DOHHH! IT’S THE SIMPSONS
This scribe had seen Division 4 Alcohol Funny Car crusher Todd Simpson’s name on two or three of NHRA’s nitro Funny Car DNQ lists, and it perked his (or in my case – its) interest. Simpson is a three-time Division 4 Alcohol Funny Car champ and a 28-time event winner. Fat credentials to say the least. He and his family have indeed gone Funny Car and loving it. According to father Dickie, “Todd got his license at the end of 2004 and ran a 5.32/285, and we ran four national events in 2005. We also match race in (Division 4) some and with us, it’s a guaranteed deal. We have two cars. The Modular Systems 2001 Camaro which is the old "Nitro Fish” car and the one we have in the rafters is Norm Wilding’s Camaro. When you book us, you get Todd in the Wilding car and Dal Denton (former driver of the “Sudden Pleasure" Alcohol Funny Car of the 1980's) and a best of three.”
When asked the difference of driving a nitro car versus alcohol, Todd remarked, “In the alky car, you bring up the R's, hit your shift points, and at about half or three-quarter track, the car just levels off and you hit the lights. Nitro’s different. It’s a real beast and it charges the whole way through, no leveling off. Also, it’s harder to steer. In an alcohol car, you just bump (the steering wheel); the nitro car, you’ve gotta really turn it hard. It’s almost like it has a mind of its own."
And the costs. According to Dickie Simpson it’s cheaper with nitro. “We aren’t going to go out and hammer the 4.6's. We’re easier on the equipment because we have to be -– budget and all. But when he used to run the NHRA alcohol races, we frequently spent a lot more than we won. They now pay $5,000 to win and if you don’t win or hurt some parts, you’re in the hole. We get $4,000 for a match show and if nothing gets hurt, and so far we haven’t, we finish ahead."
SIMPSONS AND FIRSTS
And on the subject of the Simpson clan, let the record show that the first actual IHRA Funny Car heat in 14 years pitted Todd against another Alcohol Funny Car escapee, Division 1’s Paul Lee in the “Science of Racing” entry. Lee won 5.18 to 5.20 and went on to runner-up honors.
PAUL LEE
Paul Lee joined the Funny Car class in 2005 and is still getting his feet wet. He’d run some NHRA events last year, but essentially went nowhere. If the IHRA San Antonio bash is any indicator, though, that could change. Lee qualified fourth with a 4.912 and then just flat out-drove Simpson and a heavily favored Pedregon en route to a losing final with Densham. In the Pedregon heat, Lee cut a .102 light to Pedregon’s .146 and eked out a 5.04-to-5.02 win. Against Densham, he never quite got a hold of the track and lost convincingly, 4.85 to 5.34.
