Ray Commisso made his run really count during the third round of qualifying Saturday with a new IHRA Pro Modified World Speed Record of 246.08 mph to take the provisional pole after three rounds at the IHRA Summit Racing Equipment Mardi Gras Nationals at State Capitol Raceway in Baton Rouge.

Commisso's speed accompanied a 5.970 second time to claim the pole after three Rounds of IHRA Pro Modified qualifying. His record-setting run came following a 245.09 mph run Friday night during Round 2 of qualifying.

Mike De Palma and Tibor Kadar both carried their No. 1 qualifying
efforts into the winner’s circle at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing
Series event presented by Budweiser at Southwestern Int’l Raceway. 
Glendale, Ariz., resident De Palma took home the hardware in Comp
Eliminator, wheeling his ’98 Firebird to the win over Dean Carter,
another Gledale racer.  Kadar, a resident of Peoria, Ariz., scored the
win in Super Stock over Ryan Mc Clanahan of Upland, Calif.

Steve Wann, Modesto, Calif., earned the win in Stock Eliminator as he
knocked out the category’s best qualifier, Scott Burton, Golden, Colo. 
Andrew Madrid, Chatsworth, Calif., ousted Gabriel Torres, La Puente,
Calif., in the Super Comp final and, in Super Gas, Mike Ferderer,
Buckley, Wash., got the win over Michael Miller of Santa Fe.  The Super
Street win went to Patrick Mc Henery of Mesa, Ariz., when he beat Joe
Kidd of Marana, Ariz.  Top Sportsman racer Brad Wagner, Henderson,
Nev., beat Gary Forkner, Temecula, Calif., in the final while Mera
Silvia, Upland, Calif., scored the win in Top Dragster over Mike Mac
Brair, Napa, Calif.  La Verne, Calif., racer Gary Moreno rode his ’06
Harley Davidson to the Sportsman Motorcycle win, beating out Tracy
Bailey of Coos Bay, Ore.

Qualifies No. 1 at IHRA Event Then Drives Overnight to ADRL Race …
 
Jason Collins didn’t get much sleep Friday night.
 
The Rainbow City, Ala.-based driver was the only racer who accepted the challenge of racing two national events this weekend.
 
Collins laid down the quickest Pro Stock lap in Friday Pro Stock
qualifying at the IHRA Mardi Gras Nationals in Baton Rouge, La., with a
6.294 elapsed time at 222.03 miles per hour and loaded the car into the
team’s hauler and towed four hours to Houston Raceway Park in Baytown,
Tex., to race Saturday at the ADRL Safety-Kleen Nationals.
 
“This is the first time I’ve ever attempted something like this,” Collins admitted. “Tonight will tell the story.”
 
Rumors circulated throughout the HRP pits suggesting the IHRA had
parked the Pro Stock cars in such a manner that they couldn’t attend
both events. Collins quickly discounted that banter as completely
false.

When it comes to the world of NHRA Pro Stock racing, team owner Victor
Cagnazzi is a man of mixed emotions.  On one hand, his Jeg’s.com team,
driven by Jeg Coughlin, is the two-time defending Pro Stock champion
and winner of the most recent race in Phoenix, AZ. 
 
However, for the second year in a row, his other entry, normally driven
by phenom David Connolly, remains parked at the Cagnazzi Racing shop in
Mooresville, NC while the team searches for sponsorship.  As the Full
Throttle Drag Racing Series prepares to head to Gainesville, FL for
next weekend’s ACDelco Gatornationals, the quiet-spoken New York native
took time to address his unique situation, offer his outlook for the
future as well as his thoughts on the upcoming East Coast drag racing
season-opener:

Moyer Nails Mickey Thompson Tires Reward for 187-MPH Blast …

Todd Moyer didn’t need to win the ADRL Dragpalooza V event to leave
with a big payday. The veteran Extreme 10.5 racer from Seabrook, Texas,
was the beneficiary of a $5000 bounty paid by Flowmaster and
awarded to the Extreme 10.5 racer who could first exceed 185 miles per
hour in the eighth-mile.

