It was a nitro filled affair at the Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park Nitro Nationals, held September 22-23rd in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This highly anticipated weekend was substantial in many ways, most of all with the return of Top Fuel to the historic facility. The fuelers were joined with the DRO Nostalgia Funny Car series, NHRA Heritage Series A/Fuel competitors and of course gassers, junior fuelers, pin-up girl contests, live music and more in a wildly entertaining weekend.

Nine NHRA Heritage Series Top Fuel dragsters made the tow and the top points contenders felt the pressure. This, the fourth of five points race this season, would prove a critical weekend for those in hopes of a title run. Jim Murphy's Roland Leong tuned WWII fueler came into the battle with a 46 point lead over this year's March Meet winner Mendy Fry in the High Speed Motorsports entry led by Tom Shelar. After two sessions of qualifying, Jim Young and the "Young Guns" Wisconsin based team led the field with a 5.74 elapsed time followed by Jim Murphy and Mendy Fry who both earned their spots with a respectable 5.87s. Adam Sorokin's 5.92 rounded out the top half of the eight car eliminator in the Champion Speed Shop entry.

The top qualifiers all earned first round wins as Tim Cullinan, Tyler Hilton, Dusty Green and Julius Hughes were all sent packing, setting up a monumental semi-final round ladder. The first pair to come to life was Adam Sorokin alongside Jim Young. Under the watchful eyes of a stellar crowd in Tulsa, Sorokin's .004 reaction time coupled with a 5.70 at 234 narrowly held off a hard charging and quicker 5.68 at a whopping 260 mph from Jim Young. Sorokin's ruthless starting line performance earned him the holeshot win and a spot in the final, set to face the winner between Mendy Fry and Jim Murphy. Both these drivers were on their game with respectable reaction times, but the High Speed power prevailed with a strong 5.68 at 259 to Murphy's off pace 5.89 at 211.

A powerhouse bout between Fry and Sorokin was on tap in the final round as the cars pulled to the waterbox and were given the thumbs up to bring their machines to life. Side by side burnouts kicked off the action as the energy on the starting line was felt by all, this was going to be a huge win for either team. Crew chiefs gave their final nods and stepped away, it was all up to the drivers now. Sorokin took the starting line advantage as he had done in the previous two rounds, header flames high for both cars and together they charged to the 1320 marker. The scoreboards lit up with Mendy Fry posting a 5.62 at 258 to drive around Sorokin's 5.75 at 245 to earn her second win of the season as the High Speed Motorsports team erupted in celebration on the starting line. A .075 of a second margin at the stripe, Fry with owner / crew chief Tom Shelar and company were all smiles in the winners circle as they made big strides and tightened the gap in the points battle heading into Bakersfield.
 

 

 

 

 

A six car field of nitro burning funny cars were in competition in this, the second annual Raymond Beadle Memorial Nitro Funny Car Classic which doubled as a points race for the DRO series. Paul Romine, Ronny Young, Fred Farndon, Tera Graves, Vic Tiffin and Charles Ware were on hand and after Friday night's single qualifying session, Romine's 5.84 at 236 held the pole position over Tera Graves' 5.94 at 209 and Ronny Young's 5.99 at 221. The top three qualifiers advanced to the semi-final round as Graves and Young kicked off the semis. On the burnout, Young's parachutes deployed and unfortunately ended their hopes of a final round appearance giving Graves the solo shot into her first career final round, in only her second event entry in a nitro funny car. Graves' 5.86 at 235 mph moved her into the last dance to take on Paul Romine who clicked it early on a bye run with a 6.48 at 153 mph.

Back in the pits, drama in the Romine pits resulted in a hurt engine after the warm-up as the report came in that Romine and company were unable to answer the call for the final and Tera Graves, driving John Hale's "One Bad Texan" entry tuned by Guy Tipton, would have the competition bye into the winners circle. On that solo, Graves ripped off a career best 5.83 elapsed time at 207 mph to make it official and claim victory in Tulsa. It was a dream weekend for Graves, who not only earned her first win in a nitro funny car, but also posted her first five second quarter mile pass and first 250 mph pass all over the course of the two day, five run campaign. With only eleven runs under her belt entering the event, including her four license passes back in 2014, Graves proved her talents behind the wheel and capped off a weekend her and the team will never forget. The future looks bright for this twenty seven year old Texan.

 

 

 

In A/Fuel action, seven cars battled for position in qualifying with the two heavy hitting west coast cars of Kin Bates and Drew Austin both in attendance. Austin came into the event with a miniscule two point lead over Bates with Tulsa based John Harless in third, all in the house this weekend primed for points earning round wins. By the semi-finals, only the best remained as Austin and Harless came to the line. In a close one, Austin used a starting line advantage and a nice 6.17 at 219 to defeat Harless' close 6.23 at 211. The following pair found Bates up against Tulsa based Garry Wheeler Jr. Wheeler had advanced past a wheelstanding David Brown in round one but his 7.19 at 193 was no match for Bates' stout 6.07 at 222 mph.

The final round was up, the two quickest cars, the top two in points, it was time for a battle royale. Austin was ready with a .011 reaction time to Bates' sluggish .100 but Austin ran into problems midway down the quarter mile and had the best seat in the house for Bates to rip off a new record elapsed time of 5.971 at 231 mph to take the win. What a pass from Bates and company as they flexed their muscle when it mattered most and now have the points lead, although slim, over Austin heading into the California Hot Rod Reunion in October.

Tulsa Raceway Park again rocked the house with their annual Nitro Nationals event, it was a symphony of nitro burning action as NHRA Heritage Series racers now have just one race remaining before it's time to crown the 2017 Champions. Congratulations to Mendy Fry, Tera Graves and Kin Bates on their victorious efforts in Oklahoma. The ladies of nitro shined as this is likely the first time in history two females shared the winners circle in nostalgia nitro powered racecars. We look forward to the conclusion of the NHRA Heritage Series in Bakersfield next month, follow Competition Plus for all the event coverage October 20-22nd.