EVENT RESULTS EVENT NOTEBOOK

EVENT GALLERY LIVE VIDEO

 

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -

 

DEATH, TAXES AND TRICKY WINNING ROCKINGHAM - Rickie Smith, the back-to-back reigning NHRA Pro Mod champion and current PDRA Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous points leader, placed 14th with a 3.90 pass in the opening round of qualifying and was 17th after round two despite improving to 3.83 seconds. That left Friday night's third session when he vaulted up to ninth with a 3.79 at 198.67 mph before ultimately qualifying his IDG-backed '69 Camaro eighth with a 3.78 at 198.67 mph.

"I came here with just one motor because I didn't want to bring my NHRA stuff, but I didn't mean to be as soft on the tune-up as I was the first two runs when it was hot," Smith admitted. "Luckily it cooled down, the track stayed tight, and we were able to step it up."

After opening eliminations with a 3.78 win over Steve Jackson, Smith faced one of his biggest rounds of the year in the quarter finals against number-one qualifier Tommy Franklin, who trailed him by less than one round's worth of points heading into Dragstock XII. Whoever won the round was guaranteed to leave with the points lead and an opportunity to extend it substantially. Smith took full advantage, leaving first with a .031 reaction time, then posting another 3.78 pass at 199.17 mph while Franklin slowed to 3.83 at 175.64 when his own '69 Camaro coughed fire from its scoop for the second-straight run as it crossed the finish line.

"That was a huge round," Smith agreed. "We got a little lucky since he was running so fast but it looked like he hurt the motor a run or two before we raced. But sometimes you have to be lucky to win."

In the semi-finals, Smith got it done on the starting line, leaving with a .040 light against the .068 by Jay Cox, which allowed his 3.79 at 198.73 to beat a quicker 3.77 at 198.61 by four-thousandths of a second. Waiting for him was Chris Rini, who started his ATI Performance Products '69 Camaro third after running a career-best 3.75 at 198.23 mph in qualifying. Rini beat Tim Savell, John Hall and John Camp to reach Smith in the final round.

Once there, it looked like Smith was living up to his "Tricky Rickie" reputation as he turned on both the pre-staged and staged bulbs before Rini had even pre-staged. 

"I really didn't intend for that to happen," Smith insisted. "I noticed the last two runs the brakes were feeling different and I was just waiting for him to go in when I saw my staged light come on. I didn't even realize the car was creeping forward but when it did I just pressed the transbrake button and got ready to go."

After Rini staged he took a .011 lead off the start, but Smith quickly recovered and made his best run of the weekend with a 3.77 at 198.96 against a 3.82 at 191.46 mph.

"It was that Musi motor and the Bickel chassis, always Bickel, that got it done," Smith said. "That, and Rickie Smith don't ever give up. I've been doing this a long time and that's one thing you can be sure of, I don't ever give up."

MISSISSIPPI MISSILE DELIVERS DIRECT STRIKE - With just 11 entries, the NAS Racing Pro Extreme class did not meet the threshold (13) for a 16-car field, so Randell Reid led an eight-car field into eliminations with a 3.54 at 213.00-mph qualifying pass. 

Points leader Jason Scruggs ran 3.56 at 216.27 to start his ScruggsFarm.com '69 Camaro from the number-five position, then beat Mustafa Buhamaid with a 3.55 at 216.93 in round one of racing before making a 3.54 solo run at 217.84 mph in the semis when Reid's car broke on the starting line. 

That set up a final-round match against Todd Tutterow, who won the PDRA Spring Nationals in April. Tutterow, from Lewisville, NC, steered his GALOT Racing '69 Camaro to a 3.59 at 213-mph win over Dubai's Badir Ahli in round one and won with a holeshot against Brandon Snider in the semi-finals.

In the final, Scruggs left with a .015 advantage, then posted another 3.54-seconds pass at 218.19 mph while Tutterow faced traction issues and slowed to 4.39 at just 120.52 mph. It was Scruggs' fifth win of the year and almost clinched his position at the top of the points list with just the PDRA World Finals left to run in October at Richmond, VA.

