A Funny Thing Happened in Final : But the Funny Car Winner Knew Where He Was Going

For a guy who couldn’t see, funny car driver Tim Grose of Saugus sure made it look easy Sunday in the 26th Chief Auto Parts Winternationals.

Grose, 34, won only his second National Hot Rod Assn. event and earned $25,000 by defeating John Force of Yorba Linda in the finals at the L.A. County Fairgrounds in Pomona. The victory certainly had an element of blind luck.

Grose had problems with the filter of his helmet as he rolled up to the staging line for his last race. Every time he exhaled, his goggles would fog up.

“I left the starting line and all I could see was a yellow glow,” Grose said. “About half way down the track, I stripped my goggles off my face. I started drifting about 400 feet down the line, and I had no idea if I had won at the end.

“By the time I finished, there was so much dust and fumes in the cockpit, I couldn’t see a thing. It’s not something I recommend, but I’ve made so many runs down a drag strip that I know where I am going.”

While Grose stopped short of saying he could have won the race blindfolded, a little visibility might have helped. The event ran late and the pro division drivers didn’t begin staging until after 5 p.m. The funny car race was the last one of the day and it was nearly dark when Grose crossed the finish line.

“There’s never a dull tenth of a second in drag racing,” Grose said. “No two runs are ever the same. This was certainly one of the more interesting runs I’ve ever made.”

Grose also had to overcome defending funny car champion Kenny Bernstein in the semifinals to gain the win. Bernstein had the fastest qualifying time, but Grose repeated his win over Bernstein in the Keystone Nationals last year in Reading, Pa.

The two drivers were operating on a slightly different budget. Grose has one major sponsor while Bernstein is a rolling corporation with endorsements from a major brewery, automobile company and shoe dealer.

“I’d say our budget is one-fifth of what Kenny Bernstein is operating with,” Grose said. “Until this year, I was totally dependent on purse earnings. I’ve been beaten by Kenny several times by a matter of inches, so we owed Kenny that win.”

Grose’s Trans-Am is part of former Lt. Gov. Mike Curb’s racing team. Curb met Grose at the Winternationals two years ago and set up a sponsorship for him this season.

“Our racing team is friends, neighbors and family,” Grose said. “A great deal of thanks has to go to (girlfriend) Barbara Hogan. She’s been there since the very beginning.”

Hogan is the driving force behind Grose. Her dirty hands will attest to that. She packs the parachute, mixes the fuel and has even been known to tear down an engine. The two have been a team for five years.

“We’ve gone to national races with $6 in our pocket knowing we had to qualify for the finals or we’d be broke for the next two weeks,” she said. “We ran 37 match races last year just to make ends meet.”

It’s always easy to determine how Grose has fared in a drag race. Just keep your eyes on Hogan. If he wins, she’s the gal jumping up and down at the staging area. And if he losses?

“I’m the one crying,” she said. “I don’t cry because Tim lost, but because I knew we needed the money.”