Three of the five pro class winners Friday night at Houston Raceway Park had previously visited only one ADRL winner’s celebration.

Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor earned the postponed-from-March UTI Dragpalooza VI Pro Extreme title for his second ADRL win, “Tricky Rickie” Smith picked up his second Pro Nitrous trophy and Pro Extreme Motorcycle rider Travis Davis also took the hardware home for the second time. Meanwhile, John Montecalvo increased his Extreme Pro Stock win total to three and Billy Glidden, the 2008 Extreme 10.5 champ, added his 10th race title, becoming the first ADRL competitor in any category to reach double digits in the win column.

Three of the five pro class winners Friday night at Houston Raceway Park had previously visited only one ADRL winner’s celebration.

Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor earned the postponed-from-March UTI Dragpalooza VI Pro Extreme title for his second ADRL win, “Tricky Rickie” Smith picked up his second Pro Nitrous trophy and Pro Extreme Motorcycle rider Travis Davis also took the hardware home for the second time. Meanwhile, John Montecalvo increased his Extreme Pro Stock win total to three and Billy Glidden, the 2008 Extreme 10.5 champ, added his 10th race title, becoming the first ADRL competitor in any category to reach double digits in the win column.

In the debut of a brand-new ’05 Corvette, Taylor went quicker in each of four elimination rounds, culminating in a 3.76-seconds pass at 200.02 mph over the HRP eighth mile to defeat fellow Texan Gaylen Smith, who left first but soon lost traction and was forced to lift. With all final rounds also serving as qualifying passes for Saturday’s inaugural ADRL Texas Drags, Taylor’s time exactly matched the elapsed time of provisional number-one qualifier Joshua Hernandez, but Hernandez retained the top spot based on going a couple of miles an hour faster.

Smith’s 3.91 at 191.97 mph in the final against a redlighting Terry Murphy did, however, give him sole possession of first place in Pro Nitrous, eclipsing the heroics of Jim Halsey, who earlier vaulted from worst to first among 17 entries with a 3.92 pass. Smith’s ’68 Camaro is using essentially the same revolutionary EFI/nitrous system that recently propelled Pat Musi to an NHRA Pro Mod win and the first 200 mph pass by a doorslammer in the eighth mile.

Glidden improved his own number-one qualifying position in Extreme 10.5 with a 4.03 win at 183.02 mph over Michelle Wilson in her first ADRL national event final. Wilson actually got away first with a sizable .071 holeshot, but she said her 2000 Firebird veered left toward the wall almost immediately and she had to quit the pass.

“The more horsepower we threw at it, the more it started to do that,” she said. “It’s too bad, because we might have been able to make it exciting if it had gone straighter.”

Davis opened his final Pro Extreme Motorcycle pass with a stellar .003 light, then put together a 4.20 run at 171.34 mph to hold off a 4.22 charge at 179.95 by Eric McKinney.

“We’ve been struggling with our 60-foot times,” McKinney explained. “We’re running the big mile an hour, but I wish we could get our ET down a little better.”

Elijah Morton went red by 22 thousandths in the Extreme Pro Stock final, instantly giving Montecalvo his first back-to-back ADRL race titles after winning more than a month ago at Martin, Michigan, in the last completed ADRL event. Regardless, Montecalvo would’ve been tough to beat after putting together a package that included a .008 reaction time followed by a 4.13 at 175.21-mph pass that also secured the provisional pole for Saturday’s eliminations.    

“We have one more qualifying round tomorrow morning, but I really think that’ll stand up,” Montecalvo said. “The air stayed pretty much the same as it was all day and how I think it’ll be tomorrow, but the track got a lot better once the sun wasn’t on it anymore.”

Being a couple of crew members short and battling hot, humid conditions all day made the win all that much sweeter, Montecalvo added.

“We really hadn’t made a great pass until that last one, so it’s been a phenomenal day,” he said. “We fought the car and the track all day long, but it’s really rewarding to come out and do so well after you work so hard. The only thing that could make it better would be if we could double up (in wins) tomorrow. I’ve never done that before, but that would be great.”

No doubt, there are four other racers at HRP this weekend that couldn’t agree more.