EVENT RESULTS EVENT NOTEBOOK

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FINAL NOTEBOOK - THAT'S A WRAP; PDRA CONCLUDES

NEXT BEST THING - Starting from the number-six position on the Pro Extreme qualifying list, NAS Racing's Badir Ahli was the only driver in contention to deny points leader Jason Scruggs his first season championship since 2008, but to do so not only would Ahli have needed to win the race and set a new elapsed time record along the way, Scruggs would've had to lose in the opening round. When Scruggs, who scored five PDRA event wins in 2015, got past a redlighting Danny Lowry in the opening session, the championship mathematically became beyond reach for Ahli.

"I want to congratulate Jason Scruggs and his team," Ahli said. "It is disappointing for us, yes, but  they deserve to win after such a great season."

That still left the race win up for grabs, though, and Ahli made his march toward the final through Johnny Cobb, Jose Gonzales and Tommy D'Aprile to reach Brandon Snider of Atmore, AL, there. Snider, who qualified number one with a record-setting 3.51-seconds pass at 217.63 mph in his Q80-backed '69 Camaro, defeated Lorenzo "Killer" Brooks, Carl Stevens Jr. and Paul Mouhayet of Australia in the preliminary rounds.

Significantly, in a holeshot loss to Snider, Stevens broke the 230-mph barrier over the eighth mile, going 3.56 at 230.10 in his twin-turbocharged 2014 Camaro to set a new, official PDRA speed record.

"My wife called me right after we ran, all confused because she thought she saw I'd lost (on the PDRA's live, online video feed), but my guys were all jumping around, hugging each other on the starting line," Stevens said. "We did lose, but to be honest, it's a win for us right now. We couldn't be happier. We'd run 229 earlier in the day, but 230 is a nice round number; it just sounds better."

In the final, Ahli's screw-blown '69 Camaro left with a slight .009 advantage off the start and won going away despite slowing considerably to a 3.66 at 205.79 mph. In the right lane, Snider's similar ride left hard, but carried the front wheels in the air past half track, where he had to lift in order to avoid crossing the center line into Ahli's lane.

"It felt good at first, but then it started drifting left and you can't steer if the front tires aren't on the ground," Snider observed after posting a 3.75 at 173.25-mph pass. "We wanted to win, of course, but still not a bad way to end the year. Number-one qualifier, set a new ET record, got a runner-up, and the car's all in one piece. We'll take that."

MUSI MANHANDLES THE COMPETITION - Heading into the final PDRA event of the year, two-time defending NHRA Pro Mod champion Rickie Smith held a sizable points lead over Tommy Franklin, the lone Pro Nitrous competitor who could deny Smith his third major series title in three years. To win, though, Franklin needed to win the race and set a new ET record with his Pat Musi-powered '69 Camaro, while Smith would have to suffer an unlikely DNQ or at minimum, a rare first-round loss.

Remarkably, in Friday night's second qualifying session, Franklin ran an unprecedented 3.71-flat at 201.10 mph to secure the pole and establish the first leg of a new record. Then, during the third and final qualifying session on Saturday morning before eliminations began, Smith was bumped down the list of 16 qualifiers until sitting in the final qualified position, with plenty of capable cars behind him ready to oust him from the mix. When his turn came to take the track, however, "Tricky Rickie" responded with a solid 3.76 at 199.29 mph that safely landed his own Musi-motored '69 Camaro in the seventh starting spot.

The unthinkable happened in round one of racing, though, when Pat Stoken strapped a .013 light on Smith, allowing his .029 holeshot to make the difference in a 3.77 win over Smith's quicker 3.74 effort. Watching from the staging lanes, Franklin seized the opportunity and backed up his qualifying run within the required one percent for an official record with a 3.73 win over John Camp.

"There's not much to say; I cut my usual light, the same as I've been doing all year, and he (Stoken) took a chance and it paid off," a clearly discouraged Smith said later. "It's not over yet, though, it's just out of my hands now."

Smith didn't have to wait long to learn his fate. In round two, Franklin left first on Jay Cox, but slowed to a 4.11 at 195.45 that was no match for Cox's 3.75 at 197.68 combo. "It just wasn't meant to be, I guess," said Franklin, who also finished second in the standings last year. "This class is getting so tough, so quick and fast. We almost had our first all-3.70s field here this weekend, the 16th-place car was a 3.80 with a two."

