A.J. Ashe’s Top Sportsman victory at Sunday’s IHRA Summit Pro-Am Series event at San Antonio Raceway wasn’t exactly planned. While it’s certainly no surprise that Ashe, a seasoned bracket racing veteran with several big dollar wins under his belt, and his All In Motorsports team put their ‘04 Grand Am in the winners circle on Sunday; the team had no intentions of even attending the event until late Saturday evening.

“We were actually at Ben Bruce Memorial last night,” explained Ashe. There, team owner Richard Otwell drove the same Grand Am in the Texas Pro Stock Association event, where he suffered a close first round defeat. Although the team had initially planned on attending the San Antonio event, those plans got sidetracked when Ashe sold the car in which he had been competing (The All In Motorsports team is currently in the process of completing a gorgeous ‘68 Camaro from Garrett Race Cars within which Ashe will compete the remainder of the season). “After the race at Ben Bruce, we got to talking about making the drive to San Antonio and running the TPSA car, and for whatever reason we all agreed to hop in the truck and go.” The team made the 4 hour trek across South Texas and arrived at SAR in the wee hours of the morning.

“We didn’t get to San Antonio until about 4 o’clock this morning. Then, we were up at 7 to get the diaper on the car to tech for Top Sportsman. We’d never even run this combination on the quarter mile, so we came in with no idea of what to expect.”

The team’s Jeff Naiser Racing Engines 565 turned out impressive numbers in San Antonio. The power plant, which utilizes a single carburetor and a conventional cylinder head design as per Texas Pro Stock Association rules, turned out 7.4 second ET’s at over 180 miles per hour.

“We have the car setup for the TPSA events, which are 1/8^th mile,” explained Ashe. “It’s got a 5.00 gear. The only change we made was bolting on a set of 3185 Mickey Thompson Slicks and beadlock wheels--we just run a 15” wheel in the Pro Stock series. The motor was wound up to 9500 rpm in the quarter--but that’s just a testament to Jeff and the crew at Jeff Naiser Racing engines. It performed flawlessly.”

Ashe started his path to victory lane by disposing of former event champion Darrell Froboese in round two, which earned him the quarterfinal bye run. In the semi-finals, he used a .008 reaction time to easily hold off Rex Underwood, lifting to a .021-over 7.491. In the final round, Ashe used another solid reaction time (.015) and perfect 7.470 on his 7.47 target to oust Marvin Phillips and claim the first IHRA Iron Man of his racing career.

“Anytime you’re able to win it’s a great feeling. This win is particularly satisfying for a couple reasons: first, we were in a car that’s not really what you’d consider a true Top Sportsman ride. Second, Richard was able to come to the race and he was really excited to get the win. And third, it’s our first event of the season, so the victory gives us hope for chasing the IHRA Division 4 and National Championships. Along with Richard and each of our marketing partners, I also want to thank Jeff Owen--he helps out at the shop and is my crew man at the track--as well as Slick Rick‘s Cylinder Heads.” In addition to Jeff Naiser Racing Engines, Ashe and his All In Motorsports team thanked Mickey Thompson Tires & Wheels, Jeg’s Mail Order, and Bogacki Marketing Solutions for their support.