Dearborn, Mich. — It’s good time to be a race fan in Southern California. First, the season-openin’ 49th annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals are this weekend in Pomona, and then in a couple of weekends, NASCAR will make the first of its two annual stops at Fontana.

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Unfortunately, right now, Ol’ Sparky is not in Southern California.

Unfortunately, right now, Ol’ Sparky is dealin’ with permafrost.

Okay, permafrost isn’t 100 percent accurate—because it’s more than frost; it’s about a foot of frosty/snowy/icy ground cover. But, that’s all right, because the temperatures are expected to creep into the single digits this week.

It’s a perfect time to be in Southern California.

Or, mid-Florida.

Like Daytona.

Lately, the Sparkster’s been doin’ some serious thinkin’ about Daytona. Not serious as in: “If someone along the way had misspelled Daytona by droppin’ the second A, would we be racin’ in Ohio this time of year?” More like: “Is it worth the trip?”

Huh?

There’s a foot of snow on the ground. Of course it’s worth the trip.

But…

All the same, the Sparkster is thinkin’ he just might not be goin’ this year.

For a very good reason.

The last time Ol’ Sparky missed the Great American Race was in 2000.

The last time a Ford team won the Great American Race was in 2000.

That’s distressin’ for a couple of reasons.

So, should the Sparkster sit this one out?

Hey, whatever it takes for the Blue Oval to snap its Oh-for-Daytona draught.

Did somebody say draught?

That would mean no more snow, right?

Not according to Punxsutawney Phil. But, what does he care? As long as the snow is gone in time for the first of the Pocono races …

Then maybe it is on to Daytona. Or, even Dayton.

Now, goin’ Oh for Daytona leaves some room for improvement, but at least it’s not as bad as goin’ Oh for Florida, which a number of college football programs have done over the years.

All in all, Florida has been pretty good to Ford Racing this century—especially the farther south you go.

Homestead-Miami Speedway? Ford teams own it.

In fact, Ford Racing so much owns Homestead that the land deed has been delivered and burned up.

Homestead-Miami Speedway means back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back Ford victories.

A little less than three months ago, Carl Edwards put the finishin’ touches on a series-leadin’ nine-victory season by winnin’ there.

Ol’ Steady Matty Kenseth closed 2007 with a victory there.

Then it was The Biff, The Biff and The Biff from 2004-2006.

In fact, the last non-Ford driver to win a Cup race at Homestead-Miami Speedway is Bobby Labonte—who just last month joined the Ford Racing family and will be in the No. 96 Ford Fusion in the 500 in a couple of weeks.

So, the Sparkster continues to ponder the age-old question posed by The Clash: “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”

Right now, “Go” is winnin’ because, frankly, the Sparkster doesn’t believe his geographic location has anythin’ to do with wins.

Plus, “Go,” means no snow.

Tough to argue with either one of those, especially since the weather has to warm up a little for a hockey game to break out.

GO WEST YOUNG MAN
Snow and cold will not be a problem out on the West Coast where the NHRA season gets started this weekend.

“Winternationals” is just a great race name, up there with Southern 500 or Firecracker 400.

Each evokes a special race at a special time of the year.

Firecracker 400? Middle of summer. Hot dogs. Hot, period.

Southern 500? End of summer. Bill Elliott. Great track.

Winternationals? End of winter. In theory. Drag racing.

And for the second year in a row, Ford Racing adds a second team to its Funny Car mix as Tim Wilkerson, who contended for the championship up until the very last race of the year, has created an alliance with Bob Tasca, who made his Mustang Funny Car debut last year at this time.

Wait a minute; did somebody say, Forces?

John and his daughter Ashley, and the rest of John Force Racing, Robert Hight and Mike Neff, also return, so Ford fans will have six Mustangs to root for this year … and that’s not even counting that Pro Stock Mustang with Erica Enders.

John will be goin’ after his 15th championship. That would extend the record he already owns. But, that’ll also happen with 126 career victories. That would be another record.

In fact, if you put together all of John’s records, you’d have the music industry.

Hah! That’s a 20th century music joke. Records!

Four of John’s 10½ dozen career wins have been in the season-openin’ Winternationals, startin’ with the first back in 1991 (when records were fending off somethin’ called a CD, which came on the heels of the 8-track tape, which … okay, maybe that was a mid-20th century music joke).

Hight has won there a few times, too, so this could be a very good start to 2009 for Ford Racing.

And, hopefully, it will carry over to Florida and the Daytona 500 next weekend.

While checkin’ out the weather forecasts for at least two parts of the country, Ol’ Sparky went through this week’s mailbag.

Hey, Sparky:

What are your predictions for the 2009 racing season?

Perry,
Florida

That’s a very tough question, Perry, because predictions are much like final exams for the Sparkster: Wrong, wrong, wrong again, close, wrong. So many things can happen over the course of a season to change things. Sometimes, you’re doin’ the very best you can, but somebody else is just doin’ better. Look no further than Carl Edwards last year. Edwards had a season to remember by winnin’ nine times. But, first he was chasin’ Kyle Busch, who early in the year was winnin’ everything up to and including contests at the state fair, and then he had to deal with Jimmie Johnson, who was on his way to history, so Edwards, despite the tremendous season, still awaits his first Cup championship. So, havin’ said that, the Sparkster expects the Forces to be leadin’ in NHRA instead of chasin’, like in ’08; Edwards and Biffle and Kenseth to compete for the NASCAR championship; and the transition to Ford by Labonte and Paul Menard to be smoother than most expect. How’s that?