The second annual “Roar at the Rock” PDRA Spring Nationals attracted Pro Modified drivers and teams from 22 states, the Middle East, Sweden and Canada, but when the tire smoke cleared Sunday at Rockingham Dragway, the two big winners were planning to be home for dinner.

Native Carolinians Todd Tutterow and “Tricky Rickie” Smith claimed the big hardware after Tutterow moved up in class to win in Pro Extreme and Smith took a rare detour from the NHRA pro tour to win in Pro Nitrous.

Tutterow was headed home to Yadkinville with cash and trophy; Smith to King.  It’s little more than two hours of driving to either location.
 
Meanwhile, Pro Extreme runner-up Mustafa Buhumaid and his NAS Racing teammate, Badir Ahli, were contemplating a 15-hour flight to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.  

An icon of Pro Mod Racing who has won championships on two continents, Tutterow got a free ride to victory in the Pro Extreme final when Buhumaid, a rising young star of the sport, was guilty of a final round start that negated a 3.587 that would have been hard to beat.

A 2009 champion in the American Drag Racing League, forerunner to the PDRA, and 2013 champion after sweeping all five races in the Arabian Drag Racing League in Qatar, Tutterow was last year’s PDRA Pro Boost champion for Galot Motorsports.  Moreover, he won the Pro Boost title at last year’s Spring Nationals.

Sunday’s win will move him up to second place in Pro Extreme points behind Buhumaid.

Smith, meanwhile, isn’t racing for a championship – at least not in the PDRA series.  The two-time reigning NHRA Pro Mod champ and a five-time IHRA Pro Stock champion may make only one other appearance this year.  Obviously, though, he is good at making the most of his infrequent visits and, at age 61, still can bring it – as he did on Sunday.

Facing defending event and reigning series champion Jason Harris of Pittsboro in the Pro Nitrous final, he forged a narrow starting line advantage (.025 of a second) that made his slightly slower time a winner on the eighth-mile course, spoiling what otherwise would have been a storybook weekend for the 35-year-old Harris.

After struggling through three qualifying sessions, the son of former Piedmont Dragway owner Bob Harris, slipped into the field in the No. 12 spot, then mowed down Pat Stoken of Eureka, Mont., multi-time tour winner Mike Castellana of Muttontown, N.Y., and No. 1 qualifier Jay Cox of Smithfield, N.C., to earn his shot at a second straight winners’ circle appearance.

Winner of six of eight PDRA Pro Nitrous races last year, Harris will have to be content with wrestling the points lead away from Tommy Franklin of Fredericksburg, Va., who was a first round upset victim on Saturday.

The third of the Pro Mod championships, Pro Boost, went to New Jersey’s Anthony DiSomma who, like Smith, used a starting line advantage to overcome point leader Kevin Fiscus of Jacksonville, Fla., in an all-Ford Mustang final.

Other winners were Phil Esz of Amelia, Ohio in the new Pro Outlaw heads-up class, reigning series champ and point leader Eric McKinney of Hamersville, Ohio, in Pro Extreme Motorcycle, Bo Upton of Taylors, S.C., in Top Dragster and Ronnie Proctor of Harpers Ferry, West Va., in Top Sportsman.

For Proctor is was rollercoaster ride that appeared to have ended before it even began when he just missed making the 16-car starting lineup.  Fortunately, he and his 2009 Ford Mustang got a reprieve when Canadian Barry Danilak could not make the first round call.

In the race as an alternate, Proctor beat Randy Primozic of Willoughby Hills, Ohio, John Lassiter of Graham, N.C., Lester Johnson of Cynthiana, Ky., and, finally, Bruce Thrift of Waycross, Ga.