Scott Palmer understood the pressure on his shoulders to make a good showing at the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series. He was billed as one of the stars of the rejuvenated IHRA in its return to open competition.Â
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He embraced the pressure, and delivered all that was expected of him.  Â
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Palmer scored his first IHRA Top Fuel win by stopping Krista Baldwin in the final round of the inaugural Outlaw Nitro event at Darana Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, located outside of Columbus.
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Joining Palmer in the winner’s circle were Mike McIntire (Funny Car), Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor (Pro Modified), Jerry Tucker (Mountain Motor Pro Stock), and Bob Malloy (Nitro Harley).  Â
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Palmer, running from the No. 1 qualifying spot behind the wheel of his PBR/RoofTec dragster, stopped Chuck Loftin and Doug Foley to reach the final.
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“I hated to win,” Palmer said with a smile. “I wanted Krista to win, but also wanted us to win, so Krista is my favorite driver, so it’s like mixed emotions, but I’m damn sure happy to be here for sure.Â
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“Honestly, she was so close that I could tell she was over there ‘til about half-track. I could actually almost, I’m pretty sure I could see her front wing. So I knew she was probably a little bit ahead at that point. So, I honestly thought she was still there, and I have not drove good this weekend at all, so I was just nervous. I was honestly focused on trying to do the right thing myself, because I have really struggled this weekend myself. … I’m the weak link right now. But anyway, I did okay on that run and I could tell she had kind of faded away, but they put a couple cylinders out, so luckily, this thing did its job.” Â
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McIntire became the first IHRA Funny Car winner since 2008, when he stopped the 1992 champion Del Worsham in the final round. Just like Palmer, McIntire won from the No. 1 qualifying position.Â
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“It’s huge,” McIntire said. “These things are a lot of work, and everybody worked their butts off and it’s just … crazy. I have no words right now. We raced Del in the finals, and I mean, how cool is that? I mean, he’s a legend and, yeah, it’s just been an amazing weekend.”
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McIntire’s road to the title included wins over Jody Stroud and Jack Wyatt.
Frankie Taylor won the Pro Modified division, racing from the No. 1 qualifying position after getting a bye run in the first round, and then getting around James Beadling in the semis and Mike DiDeminoco in the final round. Â
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“This was exactly like the old IHRA I raced on and off back in the day, but especially my buddy Richard Patterson – he would help us go and stuff like that,” Taylor said. “So I want to thank PMS Excavations… You know, he’s the one that got me into the IHRA stuff. I just could never afford to do it. And then now they’ve got this big payout, and you just got to come try it.”
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Former NHRA 500-inch Pro Stock racer Jerry Tucker found his groove early in the IHRA Mountain Motor division, stopping PDRA champion Chris Powers in the final round.Â
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Tucker won it in a close one, 4.120 seconds at 174.89 mph to Powers’ 4.122 seconds at 174.26 mph, using a slightly quicker reaction to get off the line first.   Â
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“It’s been a rough weekend, and this is the IHRA guys – they put on a good show, and they don’t have a lot of luck with the weather and all, but they kept it together and the racetrack was perfect, and the people was great, and it all worked out,” Tucker said, giving credit to his crew chief Frank Gugliotta.
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“I’m pumped,” said Tucker. “Man, old Frank, we just put this deal together and it’s awesome. We just didn’t need to get in our own way. If we didn’t beat ourselves, we was going to be fine. And we thought we had the car and we thought we had the performance, we just didn’t need to do anything silly.”
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Tucker’s road to the final was paved by wins over Stroube Lander and Kurt Neighbor.
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The 500-inch Pro Stock class provided veteran driver Larry Morgan with another win. Morgan had the win before the tree even turned green due to Derrick Reese’s red-light, but he proceeded to run a 4.451, 162.90 to add the punctuation mark to the victory.
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The Pro Nitrous win went to Tony Wilson. He ran an impressive 3.790, 201.64, the second quickest run of eliminations, to pick up the win over Dale Brinsfield’s 4.106, 148.31.Â
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In the Top Alcohol divisions, Jackie Fricke got it done in her dragster, and Stan Sipos won in Funny Car. Fricke’s 5.520, 267.53 run beat Mike Coughlin’s 5.606, 262.74, while Sipos’ 5.505, 264.03 rose above Phil Esz’s 5.496, 262.28.
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Bob Malloy rode his Nitro Harley into victory, running a 5.340, 204.01 against Jay Turner’s 5.491, 193.29. Both riders had impressive reaction times, with Malloy’s .067 giving him less than .02 of a second lead at the tree over Turner’s .084.
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The next stop on the IHRA’s Nitro Outlaws series heads to Milan Dragway on July 23-26.
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