2016 PDRA DRAGSTOCK - EVENT COVERAGE
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FINAL NOTEBOOK - MUSI, DAPRILE DELIVER IMPRESSIVE VICTORIES
ATTABOY GIRL - After losing in the Memphis final round on a holeshot last month, Lizzy Musi went into the GALOT race on a mission to redeem herself. The 25-year-old daughter of nitrous engine-building master Pat Musi was successful in her quest, using a .010 starting line advantage to beat the Musi-powered ’69 Camaro of Tommy Franklin in the final round. She won by a margin of seven thousandths of a second – 3.753 at 204.20 to Franklin’s 3.75 at 202.67 at the finish line stripe.
“Tommy and I have been wanting to run each other in a final round and it finally happened. Tommy is good on the tree and he’s fast. I knew I had to do my job. It was so tight at the finish line, we were nose to nose. I was so excited when I saw the win light come on,” Musi exclaimed.
Musi started eliminations from the fourth-place spot, first driving her Frank Brandao-owned 2015 Dodge Dart to a 3.815 round win over Chris Rini’s 3.839. Second round opponent Ray Schuler was unable to start his former Rickie Smith championship Camaro, but Musi was ready for a race with her 3.767 at 203.92. A consistent 3.768 at 203.46 against Musi customer Johnny Camp’s 3.793 at 201.91 sent Musi to the final round meeting with Franklin. Meanwhile, Franklin used a string of ever-improving 3.7-second passes to dispatch Keith Haney, Travis Harvey, and Steve Jackson, firing off low et of the event – 3.749 – in his semifinal win over Jackson.
Musi was relieved to earn her first PDRA event win of 2016 after a long weekend in the North Carolina heat. “We were struggling through testing and the beginning of qualifying. The car just wasn’t running the way it should. We ended up changing motors, manifolds, coils – everything. My dad ended up putting more power to it, and it turns out that’s all it wanted. The car started running its number again. The car did its job and I had to match its performance level with my job,” claimed Musi, who thanked sponsors Drag 965, Edelbrock, and Lucas Oil, whose director of motorsports, Tom Bogner, was on hand to support customers and drive the Lucas Oil/MAVTV jet dragster.
EVEN STEVEN - The Pro Extreme final round was a battle of the two most evenly matched cars on the property. When Tommy D’Aprile kicked off eliminations with a 3.605 at 212.39 mph over Terry Leggett’s 3.654, Brandon Snider followed it up with a 3.609 at 214.25 over John Stanley’s 3.845. Snider and D’Aprile ran identical 3.587s in their semifinal victories over Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor and Jose Gonzalez, respectively. D’Aprile knew he would need a strong run to defeat Snider in the final, but he had all the faith he needed in his Al Billes-led team.
“My mentality going into the final was just do my job, stay calm and collected, and let’s go racing. I was confident in the car and team. I’ve done this long enough that I’m just relaxed and excited to see what’s going to happen when I roll to the starting line,” D’Aprile said.
As the tree dropped, it was Snider who was too excited as his Q80 Racing ’69 Camaro left the starting line just three thousandths of a second too soon. His weekend-best 3.567 at 215.27 would’ve been enough to defeat D’Aprile, who repeated his semifinal performance with another 3.587 to win his second 2016 PDRA race for Mel Bush Motorsports.
“I love to win for the team,” D’Aprile offered. “Years ago it was about me – not anymore. I want it to be about them, to enjoy themselves, have so much fun and just love it. That’s what’s important to me.”
D’Aprile, a Godspeed Ministry chaplain, took the opportunity to dedicate his Dragstock win to the memory of Kaila Bunsold, the daughter of drag racing photographer Greg Bunsold.
“This is probably one of the most heartfelt wins of my career. Greg and Meri Bunsold lost their only child just a few days before the race, so it was important to me to win this race for the Bunsold family and to dedicate the win to Kaila.”
HOME TEAM ADVANTAGE - The three-car GALOT Motorsports team went into this weekend’s Dragstock XIII with an undefeated record after Kevin Rivenbark won the first three races and John Strickland swept the three most recent events. Understandably, the Todd Tutterow-led group was intent on maintaining that record at GALOT Motorsports Park, the pristine new racing facility owned by Earl and Peggy Wells.