Meanwhile, Lizzy Musi started her Musi-powered 2015 Dart from the fourth position and raced through Mike Castellana, Chris Rini and Cox with authority, setting a new class speed record of 204.01 mph along the way. In the final round she faced number-two qualifier "Stevie Fast" Jackson and his '69 Camaro with Reher-Morrison horsepower under the hood after Jackson made his way past Tim Savell, Stoken and Keith Haney, who ran a career-best 3.74 in qualifying third.

Running in the right lane for the final, Musi moved first, leaving with a .013 holeshot and never looking back, running 3.72 at 203.55 mph to Jackson's wheel-standing 3.76 at 200.89 mph.

"You know, I still feel like I'm pretty new out here compared to most of the other guys," Musi said after scoring her first win of the year and just the second of her Pro Nitrous career. "I have to thank my dad and Rickie Smith for helping to sort out our new car for me, too. And we added Patrick Barnhill and let me tell you, he knows a thing or two about getting one of these things to hook up. I'm very lucky to have the people I have surrounding me."

FRIGO VICTORIOUS - Pro Boost featured the tightest championship chase of all the PDRA pro classes with first-place Kevin Rivenbark holding a slim 80-points advantage--less than one round's worth--over Kevin Fiscus heading into the PDRA World Finals. Rivenbark was aiming to make it two Pro Boost titles in a row for GALOT Racing after Todd Tutterow, who returned to Pro Extreme for 2015, won for GALOT last year.

Rivenbark gained maximum qualifying points when he put his roots-blown 2015 Corvette in first place with a 3.79 at 194.74, marking the first pass in the 3.70s by a supercharged-motor combination in the class, though in round one of eliminations Rivenbark's teammate John Strickland, as well as Ric Fleck, would join the club.
Fiscus, who qualified his twin-turbo'd 2012 Mustang seventh, did his job in round one of racing, winning with a 3.83 run over Doug Winters in the second pair of Pro Boost entries down the track and temporarily taking over the points lead. Then came Rivenbark in the final pair of the session when the unimaginable happened and he went red by -.030 off the start to waste a 3.80 pass at 194.91 that would've easily delivered the win--and a return of the points lead--against a 3.89 at 190.54 by Larry Higgenbotham in his blown '57 Chevy.

"I think that was a big advantage for me to go ahead of him," the new Pro Boost champion said. "I was honestly feeling more relaxed than I usually do before E1, but I think the pressure got to him."

In the race, an unlikely winner emerged from 15th place on the qualifying list as Brazil's Sidnei Frigo won all four rounds of racing with a holeshot in each. He opened with a .032 light leading to a 3.86 at 206.76 pass in his twin-turbocharged '15 Corvette against a puzzling .507 reaction by Strickland that negated his record 3.790 pass at 194.58 mph.

Next up was Fiscus, who Frigo beat by .021 off the line, which translated to a five-thousandths of a second margin of victory 3.84 seconds and 660 feet later. In the semis Frigo faced Fleck and left with a .045 reaction time to Fleck's .084, which gave him an eight-thousandths advantage after going 3.85 to the finish line.

Waiting for Frigo in the final was Jeremy Ray, who drove his supercharged '15 Corvette to wins over Tylor Miller, Paolo Giust and Anthony Disomma in the early rounds.
Once more when the lights flashed green for the Pro Boost final, Frigo left first, this time with an excellent .008 light to Ray's .064, allowing his 3.88 at 205.98 to defeat the 3.82 at 193.10 by just four thousandths of a second.

"This is just my second PDRA race," the ex-Top Fuel driver said. "It was an exciting day."

NOTHING ANTICLIMACTIC HERE - With the 2015 championship already clinched by defending class champ Eric McKinney when the PDRA World Finals began, what Pro Extreme Motorcycle lacked in points-chasing drama, it made up for in on-track action.

McKinney's crew chief, Ashley Owens, secured the number-one start in the all-Suzuki class with a 4.00-seconds ride at 176.33 mph, with Chuck Wilburn, winner of the previous PDRA race early last month in North Carolina, second and followed by Travis Davis and eventual event winner Terry Schweigert. McKinney's 4.06 at 176.72 qualifying pass put him on the list in seventh place.

