Russell takes Top Fuel crown

Steve Addy

Monday, Oct. 29, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

Darrell Russell had begun to worry that his first NHRA Top Fuel victory might also be his last.

The 33-year-old Texan had won his NHRA debut Feb. 4 at Pomona, Calif., something only two previous drag racers had ever done. But since then, Russell had lost every time he reached the finals, five times in all.

"We won that first race in Pomono and I was like, 'Was it a fluke?' " he wondered.

Russell can breathe easy. On Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he parlayed months of patience and a little duct tape into a resounding win over Top Fuel points leader Kenny Bernstein in the AC Delco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals.

Before about 21,000 fans in the climax of the four-day event, Russell defeated Bernstein in 4.602 seconds (319.67 mph) on the quarter-mile. Bernstein finished in 4.689 (308.78), and wasted a chance to extend his points lead for this week's final event at Pomona.

"Whenever you line up against the big red car (Bernstein's Budweiser King), you have to be totally on your game," Russell said. "We've gotten to a bunch of finals (since Pomona), but it was always runner-up, runner-up, runner-up. We couldn't punch one in for a victory.

"Today was one of those times where I went to the finals and I knew the car could win. (Crew chief) Jimmy Walsh and the boys gave me a rocket and I rode it down to the other end."

But it wasn't necessarily easy. Russell had to grapple with his dragster to beat Scott Weis and Clay Millican in the first two rounds, losing a side panel in the latter. Then he beat Don Lampus Jr. in the third round, but again the side panel loosened.

Everything stayed together for the finals.

"That's our Halloween car," Russell joked. "We've got duct tape all over it, everything. It's beat up pretty good. It's kind of embarrassing, but we might leave it like that next weekend."

Bernstein, who reached his 11th final of the year, will carry a 54-point lead over Larry Dixon to Pomona. Dixon, who entered Sunday as the top qualifier, lost in the second round to Lampus.

Sunday's other NHRA victors were Ron Capps in Funny Car, Mark Pawuk in Pro Stock and Shawn Gann in Pro Stock Bike.

Capps was only the eighth-best qualifier, but that ranked him highest among the four Funny Car semifinalists. A rare double-DQ had taken out 11-time series champion John Force in the first round and Capps eliminated top qualifier Whit Bazemore in the second.

In the finals, Bob Gilbertson jumped the start and Capps breezed in 4.890 to claim his third 2001 victory in the Skoal Camaro, owned by Don Prudhomme.

Pawuk beat Las Vegas' George Marnell in the Pro Stock semis (Marnell fouled), then held on after a fast start to beat former NBA forward Tom Hammonds in the finals by three-thousandths of a second. By a margin of 10 inches, Pawuk became the 15th different Pro Stock winner in 23 events this year.

It was the second straight runner-up finish for Hammonds, who is trying to join ex-Oilers QB Dan Pastorini (Top Fuel, 1986) as the only former pro athletes to win an NHRA event.

In the Pro Stock Bikes, Gann beat Antron Brown by five-thousandths of a second for his first NHRA win.

Like the Top Fuel series, the Pro Stock and Pro Stock Bike titles will be decided at Pomona. Pro Stock veteran Warren Johnson, a first-round loser Sunday, holds a 103-point lead on Jim Yates, while Bikes semifinal loser Angelle Savoie has a 73-point edge over Brown.

Among local racers, Gary Clapshaw lost to Gary Scelzi in the Top Fuel first round, and Duane Shields was beaten by eventual champion Brian Hough in the Federal Mogul Dragster semis.