As eliminations progressed, it became clear that a GALOT car had a significant chance of ending up in the winner’s circle. All three team cars reached the semifinals after Rivenbark drove his 2015 Corvette to round wins over Kenny Ferguson and Jeremy Ray; Strickland defeated James Linton Jr. and Pete Farber; and Tutterow eliminated Rick Hord and Marc Caruso. Tutterow would fall to Tylor Miller’s Pee Dee Fleet Chevelle in the semifinals, but Rivenbark and Strickland’s pairing ensured that a GALOT car would race for the event victory.
“I start sweating whenever I race John because I know he’s just as good as I am or better. Basically you have to win on the tree. John has progressed tremendously since he started driving these cars a few years ago. You can’t depend on beating him on the lights every time now because he’s been like a machine lately. He hits the tree, goes A to B and does his job well,” Rivenbark boasted of his teammate.
Unfortunately for Strickland, he let go of the trans brake button too soon, throwing away a 3.815 at 195.59 compared to Rivenbark’s winning 3.839 at 193.57. In the Pro Boost final round, Rivenbark repeated his semifinal elapsed time to defeat the quicker 3.834 effort of Miller, who appeared in the last two final rounds against Strickland.
“The only thing that would’ve been better is John and I meeting in the finals, or Todd and I in the finals. To get the win for Mr. and Mrs. Wells at their home track at our first PDRA race at GALOT Motorsports Park is just a wonderful thing.”
“I honestly haven’t even thought about the holeshot win too much,” confessed the second generation rider. “I was more impressed with the performance that we picked up from the semifinals. We went 4.09 then clicked off a 4.061 in the final. I don’t really have a whole lot to do with the tuning – my dad (Ed) and Shane Eperjesi are the ones turning the knobs. It’s always fun to win on a holeshot, but to pick up the performance and win on a holeshot is almost indescribable. It’s like a dream.”
REMEMBER ME? - West Virginia’s Doug Kirk has won two IHRA world championships, but he will undoubtedly go on to consider his win at PDRA Dragstock XIII a career highlight. Kirk started eliminations with a couple lucky rounds when Jeff Dobbins was a no-show and Larry O’Brien left too soon. Kirk ran a 4.115 at 174.75 for a semifinal win over Brian Gahm’s 4.13, earning him a final round meeting with number one qualifier Richard Penland, who defeated Lester Cooper and John Pluchino before getting the semifinal bye run.
A final round is always a pressure-packed situation, but Kirk was feeling the heat even more going into this final. Just minutes before strapping into his K&K Motorsports 2012 Mustang, Kirk watched his son, Justin, earn his first-ever race in Top Dragster.
“After he won I felt like the world came down on my chest that I had to do something to get the win. There are people who race a lifetime and never get to win like this, so to do it after two years racing together is special.”
Kirk unleashed a .009 reaction time and 4.149 et to beat Penland’s 4.085 on a sizable holeshot. The Kirks became the first father-son duo to win at the same PDRA event since the series inception in 2014.
The PDRA Extreme Pro Stock class will race next at the 3rd annual PDRA World Finals, Oct. 20-22, at Virginia Motorsports Park.
To earn his final round berth, Underwood defeated Larry Pearce, Tim Lawrence, and Dewayne Silance before running 4.088 against a 4.05 dial-in in the final round.
“You can’t put a price on it,” Kirk said about winning. “It’s my first win in Top Dragster and just my second race in this new car. Everything fell together at the right time. We took the points lead. I’m looking forward to the next two races, that’s for sure.”
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT - In the PDRA’s Junior Dragster final rounds, Pro Junior Dragster points leader Kendal Little ran a 7.909 on a 7.90 dial-in, while defending world champion Preston Tanner broke out with a 7.884 pass. Top Junior Dragster finalists Arellyn Garner-Jones and Kaylee Love both broke out, but Garner-Jones’s 7.987 was closer to her 8.00 dial-in.
BRACKET BASH WINNER - The PDRA Bracket Bash event champion was Will Holloman, who ran 4.591 on a 4.59 dial in his defeat over Haley Gilstrap’s 4.909 on a 4.90 dial.
NEXT UP - The PDRA will return to action Sept. 29-Oct. 1, with the 2nd annual Mel Bush Motorsports Sunshine State Shootout at Florida’s Bradenton Motorsports Park.
FINAL QUALIFYING SESSION
FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - THERE'S A WHOLE LOT AT GALOT
NO MINUTE LIKE THE LAST MINUTE - A last-minute shot at the number one spot proved successful for Atmore, Alabama’s Brandon Snider, who laid down a 3.596 at 215.07 mph during the third qualifying session Friday night. Like many of the other teams who have never raced at GALOT before, Snider struggled to adjust to the track surface during the first two qualifying sessions. If he maintains the number one spot after Saturday’s final qualifying round, it will be his fifth time on top this season.
