Melanie Salemi made a major statement on the first day of the 2022 Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) season at the East Coast Nationals presented by FuelTech, as she fired off a string of 3.50-second passes to set a new WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive elapsed-time record. Her 3.568-second pass at 207.91 mph during the third qualifying session at GALOT Motorsports Park also gave Salemi the No. 1 qualifying spot in Pro Boost, which saw 24 cars attempt to qualify for the 16-car field. 
 
Jim Halsey (Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous), JR Carr (Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock presented by AED Competition), Walt Lannigan Jr. ($hameless Racing Pro 632), Travis Davis (Drag 965 Pro Nitrous Motorcycle), and Nick Agostino (Menscer Motorsports Pro Street presented by AFCO) also qualified No. 1 in the pro classes after three qualifying sessions. 
 
After two of three qualifying sessions in the sportsman classes, the provisional No. 1 qualifiers are Buddy Perkinson in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by US Rail, Craig Addis in Lucas Oil Elite Top Dragster presented by Laris Motorsports Insurance, Jeff Brooks in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman presented by Vortech, and Nick Meloni in Lucas Oil Top Dragster presented by Laris Motorsports Insurance.
 
In the Jr. Dragster classes, Nyck Shirkey went to the top in Coolshirt Systems Pro Jr. Dragster presented by PRP with a 7.903 in his Ridgely, Maryland-based ’21 Halfscale entry. Hampton, Virginia’s Kylie Varnier is the provisional low qualifier in Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster presented by PRP with a .001 reaction time.