"We went out looking to run a high-.53 or low-.54 and that's exactly what we run so that makes us pretty happy. I felt like we got lucky to win our last race (last month in Memphis) when we didn't make a good run in the final, so it feels good to win one this way," Scruggs said. "I also want to thank everyone that helps us, everyone at ScruggsFarm.com, Hoosier Tires, the guys at MVM wheelie bars, Flatout Gaskets, Snyder Lencodrive, just everybody that helps us."

THE GIRL WAS ON FIRE - In just her second outing with a new, supercharged MSR '68 Firebird, Melanie Salemi started from the third position in Precision Turbo Pro Boost with a 3.86 pass at 192.11 mph, then ran like a bracket racer with runs of 3.86, 3.92, 3.86 and 3.86 respectively through Joe Baker, Larry Higgenbotham, Ric Fleck and finally Anthony Disomma to earn her first professional win.

"I'm completely overwhelmed. We've had this great vision of everything coming together and this is even better than what I imagined," the transplanted Canadian from Buffalo, NY, declared. "First and foremost I have to thank my husband Jon, my brother-in-law Jim Salemi and Mike Stawicki, as well as my father, Roger Simmons. He couldn't be here this week but we won it for him."

In the final round, Salemi left first with a .047 light while Disomma was dead late at .158 in his twin-turbocharged '67 Shelby Mustang. Regardless, Salemi also outran her opponent with a 3.86 at 192.63 as he put together a 3.87 at a slowing 123.84 mph.

"I knew I got out on him and I took a quick look over a couple of hundred feet out or so and still didn't see him, but I was so worried he was going to come flying by me at the finish line," Salemi described of her final run. "When I got there it just got quiet, but when I looked up and saw the 'W' on in my lane I just started celebrating in the car. I couldn't understand why I didn't hear from Jon for what seemed like an eternity, but he finally came on the radio and said he got mobbed on the starting line. It was pretty exciting."  

MELON FOLLY - Sonny Leonard, a veteran engine builder, is known for his prowess in building extremely large displacement racing engines. However, for years, Leonard has kept another talent on the down-low.

Now the secret out of something else he's building out of his Lynchburg, Virginia home base.

Leonard now has large displacement watermelons.  

"Been growing them for about five years," Leonard revealed. "They are different from the other plants I grow and how I prepare them.  I really enjoy doing it and I’m trying to get them a little larger because there are some big watermelons out there."

Just how big are these watermelons?

Leonard recently captured first and second place at the Bedford County Fair with one tipping the scales at 107 pounds and the other at 84.

There's no steroids or nitrous oxide in Leonard's not so secret fruit.

"Miracle Grow and Epsom salts," Leonard confirmed. "I think I’d put probably 2 ounces for every gallon on them about three times a year."

If only he could put these in his engines which sometimes exceed 1,000 cubic inches.

"I’d like to do that so that it didn’t cost so much to make them bigger.  It’s just a pleasure doing this on the side," Leonard said with a smile.  "In racing or building engines, you don’t have any room for error.  So planting my garden with off rows, it doesn’t matter and it’s really amazing what nature can do.  

"From a little seed to watching it germinate, then grow and in 90 days it could go from a seed to 100 pounds, that’s really amazing.  They love water.  You’ve got to water them just about every day, at least every other day.  They love sunshine.  I don’t have any trees around my garden."

And the taste is off the chart, Leonard points out.

"I’ve had one that’s about 92 pounds and we’re gonna cut this sucker either tonight or tomorrow," Leonard said.

 

 

HAPPY WITH THE SIDELINES - Pat Musi swears he doesn't miss driving anymore.

The former Pro Stock standout, who found a home in Pro Street racing before wrapping up his career in a Pro Modified, admits today's style of Pro Nitrous doesn't appeal to him as a driver.

As a tuner, he embraces the challenge.

"I don’t like driving an automatic I’ll tell you that, I'm a clutch kind of guy," said Musi.

Musi did make a couple of testing runs on the Thursday before the PDRA Summer Drags in Martin, Michigan, to sort out the Dodge Avenger normally driven by daughter Lizzy.  He admits the experience of driving the automatic transmission left him feeling like a fish out of water.

"I enjoy watching our cars go fast, and I don’t want to race against my customers," said Musi.  "The old manual clutch and clutch works well for me."

