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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - THE HOMEBOYS DO WELL ON RACE DAY

HE IS THE KING, AFTER ALL – Todd Tutterow, from Yadkinville, NC, had neither the quickest or fastest car all weekend, qualifying his GALOT Racing '69 Camaro 12th in NAS Racing Pro Extreme and posting the slowest pass among the winners through each of four rounds of racing. Polesitter Jason Scruggs led the 16-car field with a 3.54 at 217.42 mph, compared to Tutterow's 3.63 at 209.04-mph qualifying effort.

Regardless, it never held him back as "King Tut" denied Dubai's Mustafa Buhumaid his second-straight PDRA victory in the Pro Extreme final.

"We kind of got lucky," Tutterow acknowledged. "We struggled all weekend here with this car but we made it to the final and I've always said if you can make it to the final you've got a chance to win the race and that was definitely true here this weekend."  

In the opening round of eliminations, run Saturday night with the event concluding on Sunday, Tutterow went 3.66 to beat Wesley Jones, who ran a career-best 3.58 at 211.30 to qualify fifth, but had his hands full just keeping his '41 Willys on his side of the race track.

Round two saw Tutterow slow a little to 3.71 seconds against the '71 Mustang of fellow North Carolinian Terry Leggett, who had to shut down early with tire spin. That set up a semi-final match between "King Tut" and Jose Gonzalez of the Dominican Republic, who in the previous round posted a 3.61 pass at an astounding 227.84 mph that marked the highest speed ever attained by a doorslammer race car over an eighth mile.

Gonzalez ran into traction problems in the preferred right lane, though, allowing Tutterow to advance to the final with a 3.72 run at 209.07. Waiting for him was Buhumaid, who started from the number-three position and set low ET of the meet with a 3.52-seconds blast at 217.39 mph in his Friday-night win over David Reese. Buhumaid then defeated teammate Bader Ahli in round two with a 3.58, the quickest run of the round, before ousting defending class champion Bubba Stanton from the semis with another 3.58 pass.

It looked like Buhumaid was poised to score his second PDRA victory after securing his career first at the series' season opener last month at Ennis, TX. However, an early start at the starting tree (-.084) negated his third 3.58 in a row and allowed Tutterow to coast to the win in 4.63 seconds at just 111 miles per hour.

"He redlighted and I saw it so I didn't want to chance it and just shut it down and coasted on down here. We didn't have a great weekend, but this makes up for it," Tutterow said of the win. "I want to thank my crew for sticking with it and we had Mr. Wells (GALOT team owner) here, too, so it's always good to do well when he's here."

FAVORITE SON SHOWS ‘EM WHO’S DADDY - A pair of home-grown champions settled the Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous final at Rockingham Dragway, as back-to-back reigning NHRA Pro Mod World Champion Rickie Smith from King, NC, prevailed over current PDRA Pro Nitrous Champion Jason Harris from Pittsboro, NC.

"It don't get no better than that," Smith declared after winning with a holeshot. "Right here in the Carolinas you just had the number-one guy in PDRA versus the number-one guy in NHRA. How much better do you want?"

Smithfield, NC's Jay Cox led the way in qualifying with a 3.74 at 200.35 mph, representing the first 200-plus pass in his career, though he improved to 3.72 at 202.55 in the opening round of eliminations to also set low ET for the class. Smith ran 3.79 at 197.31 to place sixth in qualifying, while Harris uncharacteristically needed his fourth and final qualifying run just to break into the 16-car field with a 3.81 at 199.64 that placed him 12th.

Smith easily handled Jim Sackuvich in the opening round of racing, then met up with past class champion Stevie Jackson in round two. Jackson went straight to fully staging his '69 Camaro in an attempt to unsettle "Tricky Rickie," but the veteran driver rose to the challenge as both left with nearly identical reaction times. After that it was all up to Smith's '69 Camaro to get the job done, outrunning Jackson's machine by 15-hundredths to the eighth-mile stripe. "Yeah, I tried, but Rickie was ready for me. I'll get him next time, though," Jackson promised.