Schweigert made a solo pass in round one after Ronnie Smith's bike broke, then took down Burke Foster in round two before outrunning young gun Chris Garner-Jones in the semis to set up the final against Wilburn, who made it there through Richard Gadson, Dave Norris and Davis, who didn't get to run after arriving late to the lanes for the semis.
Wilburn posted a .090 reaction in the final and Schweigert had a .096 leave, and made up for it with a solid and consistent 4.03 pass at 173.52 mph to beat Wilburn's 4.10 at 174.03 combination.

"Neither one of us had a particularly good light--for some reason I was having a little trouble with my reaction times here this weekend--but I know we left pretty close together, but after that I really didn't see him or hear him. I was drifting a little over toward the center line, too, so I was concentrating on that and just on getting to the far end," Schweigert said. "This was my second win this year and it feels so good to end the season like this."

JUST COULDN’T GET A BREAK - Despite winning three of the five Pro Open Outlaw races contested within nine PDRA events this year--including the PDRA World Finals--Phil Esz still finished runner-up to Jody Stroud in points.

"We had an oil leak and got shut off in round one at Rockingham and that really cost us," Esz said after defeating Stroud by eighth-thousandths of a second in the final round at VMP. "We'll be back next year, though."

In the biggest turnout for the class all season, 11 cars made qualifying attempts and Paul Molnar led an eight-car field into eliminations with a straight-off-the-trailer 3.607 at 204.26-mph pass in his '04 Spitzer dragster. Stroud qualified third with Bryan Keller sandwiched between him and Molnar, with Esz completing the top half of the field.
In eliminations, Esz set low ET and top speed for the meet and a potential new ET record with a 3.604 at 204.76 win over Andrew Johnson in round one while Stroud easily handled Eddie Careccia with a 3.68 on the opposite side of the ladder. Round two, the semis, saw Esz run 3.74 to get by Robert Frigon, but he lost lane choice for the final to a 3.65 solo run by Stroud after Keller's car broke.

In the final, Stroud left with a sizable .032 starting line advantage, but his 3.67 at 200.17 fell short by seven thousandths of Esz's 3.63 at 201.91 that also served as an official back-up for the ET record.

Later, Esz revealed that with the help of Top Sportsman racer Mick Snyder he'd made a hasty transmission change between the semis and final round. He also thanked GALOT Racing and Rick Hickman for their help and dedicated the win to the memory of his father, Mike, whose birthday was the same day as the PDRA race.

THE OUTLAW 10.5 REPORT - Three rounds of qualifying and three steps up to the top as Mike Decker Jr. went from third to second to first overall in just the second appearance of Outlaw 10.5 with the PDRA this season with a 3.985-seconds blast at 193.82 mph in Saturday's final session before eliminations began.

Once there Decker drove his supercharged '02 Camaro around Joel Wensley, John Bartunek and Frank Pompilio to reach the turbocharged 2000 Camaro of Canadian Nick Agostino in the final. Agostino put Scott Kline, Joe Newsham and Mo Hall on the trailer in the preliminaries.

Neither driver cut a good light in the final, with Decker waiting .115 and Agostino .138 before leaving. From there, Decker put together a 3.98 at 192.47-mph winning combination against 4.00 at 204.82 by Agostino.

Decker credited Chuck Ulsch for helping with the car's set-up for the final and said his team changed engines between qualifying and racing on Saturday.

THE KING REIGNS - When Ronnie Davis arrived at Virginia Motorsports Park he had his eye firmly fixed upon the prize: the 2015 PDRA Top Sportsman championship. The Georgia-based golf cart dealer came with enough points to win so long as he qualified and won just one round of racing. Failing that, defending class champ Dan Ferguson would've had to win the race and set a record to overtake Davis.

After Davis slotted into 10th in the 16-car field with a 4.04 pass at 178.19 mph in his nitrous-boosted '63 Corvette, Ferguson ran 3.99 at exactly 183 mph to occupy the last of a record six three-second passes atop the PDRA Top Sportsman qualifying sheet.

The championship chase ended quickly, though, once eliminations began as Ferguson's borrowed '63 Vette shook hard off the launch in round one and he coasted across the finish line for his final 5.76 seconds as 2014 champion.

"My goal has always been to win the championship in whatever series I race in," Davis explained after defeating Chuck Mohn in round one. "I've won in NHRA, in IHRA, I missed in ADRL when it was around, but I'm real happy to get it done in PDRA now. I love this type of racing."

With the championship secured, Davis set his sights on winning the PDRA World Finals, beating Rachel Edwards in round two and John Benoit in the semis. Opposite him, Don Klooster drove his own nitrous-fed '63 Corvette to wins over Cheyenne Stanley, Mark Malcutt and Randy Perkinson.