Musi said he got back into a Pro Nitrous car to double check the issues Lizzy said she was experiencing which led to a couple of mishaps earlier this season. Between He and longtime friend Rickie Smith, they both made laps in his daughter's race car.

"Rickie treated the experience as if she was one of his children," Musi explained. "Rickie said we needed to give her a car, because honestly we both doubted the driver at first, so it was the first place we looked.

Musi said he and Smith quickly dismissed the driver as the issue.

"She didn’t get a number 3 on the window of the Stratus for doing nothing, she can drive, and she’s a natural driver but you’ve got to give her a car to drive. There was a little something funky about the car - we determined."

It didn't take long for Musi and Smith to realize Lizzy had never driven a brand new car before; therefore limiting her ability to convey what the car was doing wrong.

"She can drive with the best of them," Musi said.  "Nobody notices but I look at the driver and I don’t say anything, but there are people up there that shouldn’t be in cars.  I would go by her past experience, honestly thinking about it.  

"This car was a handful from Day One, we should’ve known, and we should’ve gotten one of us in the car, me or Rickie.  Rickie fixed the car; He looks after Lizzy like she’s his little daughter.  Sometimes I want to get aggressive but he says we need to get her a car to drive."

And here lately, Musi has, even if he doesn't care to drive it.

FIRST TIME WINNER - After racing in Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle since 2009, number-two qualifier Chuck Wilburn made it to his first final round at PDRA Dragstock XII, where he also scored his first event win.

"We didn't change anything from the semis, but I told my dad (Charlie) that I thought if I could shift it on time maybe it would run a .05--and it did, so I must've shifted on time," Wilburn said after running 4.05 at 174.17 to handily defeat the 4.15 at 153.95 by Burke Forster in the final round. 

Wilburn, from Tupelo, MS, beat Curtis Grigg before making a solo pass in round two and narrowly defeating Ron Procopio with a 4.06 at exactly 175 mph in the semi-finals. On the opposite side of the ladder, seventh-place starter Forster beat Ronnie Smith, points leader and top qualifier Eric McKinney, and Chris Garner-Jones in the semis.

ANOTHER WIN FOR STROUD -  The Powershield Pro Open Outlaw class belonged to Jody Stroud at Dragstock XII, where the Chesterfield, SC-based driver picked up his second PDRA win of the year. 

Stroud qualified his 2014 Ironman dragster at Rockingham in the top slot over the eight-car field with a 3.65 at 198.06 mph. He then opened eliminations with a lone 3.97 pass at 188.70 after opponent Latchman Hansraj broke and went 3.67 at 197.57 to defeat Matt Cooke before beating fellow finalist Robert Frigon with a 3.66 pass at 198.73 against Frigon's game 3.79 at 194.91 effort.

"I was a little worried about the track when I went up there (for the final), but my crew chief, Mike Kopchick, he told me he put a special set of tires on it and assured me if I stayed in it we would win the race," Stroud said. "And he was right."

FIELDS SET UNDER CLOUDY SKIES - None of the qualified leaders from Friday's three sessions changed after the fourth and final round of qualifying was completed today for PDRA Dragstock XII at Rockingham Dragway. Chuck Wilburn came closest in Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle as he exactly matched the 4.087-seconds elapsed time of polesitter Eric
McKinney, but McKinney kept the top spot based on going just over one mile an hour faster at 174.17 mph.

There was absolutely no movement in NAS Racing Pro Extreme, with Randell Reid's 3.54 at exactly 213 mph from Friday night keeping his Texas-based '07 Corvette on top. With just 11 entries, however, the class did not meet the threshold (13) for a 16-car field, so only eight drivers will enter eliminations, sending Wesley Jones, Thomas Huddleston and Danny Lowry home early.

In Pro Nitrous, Virginia's Tommy Franklin kept second-place Keith Haney covered by nearly three-hundredths with a 3.71 pass at 202.97 mph over the Rockingham eighth mile. Second-generation star Lizzy Musi moved up three positions to fourth with the best pass of the session on Saturday with a 3.76 at 202.12 mph, while defending class champion Jason Harris, who was 18th as the final qualifying round began, bumped into the field with a 3.79 at 198.44 that placed him 13th.

