VETTEL FIRST TO 3s IN ADRL TOP SPORTSMAN

In just his second ADRL appearance, Joshua Vettel of Phillips, NE, made history Sep. 28, with the first-ever, three-second Top Sportsman pass.

“All I know is I put my foot to the wood and she ran on a rope,” Vettel declared after going 3.975 at 177.53 mph in round three of qualifying for the ADRL Summit Racing Equipment Ohio Drags VI presented by Mickey Thompson.

“We were definitely shooting for the number-one qualifier and set it up to maybe run a three, but really we were looking for that number one,” said Vettel, who made his ADRL debut in August at Charlotte, where he qualified 15th before losing to eventual race winner Ronnie Davis in round one. “We knew the car could do it.”

Vettel’s previous best pass in his nitrous-injected 1970 Camaro came just a couple of weeks earlier when he ran 4.12 at 175 during the NHRA Division 5 race at Earlsville, IA.

“We did that tonight on three of four hits (nitrous stages), but we’ll probably go back to two hits for Saturday qualifying to get a number we can dial in from,” Vettel said—right before asking what it would take to back up his ET within the required one percent for an official record. “That was a lot of fun and definitely a real honor to be the first to go in the threes.”

Placing second at 4.027 seconds was Mark Malcuit, followed by Travis Harvey, Chuck Mohn and Lizzy Musi, who was leading with a 4.06 after two rounds. At 4.210 and 172.17, Glenn Butcher held onto the 16th and final provisional position for what already was the quickest Top Sportsman field in ADRL history with one more round of qualifying to go on Saturday.

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