"Don's a good friend and we really wanted to meet in the final, get the two Corvettes out there and just go for it together," Davis said. "I was really happy to see that work out." It worked out on the track for him, too, as Davis left with a .024 light, then ran 4.07 at 170.21 against a 4.04 dial in to take the win over a .071/4.02/181.30 package on a 4.00 dial by Klooster.

"This feels like an important win to me," Davis said of his third PDRA race title this year. "This is the way you want to win a championship."

WAY TO GO KATHY! -  With two round wins at the PDRA World Finals, Derrik Sholar came close to overtaking Justin Melton's points lead in Top Dragster, but a dead-on-the-dial, first-round win for Melton (3.99 at 172.21 on a 3.99 dial in) over Cody Moore was just enough to ensure the title went home to Gleason, TN.

Meanwhile, in only her third PDRA appearance, the voice of CompetitionPlus.tv Kathy Fisher made it all the way to victory lane at Virginia Motorsports Park after qualifying fifth in Top Dragster and making her way past Jantzen Melton, George Marks, Lauren Freer and Eddie Syrek in the final round. After taking out Bob Sheridan Jr. in round one, Syrek had the distinction of ousting both championship contenders from eliminations with wins over Melton and Sholar in rounds two and three, respectively.
In the all-Procharger final, Syrek launched with a .085 reaction time, but broke and stopped on the track, while Fisher left with a .049 light and ran just one-thousandth of a second above her 3.96 dial in to take the win at 172.96 mph.

"The season is ending so completely different from how it started for us and I couldn't be happier," Fisher said, though she did have an anxious moment just as the final round was about to start. "We went to fire it up and she just wouldn't start. It would fire up a little bit, but just would not keep running. Eddie had already started his car but he shut it off to wait for us and I can't thank him enough for that."

NEXT UP - The PDRA will honor its 2015 champions with a banquet and awards presentation during the annual Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis.

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - IT'S A TURBOCHARGED DAY AT VMP

TURBO TO THE TOP – Jose Gonzalez of the Dominican Republic secured the top spot in the NAS Racing Pro Extreme class.

"The car is running amazing here," Jose Gonzales declared after going 3.52 seconds at 225.97 mph in the second session to take away the top position from Pro Extreme points leader Jason Scruggs. "We went .53 with it in testing (on Thursday) and I knew as soon as it left that it was quicker than yesterday."

That the car was even ready for racing in the PDRA World Finals was a testament to hasty repairs made at Jerry Bickel Race Cars after the twin-turbocharged 2015 Corvette sideswiped the wall during testing at VMP a week earlier with another driver at the wheel, Gonzales added.

"Those guys did a great job and so did my crew here," he said. "Steve Petty (crew chief), he tuned it up tonight and I think there may even be a little more in it. Not much, but I don't think we're done yet."

Also stepping up in the second qualifying round were Terry Leggett, who steered his Hairy Glass-bodied '71 Mustang from ninth to second with a 3.52 pass at 214.89 mph and Brandon Snider, who jumped up from 11th to third after a 3.53 run at 217.42 mph. Meanwhile, Todd Tutterow actually fell two positions to fourth despite improving from 3.57 to 3.55 over his two qualifying passes and Carl Stevens Jr. was sixth after making a 3.60 run at a pavement-scorching 227.57 mph in his twin-turbocharged 2014 Camaro.
Scruggs, who drove his screw-blown '69 Camaro to a first-round lead of 3.56 seconds at 216.72 mph, dropped to fifth after not getting down the track in his second attempt. He needs only to qualify, then win the first round of racing on Saturday in order to clinch his first Pro Extreme championship in seven years. NAS Racing's Badir Ahli, from Dubai, is mathematically Scruggs' only title challenger and was eighth of 16 Pro Extreme entries on Friday night.

RECORD ON THE LINE IN TITLE BATTLE - A potential record 3.71 at 201.10 mph put Tommy Franklin and his Musi-powered '69 Camaro into the Pro Nitrous qualifying lead after Friday night's session in Richmond. "We ran really good early with a .933 60-foot, but just didn't quite have the back half that would've made it a little faster," he said. "But hey, it's still good, we'll freshen it up here tonight and see what we can do tomorrow."

