The PDRA Mid-Atlantic Nationals was billed as an event full of starpower. And when the last cars crossed the finish line they didn’t dissapoint.
When it comes to starpower, there’s little that can top a Jim Halsey versus Tommy Franklin Pro Nitrous final. Halsey lived up to the hype, as the four-time PDRA champion beat Franklin on a holeshot.
Also scoring wins in the second stop on the Red Line Oil Drag Racing Series was Spencer Hyde (Pro Boost) and Johnny Pluchino (Extreme Pro Stock).
In the final round between the two winningest drivers in PDRA Pro Nitrous,
drove his way to a 3.628-second pass at 208.33 MPH to finish ahead of Franklin and his 3.613 E.T. It was Halsey’s first win of the season and the first for his new 1968 Camaro.
“I’ll be honest with you, sometimes I think I forgot how to drive. Today, I did OK,” Halsey said. “The tree was a little weird there [in the final]. Tommy flickered the bulb and I think it delayed the auto-start some, so we were both pretty tardy, but a win’s a win. The car is running good and making laps. We didn’t abort one run because of any issues with the car. I did a bad job of driving in Q1, but other than that, it’s redeemed itself pretty good.”
Hyde earned his first-ever Pro Boost win and did so by stopping low qualifier Melanie Salemi. Although he left the starting line second he srove his way to a 3.577 in his screw-blown 1969 Camaro, and that performance enabled him to drive around Salemi and her 3.606 at 207.66 by just .003. It was the first Pro Boost win for Hyde, who won the 2023 World Series of Pro Mod.
“We’ve had a good car at every race we’ve gone to since that race and we just couldn’t get it done,” said Hyde, who thanked partners like Red Line Oil, Engineered Racing Services, and NGK Spark Plugs. “To come here and do it in the quickest field ever in Pro Boost means a lot. It was five hundredths of a second from No. 1 to 16. There were no easy rounds. There were no easy cars. You had to do everything right. We did everything right today and the chips fell our way. I owe it all to my guys. They got this thing turned around every round and [Mark] Savage did a killer job this weekend on the keyboard and I drove OK. It all came together and it’s awesome.”
Pluchino remained on a hot streak as he put another mark in the win column, just two weeks after winning the season-opener at Galot Motorsports Park.
He went into race day as the No. 1 qualifier in his ’13 Mustang, then improved every step of the way through eliminations. He fired off a 4.029 at 179.11 in the final round to get the win over Jeremy Huffman, who left the line too soon with a .126 red light on a 4.072 at 177.70.
“There’s nothing like momentum,” said Pluchino, who won this event in 2020. “When you’ve got a good car, you feel good and your crew’s jelled. There’s just nothing like momentum, and right now I’m gonna ride it as long as I can. I just want to thank my whole crew, including Keith Kelling at Kelling Equipment and Jon Pickett at Feather-Lite Batteries. Everybody puts their heart and soul into these trophies. My name is on the door, but it’s just as much a team deal as any sport out there.”
Other professional winners included Doug Nicholl (PDRA Pro 632), Tim Essick (Pro Street), and Derek Mota (Super Street0.
Sportsman class victories went to Glenn Butcher (Elite Top Sportsman), Kellan Farmer (Elite Top Dragster), Jeff Melnick (Top Sportsman) and Chad Traylor (Top Dragster), Richie Allen (Bracket Bash).
The young rising stars of the PDRA’s Jr. Dragster classes also had a full day of competition, with wins going to Ashley Franklin (Pro Jr. Dragster), and Landen Lewis (Top Jr. Dragster).
The Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series will head north for the next stop on the 2024 schedule, the Smokies Garage American Doorslammer Challenge presented by Callies, May 23-25, at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.
