EVENT PHOTO GALLERY  

 

Todd Tutterow and Doug Riesterer fired the first shots of the 2007 Flowmaster American Drag Racing League season Friday night, finishing on top of their respective classes after one round of qualifying at the RacingJunk.com Dragpalooza III event.

Tutterow threw down an early gauntlet to the rest of the Pro Extreme class with a spectacular 3.89-second pass to easily grab the top spot. Entering Saturday's final two rounds of qualifying, he is three-hundredths in front of Bobby Booth, who led a group of four other drivers to reach the 3-second zone. Included in that group is No. 5 Steve Engel, who posted the top speed of the session at 187.97 mph.

EVENT PHOTO GALLERY  

 

Todd Tutterow and Doug Riesterer fired the first shots of the 2007 Flowmaster American Drag Racing League season Friday night, finishing on top of their respective classes after one round of qualifying at the RacingJunk.com Dragpalooza III event.

Tutterow threw down an early gauntlet to the rest of the Pro Extreme class with a spectacular 3.89-second pass to easily grab the top spot. Entering Saturday's final two rounds of qualifying, he is three-hundredths in front of Bobby Booth, who led a group of four other drivers to reach the 3-second zone. Included in that group is No. 5 Steve Engel, who posted the top speed of the session at 187.97 mph.

A large field of 33 cars was on hand to take a shot at the first Pro Extreme qualifier of the season. A number of the class' top drivers will be looking to improve their standing in Saturday's sessions, including Tommy Mauney, Michael Neal, John Lynam, and Frankie Taylor.

Riesterer got in the first body-blow of the 2007 Pro Nitrous wars, posting a 4.04 to lead qualifying after one round. Johnny Pilcher was in at a solid No. 2 with a 4.05 best, followed by Rickie Smith, Burton Auxier, and Keith Baker, who all recorded 4.06s. Baker, the 2006 ADRL world champion, had the top speed of the session at 181.89 mph.

The Extreme 10.5 class made its official ADRL debut Friday night at Houston Motorsports Park, with Steve Kirk Jr. running a 4.32 to move into the top qualifying spot. The class competed at last year's DRAGSTOCK III event on an exhibition basis.

All three of the ADRL's pro classes will have two more chances to qualify Saturday before the 16-car eliminations competitions begin at 4 p.m. local time.