Smith then got past John Camp after both suffered traction problems in the semis, while on the opposite side of the ladder Harris got past Pat Stoken, Mike Castellana and Cox in the semis.

In the final Smith left with a .037 light leading to a 3.82 pass at 199.61 mph against a .062 leave by Harris, who ran 3.812 at 199.05 mph. The margin of victory was 12-hundredths of a second.

"We put an automatic in the car and that was something for me to get used to; I mean, I'm used to doing that left foot action," Smith revealed. "And we're getting it done with a Pat Musi 903. That used to be a big-ass motor; now I've got the baby motor out here. But it done good; the biggest thing was the track was a little crappy, but that probably helped me here."

AND THE STANG GOES BOOM - Driving his twin-turbocharged '67 Shelby Mustang, New Jersey's Anthony Disomma finished on top of the Precision Turbo Pro Boost qualifying list with a run of 3.80 seconds at 210.24 mph. He then went a little quicker in the first round of racing to beat Jim Bell with a 3.79 at a potential record 213.33 mph, though he would have to back it up within one percent to make it the official top speed.

In round two Disomma slowed to 3.82 at 202.09, but it still was enough to beat Tylor Miller and his supercharged '69 Chevelle before round three saw him go 3.81 at 211.13 to beat a traction-challenged Rick Fleck in his '41 Willys.

The final was a match-up of twin-turbo'd '67 Mustangs as Kevin Fiscus' similar ride started from the third slot on the qualifying list and made it past the cars of Doug Winters, Jeremy Ray and John Strickland in the semis. A month earlier in Texas, Fiscus defeated Strickland in the Pro Boost final of the PDRA's 2015 season opener.

This time, a .021 advantage off the starting line determined the outcome as Disomma's 3.856 at 211.30 beat the 3.851 at 205.63 put together by Fiscus. It came at a cost, though, as a backfire right at the finish line blew the intake sky high off the top of Disomma's 528-cubic-inch engine. The good news was his final-round speed officially secured the record for Disomma.

"I just saw a big flash but I didn't know what happened. I saw something pop out of the hood and now part of the hood's gone," he said. "We made good progression each pass. My guys worked hard and it paid off today."

WELL P.O.O. - In the brand-new Powershield Pro Open Outlaw class for roots-blown or turbocharged dragsters and altereds, Phil Esz of Amelia, OH, started on top of the eight-car field with a 3.64-seconds pass at 202.67 mph in his BAE Hemi-powered Spitzer dragster.

When eighth-place qualifier Latchman Nansraj failed to show for round one Esz simply broke the starting-line beam to advance to the semis. Once there he set low ET and top speed for the class with a 3.62 run at 204.32 mph.

He had another easy pass in the final round when number-two qualifier Eddie Lykins left before the tree was activated, handing the win to Esz, who still ran it through in 3.67 seconds at 203.80 mph. Upon climbing from his car Esz immediately praised the tuning expertise of Rick Hickman for the win and thanked members of Todd Tutterow's GALOT team for their help in the pits.

" I hope this class really catches on and we get some more fast cars in here racing heads up and having a blast," Esz said. "I'm really having fun."

THE SPORTSMAN REPORT - Class rookie Tricia Musi made a real statement when she qualified her '09 Dodge Stratus on top of the 16-car MagnaFuel Top Sportsman field in Rockingham with the quickest and fastest eighth-mile pass in class history. In the same car campaigned by sister Lizzy Musi in Pro Nitrous last season, Tricia ran 3.909 seconds at 193.07 mph to earn the top spot, but lost in round one of eliminations with a red-light start against ninth-place starter Glenn Butcher.

Musi still left "The Rock" as a winner, though, after defeating 2014 class champion Dan Ferguson in the final of a special Chassis Engineering shootout for the top four Top Sportsman qualifiers. "This is only my second race so I'm pretty happy to already win something," she said. "Next race I'm going to go for the record, too."