North Carolina native John Strickland's 3.82 at 191.19 stood up to deliver his career-first pole in Precision Turbo Pro Boost, with his GALOT Racing teammate Kevin Rivenbark second at 3.85, while Buffalo, NY's Melanie Salemi ran a career-best 3.86 at 192.11 mph to place third after being 10th on Friday night.
Meanwhile, in Saturday's final session, Jody Stroud exactly matched his 3.653-seconds qualifying run from Friday night to retain his Powershield Pro Open Outlaw lead.

In the PDRA sportsman classes, Buddy Perkinson retained the MagnaFuel Top Sportsman pole with a potential record 3.88 at 191.10 from Friday night, with Kyle Dvorak doing the same with a 3.92 at 180.89 for his first number-one start in Dart Machinery Top Dragster. Likewise a perfect 7.900 pass against the 7.90 dial kept Carson Brown on top for Huddleston Performance Pro Jr. Dragster. The Huddleston Top Jr. Dragster class qualifies based on reaction times and a .001 by Mia Schultz on Friday night remained the best of the eight-car field on Saturday.

THE STORY TWO RACES AGO, DNQ TODAY - Pat Stoken, who two races earlier in Martin, MI, became the first in the class to make a 3.60s pass (3.69), managed a best of only 3.83 at Rockingham, placing him 20th and back on the trailer.

THE SPORTSMAN REPORT - For the second straight PDRA event, former Pro Extreme champion Mick Snyder went to the MagnaFuel Top Sportsman final, but unlike the previous month in Memphis, at Dragstock XII it was his opponent who came out on top.

After qualifying his '06 Ford Escort 15th in the 16-car field, Chesapeake, VA's Dane Wood defeated points leader Ronnie Davis in round one, then took out Tony Wilson and Cam Clark before reaching his first PDRA final against Snyder.

Wood dialed in at 4.18 while Snyder put a 3.98 dial on his roots-blown, fuel injected '63 Corvette. Both drivers posted solid reaction times of .012 for Snyder and .016 for Wood, with his win light coming on 4.20 seconds at 171.71 later as Snyder ran 4.06 at 181.32 mph.

"I wasn't sure if I was going too fast or if I was okay and right about 500 feet is when I made the decision to lift and make sure I didn't break out. I don't really believe I would've anyway, but I wanted to play it safe and it paid off," Wood said.

With a new Procharger-equipped 540 cubic incher by Stacy Hall at Fulton Competition Engines between the rails of car owner Andy Burnet's '09 Horton dragster, Matt Cooke raced to his first Dart Machinery Top Dragster win at PDRA Dragstock XII.

Cooke qualified fifth with a 4.00 at 180.79 mph for the 16-car field at Rockingham. He then ran a near-perfect 4.00 against a 4.00 dial in against Ryan Snell, who broke out by one thousandth in round one of racing. Round two saw Derrik Sholar, winner of the previous event in Memphis, also break out against Cooke, while a red-light start ended Junior Houston's hopes in the semis as Cooke ran 3.98 at 181.67 against a 3.98 dial.

That set up a final-round match against veteran Steve Furr, who dialed in at 4.47 and ran 4.48 at 153.74, but thanks to an outstanding .003 light to Furr's .029 start, Cooke took the win with a 4.01 pass at 163.06 against another 3.98 dial in.

"The car is really good and consistent and it made me look better than I am, at least today," Cooke said.  

Winners also were crowned in the Huddleston Performance Jr. Dragster classes, with the Pro Jr. win going to number-one qualifier Carson Brown from Blountville, TN, and the Top Jr. Dragster title going to third-place qualifier Alexis Tanner.

BLUE OVAL PROUD - Someone had to represent the Fords in the new movement, and Terry Leggett was more than happy to oblige. It was 1987, and Leggett was a part of the movement towards a new heads-up outlaw doorslammer movement that would eventually become Pro Modified. He made his mark behind the wheel of a mountain-motored, 1956 Thunderbird dubbed Looking Back.

Leggett has always been a Ford man, and the car he races in Pro Extreme, a 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1, is the kind of car that hooked the lumberjack from Pinetown, North Carolina.

