budweiser sponsored dragster.
It was Brandon winning the final with a 4.553 elapsed time (ET) at
324.59 miles per hour bringing home the victory, the first win for the Budweiser Company in St. Louis since his father won in his “Forever Red”
retirement year in 2002. It was Brandon first race win in 2005.
As a driver, this was Brandon’s second year of competition in St. Louis.
He was injured in 2003 and his father substituted for him (lost in the first round). In 2004, Brandon lost to Larry Dixon in the quarterfinals.
There was drama for the Bernstein family also. Brandon’s grandfather and Kenny’s father, Bert is battling cancer and has not been able to make to any of Brandon’s races.
“We have been trying to get him healthy so could make it to a race,”
said an emotional Bernstein “For him to be here and celebrate; it is just so great”
The emotional drama continued in the Funny Car class. Tim Wilkerson from Springfield Illinois, was racing with a heavy heart after his mother, Martha (Mary) passed the previous day, after a lengthy struggle with heart disease. In the final round, Wilkerson faced Ron Capps in Brut smelling Funny Car. Literally, the race team drops 2 ounces of fragrance in each of the pipes and when the car blast down the track, the air is filled with fragrance. What a marketing tool. Capps won the inaugural race at Gateway in 1997.
The Brut fragrance must have made the difference as Capps blasted down the straightaway with a 4.862 ET at 321.04 mph.
Capps was happy to be back in victory lane but it was not all joyous.
“Emotional, yes,” said Capps. “I looked over and saw Wilkerson with tear in his eyes. I know this was tough for him”
In Pro Stocks, Warren Johnson, “the professor”, may be making his last visit to Gateway was eliminated early but his son, Kurt Johnson, advanced to finals defeating Jason Line in the semifinals. Warren Johnson announced prior to the 2005 season that he was going to retire from full time racing. He has since said he may continue racing if his sponsor requests that he returns to racing.
Greg Anderson who worked for the Johnson family for many years met Kurt in the finals. But race was over before it started because Anderson jumped the start, an automatic disqualification. Anderson knew he had to be quick because Kurt Johnson ended up running the fastest time pro stock pass of the weekend. It was Kurt Johnson first win in a year and half.
“I just hope we can use this race as a snowball and win some more races,” said Johnson.
It was an all Army sponsored Pro Bike final. Teammates Angela Sampey and Anton Brown faced off. Sampey won with a 7.237 ET, 186.02 mph. It was her third victory at Gateway for Sampey, the most of any Pro bike racer.
“I am so happy for our teams,” said a jubilant Sampy. “We are now going in the right direction.”
The scorching heat all weekend did not stop large crowds from showing up each night. The Sunday final was no exception as another near sellout crowd estimated at 25,000, was on hand to watch the final eliminations of NHRA Sears Craftsman Nationals. The track temperature exceeded 130 degree at race start.
Finally there was the raw emotion of defeat. St. Louis favorite, Gary Scelzi, racing his Hemi Oakley was top qualifier but was upset by 16th seated Terry Haddok in the first round of eliminations. The loss was attributed a mechanical failure. It was especially frustrating because the season points leaders including Larry Dixon were upset and knocked out of competition prior to Scelzi’s run.
“We can’t have stupid things like this happen,” said a dejected Scelzi.
Scelzi may not have made to winners circle at Gateway, but the high drama and emotional racing did make the 2005 Sears Craftsman a much more memorable evening, helping ease some of the pain from last year’s tragic loss.
- Kevin Proot
Photos by: Larry Vancil & Lee Vancil
St. Louis Motor Racing News
<a href="http://www.stlracing.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10812&cat=637">MORE PHOTOS FROM GATEWAY NHRA ACTION</a>
Raw emotion could have been the theme of the memorable 9th annual Sears Craftsman Nationals at Gateway International Raceway. Every race class was its own story. Top Fuel led the way.