HERNANDEZ, SAVELL, GLIDDEN, GAHM, PROCOPIA LEAD DRAGPALOOZA V QUALIFYING

While
others struggled with the tricky race track, local favorite Joshua
Hernandez set the pace in Pro Extreme (PX) with a blistering 3.83 run
in first round qualifying for the Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza V, round one
of the ten-race National Guard ADRL tour.

Tim Savell, Billy Glidden, Ron Procopio and Brian Gahm also led their
respective categories at the end of qualifying under the lights at
Houston Raceway Park.

Josh Hernandez came out early in testing during the ADRL Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza V and burned out
all the way to the eighth-mile clocks. When you only race 660 feet like
the ADRL does this kind of a burnout can easily be construed as sending
a message to the competition.
 
Hernandez, the former NHRA Pro Modified champion and now full-time ADRL
front-runner, was sending a message alright. He was letting everyone
know that he didn’t have any brakes on his National Guard-sponsored
Camaro.
 
“We had just put on a set of new tires and we were going to do a
reasonably long burnout in order to set them up for a 3.80 run,”
Hernandez admitted. “Sometime gremlins will creep up on you at the most
inopportune times and for me they showed up on that run.”

John Montecalvo’s hopes of winning two races in one weekend have
quickly been dashed. Tough track conditions and minor parts breakage
changed his plan to run both the ADRL event in Houston and the IHRA
event in Baton Rouge. The perfect combination to get down the track at
the IHRA Mardi Gras Nationals has eluded most of the Pro Stock racers.
Montecalvo made some right calls and was fourth quickest for the first
session with a 6.462 at 220.91. His second qualifying attempt looked
even better, posting a .982 60ft time, but an air line broke on the
shifter ending the run early.

“Sometimes the smallest thing can throw a kink in your plan. That’s
what has happened to us here this weekend,” tells Montecalvo. “When the
air line broke on our shifter, it aborted the run. Unfortunately it
also got up on the chip, and, although we don’t think it hurt anything,
we don’t want to take any chances on running the motor anymore this
weekend. We’ll put in a different motor and get a fresh start at this
track tomorrow. Because of all the issues we’ve run into - the track
being more difficult to negotiate than anticipated and putting in a new
motor - we need all four qualifiers here at the Mardi Gras Nationals to
be fully confident on race day. It looks like there will be a bye run
in eliminations, so we also want to qualify at the top to be in a
position to take advantage of that. The team and I would have liked to
have run both the IHRA and ADRL this weekend, but I would rather not
compromise our potential, so I feel it’s best to run only the one
event.”

In the first rounds of qualifying at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing
Series event presented by Budweiser at Southwestern Int’l Raceway, Mike
De Palma of Glendale, Ariz., sits atop the Comp Eliminator field and
Peoria, Ariz., racer Tibor Kadar leads in Super Stock.  Tucson
residents Lance Samson and Tom Patterson are the No. 1 and 2 qualifiers
in Sportsman Motorcycle presented by Harley Davidson. The race kicked
off Friday and will wrap up on Saturday.

De Palma, wheeling his ’98 Firebird, covered the quarter-mile in 8.261
seconds, just enough to put him ahead of No. 2 qualifier Dean Carter,
also a resident of Glendale.  Tucson’s Jeff Sams is currently the No.
10 qualifier in the category.

Kadar drove his ’92 Camaro to the top of the Super Stock field with a
9.618-second pass. No. 2 qualifier Frank Grossi of Upland, Calif., and
No. 3 qualifier Eric Bell of Chandler, Ariz., are just off the pace.

R2B2 Racing teammates Roger Burgess and Raymond Commisso delivered stellar performances in the first day of qualifying at the Summit Racing Equipment Inaugural IHRA Mardi Gras Nationals at State Capitol Raceway in Baton Rouge, La.
 
After a disappointing first round for both drivers, Commisso blasted to
the provisional No. 1 spot and earned the Last Man Standing award. His
5.993/245.09 will re-set the IHRA Pro Mod speed record should he be
able to back it up. Burgess grabbed the provisional No. 4 position on
the strength of his 6.116/237.25 second-round pass.