“The first car I ever had was one just like it- a ‘71 Mustang, red and black," said Leggett. "It looked identical, other than it wasn’t fast. I always thought they made really good race cars, and judging by how good this one has done, I’d say that was right.”

Leggett's Blue Oval is just as much go as it is show. At the most recent PDRA event in Memphis, Leggett reached the finals where he lost to Jason Scruggs.

There, Leggett performed his one of his favorite chores - being different.

““I like to have something different from the rest of the crowd, and it’s definitely that," said Leggett.  Ain’t anybody got one.

“The car is just really, really good. The car is one of the biggest reasons we’ve done well this year. Several people asked me the last race or two where we picked up or what we found. We've been fast ever since we’ve had this car. A lot of our losses can be contributed to my fault. If I could have done a little bit better job of driving, I think we could have been a lot more rounds than we’ve been. Our worst qualifying position all year was sixth. We’ve run
in the fifties every race this year. It’s really been good. We just haven’t made a lot of rounds until Memphis.”

Leggett is proud of his place in doorslammer history.

“I never really expected Pro Mod to be where it’s at now,” Leggett said. “It’s just like everything else, though. You buy a car off the showroom floor, and they’re a whole lot faster than the old muscle cars were in their day. Everything evolves into getting faster, quicker and more efficient."

THE GREAT CONTENDER - Keith Haney doesn't need to point out he's a contender; his Friday night qualifying pass did the job just fine. Haney vaulted his way into the second spot with a 3.743 personal best.
 
"I said it before, and I'll say it again: We're not pretenders, we're contenders," Haney said. "It's time to race this Camaro to the winner's circle this weekend. That's what I'm going for. I won't be satisfied with anything but a win. I've got a runner-up this year, some round-wins, but I need to win some races in PDRA against the best."

Haney is doing battle in the Pro Nitrous division with a new engine from Reher-Morrison, which also propelled him to a runner-up at the Throwdown at T-town event in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
 
"We started the year here with the little motor, with a little under-performance," Haney said. "Now, we're back with more performance under the hood with Reher-Morrison."
 
Haney is racing this weekend with a new computer system designed by Brandon Switzer. The Motec M1 system worked well in test runs during Thursday's testing, with Haney running well in the heat of the day.
 
"He came out with a little easier system to operate," Haney said. "Anybody can buy it from him and run it. It's a real user-friendly program and makes it a little easier than the one we had."

Unfortunately for Haney his day ended on a red-light in the first round.

UPON THIS ROCK HE STANDS - Rickie Smith's consistency at Rockingham Dragway ranks right up there with death and taxes. In other words, Smith is a safe bet when racing at the facility where he first made history in 1980 by recording the first quarter-mile seven second Pro Stock pass.

The 61-year-old Smith has won two IHRA Super Modified Championships, five titles in the IHRA’s Mountain Motor Pro Stock class and the last two NHRA Pro Modified championships.

Smith entered this weekend 80 points ahead of Tommy Franklin in the Pro Nitrous standings with only one race left in this season.
This weekend was tough in qualifying as Smith managed only No. 8 in the field, after having been bumped out three times in four sessions.

Smith is very well aware how tough the Pro Nitrous world can be.

“The last race you win could be your last one,” Smith said. “It’s that tough.  Things have got to line up for you.  It seems like out of the four rounds; you’ve got to get a lucky round.  There’s a lot of good running cars out there that hardly ever win a race.”
 
Smith’s first Rockingham win came in 1977.  He most recent was a hole shot victory over reigning PDRA series champion Jason Harris of Pittsboro, N.C., last April.

 

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - THE DRAGSTOCK DOORSLAMMER TRADITION CONTINUES

KINZER CRASHES IN TESTING - Pro Modified racer Willard Kinzer is still in a Rockingham, North Carolina area hospital recovering from injuries sustained in an accident while testing on Thursday at Rockingham Dragway in advance of Dragstock XIII, this according the PDRA VP of Operations Bob Harris.

Kinzer was entered to race Pro Boost this weekend, lost control just shy of the eighth-mile mark, made contact with the retaining wall in his lane and crossed into the other lane where he impacted the other.

As Kinzer's car crossed the finish line, both parachutes deployed because the car had the Electrimotion Device onboard which triggered the REF device on the wall.

