Nitro veterans Del Worsham and Scott Palmer were the No. 1 qualifiers at the season-opening IHRA event at Darana Raceway outside of Columbus Raceway. Two weeks later, and 200 miles away, nothing has changed. They were the No. 1 qualifiers in the second event for the rejuvenated IHRA at the former Milan Dragway, now renamed Darana Raceway at Milan.
Joining them at the top of the leaderboard were Jerry Tucker (Mountain Motor Pro Stock) and Robin Roberts (Pro Modified)
Worsham, the 1992 IHRA World champion who finished runner-up in the Funny Car season opener at Hebron, had both the low elapsed time at 4.220 seconds and top speed (235.23 mph) in qualifying. Dale Creasy Jr. posted the second-quickest time and speed at 4.330 seconds and 223.66 mph. Jack Wyatt was third quickest, followed by Jody Austin, Dan Hix and Tod Barker.
“It came loose in the middle of the track on us… We were really trying to make a three-second run,” Worsham explained. “Probably pushing a little too hard. I thought it would do it, but it just wouldn’t hang on. Still made a decent run, just not enough for what I wanted. The last time I won an IHRA event was almost 30 years ago, August of ’95, at the World Nationals in Top Fuel. I’ve never been to an IHRA event that’s this well prepared and looks this good. The track’s good, and they’ve got a great foundation here.”
Top Fuel racer Palmer posted both the quickest time (3.888 seconds) and fastest speed (293.73 mph) in Top Fuel time qualifying. It comes on the heels of Palmer winning the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series race in Hebron, Ohio outside of Columbus.
“We were number one at the last race and won the race. I told ’em coming into this one—it’ll be harder to win this race than the last one,: Palmer said. “We’re missing a couple heavy hitters, but to me it’s still gonna be harder, because you’re gonna have to battle yourself along with it.
“You cannot make a mistake. We had a few little gremlins—which Top Fuel cars do—but we battled through ’em. We shredded a belt down there at the finish line, and honestly, it would’ve run better than that. But that was a really good run and it gives us something to work off of for tomorrow.”
Mitch King was second at 4.038 seconds and 283.02 mph. Chuck Loftin, Lex Joon and Kyle Satenstein rounded out the top five.
Tucker led Mountain Motor Pro Stock at 4.104 seconds and 175.37 mph. Tony Pontieri was second quickest. Jay Turner paced the field in Top Fuel Harley with a 5.423-second pass, while No. 2 qualifier Jordan Peterson posted the top speed at 201.16 mph.
“175 is probably a pretty good hit,” Tucker said. We were fast enough to go to the one spot in the first round. We just got a little outta shape, and I shut it off. Then, in the second round, we went to the left lane, and it went down fine. I’ll get a bye in round one tomorrow. It’s always better to race a bye than someone else.”
Roberts took the No. 1 qualifier in Pro Mod at 3.693 seconds and 208.43 mph.
That’s not a bad run for a driver who had to borrow a firesuit to race.
“I said, well, who’s got a suit I can borrow?” Roberts recounted post-run. “Went down to Jason’s and I borrowed his suit—turns out that suit already won two championships. So I’m wearing his suit and sitting low, qualifying for ET. So it was fun. I borrowed a suit. He’s a good dude. We had a goal coming in here to qualify number one. We wanted to support this IHRA and get it going.
“We also wanted to qualify number one, and we did that. As we just did, we threw the house at the car on that last round, and it held. I had to drive it a bit, but it held.”
Jason Harris, the driver who loaned him the suit, was next at 3.654 seconds.
Tim Molnar set the pace in Pro Nitrous at 3.731 seconds and 203.53 mph. Tony Wilson had the fastest speed at 203.80 mph.
The Top Alcohol classes saw Rachel Curl Meyer go 5.230 seconds at 275.06 mph in her dragster. Will Smith was a close second at 5.234 seconds and 273.39 mph. Phil Esz led Top Alcohol Funny Car with a 5.543 elapsed time at 259.97 mph.
Anthony Mini is No. 1 in Outlaw Snowmobile at 4.485 seconds and 159.46 mph.
