Bubba Stanton dominated from pillar to post in the season opener of the CBD American Shaman 2021 ADRL Tour Saturday night at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis, taking the Minuteman trophy in the Carolina Precision Machining Pro Extreme class against Missouri native Jon Stouffer.

In one of the best races of the Aegis Home Protection ADRL Gateway Drags presented by dragracingforkids.org, Stanton edged Stouffer in the final round, his 3.644-second pass at 209.14 mph topping Stouffer's run of 3.681 seconds at 204.29 mph. Both laps were the quickest of the weekend for both drivers, with Stanton's run topping his Q3 pole-winning ET of 3.657 seconds.

"It's been a long road to get here," Stanton said during the Winner's Circle celebration after the race. "We've struggled, but the car just ran good all weekend. It was a pretty good weekend. You gotta go with the flow and keep on going with it. These are some of the best guys to go up against. They're fast. You just gotta be on your game for every pass."
 
Mike Bell, driving for legendary drag racer Roy Hill who was injured in a starting line incident last month at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., earned an emotional victory in the Walco Funding Extreme Pro Stock finals. In another close side-by-side race, Bell's 4.138-second run at 172.59 mph beat Scott Benham's 4.236-second lap at 171.75 mph.

It was a wild first round of eliminations, as class top qualifier John DeFlorian Jr. red-lit against Jordan Ensslin, whose 2008 Cobalt went sideways on the hit. Ensslin would go out in the next round against Benham. In another E1 upset, No. 7 qualifier Doug Kirk barely edged out No. 2 qualifier Brad Waddle with a .006-second margin of victory.

Full Aegis Home Protection ADRL Gateway Drags presented by dragracingforkids.org final-round results:

Big-Tire No Time: Scott Lowery def. Brian Sholar

Small-Tire No Time: Brandon Carter def. Tyler Hutchens

6.0 Index: Byron Kinne (6.045 seconds at 111.00 mph) def. Brian Cook (6.116 seconds at 113.08 mph)

7.0 Index: Steve Pearson (6.984 seconds at 102.42 mph) def. Scottie Taylor (6.852 seconds at 113.08 mph)

Fusion Metalworks Pro Jr. Dragster: Kennedy Hale (7.938 seconds at 81.44 mph) def. Sarah Stewart (7.905 seconds at 79.26 mph)

Fusion Metalworks Top Jr. Dragster: Noah Taylor (8.951 seconds at 71.84 mph) def. Cohen Hale (8.937 seconds at 71.22 mph)

Les Nowling Memorial Super Pro Challenge presented by Taylor's Auto Salvage: Jason Phillips (4.880 seconds at 134.18 mph) def. Dennis Pearson (6.752 seconds at 102.31 mph)

The next event on the CBD American Shaman 2021 ADRL Tour is Dragpalooza at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas July 2-3. For ticket information, visit ADRLDrags.com.