“We had the car set up for the tracks we’ve been running on. This track here has kicked our butts. We’ve been picking away at the right tune-up. We tested some new stuff on Thursday that worked out pretty good, but I didn’t want to run it for race day so we put the proven stuff back in. We’re very pleased with that run. I hope it holds up tomorrow as well,” Snider said.
Just behind Snider on the qualifying order is defending Pro Extreme world champion Jason Scruggs with his close 3.605 at 215.34 pass. Number three qualifier Frankie Taylor drove Jay Diedrich’s new ’69 Camaro to a 3.624 at 209.20 and beat reigning Top Alcohol Funny Car world champion Jonnie Lindberg in a special 3.71-to-3.77 grudge race.
SAY WHAT? - The cutthroat Pro Nitrous class saw a surprise number one qualifier on Friday as longtime nitrous Pro Mod racer Randy Weatherford took his Pat Musi-powered ’69 Camaro to the top spot with a 3.765 at 196.27. The W.S. Construction-backed driver proved his point that a torque converter isn’t necessary to perform well in the technologically advanced world of eighth-mile doorslammer racing.
“We were struggling with the automatic (transmission), so we went back to our old clutch set-up. This is my second race with it, and we put it on the pole. It feels good to be back on top. We came here to show that a clutch can run the numbers. This is not an automatic class; this is a class where a clutch can run at the front,” Weatherford declared.
Steve “Stevie Fast” Jackson used a 3.779 at 201.40 to qualify second in his Reher-Morrison-powered Bahrain 1 Racing Camaro. The Pro Nitrous top five list is rounded out by the Musi-motored entries of Tommy Franklin, Lizzy Musi and Ray Schuler.
HOME IS WHERE YOU HANG YOUR DOMINATION - GALOT Motorsports driver John Strickland was celebrating a successful day on and off the track by the end of the night on Friday. He qualified number one, won $1,000 for charity in a grudge race, and did it all in front of packed grandstands at the home track that he recently helped build.
“I was pretty nervous going into this race,” admitted Strickland, the winner of the last three PDRA races. “We’ve done so well this season, and I figured this would be the weekend where I would look like I’ve never driven a car before.”
Strickland and his Todd Tutterow and Jeff Bohr-tuned ’69 Camaro picked up the pace on all three qualifying attempts, eventually making a 3.815 pass at 194.80 mph in the third session. He had his hands full inside the car, but there was more on the line than just a qualifying position. Strickland was grudge racing against rival Tylor Miller, who he beat in the final round at the two most recent races.
“I considered lifting off the throttle when the car got real close to the wall, but then I thought, ‘It doesn’t feel too bad; let’s go.’ I knew I was ahead of Tylor the whole way down the track, so that helped too,” added the Harrells, NC driver. Strickland donated his $1,000 prize to Make-A-Wish Eastern North Carolina, adding to the nearly $15,000 raised for the foundation during Thursday’s trackside auction organized by Strickland’s wife, Dana.
New Yorker Marc Caruso sits in second with his 3.837, followed by Tylor Miller’s 3.843. GALOT Motorsports’ Kevin Rivenbark is close behind with a 3.845, and Jeremy Ray is fifth at 3.87.
“It doesn’t really matter where you qualify,” McKinney said of the tight competition in the PDRA’s only two-wheeled class. “Everybody is so close. We’re qualified number one right now, but everyone is chasing us. If the bike can repeat and I can cut some good lights, then we’ll have a tough package going into eliminations.”
THE SPORTSMAN REPORT - Cousins Randy (3.943) and Buddy Perkinson (3.985) qualified their Albert-powered Camaros in the number one and four positions, being separated by only engine builder Billy Albert (3.957) in second and 2014 Top Sportsman world champion Dan Ferguson (3.977) in third in his Musi-equipped ’63 Corvette.
Top Dragster competitor Jody Stroud established his place at the top of the qualifying order early in the day. His “Zombie” blown alcohol dragster recorded a 3.741 pass at 195.05 mph in the first pair of cars down the track on Friday morning. Sportsman racing star Kevin Brannon is next closest at 3.905, and points leader David Brown is third with a 3.941.
ON TAP FOR SATURDAY - The all-eighth-mile PDRA Dragstock XIII will continue with a fourth and final round of qualifying for all classes at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10. Pre-race ceremonies will kick off at 3 p.m. followed by first round of sportsman eliminations at 4 p.m.
SESSION TWO
SESSION ONE
