2011 NHRA SUPERNATIONALS - GSA PRO MOD NOTEBOOK
Mon, 2011-06-06 03:00
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SUNDAY FINAL - ROWE GETS FIRST PRO MOD WIN OF THE SEASON AT NHRA SUPERNATIONALS
Danny Rowe raced to his first win of the season Sunday during the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.Rowe powered his supercharged Sterling Bridge ’68 Camaro past runner-up Mike Janis, posting a winning run of 5.878-seconds at 245.99 mph. It was Rowe’s second final round appearance and second career win in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series.
Points leader Khalid Balooshi lost in the first round, but kept his points lead after five races for the season. National record holder and No. 1 qualifier Melanie Troxel also lost first round, while New York native and local favorite Mike Castellana moved up to seventh in the point standings with his semifinal round appearance.
The NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series will return to action at the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Tri-Cities Area Ford Dealers, June 17-19 at Bristol Dragway.
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Final round-by-round results from the 42nd annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, the fifth of ten events in the NHRA Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series:
ROUND ONE -- Roger Burgess, Pontiac Firebird, 5.850, 255.24 def. Kenny Lang, Chevy Camaro, 5.942, 246.53; Dennis Radford, Plymouth Duster, 5.931, 240.38 def. Melanie Troxel, Chevy Corvette, 5.792, 258.22; Leah Pruett-LeDuc, Camaro, 5.945, 248.11 def. Pete Farber, Dodge Daytona, 6.446, 166.23; Ed Hoover, Camaro, 5.939, 244.07 def. Mike Knowles, Camaro, 5.939, 247.75; Brad Personett, Camaro, 5.772, 258.07 def. Rickie Smith, Camaro, 5.833, 244.21; Danny Rowe, Camaro, 5.860, 248.34 def. Raymond Commisso, Camaro, broke; Mike Castellana, Camaro, 5.781, 243.41 def. Khalid Balooshi, Camaro, 5.879, 244.52; Mike Janis, Ford Mustang, 5.861, 246.26 def. Scott Ray, Corvette, 5.991, 237.00;
QUARTERFINALS -- Rowe, 5.905, 246.57 def. Hoover, 6.023, 237.84; Radford, 5.976, 238.47 def. Burgess, 6.578, 256.60; Janis, 5.868, 245.81 def. Personett, 9.218, 100.71; Castellana, 5.908, 241.20 def. Pruett-LeDuc, 6.040, 245.63;
SEMIFINALS -- Rowe, 5.890, 246.71 def. Radford, 5.915, 239.36; Janis, 5.867, 246.17 def. Castellana, 5.864, 241.80;
FINAL -- Rowe, 5.878, 245.99 def. Janis, 5.981, 244.78.
Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the 42nd annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, the fifth of ten events in the NHRA Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series -
1. Khalid Balooshi, 384; 2. Danny Rowe, 326; 3. Ed Hoover, 307; 4. Roger Burgess, 276; 5. Rickie Smith, 271; 6. Kenny Lang, 267; 7. Mike Castellana, 250; 8. Raymond Commisso, 237; 9. Scott Ray, 220; 10. Brad Personett, 203.
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - A CRAZY DAY OF PRO MOD RACING
Melanie Troxel’s national record-setting qualifying run was strong enough for a No. 1 qualifier, but not to get her past first round of the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series eliminations for the NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.Troxel’s run of 5.772-seconds at 258.71 mph in her ProCare Rx ’53 Corvette set the national record for both time and speed and gave the driver her first No. 1 qualifier of the season and second of her Pro Mod Drag Racing career. Troxel lost her first round matchup however on a holeshot to Dennis Radford, while fellow teammate Brad Personett matched her national record setting time with his first round win over Rickie Smith. Radford blew a tire and crashed in the shutdown area.
“I’m disappointed with first round,” said Troxel. “Until Brad Personett’s run, we had the best car consistently through the weekend. I just need experience with the starting line procedure in the silver car. I’ve found through testing the way you launch this car is awkward, and it’s still awkward for me.”
Points leader Khalid Balooshi fell first round to teammate Mike Castellana, while Troxel’s team owner Roger Burgess held off Kenny Lang to advance to the second round.
Leah Pruett-LeDuc also advanced against Pete Farber but ended up in the sandtrap when her parachutes failed to deploy until late in the run.
RELATED STORY - NOW THAT WAS A WILD FIRST ROUND
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Eliminations will continue Sunday.
Saturday's first-round pairings for professional eliminations for the 42nd annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, the eighth of 22 events in the Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.
