PDRA Carolina Nationals...Drag Racing is Back!!
/For the first time in almost a year, I had the opportunity to head out and cover a PDRA race, and it showed me that we are back in the swing of things.
Over the weekend PDRA rolled into Darlington Dragway for their Carolina Nationals event. Whether it was Pro Mod, Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Juniors, Pro Stock, 632, Bracket Bash, etc. Darlington was the place to be. There were even fans allowed in the stands also.
Pro Mod is always the show, and they certainly lived up to that over the weekend. In Pro Nitrous, it was the multi-time World Champion Tommy Franklin that was mowing down the field with consistent 3.60 passes throughout the weekend. Not a single full pull for Tommy wasn’t in the 3.60’s over the weekend. Going toe to toe with him was the 2019 World Champion and Cecil Country Dragway owner, Jim Halsey. It was no surprise to see Jim running consistent numbers and to end up having them face off in the finals. For the second PDRA event in a row, it was Tommy Franklin taking the victory. Tommy dropped a 3.64 to Jim’s falling off 4.49. The back to back wins put Tommy solidly out front for the chase towards another PDRA championship.
Over in Pro Boost, it was a Proline powered, Procharger boosted, Galot backed final. John Strickland in the left lane and Kevin Rivenbark in the right. It was the left lane at the end of the night that was headed to the winner circle. John got the jump and carried it to a 3.66 in defeating his Galot teammate Rivenbark, who rattled off a 3.68.
The beasts in Pro Stock are always something to witness and hear. They will make your senses tingle and tremble. What is even more exciting is the first win, and that is exactly what happened over the weekend in Pro Stock. This time is was J.R. Carr and his new RJ Race Cars Camaro. It was the first time that J.R. made it to the winner circle in PDRA with a victory over Elijah Morton in the finals. A stunning 4.03 was plenty to take the stripe against Morton’s 4.11.
Pro Outlaw 632 is always a class that any competitor can win on any given day. This time it was a day of redemption. Coming out of the Galot race the Voss team was needing to find their grove again. Rarity would be an understatement when the Voss team DNQ’d for Galot. Consistency is something that the team prides itself on and Darlington was certainly the place to get back on it. They were set to face off against Wes Distefano in his ‘68 $hameless Racing Camaro. Dillion and Cory Voss put together a package and dropped a 4.21 to Wes’ stout but losing 4.25.
Pro Nitrous Motorcycle, the class that the men and women of are absolutely insane. Going zero to 170+ mph in 660’ is something that most will never experience and never should. It takes a special skill set and mind set to be able to do this. At Darlington, Travis Davis, the defending World Champion took a holeshot win over Chris Garner-Jones. Travis’ 4.04 with a great light was enough to take the win over Chris’ 4.003. Look for both of them to battle it out all season in an effort to end up World Champion.
Two of the biggest names in Top Sportsman were lined up against each other in the finals at the Carolina Nationals. It was previous World Champion Dewayne Silance and Buddy Perkinson. Dewayne took the win over Buddy in the Elite 16 T/S. In T/S 32 it was Chad Traylor taking the victory when he faced off against Dave Miller.
Top Dragster saw Steve Furr capture his second straight victory as part of the Elite class. He defeated Russ Whitlock in the finals. In T/D 32 we saw Steven Boone defeat Nick Maloni for the win in that final.
Juniors are always about family. In the Junior Dragster class it was Kaylee Love taking the win over Nyckolas Shirkey when she was dead on 7.900. In Pro Juniors, it was Nyckolas’ brother Zach that took the win over Spencer McGee in the finals.