Despite more than two decades in drag racing and some previous experience in the long, narrow cars of Top Fuel, Del Worsham figured he would have an adjustment period switching over from racing Funny Cars.
Few drivers have made a smooth transition from one to the other and Worsham figured it'd be no different for him.
So when he started winning right away and kept winning, yeah, it was a surprise, even to him.
''There was no question that the car was going to run, but to win three of the first six races was amazing,'' Worsham said. ''It was unexpected.''
It looks like it should be easy. Funny Cars and Top Fuel both feature cars that go really fast in a straight line, so if a driver knows how to drive one, it seems natural that he should have no trouble hopping into the other.
It just doesn't work that way.
Funny Cars are fast, just not Top Fuel fast, at least not off the line. Both cars have a top speed of well over 300 mph, but Top Fuel cars have a much bigger burst of acceleration, like blasting off to the moon.
Funny Cars also sit higher off the ground and have a narrow perspective for the drivers, who focus on what's right in front and not much else.
Driving a Top Fuel dragster is a bit like being strapped to a rocket on the ground, the open cockpit making the speed a lot more apparent as the pavement and the surroundings flash by in a blur.
''The sensation of speed is dramatically increased over a Funny Car, along with the fact that the dragster accelerates that much faster,'' said Al-Anabi Racing team manager Alan Johnson.
''Those two sensations, when you're used to driving a Funny Car as many years as he did, to jump in a dragster and all of a sudden have a completely different viewpoint is something he's had to deal with and has done a really good job with.''
He sure has.
A Southern California native, Worsham lost in the semifinals of the opener at Pomona, Calif., then two weeks later became the 26th driver to ever reach the finals in Funny Car and Top Fuel, clipping Tony Schumacher at the finish in Gainesville, Fla., to get his first Top Fuel victory.
Worsham went on to win three more times, including last weekend at Ohio, and takes a 61-point lead into the next race at Chicago from July 7-10.
So much for needing time to get acclimatized.
''I knew there would be a slight adjustment period just because the cars are so different to drive, but he's just got so much experience, I figured it wouldn't take him too long to where he was at least comfortable and could be competitive,'' Johnson said. ''Obviously, it didn't take that long.''
Worsham does have some experience in Top Fuel. It just happened to be a long time ago.
The youngest driver to win a Funny Car event as a 21-year-old in 1990, Worsham ran limited Top Fuel schedules in 1993 and 1994 while racing Funny Car.
After his final Top Fuel run of 1994, Worsham stuck strictly to Funny Cars, putting together a solid career that included 25 wins.
Then came a call from Sheik Khalid Al Thani last year.
The owner of Al-Anabi Racing already had a Top Fuel champion in Larry Dixon, but wanted to dominate the sport by creating a two-car team instead of splitting resources between the two styles of racing.
Worsham didn't hesitate in agreeing to taking on the new ride, but was caught a little off guard when he first started testing and found out the Top Fuel car he drove nearly 20 years ago was nothing like the speed demons of today.
''It had been 16 or 17 years since I had been in a Top Fuel car and I was surprised at how much faster they were going than the Funny Car,'' Worsham said. ''The steering and handling and all that were about the same, but the acceleration was unbelievable.''
So has Worsham's rapid climb to the top of the standings been.