"When we arrived the car was on wheels but Williard was unconscious," said Harris. "The paramedics at the track and our paramedics, these people are not EMTs, they are paramedics, four of them were working on Willard."

Harris said Kinzer remained unconscious during the majority of the extraction process.   

"He basically started to come around," Harris said. "He was responsive; he could squeeze your fingers. He knew what was being said, he couldn’t talk but he knew what we were saying to him. This went on for 15 minutes or so."

Harris said his team was extremely cautious on the extraction because of the uncertainty regarding the extent of his injuries and the fact Kinzer is 87 years old.  

Harris credited Kinzer's R2B2 Race Car as a major factor in preventing the driver from being worse than it was.

"The car and safety equipment did its job," Harris confirmed.

The accident was the second major accident for Kinzer in less than a month. Harris said there have been no official reports for Kinzer since the left the track.

SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE - The all-eighth-mile PDRA Dragstock XII will resume with a fourth and final round of qualifying for all classes starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday (Sept. 12), and a pre-race ceremony scheduled for 3:30 p.m. before final elimination rounds begin.

LAST MINUTE HEROICS - After running 3.59 in the second round of qualifying to place sixth of 11 Pro Extreme entries, Randall Reid barely got a new screw-blown Hemi engine installed in his 2007 Corvette for round three.

"I'm real proud of my team for getting the engine swap done in time. I barely got my seatbelts on before we had to run," Reid said. "It felt really good when it left, but I was ready to lift at the first hint of trouble."

Placing second at the end of the day was Florida's Tommy D'Aprile, who was forced to sit out the third and final round of the day after also losing an engine at the end of his then-leading 3.55 pass in round two. Third and fourth went to Dubai-based teammates Badir Ahli and Mustafa Buhumaid, respectively, with points leader Jason
Scruggs filling out the top five.

NO SURPRISES - Defending class champion Eric McKinney took the Pro Extreme Motorcycle lead with a 4.08 pass at 174.17 mph aboard his 2012 Suzuki in Friday's third and final round of qualifying. The run bumped McKinney up one spot past the 4.09 at 173.49 by Chuck Wilburn in round two, while Chris Garner-Jones remained third with a 4.13 at 171.95 combination. With 12 entries, only an eight-bike qualified field will race on Saturday.

FROM START TO FINISH - Tommy Franklin led after each round of Pro Nitrous qualifying, going quicker each time in his '69 Camaro until finishing with a 3.71-seconds pass at a career-best 202.97 mph over the Rockingham eighth mile.

"To be out here in 26-hundred feet of air, I really didn't expect that," said Franklin, who won the previous PDRA event in Memphis. "We were expecting a .74 or maybe a .73, so that was a really great run. The race track was awesome and could take anything we threw at it."

After 24 entries made qualifying passes, Oklahoma car dealer Keith Haney ran a career-best 3.74 at 202.30 in his 2015 Camaro to place second, while New York's Chris Rini with another career-best effort at 3.75 seconds was third heading into Saturday's last chance at the track before eliminations begin.

THURSDAY TESTING -  Eric Dillard of Ball Ground, Georgia, had the fastest speed during Thursday’s test session while Ahli Badir of Dubai, United Emirates, had the lowest elapsed time.

Dillard sped down the eight-mile course at 218.26 miles per hour in his 2015 Corvette. Bader, driving the NAS Pro Extreme Camaro, stopped the timers in 3.644 seconds at a speed of 206.10.

BRADENTON DATE ON CANCELLED - Management at the PDRA confirmed today with CompetitionPlus.com, the Sunshine State Drags at Bradenton Motorsports Park, scheduled for October 1 - 3, 2015, has been cancelled.

An issue with the racing surface earlier in the year, and delays in repairing the issues, forced the PDRA into the tough decision, said Bob Harris, VP of Racing Operations.

"We got a call last week from Allen, one of the owners, telling us that he had an issue with the track," Harris explained. "He had a test and tune after the track received five inches of rain, he said we’ve got asphalt coming up."

BMP officials brought in engineers, according to Harris, who quickly assessed a solution. However, the one of the more important processes couldn't be concluded, in a perfect scenario, until just days before the race.

