Kurt Steding and his son, Ethan, celebrated in the winner’s circle for the second time in their careers at the Travis Mills Foundation PDRA Mid-Atlantic Showdown presented by Red Line Shirt Club on Saturday night. Kurt won in WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive, while Ethan secured victory in Liberty’s Gears Pro Street presented by Menscer Motorsports at Virginia Motorsports Park.
“You have no idea how much this means,” Steding said. “We race together, we’re hard on each other while we’re racing together, but there’s nothing better than doubling up with your boy. I’m proud of him. Todd tuned it right in there. My crew is awesome and my lights were good and we pulled the win off.”
Steding qualified No. 10 and fired off a 3.685 at 205.88 to defeat No. 7 qualifier James Beadling and his 3.728 in the first round. Steding’s perfect .000 reaction time and consistent 3.687 at 206.54 over Gabriel Andino’s 3.717 sent him to the semifinals. With conditions improving, Steding stepped up to a 3.653 at 206.86 in the semis to drive around rookie John Doc, who cut a .001 reaction time and posted a 3.724.
“I just did my thing,” Steding said. “I had triple zeros in the second round. That’s a little too close for comfort. I tried to lay off the tree and then you see an .059 pop up [in the semifinals]. You can’t race like that, so I just did my thing and stayed calm, cool, and collected and just ran it out.”
“To be doing this again with my dad, meeting him in the winner’s circle, it’s unbelievable,” added Ethan Steding. “This just brought all my confidence back for a championship fight. At GALOT we had a bad start. Lost first round. This weekend, qualifying at the top of the board, No. 3, and winning the race, it just made me feel back in the spot to chase another championship this year. That’s exactly what we’re going to do and we’re going to get us one.”
The Stedings were joined in the FuelTech Winner’s Circle by Marcus Butner, who won in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous. First-time winners included Jeremy Huffman in AED Competition Fuel Systems Extreme Pro Stock presented by Boone Motorsports, Kyle Salminen in PDRA Pro 632 presented by PTC Torque Converters, and Austin Vincent in PDRA Super Street presented by Brian’s Heating & Cooling.
In the sportsman categories, five winners emerged: Glenn Butcher in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by PAR Racing Engines, Linzie Coleman in Laris Motorsports Insurance Elite Top Dragster presented by Greenbrier Excavating & Paving, Keith Castle in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman, and Nick Meloni in Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster presented by Derrick Wolfe Trucking. Nathan Tanner won the Edelbrock Bracket Bash presented by COMP Cams, defeating Rick Raasch in the final round.
Winners in the Jr. Dragster classes included Shane Dailey in Paragon Pro Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products and Jayden Hogan in Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products. Dailey qualified No. 29 and faced No. 32 qualifier Makinze Alexander in the final, running a 7.908 on the 7.90 index for the win, while Alexander posted a 7.952.
In the Top Jr. Dragster final, Will O’Brien was quicker off the line, but Hogan claimed victory by coming closer to his 8.91 dial-in with an 8.927. O’Brien slowed to a 9.062 on an 8.98 dial-in.
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