Westerfield Back on Brink of TAFC Top 10

Courtesy of Todd Veney
Photo courtesy of David Smith

Determined to get back in the Alcohol Funny Car Top 10, Shane Westerfield's CP-Carrillo team is headed to Las Vegas and Pomona for another crucial three-race swing. Westerfield, who re-entered the prestigious Top 10 this summer with late runs on consecutive weekends at Woodburn, Sonoma and Seattle, is looking to end the season the same way at back-to-back Las Vegas events and the NHRA Finals in Pomona.

"If we can win a round or two at all three, we're in," said Westerfield, whose car and rig will be featured in the upcoming movie Born to Race. "Pomona is our home track and everybody's going to be there, and Vegas is where we got to our first final."

At this race last year, Westerfield faced perennial championship contender Tony Bartone for the Big O Tires Nationals title in the first national event final of his young career. "I remember sitting in the stands the year before watching Doug Gordon and Mickey Ferro in the final and thinking it would be five years before I was ever in one," he said. "A year later at the same race, there we are and it's the same deal, sun going down, only it's me and Bartone. I was so nervous I thought I was going to be physically sick, but when we ran I was fine. I saw his front wheel just hanging there when we left, then he was gone."

Westerfield enters the final stretch of 2012 ranked 13^th in the country, one of just a handful of Top Alcohol Funny Car drivers with a winning record in national event competition. He has a single first-round loss in six national starts this season and at Topeka racked up a second career final-round appearance, also against Bartone, who drove around his holeshot lead.

"We're all geared up for these last three races with a lot of fresh, new parts ready to go," said Westerfield, who will be at the CP-Carrillo, Lucas Oil, and MavTV booths at the SEMA Show between Vegas races. "We're also looking forward to seeing everybody at the track – the CP-Carrillo people, John and Mike Blake from Fluid Sealing Products, Forrest and Charlotte Lucas and Tom Bogner from Lucas Oil, the MavTV guys, and our local sponsors, Orange County Mattress, and Irvine Lake Regattas."