NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Del Worsham made no secret about how important family was to him when he rejoined his father Chuck and reunited with many of his closest friends and colleagues in 2017, after decades of running with nitro Funny Car teams backed by impressive corporate sponsorships. The Worsham & Fink “band” was back together. 

Although the work load was enormous for the hands-on Worsham, and the results were initially frustrating, persistence paid off for Worsham, who will turn 48 Sunday during the Lucas Oil Winternationals in Pomona. His Toyota Camry was running well by the end of the ’17 season, picking up round wins over Ron Capps and JR Todd at the final two races. He enters this year’s campaign feeling much different about his car, but very much the same about his motivation.

During a hectic and short offseason, Worsham concentrated on updating his parts, servicing his car, and mentally preparing to attack the 2018 Mello Yello campaign with aggressive confidence. Doing so with his dad and surrounded by longtime supporters, while also positioning C2C Industries as his primary partner for the Pomona race, makes the assignment all the sweeter.

“It really is all about family, and at the end of 2016 I knew in my heart what I wanted to do,” Worsham said. “It wasn’t about spending cubic dollars or trying to keep up with the biggest teams out here. It was about racing with my dad and my closest friends and backers. Family came first. As the season went on, we were figuring it out and going faster and faster. Now we have more new stuff on the car, the tune-up is way more dialed in, and it is absolutely not my goal to just show up and see what happens. It’s my goal to win rounds and win races.

“The people at C2C Industries, who are from Chino here in Southern California and have a big machining business with clients all over North America, are just like us. It’s a family business, with father Jack Bock as president while his wife Cindy and sons Jacob and Steven help run and promote the business. We were a natural fit the day we met. They love racing, they see the value, and we all mutually believe in the premise of building relationships and doing what you’re passionate about."

C2C is a major presence in the machining business, with a 21,000 square-foot shop featuring a total of 36 state of the art CNC machines. The Bock family have long been fans of many forms of racing and were Del Worsham fans well before they met him by pure chance, while watching a parade in Chino Hills. When Worsham went back to his family racing roots in 2017, Jacob Bock knew what he wanted to do.

“We’re big fans of just about anything that goes fast, and when Del lived in Chino Hills we became fans of his, and fans of how he ran his operation with his dad,” Jacob Bock said. “There are so many similarities between our two families it’s remarkable, but that also gave us a great comfort level with the Worshams. When Del went back to race with Chuck and a bunch of the people from the Team CSK days, I told my dad we needed to be involved. He agreed immediately.

“The family dynamic is central to us, but we’re also a successful business and you don’t get to that point by doing things like sponsoring a race car just because you like the driver. We know the value NHRA and Mello Yello provide with their format, the open pit area, and the excitement of the racing. When we can combine a good feeling with good business, that’s a win-win. To have our logo on the sides of Del’s Funny Car in Pomona is a big deal for us. And it helps us reach a large number of people who could become longtime clients. We’re all about relationships, and Del and his team open a lot of doors for us.”