Pro Modified -- 1. Melanie Troxel, Chevy Corvette, 5.772, 258.71 vs. 16. Dennis Radford, Plymouth Duster, 6.004, 238.68; 2. Mike Castellana, Chevy Camaro, 5.823, 243.63 vs. 15. Khalid Balooshi, Camaro, 5.970, 241.76; 3. Mike Janis, Ford Mustang, 5.837, 246.57 vs. 14. Scott Ray, Corvette, 5.963, 238.72; 4. Donald Martin, Camaro, 5.875, 247.47 vs. 13. Ed Hoover, Camaro, 5.945, 245.05; 5. Danny Rowe, Camaro, 5.880, 247.52 vs. 12. Raymond Commisso, Camaro, 5.944, 248.43; 6. Rickie Smith, Camaro, 5.881, 242.50 vs. 11. Brad Personett, Camaro, 5.944, 255.58; 7. Leah Pruett-LeDuc, Camaro, 5.901, 248.98 vs. 10. Pete Farber, Dodge Daytona, 5.943, 241.15; 8. Kenny Lang, Camaro, 5.901, 247.07 vs. 9. Roger Burgess, Pontiac Firebird, 5.902, 254.90.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Mike Knowles, 6.024, 247.02; 18. Jay Payne, 6.078, 246.71; 19. Troy Coughlin, 6.083, 243.99; 20. Raymond J Matos, 6.099, 230.33; 21. Chip King, 11.272, 78.75.
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - TROXEL GOES TO THE TOP WITH RECORD RUN
Melanie Troxel set a national record en-route to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position Friday during the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing
Series portion of the NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.Troxel drove her ProCare Rx ’53 Corvette to a record-setting run of 5.800-seconds at 258.71 mph to set the national record for both time and speed. If it stands, it would be Troxel’s first No. 1 qualifier of the season in the fifth event of the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series.
“The Corvette had itself figured out,” said Troxel. “Steve Petty (tuner) is doing a great job with that car. We’ve nicknamed it ‘The Silver Bullet.’ It’s just flying down there all on its own, in spite of anything I might be doing behind the wheel.”
Points leader Khalid Balooshi currently sits 13th in the field with a run of 6.030 at 240.04, while Troxel’s teammate and car owner, Roger Burgess, sits 19th with a run of 6.348 at 191.51.
Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at 1:45 p.m. along with the first round of eliminations at 4:15 p.m. Eliminations will continue of Sunday.
BACK AFTER BACK SURGERY - Rickie Smith is ready for a run after back surgery. However, for the doorslammer veteran from King, NC, his run is on four wheels instead of two legs.
Smith is competing in the Get Screened American Pro Modified division during this weekend’s NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown, NJ.
While Smith isn’t fully recovered from the surgery, he certainly feels much better.
“I am definitely not in as much pain as I was,” said Smith, who drives the Carolina Drilling/Coffman Tank Trucks nitrous-injected Chevrolet Camaro. “I still got a ways to go, but there was no way I was missing this race. We fell a bit in the point standings a few races ago, and I want to get those points back.”
Smith has raced the past few months in severe back pain but toughed it out until a sufficient break in the tour allowed for the surgery.
Smith has been a contender all year, and even though he sits fourth in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge Championship point standings.
INSPIRED AT HOME - Missing the first two races of the season isn’t the best way for a driver to start a championship hunt. In the 10-race schedule for the NHRA Get Screened America
Pro Mod Drag Racing Series, missing two races means that 20 percent of the season is gone. Statistics say a move like that all but guarantees a driver would be out of the championship hunt.Mike Castellana doesn’t want to know the odds.
After missing the first two races of the season, the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals and the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas, Castellana has scored a win and runner-up finish at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston and the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta.
After not even appearing on the point standings after two races into the season, Castellana enters the NHRA SuperNationals, the fifth stop in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series in ninth place, within reasonable distance from first-place driver Khalid Balooshi.
“We always hope that we do good,” said Castellana “It’s going to be pretty tough because we missed those races. Honestly I’m not even looking at the points right now. I’m just looking to go out there at each race and have a good time this season.”
A return to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park for Castellana is more than just a trip to his home track. Sure it’s the closest track on the circuit to this native of Westbury, N.Y., and Castellana plans on having many family members and friends out to cheer him on. But it’s also the site of Castellana’s first final round appearance in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series.
“It’s always good to race in front of your home crowd and to go to the final round was great for us,” said Castellana. “Von (Smith, last year’s winner) was one of our teammates, so going into that final round, it was a win-win situation for our teams. And to be in the final round at my hometown track was just an amazing experience.”
With the schedule as tight as it is, and the competition as strong as ever in the series, Castellana knows that missing or failing to qualify for the remaining races in the season is not an option. But he also knows that the NHRA SuperNationals is more than just a regular race, especially for him.
“The way we’ve been running so far this year, I think we really have a good chance at winning there,” said Castellana. “I’ve never won in Englishtown, so it would be really, really nice to win in front of the hometown crowd. Who knows, this might be our year to win it.”
Castellana will have plenty of competition as the series heads to Englishtown, N.J. Pro Mod points leader Balooshi swept the first two events of the season in his Speedtech ’68 Camaro, and second place driver Ed Hoover is hungry to get his second win of the season after taking the Wally in Atlanta. Team owner and driver Roger Burgess, who has posted the lowest elapsed times at every race so far this season, hopes to turn those quick runs into his first win of the season.
Featuring the world’s fastest and most unique doorslammer cars with an extremely diverse collection of vehicles, including ’63 Corvettes, ’68 Camaros, ’67 Mustangs, ’68 Firebirds as well as late model cars, the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series offers something for every kind of hot-rodding enthusiast.
The NHRA SuperNationals will also be part of the 60th anniversary celebration of NHRA. Legendary Top Fuel pilot “Big Daddy” Don Garlits will be on hand to sign autographs, meet fans, and participate in the festivities.
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