The final rounds of the IHRA Nitro Outlaws have been postponed until 10 a.m Sunday at Darana Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, home to the facility formerly known as National Trail Raceway. Race officials determined that the dew point was close to making racing conditions unsafe late Saturday night.
A significant thunderstorm and rain delayed competition by over two hours and track crews had to begin the task of drying the racing surface.
In the Top Fuel finale, No. 1 qualifier Scott Palmer will have lane choice over Krista Baldwin. Palmer stopped Doug Foley in the semifinals, and Baldwin had a solo run when Lex Joon’s dragster lost fire.
The day ended up just like Palmer figured it would with he and Baldwin going to the final round.
“I predicted it, though,” Palmer said. “I predicted it was gonna be me and Krista in the final round. Then Doug Foley throws one down and we’re like, ‘Oh, OK.’ Now I’m a little nervous ’cause he’s on my side of the ladder. So on that particular run, I was definitely nervous, and then I’ve just drove terrible. I need to go to driver’s ed. I can’t drive a car anymore. I’ve done a terrible job of driving. But, you know, we made it, so I’ve got to step up or Krista is going to put me on the trailer for sure.”
“I’m pretty excited,” Baldwin said, “and I think we’re even more excited that we’re going together. This is what dreams are made of. This is the dream right here.
“We’ll go back and look at the data, especially the weather. The weather is going to be the tricky part because we don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring, but obviously we kind of know it’s going to be hot and muggy like it was today. But so it’s just a different swing on the other side. We went through that rainfall today, and we had to go to the other direction. Now we have to go right back to the beginning of this weekend.”
In Funny Car, Del Worsham has lane choice over No. 1 qualifier Mike McIntyre. Worsham stopped Terry Haddock in a close semifinal race down to the wire, winning at 4.063 seconds, 317.79 mph, to Haddock’s 4.072, 310.20.
“It’s always kind of a bummer when you can’t finish a race when you start,” Worsham said, “but I think the circumstances with what’s gone on and how late these nights have been and the dew points down, it’s really, really wet here right now. I think it’s actually a pretty smart move on their point. As much as I would love to get this over with right now, we have momentum and things are going well, and I’ve never had great luck on the day-after races. But either way I think it’s a good move, and they’re doing the right thing.”
McIntyre won a pedalfest duel, topping Jack Wyatt. He was supposed to catch a flight early Sunday to head on a family vacation, but those plans have changed.
“Going to the finals is always awesome, and to be racing Del Worsham is even better,” McIntire said. “The car’s ran great all weekend for the most part. We qualified No. 1, and I think we were low the first round, low ET. And we had a clutch malfunction in that round (versus Wyatt) so at least we know why it did what it did. Yeah, I think we can at least repeat what we did today first round and see where it gets us.”
The Outlaw Pro Modified and Mountain Motor Pro Stock divisions are down to the semifinal rounds.
Frankie “The Mad Man” Taylor will race David Monday, with the winner facing Mike DiDomenico, who has a bye run.
No. 1 qualifier Jeremy Huffman races Jerry Tucker in the Mountain Motor Pro Stock semis, while Johnny Pluchino faces Chris Powers.
The finals are set in the Top Alcohol divisions, as Mike Coughlin faces off against Jackie Fricke in dragster, while D.J. Cox will match up against Phil Esz in Funny Car.