In the mean time, 18th-place qualifier Ronnie Proctor was inserted into the 16-car field as an alternate for Barry Daniluk in the number-three slot after the Canadian had to withdraw with damage to his engine beyond trackside repair in the final qualifying session. Don Rudd also entered as an alternate for Cheyenne Stanley in 12th place after Stanley left the track following the sudden death of his grandfather.

Proctor, from Harpers Ferry, WV, made the most of his opportunity with wins over Randy Primozic, John Lassiter and Lester Johnson to reach Bruce Thrift in the final round. Proctor dialed in his '09 Mustang at 4.22 for the final and ran 4.223 at 168.68 to earn his first PDRA race title over the 4.165 at 168.37 by Thrift, who dialed in at 4.14 for his late-model GTO.

In only his second Top Sportsman event Lincolnton, NC's Zach Houser also won a six-car Top Sportsman Consolation race, beating Chad Morrison in the final round.

The Dart Machinery Top Dragster title in Rockingham went to number-eight qualifier Bo Upton, who opened eliminations with a big win over top qualifier Bob Sheridan Jr., which earned him a bye run in the second round since only 14 entries made the trip.

Upton beat Russ Whitlock in the semis to set up the final against fourth-place starter Barry Brown, who beat Angie Travis, Jimmy Sackuvich and Craig Sullivan to get there.

Upton ran 4.34 at 155.88 against a 4.33 dial in for the win thanks to a .013 light, as Brown went 4.072 at 173.05 against a 4.07 dial, but with a .037 reaction time.  

Running against a 7.90 index, Preston Tanner of Rennselaer, IN, ran a dead-on 7.900 at 81.50 mph in the Huddleston Performance Pro Jr. Dragster class to beat a 7.910 by Noah Johnson in the final. The Huddlestone Top Jr. Dragster trophy went to Samuel Peterson, grandson of Rockingham Dragway owner Steve Earwood, after he ran 7.915 on a 7.90 dial in to Caleb Russell.

UP NEXT - The PDRA returns to action Apr. 30-May 2, when it visits Thunder Road Raceway Park, near Shreveport, LA, for the inaugural PDRA Cajun Nationals.

 

 

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -

TRIAL BY FIRE - Seven months ago, Pro Nitrous racer David Campbell felt fortunate to emerge from a fiery engine explosion and fire without an injury. This weekend he felt another kind of good fortune.

Campbell made his first run since the incident.

"It led to major change for my life," said Campbell. "I really didn't know whether I could come back or not. I had a lot of help. I had a major financial problem and a mental problem, just didn't know what to do."

Campbell said a combination of friends and sponsors enabled his return to competition this weekend. He even had one anonymous sponsor, which whom he still has no clue of their identity.

"No one knows, but their contribution was a majorkey to getting me back out here," Campbell said. "Things really worked out for us."

Campbell has been idle since the horrific Friday evening last fall. His first run back was in Friday's Q-1 session. He fell short of the 16-car field, but running a 3.884 elapsed time was a personal victory.

"I was a little bit shakey," Campbell admitted. "It all came out alright with the Lord's help and prayer."

 

BACK WHERE HE BELONGS - Todd Tutterow is clearly one of the most versatile drivers in PDRA competition. As flexible as his driving talents are, Tutterow is back where he feels he belongs.

Tutterow is once again atop the PDRA food chain in the Pro Extreme division.

"It's an extreme class and the fastest thing out here," said Tutterow. "I love the power and the challenge. Anytime you step down from a class and you know you can do better, it's just good to come back. I love the extreme class, the power and challenge of it."

Tutterow has competed for the last few seasons in the  Pro Boost division.

"Not saying there is anything wrong with Pro Boost, it has its niche, but when you are in a Pro Extreme car, and it is still throwing you back in the seat at half-track,  and never eases up, it's like the Top Fuel car of doorslammers."

Tutterow's return was love at first hit.

"It went .890 to the sixty-foot, and I knew then, this is what I was missing," Tutterow said.

Tutterow will compete in Sunday's second round thanks to a win over Wesley Jones.

