Tripp Tatum left Darana Raceway in Hebron with the largest check of his drag racing career and a chance to make it worth considerably more before the season is over.
Tatum’s Top Fuel victory in the opening IHRA Triple Crown event outside of Columbus made him one of five drivers who remain eligible for the $1 million bonus available to anyone capable of sweeping all three Triple Crown races. Paul Lee (Funny Car), Jason Harris (Pro Modified), John DeFlorian Jr. (Mountain Motor Pro Stock) and Taylor Dietsch (Factory Pro Stock) also scored victories during the weekend and kept their championship bonus hopes alive.
The Top Fuel and Funny Car winners each collected $150,000 for their efforts. The winners in Pro Modified, Mountain Motor Pro Stock and Factory Pro Stock advanced to the next leg of the Triple Crown with their million-dollar opportunities still intact.
Tatum earned his victory by outrunning Gary Pritchett in the final round. Pritchett held a slight advantage on the starting line, but Tatum chased him down with a 3.764-second run at 328.47 mph while Pritchett slowed to a 3.859 at 274.39 mph after encountering problems near the finish line.
The victory capped a strong weekend for Tatum, who also defeated Chuck Loftin in the opening round and Jasmine Salinas in the semi-finals.
“To me, it’s one round at a time, one everything at a time,” Tatum said. “I’ll start worrying about or being on that maybe after the next race. You got to win the next one to even think about that. So just go to the next one, see how we do. And if it works out, it works out.”
Tatum admitted the possibility of a seven-figure payday is difficult to ignore, even if he refuses to focus on it right now.
“It would help a lot,” Tatum said. “And I would be just the dummy that’ll put it all right back into it.”
Funny Car belonged to Lee, who turned in one of the more consistent performances of the weekend.
Lee defeated Jon Capps in the quarterfinals, Joe Haas in the semifinals and Del Worsham in the final. His winning pass of 3.937 seconds at 326.32 mph was the only three-second run recorded during eliminations.
For Lee, the victory ranked above every previous win in his career.
“Oh, it absolutely is the biggest win in my career,” Lee said. “Not only was it the biggest win, it was the smoothest weekend.”
“We made seven runs down the track, six runs out of seven that went down the track smooth, flawless, no mistakes. These guys changed an engine and quick warmups, quick turnarounds and I just can’t say enough about having zero mistakes in seven runs.”
Lee now heads to Maple Grove Raceway, long considered his home facility after Englishtown’s Raceway Park closed, with an opportunity to move one step closer to the bonus even if he has months to think about it.
“It’s no big deal. It’s a drag race, right?” Lee said. “There’s more important things in life that are going on in the world. This is just a drag race. When the time comes, we’ll try to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Jason Harris emerged from one of the toughest fields of the weekend, defeating Jacob McNeal in the Pro Modified final.
McNeal was first off the line with a .004 reaction time, but Harris used a 3.567, 210.58 mph to score the victory for the Party Time team.
“It feels surreal,” Harris said. “We’ve had a really good year so far.”
Earlier this season, Harris was a finalist for a $1,000,000 prize for the DI Winter Series but came up one race short of collecting the bonus prize.
“Let’s see if I can do a little better job this time. It feels like it’s right there in front of you, but it’s so far away at the same time.”
Mountain Motor Pro Stock produced one of the closest finishes of the weekend as DeFlorian edged Jeremy Huffman by .005-second in the final round.
Huffman left first with a near-perfect .002 reaction time, but DeFlorian paired a .020 light with a 4.052-second pass at 177.30 mph to secure the victory and the $50,000 winner’s purse.
Factory Pro Stock featured a family rivalry as Taylor Dietsch turned the tables on his father, Jason.
One year after Jason defeated Taylor in the Hebron final, Taylor returned the favor. His 4.865-second run at 148.66 mph was enough after mechanical issues slowed Jason’s Mustang to an 8.018-second pass.
Five drivers left Ohio with victories. More importantly, all five remain eligible for one of the richest bonus programs in drag racing.
The IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series returns to action July 9-11 at Darana Dragway, Milan, Michigan. The other Triple Crown races are scheduled Sept. 10-13 at Maple Grove Raceway.