Gaining the bonus 50 points attached to setting a new elapsed-time record by backing it up within one percent on a subsequent run could prove crucial to the Fredericksburg, VA-based driver as he trailed points leader and current back-to-back NHRA Pro Mod champion Rickie Smith by 380 markers as the PDRA World Finals began.
With each round win worth 100 points, Franklin realized his chances at taking the title away from a racer of Smith's caliber remained slim; however, he remained determined to continue trying. "All we can do is go out there, qualify as high as possible, hopefully set a record and win the race. After that it's just a matter of math."

Despite making a career-best run for the provisional number-one start, Franklin also claimed it could be vulnerable if weather conditions for Saturday's lone qualifying session were ideal. "It's supposed to be cooler, so that could play into someone's hands," he said. "But then, we could go faster, too."

Also with a career-best run of 3.74-flat at 200.68 mph, Keith Haney powered his Reher-Morrison-motored 2015 Camaro into second place on Friday night, while Steve Jackson, also in a Reher-Morrison '69 Camaro, gained a few thousandths to also run 3.74 at 200.92 to place third. Lizzy Musi led with a 3.74 at 202.30 in her 2015 Dart after round one, but failed to make it down the track in Q2, dropping her to fourth, with Chris Rini rounding out the top five.

Twenty-five entries made qualifying attempts in Pro Nitrous, with Ron Muenks holding on to the 16th and final spot with a 3.85 at 197.65 in his '68 Camaro before Saturday's third-and-final qualifying opportunity.   

RIVENBARK PACES PRO BOOST - After two rounds of qualifying, official PDRA sheets showed 28 cars made attempts to break into the 16-car Pro Boost field at Richmond and points leader Kevin Rivenbark was quickest of them all with an unprecedented  3.79 pass at 194.74 in his roots-blown 2015 Corvette. Meanwhile, his only mathematical championship rival, Kevin Fiscus, was 11th in his twin-turbo'd 2012 Mustang at 3.87 and 206.29 mph.

"That's okay, as long as we stay ahead of him at each step of the way we'll be fine," Rivenbark said, alluding to the slim 80-point lead he held as the event began. "We just have to make sure we go rounds tomorrow."

Rivenbark added he felt "very happy" about his car's performance, too. "That was the first time a blower car's gone quicker than 3.80 in this class, so that was pretty cool. I think it would be hard to beat that tomorrow."  

Rivenbark's GALOT Racing teammate, John Strickland, placed second with a 3.80 at 194.41 in his blown '69 Camaro, with Ric Fleck third at another 3.80 and 189.68 in his supercharged '41 Willys. After 28 cars made qualifying runs, Alan Pittman held the final position for the provisional 16-car field on Friday night with a 3.89 at 192.55 mph in his supercharged '69 Camaro.

BIG MOVE - Travis Davis of Douglas, GA, stepped up from sixth to first in the second round of nitrous-boosted Pro Extreme Motorcycle qualifying, going 4.02 at 174.66 aboard his 2010 Suzuki to take the lead into Saturday's third-and-last opportunity to make it into the PDRA World Finals.

Following Davis on the list were Canadian rider Terry Schweigert at 4.03 and 173.18 mph, Ron Procopio at 4.05 and 172.56, and Chuck Wilburn, winner of the most recent PDRA event early in September at Rockingham, NC, with a 4.06 pass at 175.52 mph. Ohio's Eric McKinney, a three-time winner this year who already had the 2015 class championship clinched when he arrived in Virginia, was seventh after his 2012 Suzuki ran 4.08 at 177.37 on Friday night.  

With 19 bikes entered, for the first time in several races, Pro Extreme Motorcycle will feature a full 16-entry field. Richard Gadson will head into Saturday's final qualifying round on the 16th-place bump spot after posting 4.20 at 167.99 on his '94 Suzuki.

IT’S THE POO - Pro Open Outlaw, a heads-up class for high-powered dragsters, ran at just five of nine PDRA national events in 2015, with only Jody Stroud from South Carolina and Ohio's Phil Esz in position to settle the championship between them at VMP.

Paul Molnar's 3.60 at 204.26 mph from round one of qualifying retained the lead going into Saturday's final session before racing begins. Esz improved slightly to 3.66 at 203.37 to hold on to second Friday night, while points leader Stroud was sixth with a 4.19 pass at 183.19 mph.    

ON DECK - The PDRA World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park, just south of Richmond, will resume with one more qualifying session for all classes beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday, followed by elimination rounds at 4 p.m.