 

THE SPORTSMAN REPORT - Rookie driver Tricia Musi, whose 2009 Stratus broke on the line for Friday night's session, made a statement Saturday morning when she ran a potential record 3.90 seconds at 193.07 mph to oust veteran Ronnie Davis from the number-one position in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman. She would have needed to back up her elapsed time within one percent during the event to secure the official record, but a red-light start in the opening round of racing against Glenn Butcher ended her weekend.  

Musi still left "The Rock" as a winner, though, by defeating 2014 class champion Dan Ferguson in the final of a special Chassis Engineering shootout for the top four Top Sportsman qualifiers. "This is only my second race so I'm pretty happy to already win something," she said. "Next race I'm going to go for the record, too."

In Dart Top Dragster qualifying, Bob Sheridan Jr. leapfrogged over Friday leader Craig Sullivan with a 3.92-seconds blast at 178.71 mph in the morning session.

 

 

 

 

 

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - THE ROCK IS ROARING ON A FRIDAY

SCRUGGS LEADS THE PACK - Driving a new '69 Camaro with less than a dozen total passes on it, Jason Scruggs posted a run of 3.57 seconds in the opening round, then ran 3.542 seconds at 217.42 mph in the evening session to lead the 16-car NAS Racing Pro Extreme field into two more rounds of qualifying on Saturday before the first round of eliminations are run for all classes that night.

"That was a good run, but I'm not sure it's going to last," Scruggs said. "I think there's supposed to be a cold front coming in and the air should be a little drier tomorrow, so there's definitely a few cars that can step it up. But so can we if we have to."

Close behind Scruggs is teammate and defending class champion Bubba Stanton at 3.548, followed by Mustafa Buhamaid, winner of the PDRA season opener last month in Texas, North Carolina's own Terry Leggett and John Stanley, who ran a career-best 3.59 seconds to round out the top five.

HOME IS WHERE YOUR HISTORY IS - Home may be where your heart is, but Rickie Smith, North Carolina's most storied doorslammer racer since the late Ronnie Sox, it's where he hangs his history.

Smith, who lives in the small racing hamlet of King, NC, scored his first victory at Rockingham Dragway in 1977 while racing Super Modified behind the wheel of a Jack Roush-powered Maverick. He's won eight times as a Pro Stock driver and once as a Pro Modified racer with the now-defunct ADRL.

Of all his successes, his most famous act in Rockingham drag racing history, had nothing to do with winning.

Smith, in 1980, made drag racing history when he drove his Oak Ridge Boys-sponsored Mustang II to the first legal seven-second run in Pro Stock history.

"It was just my hometown track," Smith said of Rockingham Dragway. "You try hard everywhere, but when you're at home, you just give it a little extra push."

Smith raced as a sportsman racer at Rockingham long before he tasted success. It was watching the professional drivers before him which served as inspiration.

"I used to watch Wayne Gapp and Jack Roush race that four-door Maverick called the Tijuana Taxi, and I dreamed one day it would be me racing like them," Smith admitted.

But, one thing became clear for Smith, he needed a reputation. He quickly gained one and a nickname to boot.

Smith earned the moniker Tricky for his ability to incorporate gamesmanship into his evolving driving talent.  It became his great performance equalizer.

“The first year I went into Pro Stock, we could run pretty fast (but) I was getting kind of wore out,” Smith said.  “They knew how to play it.  I had run Super Modified and won two championships but when I went into the pros, it was a little bit meaner crowd up there.

“Either I had to get mean or get out,” he said.  “I figured with my background of high-school football and everything else, I wasn’t about to lay down. So I just got mean with ‘em.”

SPEED MERCHANT - The Q-80 entry made history for doorslammer racing last summer when driver Turky al-Zifari ran 272 miles per hour at Gateway International Raceway. During Thursday pre-event testing at the PDRA Spring Nationals in Rockingham, NC, the Q-80 entry, this time with veteran turbo driver Eric Dilliard behind the wheel, established the fastest run with a 223 mile per hour blast. Check out this exclusive video of the momentous run.

SIZE MATTERS – The Pro Nitrous leader utilizes an engine displacing 990-cubic inches.