A year after the tragic death of Top Fuel driver Darrell Russell at Gateway, there were plenty of reminders and accolades. Gateway officials dedicated a grandstand in Russell’s honor. There were video highlights of his career. The drivers and crews wore “Darrell Forever”
tee shirts. And Linda Russell and numerous family members were on hand to honor Darrell.
But Russell’s replacement driver, Morgan Lucas, offered one of the best honors of the weekend. He qualified in third place for the final Sunday competition and made then to the final elimination bracket. His competition was Brandon Bernstein, racing the hometown Budweiser sponsored dragster.
It was Brandon winning the final with a 4.553 elapsed time (ET) at
324.59 miles per hour bringing home the victory, the first win for the Budweiser Company in St. Louis since his father won in his “Forever Red”
retirement year in 2002. It was Brandon first race win in 2005.
As a driver, this was Brandon’s second year of competition in St. Louis.
He was injured in 2003 and his father substituted for him (lost in the first round). In 2004, Brandon lost to Larry Dixon in the quarterfinals.
There was drama for the Bernstein family also. Brandon’s grandfather and Kenny’s father, Bert is battling cancer and has not been able to make to any of Brandon’s races.
“We have been trying to get him healthy so could make it to a race,”
said an emotional Bernstein “For him to be here and celebrate; it is just so great”
The emotional drama continued in the Funny Car class. Tim Wilkerson from Springfield Illinois, was racing with a heavy heart after his mother, Martha (Mary) passed the previous day, after a lengthy struggle with heart disease. In the final round, Wilkerson faced Ron Capps in Brut smelling Funny Car. Literally, the race team drops 2 ounces of fragrance in each of the pipes and when the car blast down the track, the air is filled with fragrance. What a marketing tool. Capps won the inaugural race at Gateway in 1997.
The Brut fragrance must have made the difference as Capps blasted down the straightaway with a 4.862 ET at 321.04 mph.
Capps was happy to be back in victory lane but it was not all joyous.
“Emotional, yes,” said Capps. “I looked over and saw Wilkerson with tear in his eyes. I know this was tough for him”
In Pro Stocks, Warren Johnson, “the professor”, may be making his last visit to Gateway was eliminated early but his son, Kurt Johnson, advanced to finals defeating Jason Line in the semifinals. Warren Johnson announced prior to the 2005 season that he was going to retire from full time racing. He has since said he may continue racing if his sponsor requests that he returns to racing.
Greg Anderson who worked for the Johnson family for many years met Kurt in the finals. But race was over before it started because Anderson jumped the start, an automatic disqualification. Anderson knew he had to be quick because Kurt Johnson ended up running the fastest time pro stock pass of the weekend. It was Kurt Johnson first win in a year and half.
“I just hope we can use this race as a snowball and win some more races,” said Johnson.
It was an all Army sponsored Pro Bike final. Teammates Angela Sampey and Anton Brown faced off. Sampey won with a 7.237 ET, 186.02 mph. It was her third victory at Gateway for Sampey, the most of any Pro bike racer.
“I am so happy for our teams,” said a jubilant Sampy. “We are now going in the right direction.”
The scorching heat all weekend did not stop large crowds from showing up each night. The Sunday final was no exception as another near sellout crowd estimated at 25,000, was on hand to watch the final eliminations of NHRA Sears Craftsman Nationals. The track temperature exceeded 130 degree at race start.
Finally there was the raw emotion of defeat. St. Louis favorite, Gary Scelzi, racing his Hemi Oakley was top qualifier but was upset by 16th seated Terry Haddok in the first round of eliminations. The loss was attributed a mechanical failure. It was especially frustrating because the season points leaders including Larry Dixon were upset and knocked out of competition prior to Scelzi’s run.
“We can’t have stupid things like this happen,” said a dejected Scelzi.
Scelzi may not have made to winners circle at Gateway, but the high drama and emotional racing did make the 2005 Sears Craftsman a much more memorable evening, helping ease some of the pain from last year’s tragic loss.
- Kevin Proot
Photos by: Larry Vancil & Lee Vancil
St. Louis Motor Racing News
