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Another aquaintance who did chassis work for some of the big boys (including Hoover and Pisano) and later campaigned his own FC back in 1993 was Bruce Nilsen.
92(rank) 5.332 275.14 Bruce Nilsen Bruce Nilsen KB 92 Daytona AAFC MN 1993
There are some other Funny Car drivers with interesting pasts who will be at Brainerd. Del Worsham, enjoying his best year ever, picked up his first number one qualifying spot at B.I.R. back in 1991, a fete that he didn’t duplicate until Houston of this year. With as many wins this year as he had in his entire career coming into 2001, I like Del’s chances this weekend. Plus, it’s one of the few times in recent memory that Del, or any of the Funny Car drivers, don’t have to worry about qualifying well to get into the Budweiser Shootout at Indy. That’s because, for the first time in years, the entire, eight car field is set for the shootout, no matter what happens at Brainerd. Oh, sure, there could be some shuffling of positions, but everyone who’s in is staying in…Gary Densham could be my second choice this weekend, and maybe he’ll meet Force in the finals. Did you know that Brainerd is the only track on the NHRA tour where Gary has a winning record? Amazing, isn’t it? Densham is 11-10 overall at Brainerd and those round wins led to a couple of final round appearances, one in 1994 and the other in 1995. Both times, by the way, he lost to J.F. Did you know that Gary has only been to six finals in his career, and that two of them came at B.I.R. What are the odds?….Whit Bazemore has kind of a checkered past in Minnesota. Oddly enough, he was one of Gary’s victims in three, consecutive years, losing to him in 1995, ’96 & ’97. Actually, "losing" may not be the right term. Whit fouled out against Gary in ’95, won the race but was disqualified for crossing the center line (and hitting the wall) in ’96, and just flat out got beat in ’97. The ’97 race probably hurt the most since Whit was the top qualifier and set low elapsed time that year. Of course, when he beat Bruce Nilsen in 1992 but blew up and couldn’t return, that had to hurt, too. So right about now, Whit’s probably asking himself, what’s a guy gotta do to get a win around here? Of course, with three number one qualifying spots in the past four races, you’ve got to like Whit’s chances. Now, if only he doesn’t have to race Gary.
92(rank) 5.332 275.14 Bruce Nilsen Bruce Nilsen KB 92 Daytona AAFC MN 1993
There are some other Funny Car drivers with interesting pasts who will be at Brainerd. Del Worsham, enjoying his best year ever, picked up his first number one qualifying spot at B.I.R. back in 1991, a fete that he didn’t duplicate until Houston of this year. With as many wins this year as he had in his entire career coming into 2001, I like Del’s chances this weekend. Plus, it’s one of the few times in recent memory that Del, or any of the Funny Car drivers, don’t have to worry about qualifying well to get into the Budweiser Shootout at Indy. That’s because, for the first time in years, the entire, eight car field is set for the shootout, no matter what happens at Brainerd. Oh, sure, there could be some shuffling of positions, but everyone who’s in is staying in…Gary Densham could be my second choice this weekend, and maybe he’ll meet Force in the finals. Did you know that Brainerd is the only track on the NHRA tour where Gary has a winning record? Amazing, isn’t it? Densham is 11-10 overall at Brainerd and those round wins led to a couple of final round appearances, one in 1994 and the other in 1995. Both times, by the way, he lost to J.F. Did you know that Gary has only been to six finals in his career, and that two of them came at B.I.R. What are the odds?….Whit Bazemore has kind of a checkered past in Minnesota. Oddly enough, he was one of Gary’s victims in three, consecutive years, losing to him in 1995, ’96 & ’97. Actually, "losing" may not be the right term. Whit fouled out against Gary in ’95, won the race but was disqualified for crossing the center line (and hitting the wall) in ’96, and just flat out got beat in ’97. The ’97 race probably hurt the most since Whit was the top qualifier and set low elapsed time that year. Of course, when he beat Bruce Nilsen in 1992 but blew up and couldn’t return, that had to hurt, too. So right about now, Whit’s probably asking himself, what’s a guy gotta do to get a win around here? Of course, with three number one qualifying spots in the past four races, you’ve got to like Whit’s chances. Now, if only he doesn’t have to race Gary.
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