Annie Whiteley qualified last and got beat first round at the Mid-West Drag Racing Series’ Funny Car Nationals yet walked away from historic U.S. 131 Dragway upbeat, and rightfully so.
The J&A Service/YNot Racing driver was fifth of five on the qualifying grid despite a more than competitive 3.69, then lost by just about the smallest possible margin, which, after the dismal weekend she’d endured, didn’t seem too bad. “This is probably the most excited I’ve ever been to barely lose,” she said of her narrow loss to family friend Steve Macklyn. “After the way this weekend was going, I almost didn’t care. But then I started thinking, ‘Wait a minute … point-zero-zero-eight of a second … damn, I could have won.”
Both drivers cut uncharacteristic .100 lights and both ran 3.58s, but Macklyn, who went on to make the final, where he was trounced by Annie’s husband, event winner and team leader Jim Whiteley, was slightly quicker at both ends of the track. Had either she or Macklyn cut any kind of a normal light, they’d have won on a holeshot.
“The whole way down the track, I never saw him,” Whiteley said. “We looked at our E.T. slips and were both like, ‘Nice light.’ I mean, .104 and .109 – neither one of us was too happy. We both thought the same thing: that was the quickest Tree ever. The second we staged, the Tree was on. Normally, you’re up there on the chip for a second, but not that time… Neither one of us was ready.
“We struggled and struggled and struggled to get the car down the track all weekend,” said Whiteley, who barely squeaked into the 3.60s on the perfectly manicured U.S. 131 surface with a 3.697. “Then, first round, bam, 3.58. We never thought the car would run that good. We moved some weight around, changed a few things, and the car picked up the front end and carried it out there. And kept right on carrying it. And I thought, ‘Oh, yeah – that’s why I love doing this.’ “