Jay Cox also led after both rounds of Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous, finishing with a 3.744-seconds pass at 200.35 mph that satisfied a long-held goal for the Smithfield, NC-based driver.

"We've run a couple of .74s already this year, but I'm tickled to death because I finally got my first 200-mile-an-hour time slip," he explained. "This is my first year with fuel injection and I've got my good friend Danny Perry here with me. He's been looking over my trouble spots and we picked up quite a bit in the back half thanks to him."

Texas winner Tommy Franklin is currently second at 3.75 seconds, followed by past class champions Steve Jackson and Mike Castellana. Lizzy Musi, driving a borrowed '69 Camaro after crashing her own car at Dallas last month, placed seventh with a 3.80 pass that ended with a long, fast ride through the shutdown area after her parachutes failed to deploy.

"It was pretty dark and bumpy down there and I was just squeezing the brakes as hard but as gentle as I could because you don't want to get the tires sliding," Musi said. "I got it stopped before the track ended, though, so no big deal, fortunately."     

A total of 23 drivers made qualifying attempts in Pro Nitrous with defending class champion Jason Harris the first of seven not yet qualified after his '68 Firebird ran a best of 3.90 seconds.

HECTOR ON THE MEND - Gene Hector debuted a new Corvette three weeks ago at the PDRA season-opener. He also stuffed the new Joey Martin-built entry into the wall.
 
“The car is at Joey Martin’s place in Florida getting fixed as we speak." Hector explained. "We’re still going to be three or four weeks getting a new body from Tim McAmis. We’re real close to having all the parts back together, but we’re waiting on a supercharger. It had a bunch of rocks and stuff get in it, and unfortunately we don’t have a spare supercharger. It went to Kevin Cantrell last week. Same thing there, it’ll take a few weeks.We’re doing all we can to get it put together, but it’s still going to be a little bit. We’re thinking we may be back out for the Shreveport race. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Hector admits he's still feeling the effects of the incident on his personal body.

“I don’t know if I cracked my tailbone or what in the world happened there, but I have a literal pain in the rear," Hector said. "I couldn’t drive right now if I wanted to. It’s unfortunate for sure. Been racing 20-something years, and I’ve had three wrecks, but that was by far the worst one.”

BACK WHERE IT BEGAN - Fifteen years ago, brothers Mark and Buzz McElwie rolled through the gates as professional racers as IHRA Pro Outlaw competitors. The IHRA dropped the division, leaving the heads-up, open wheel racers with limited options.

Thanks to sponsorship and determination from the McElwee Brothers and their family-owned Toefco company, the Pro Outlaw division was resurrected for selected PDRA events this season.

"I am so excited about the opportunity to race these kinds of cars heads up again," said McElwee.

McElwee admits his alcohol-burning, supercharged dragster is a tweener. It's in the status of not quick enough to run Top Alcohol Dragster and too quick to race as a Top Dragster.

"We've got a tweener kind of car, but we've been fortunate enough to find many other kind of racing associations featuring cars just like ours," said McElwee. "Being able to race in those associations and here enables us to race the way we want, heads up because [Top Dragster] bracket racing isn't really what we want to do at the speeds we run. Then if you go an race Top Alcohol Dragster, you are considered a sportsman racer and don't get treated as well as you do over here."

McElwee was third quickest after two sessions with a 3.804 second elapsed time.

MUSI MAKES HUGE LEAP - Lizzy Musi crashed her new Dodge Dart during Pro Nitrous qualifying at the PDRA Texas Nationals two weeks ago. Thanks to a loaner car from Michael Bankston, she was back in action without missing an event.

"Mike Bankston, immediately after my accident, has been there and offering support and confidence in me," said Musi. "Even following the accident, when I was sitting in the ambulance, he told me he had a car from me to drive. He knew my feelings as a racer when something like that happens. He knew I was angry because I had crashed the car and knew I wanted to be back out there racing.

Musi made a quantum leap in Friday's final session jumping from No. 24 in the field up to No. 7 thanks to a 3.800 elapsed time.