Massey reaches final round and takes over Top Fuel points lead

September 25

Spencer Massey, aboard his FRAM/Prestone Top Fuel dragster, recorded a final round appearance today here in the 26th-annual AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.

Playing a home game, the Fort Worth native and resident lost to first-time winner Bob Vandergriff in the finals, but managed to wrestle the points lead away from his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Antron Brown.

“It was a great weekend,” said the 29-year-old. “Hey, I made it to the final round at my home track. I always dreamed of winning here and came close. It was exciting to be racing in front of so many family and friends. I wish we could have closed the deal for them, but it just wasn’t to be.”

The road to his meeting with Vandergriff was not smooth by any means. After qualifying seventh, Massey first disposed of Shawn Langdon with the quickest pass of the opening round (3.835-seconds at 324.05 miles per hour) before confronting the always tough Del Worsham out of the Al-Anabi Racing team stable.

Massey, with a 3.884-second run at 320.43 mph, took out Worsham who had his dragster lose traction. His quarterfinal round speed proved to be quite valuable entering the semifinals as he gained lane choice over Brown who had an identical elapsed time in round two, but a slower speed.

“Of course, that was a huge race against Antron,” said Massey. “Beating him allowed us to take the top spot in the standings. When you face either of my teammates (the other is Tony Schumacher), you know you have to bring your best up to the starting line.”

Against Vandergriff, Massey’s dragster could not cope with a very hot track surface and as a result the race winner was able to slide by despite having traction issues of his own.

“I have to get better at pedaling,” said Massey. “We’ll just continue to work on that. But, I’m very excited to be in the points lead. It’s the first time I’ve ever led the points in my brief professional career. And, we’re leading at the right time – in the Countdown. That’s the most important thing.

“We have four races to go (next week the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series is at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa. for the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals). If we can just keep going to the finals, we’ll be okay.”