This scenario didn't provide enough wiggle room for Harris' comfort this year. He said the event, for sure, will be on the 2016 schedule. Harris added the event could appear early in next year's schedule.

"We would like to have it at of the year for those people that live up north and would like to go down south maybe the end of March, first of April," said Harris. "That being said, that’s not a guarantee but it’s an option.  They want to be there and we want to be there."

NO REPEAT CHAMPION IN PX - There are XX Pro Extreme entries this weekend, and none of them will have the potential to repeat as event champion. That's because defending race winner Mick Snyder is competing this weekend, but not as a professional.

Snyder, who won as a Top Sportsman racer at the PDRA event Memphis, is still sorting out his electronic fuel injection, roots blower combinations.

“We put a roots blower on it and changed everything over to ComSync EFI,” he said.  “It’s pretty amazing what it can do.  Once I get this figured out, it should be fast.

“Right now it has more throttle response than what I’m used to. It’s totally different than what we’ve had before,”

“We have always had great luck in Rockingham," Snyder said.

Snyder's father, Larry, raced a Pro Outlaw Dragster and won the IHRA sanctioned event in 1999. The second-gen driver took over for his father and won the same race in 2000. Last year, Snyder reached the finals of both PDRA races at Rockingham, winning once.

This year presents a whole different set of challenges.

"It’s a whole new game now with the Top Sportsman deal," said Snyder. "As long as you are in the top 16 after the last qualifier, you have just as good of shot at that Winner’s Circle as the number 1 guy.  We are having a lot of fun with this new Top Sportsman deal, where low ET does not necessarily ensure an advantage.  With that said, the goal this weekend is a 3-second pass.”

PROUD OF THEIR CONTRIBUTION - Rockingham Dragway has been a staple for Pro Modified racing since the Mountain Motor Pro Stocks made their debut in 1977 under the IHRA sanction. Almost four decades later, the landscape his changed greatly.

The IHRA is no longer the sanctioning body for the historic facility, and Mountain Motor Pro Stocks no longer race in Rockingham.

While Doug Mashburn had nothing to do with either the IHRA's departure or the absence of the large displacement Pro Stockers, he did have a lot to do with the race cars at this weekend's Dragstock XII event.  

Mashburn, son of Clinton Mashburn, promoter of Shuffletown Dragway, helped his father in the development of Quick Eight racing which eventually spawned Pro Modified, the basis of the PDRA format. Shuffletown Dragway was located in Charlotte, NC, and closed down in the early 1990s.

Pro Modified became an official professional category in IHRA during the 1990 season. NHRA adopted the class on an exhibition basis in 2001 and later elevated to an official series. In 2004, the fledgling American Drag Racing League created a race series based on eighth-mile Pro Mod style cars just like they ran at Shuffletown.

Mashburn smiles when recognizing the influence of those early days of what seems like archaic doorslammer racing.

"To me it's amazing how far it’s come in such a short time," said Mashburn, who now works as a starter at zMax Dragway. "I’m very impressed that we were a part of the start of it and to me, I still love it just as much today as I did the day I began."

The largest advancement, he believes, is not in performance as much as racer and track safety.

"We were definitely blessed not to have something bad happen," Mashburn admitted. "[The track prep] was just nothing compared to what goes on to maintain a track now.  It was a blessing that someone didn’t get killed.  We didn’t have the staff of any type to do anything quickly at all.  Someone could’ve gotten burned to death really fast.  God was definitely watching over us.  We did the best we could with what we had but without God, it was not possible."

Shuffletown was a glimpse of the future.

"We were at the start of something that we didn’t have a clue where we would be today," said Mashburn. "Back then 4.90’s was flying, and now they’re running 3.40s and 3.50s.  We were just glad to have our place in history."

 

FINDING THE GROOVE - After the four-day marathon of the NHRA U.S. Nationals, rookie Pro Mod driver Troy Coughlin Jr. had the perfect way to spend an off weekend -- at a drag strip.

Coughlin is testing while racing in the PDRA's Pro Boost class, in an attempt to find a more consistent tune-up for his twin-turbo JEGS.com Corvette,

"We're keeping the car in NHRA Pro Mod trim for the first few passes, and hopefully we can work out the little issues that have been popping up," the third-gen Coughlin said. "Then we'll convert everything over to PDRA Pro Boost rules and try to win this thing. If you know us, you know that we're always down for a drag race, and if there's a trophy on the line, we're going to try and win it.
 
