BILL STEPHENS “IN THE GROOVE” 6/28/10

It’s a game of inches.

I know—a truly overused cliché……..

But quite applicable after John’s runner-up finish in Norwalk on Sunday. Tim Wilkerson really had to work to get the victory over John in that final round after John took a small starting line advantage. But for John, he left Norwalk holding onto the points lead and riding one of the strongest hot streaks he’s had in quite a while.

The stat that really sticks in my mind is the one pertaining to John’s uncanny knack for NOT qualifying on the bump. In his entire career, he has qualified 16th only three times, including this past weekend. That’s more than uncanny—it’s surreal. After beating Ashley in Round 1 and then outgunning Robert in the semi-finals, John appeared to be headed for his 131st career win but by the slimmest of margins—73/1000 of a second—Tim squeezed out the victory.

I had the pleasure of attending the event in Norwalk, but not just as an interested spectator. A new season of the “NHRA’s Greatest Races” has gone into production, this time for HD Theater, Discovery Channel’s High Definition network, and I was at the track all day Saturday shooting interviews with the drivers who will be featured in the upcoming 13 episodes due to premier in January 2011. Of course, John will be prominently featured in several of the races which include his 1999 victory in the first Winston No-Bull Showdown, his 100th career victory in 2002 in Houston, and his final round appearance against Ashley in Atlanta in 2008 when she won her first national event as a pro.

I’m very excited about writing, producing, and hosting this new series for HD Theater after the great response we received for Season I which ran on Fox Sports Net earlier this year. The interviews I conducted with John, Ashley, Kenny and Brandon Bernstein, Tony Schumacher, Doug Kalitta, Bob Vandergriff, Antron Brown, Melanie Troxel, and Bob Frey were very insightful and revealing and I can’t wait until we go into the editing room and begin putting the shows together. I hope you have HD programming in your area and will be able to watch the series when it hits air in early 2011.

Now, there’s actually a week off for everyone after one very long and laborious stretch of drag racing which began a month ago. Drag racing will take a breather for the 4th of July before engines will be crackling back to life in Seattle the following week as the notorious Western Swing commences with stops in Denver and Sonoma, CA right behind. The Countdown playoffs are now pulling into view and what happens out west will once again cast plenty of light on who will have favorite status when the 2010 Full Throttle Championships are doled out.

Enjoy the 4th and play safe!