Undoubtedly, doorslammer racing in Michigan in the late summer is always a hit at U.S. 131 Dragway in Martin, MI. Saturday, at the fifth of eight scheduled races on the PDRA tour, race fans delivered a packed house as the race combined with Martin’s 23rd annual Northern Nationals.
Michigan native and Pro Nitrous racer Jackie Slone used the event as an excellent backdrop for his first national event victory. His first victory was not just any victory; he knocked off four-time PDRA champion Jim Halsey for the win.
Also scoring momentous victories were John Camp (Pro Boost) and Chris Powers (Extreme Pro Stock).
Slone didn’t let the fact he was a massive underdog against four-time world champion Jim Halsey, keep him from doing what got him to the big dance.
Slone, a first-time PDRA finalist, earned his way into the final round using three consecutive holeshot wins, and he grabbed another huge holeshot advantage in the final with his .003 reaction time to Halsey’s .090. he didn’t need the head start in the final, as Halsey got out of shape and had to lift to a 5.266 at 93.05. Meanwhile, Slone did just enough for the win with a 3.742 at 200.36.
“I can’t even describe it. I am so excited for my family because it’s a family deal,” Stone said. “We all put our hearts and souls in this deal. There’s some satisfaction in that. I’ve got great people behind me. I’ve got great sponsors. We’re elated. We really are. To take down the guys that I took down today, it wasn’t easy, but we had a pretty good car. I had a couple of cylinders down there for the finals and I didn’t have time to switch the motor, so we just ran it to try to go A to B. Jim apparently had some trouble and we capitalized.”
Camp, who faced a lion’s share of of adversity all weekend long, managed to pull out his first Pro Boost win in just over two years. In the final round, Camp in his ProCharged “Hells Bells” ’69 Camaro left on reigning world champion Jason Harris with a .010 reaction time to Harris’s .018 light. He then made his best pass of the weekend, a 3.641 at 203.44, to seal the victory, while Harris had to lift to a 6.011 at 68.52.
“It just makes it that much sweeter,” Camp said of working through mechanical challenges to get the win. “You can’t say enough about the crew and what they do. Every pass, we had the heads off one side or the other. We just chased issues all weekend. We had some breaks. We had a red-light win. We were very lucky.
“A win always pumps you up and you throw more money at it. It just gets you going. It gives you something like a goal. You can see it’s achievable. You just go after it that much more. If you stay beat down and beat down, you’re not going anywhere.”
Powers, whose last win came over a year ago, made his way back to the Promised Land by stopping 2018 world champion Steven Boone in the Extreme Pro Stock final round. Boone got a slight advantage on the starting line, but Powers in his Sonny’s Racing Engines ’21 Camaro drove around him to win by .012 seconds with a 4.121 at 173.95 to Boone’s 4.136 at 175.37.
“Sometimes you just don’t know if you can even get back,” Powers said, thanking his family-based crew that also includes crew chief Chuck Samuel and crew member Rob Bealko. “We’ve struggled this year a lot and just really working on the motor and stuff, trying to pick the car up and just going backwards. We finally just went back to what we know and the car ran good and got the job done. We’re really thankful for Sonny’s for sticking with us and ATI Performance for helping us out. It’s a great feeling.”
Brian Weddle picked up his first career win in Menscer Motorsports Pro Street while reigning PDRA Pro 632 world champion Jeff Melnick earned a second consecutive Northern Nationals win.
Victories in the sportsman classes went to Glenn Butcher (Elite Top Sportsman), Tony Elrod (Elite Top Dragster), Mark Reese (Top Sportsman) and Lucas Salemi (Top Dragster). Past Top Dragster world champion Tisha Wilson picked up the win in Bracket Bash after defeating Pro Jr. Dragster standout Zach Shirkey in the final round.
Ryan Harris and Allen Buczkowski were victorious in the Jr. Dragster classes.
