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."

Mission Accomplished: Westerfield's 3 Straight Semifinals

Courtesy of Todd Veney

With back-to-back-to-back semifinal finishes, Shane Westerfield is back in the Top 10 in the NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car standings. Westerfield, who came within a round of the final at the western region events in Sonoma, Calif., and Woodburn, Ore., and the Northwest Nationals in Seattle, is now ranked ninth in the country.

"Our three-race swing easily could have been better, but it was still really good," said Westerfield, who slipped out of the Top 10 only because he hadn't competed for more than two months. "Our goal when we started this swing was to be back in the Top 10 when we left Seattle, and we did it. The car ran well, we didn't hurt any parts, and we went a bunch of rounds. We put Goodyears on the car, and it's not shaking the tires. A lot of people were switching to them in Seattle."

Westerfield had an outstanding .013 reaction time to defeat No. 1 qualifier Annie Whiteley in the first round in Seattle. He got the jump on quick leaver Doug Gordon in round two with a .049 but red-lighted in the semifinals against Steve Gasparrelli, who was upset in the final by veteran John Evanchuck, who scored for the first time in his career. "I got up there against Gasparrelli, did a long burnout, and was just too fired up when I put it to the wood and staged," Westerfield said. "That could have been our race."

The team's next appearance will be at the prestigious U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis over Labor Day weekend. "We'll have a new wrap on the car, something that really highlights CP-Carrillo but also accents our new associate sponsor, Fluid Sealing Products, and MavTV," Westerfield said. "Mike Blake from Fluid Sealing Products was with us in Seattle, and I think he really loved it. He was up on the starting line with us, and every day he got to the track earlier and earlier. We're really looking forward to running Indy with this new look."