Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Funny Car champ in slump, but not panicking

Thursday, May 1, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

John Force might be mired in the worst slump of his professional career, but the 12-time NHRA Funny Car champion isn't getting testy.

Instead, he's going testing.

"We've tested almost every Monday this year," said Force, who has failed to advance past the second round of eliminations at all six races this season. "We've been so good on Monday that I told (crew chief Austin) Coil I couldn't wait for Indy."

The U.S. Nationals, at Indianapolis Raceway Park on Labor Day weekend, holds its final eliminations on Monday.

Force, who has only three round wins in six races this season, is eighth in Funny Car points and trails front-runner (and teammate) Tony Pedregon by 278 points.

But Force is not reaching for the panic button.

"What am I going to do, fire the smartest guy in drag racing?" he said, referring to Coil. "If it was easy, there would be more people doing it. I know we're going to get better. We're already better than we were.

"We made progress last week (at Bristol Dragway). We haven't been bad, we just haven't been consistent. But that's coming. (We're) getting a handle on it."

Dixon, who lost in the second round of eliminations on Sunday, had held the points lead for 28 consecutive races -- an NHRA Top Fuel record.

Of the accident that destroyed his dragster, which occurred when he cut a tire at the finish line and hit the concrete wall, Dixon said the only part of the car the team was able to salvage was the safety harness.

Bernstein, the event's top qualifier, won his third race of the season when he outran Doug Herbert in Sunday's final. He took over the points lead for the first time in his young career. Bernstein holds a 21-point advantage over Dixon going into this weekend's NHRA Southern nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

"It feels great to be in the points lead right now but that just shows you the caliber of team we have," Bernstein said. "Larry Dixon is going to bounce back and he'll be waiting for us in Atlanta, I'm sure.

"It's a tough battle; (Doug) Kalitta is right in there, too. But we're going to enjoy the moment."

An AHDRA warm-up and all-motorcycle test and tune from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Friday will lead into the "Midnight Mayhem" event from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

The AHDRA will conduct qualifying in 13 categories from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Sportsman eliminations will begin at 9 a.m. Sunday and Pro eliminations will get under way at 12:30 p.m.