With three NHRA races left on the 2015 schedule, Coughlin is ranked seventh, just behind reigning series champion Rickie Smith. He's currently 98 points off the lead. His father, Troy, the 2012 NHRA champion, is second overall, 52 points behind Mike Janis.
 
Racing this weekend was a unanimous decision.

"We're just constantly striving to get better, and everyone agreed the cars could be more consistent, so we added this race to the schedule," said Coughlin. "With just three races left there is no more room for error, and we really want to fight for the championship all the way to the end. Having everything perfect in both cars is the goal, and we think this test session and the race will help us sort this car out a little better and get us some more valuable data."

THE LAWS OF PRO MOD - Wrecking a Pro Modified style car is not a matter of if it will happen, but when. Pro Boost racer Jeremy Ray was well aware of this tendency when he tagged the wall at Gateway International Raceway during the Mid-America Open.

“I’ve been racing a long time, 18 years,” he remarked. “I didn’t have any problems getting back in the car. I was ready to go. It’s kinda one of those things. If you drive a Pro Mod, you’ve got to be prepared for that. If something like that happens, you’ve got to be tough enough to get back in the car. If you can’t handle it, then you probably don’t need to be driving one of those types of cars anyway. They’re very violent and temperamental for sure.”

Ray is his sophomore season as a Pro Boost racer despite the 36-year old racer being in competition for half his life. He missed the first two races of his rookie season and yet still managed a tenth place finish in the championship point stands.

“I started racing a Mustang in footbrake. I did that for a few years and then started building a Top Sportsman car. It  never got finished, so I just kept bracket racing on and off until we were financially able to start putting a Pro Mod  together.”

And financially able to repair a normal Pro Modified style car too.

DEDICATION TO RACING - Ron Muenks didn't need a crash to start the season for him to appreciate the effort team owner Dave Pierce puts into the Pro Nitrous car he drives.

At the first event on the 2015 PDRA calendar, Muenks was involved in a two-car crash with Lizzy Musi.

Muenks and his team made a few repairs to the car and returned for eliminations at the Dallas, Texas-based event at the direction of ierce.

“I just want to say how grateful I am to Dave Pierce for his unwavering commitment to this team and the PDRA,” said Muenks. “Dave does everything from shopping for supplies, stocking the refrigerator and trailer, to cleaning the car from top to bottom. After the accident, Dave never wavered in his commitment to repair the car for the next round, which was evidenced by him jumping right in there with the rest of the team. It would have been very easy to be done for the season, but Dave is committed to this team and the PDRA.”

Muenks and Pierce used to race against one another. Pierece maintains his Pro Mod license but chooses instead to focus on the behind the scenes and leave the driving to Muenks.

“Dave funds this entire deal, even down to stocking the fridge in the motorhome." Muenks said. "He’s also involved in pretty much every aspect of the team. He keeps the car clean, the truck and trailer all clean and ready to go to the races. He discusses the tune up on the car with Jeff. He’s fully involved in this deal. He’s 100 percent in, not just with the funding. He works his tail off.

THE SPORTSMAN REPORT - Just as they did at the most recent PDRA event last month in Memphis, cousins Buddy and Randy Perkinson held the top two positions in Top Sportsman qualifying with a pair of 2015 Camaros at Memphis. Buddy Perkinson ran a potential class record 3.88 seconds at 191.10 mph in his Billy Albert-powered, RJ Race Cars-built machine, while Randy Perkinson went 3.91 mph in his Jerry Bickel ride with Buck Racing horsepower. In third was Tony Wilson at 3.97 and fourth was Memphis winner Mick Snyder with a 3.98 at 183.24 in his former Pro Extreme '63 Corvette.

In Top Dragster, Kyle Dvorak of McHenry, IL, jumped up from fourth to first with a career-best 3.92 at 180.89 in the Friday-night qualifying session. Second was Craig Sullivan at 3.96 seconds, while third belonged to Alan O'Brien after a 3.97 effort.