Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Rookie Medlen steps in for Funny Car champ

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2004 | 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.

Eric Medlen is stepping into the most pressure-packed situation in drag racing as he takes over behind the wheel of the John Force Racing Castrol Syntec Funny Car that Tony Pedregon drove to eight victories and an NHRA championship last season.

Medlen, a 30-year-old rookie, was scheduled to make his first competitive pass in an NHRA Funny Car this afternoon in the season-opening K&N Filters Winternationals at Pomona (Calif.) Raceway.

Although he will be under intense scrutiny from fans and the media this season because of his relative inexperience, Medlen said has hasn't had time to dwell on the pressure aspect of his situation.

"I guess there's some pressure but maybe I've been so busy that it really hasn't hit home," Medlen said. "It's really a dream come true. It's like a Hollywood movie because (the dream of driving a Funny Car) has been so big and so far-fetched because it was unbelievable just to work on these things and now here you are driving."

Medlen, who worked on Pedregon's crew for the past seven years, was Force's surprise pick to replace Pedregon, who left John Force Racing to start his own Funny Car team with his brother, Cruz Pedregon.

Medlen credits his father and crew chief, John Medlen, and Force for helping take some of the pressure off of him.

"A lot of the pressure gets relieved off of me for two reasons," Medlen said. "One is my dad; we have a different relationship and I can talk to him differently. Two, John takes the pressure off of me because, for him and I, it's not John Force the 12-time Funny Car champ -- it's just John and he's a lot like a father to me and he talks to me just like a dad.

"(Force) told me, 'people are already thinking you're going to fail so if you just half-ass make it, you're a success.' "

Medlen also is comforted by the fact that he will be driving for a championship team -- even though the team lost its driver and crew chief, Dickie Venables.

"A whole pile of credit goes to Tony Pedregon and Dickie Venables -- they've got the number 1 on their car -- but I would like for the general public not to forget that this team here, that's who won the championship," he said.

"It's kind of a shared championship. (Pedregon has) got the trophy and the number 1 on his car but we're keeping the pride because we know we did it and we've done it 12 years before that. I'm not trying to be cocky or conceited, it's just that makes me feel good to know that we're not the Bad News Bears over here; we're all right."

Kenny Bernstein came out of retirement after his son was injured and drove the red dragster to four victories in the final five races.

"There may be no other driver on the planet more revved up for the beginning of this season than me," Bernstein said. "We got off to a very competitive start in 2003 -- winning three of the first eight events -- and Dad and the team had a strong finish.

"But we feel we have some unfinished business this year. With the momentum that fueled the team through the winter months, the new combination that seems to be working well and the fire that burns within every single one of us, we're packing our war chest, anxious to pop the top on the Top Fuel battle."

ESPN and ESPN2 will provide more than 100 hours of NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series programming this season on a live or same-day basis. Most telecasts will appear on ESPN2, with five of the events featuring some qualifying or elimination coverage on ESPN.