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With one event remaining on the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Championship Series, one race remains, and series title battles are heating up. Pro Boost superstar Jason Harris understands there’s not much sunlight left to make hay.
Harris, the reigning series champion, made a clean sweep of the PDRA Drag Wars event at Galot Motorsports Park by driving to the No. 1 qualifying position on Friday and the race win on Saturday by stopping Todd Tutterow.
Fredy Scriba (Pro Nitrous) and Chris Powers (Extreme Pro Stock) picked up victories at the penultimate event.
Harris earned his second consecutive win of the season. In a side-by-side 3.62-second final round against Tutterow, Harris turned on the win light by .005 of a second to claim the event win. It was a rematch of the final round at the 2024 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series season opener at GALOT Motorsports Park and the first GALOT win for the Pittsboro, North Carolina, native.
“I really didn’t think about the points much because I had some crappy races earlier in the year, and I really wasn’t looking at it,” Harris said. “I kind of kissed the championship goodbye a little bit [earlier in the season], but we gained some momentum in Bristol and some guys had some bad luck and I had some good luck. Going into Virginia, keeping a lead is always good. It’s easier to keep going than it is to try to catch sometimes. But all I can say is you just try to do the best you can every round. If you do that, you win a championship.”
Pro Nitrous racer Scriba had a career day by picking up his first career PDRA win and overtaking Jim Halsey for the point, who was forced to withdraw from competition following a crash in Friday qualifying. Second place Tommy Franklin lost in the first round.
“I feel like I’ve done a good job tuning, just not a good job driving the whole year,” Scriba said. “I feel like I’m driving a lot better, so hopefully it’s showing now a little bit. You’ve got to have both. If you don’t have both, you’re not going to go rounds. We’ve got some stuff to work on, but we’re ecstatic. We made two finals earlier in the year, won ProStars, but it means a lot to win one of these points races. The competition is really tough.
“I think we’re more than happy no matter what happens at the next race,” Scriba added. “I think this has been an awesome year. We’ll just go up there and do our best. That’s all we can do. We have nothing to hang our heads about, that’s for sure.”
Powers, the 2021 Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock presented by AED Competition world champion, won to pad his points lead.
“After last year, just throwing it away, I knew this year I had to step up and do a better job and get a lead because these guys will come crawling back at the end,” said Powers, who credited his team, including Samuel, Rob Bealko, and son Chris Powers II. “Hopefully, this will almost seal the deal. We’ve got a brand-new bullet from Sonny’s. We’re going to put it in and see if we can put this thing in the 3.99 range. That’s the last goal we’ve got left here. We’re so thankful for Sonny’s. They’ve worked for months on this new motor, trying to get some power for us, and we need it. We’re just behind, hopefully this new bullet gives us everything we need. My main objective there is to go and win [the World Finals] and set the record and put this thing to bed for once and all.
“This was for my brother, Nate, who passed away last year,” Powers added. “I’m glad we got this thing back in the winner’s circle for you, buddy.”
Other PDRA professional winners include Bill Riddle (Pro Street), Amber Franklin Denton (Pro 632), and Dan Whetstine (Super Street).
Sportsman class victories went to Tim Lawrence (Elite Top Sportsman). Steve Furr (Laris Motorsports Insurance Elite Top Dragster), Dave Muller (Top Sportsman), Joe Gary (Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster), and Lauren Freer (Bracket Bash).
The Jr. Dragster class winners included TJ Harvey and Griffin Davis, winning in Coolshirt Systems Pro Jr. Dragster, presented by Philadelphia Racing Products, and Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster, presented by Philadelphia Racing Products, respectively. Harvey, son of Pro Boost standout Travis Harvey, was quicker off the line in the Pro Jr. Dragster final round and posted a 7.937 to get the holeshot win over Ashton Halas’ 7.927, both on a 7.90 index. In an all-Virginia Top Jr. Dragster final round, Davis grabbed a sizable advantage on the starting line and ran a 9.009 on an 8.97 dial-in to turn on the win light over championship contender Kylie Varner and her 9.092 on a 9.03 dial-in.
