2008 -- ADRL SEASON IN REVIEW
CompetitionPlus.com attended all eight Flowmaster ADRL Drag Racing
Series presented by the National Guard. We brought you the inside and
outside of every event from March
until the Battle of the Belts in October. We brought you the chills,
the spills, the inside
stories and the round-by-round happenings behind the numbers. CompetitionPlus.com attended all eight Flowmaster ADRL Drag Racing Series presented by the National Guard. We brought you the inside and outside of every event from March until the Battle of the Belts in October. We brought you the chills, the spills, the inside stories and the round-by-round happenings behind the numbers.
A record-setting crowd of more than 40,000 witnessed the stars of the Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL) presented by the National Guard go after a $100,000 purse Mar. 8, in the ADRL’s season-opening Drag Illustrated Dragpalooza IV at Houston Raceway Park. Joshua Hernandez of nearby Conroe, TX, won the ADRL’s marquee Pro Extreme class, while Jim Halsey prevailed in Pro Nitrous, reigning class champ Steve Gorman won in Extreme 10.5, and Ron Procopio won his career-first Pro Extreme Motorcycle event.
“I knew he left first, but then I caught him pretty fast,” Hernandez said after going 3.96 seconds at 191.57 miles per hour over the eighth-mile course to defeat fellow Texan Steve Wiley. “I think he had some trouble about half-track and that’s when I passed him.”
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#2 - ADRL Hardees Drags - Vadosta, Ga.
Georgia’s
own Mike Hill and Coodee Thomas rewarded the huge partisan crowd at
South Georgia Motorsports Park (SGMP) with wins in Extreme 10.5 and Pro
Extreme Motorcycle, respectively, May 10, at the 4th annual Hardee’s
Georgia Drags staged by the Flowmaster American Drag Racing League
(ADRL) presented by the National Guard. Joining them in victory lane
were Pro Extreme star Joshua Hernandez and new Pro Nitrous record
holder Billy Harper.
Hernandez qualified his National Guard-backed ’57 Chevy seventh and
raced past fellow Texans Gaylen Smith and Frankie Taylor before taking
out John Stanley in the semis to reach Quain Stott and his ’63 Corvette
in the Pro Extreme final. Hernandez was on his game, taking a .026
advantage off the starting line and blasting to a 3.82-seconds pass at
195.87 mph over the SGMP eighth mile that also set low elapsed time
(E.T.) for the weekend and gave Hernandez his second-straight ADRL
national event win. Meanwhile, Stott suffered traction trouble and was
forced to shut off early after reaching the final from the 16th and
final qualifying position.
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#3 - Pizza Hut Summer Drags
Shortly after fireworks lit
up the south-Virginia sky, Joshua Hernandez lit up the crowd at Motor Mile
Dragway this July 4th by winning an unprecedented third consecutive
American Drag Racing League (ADRL) Pro Extreme event, in the
rain-postponed “arm-drop drags” final from the series’ previous race in
Martin, Michigan.
Joining Hernandez in victory lane at Motor Mile
Dragway in Radford, Virginia were Billy Harper in Pro Nitrous and Extreme
10.5 winner Gary White. The postponed Pro Extreme Motorcycle final was held
over again to the ADRL’s next event, July 25-26, at Budd’s Creek, Maryland
because finalist Scott Gray asked for the delay to accommodate his opponent,
T.T. Jones, who couldn’t make the race due to illness.
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#4 - ADRL SHELOR.COM INDEPENDENCE DRAGS
The ADRL was racing on the track and against the sky Sunday at Motor
Mile Dragway in Radford, Virginia, as ominous storm clouds appeared on
the horizon just as the final rounds were about to
be run at the 2nd annual Shelor Motor Mile Independence Drags.
Just minutes after the exhaust notes of Pro Extreme winner Travis
Swearingen’s supercharged 1941 Willys faded into the rolling hills of
southwest Virginia, the skies unleashed a violent storm that sent fans
and teams packing. But they left satisfied, knowing Billy Glidden and
Charlie Prophit also scored their first ADRL wins in Extreme 10.5 and
Pro Extreme Motorcycle, respectively, while Billy Harper continued his
dominance of the Pro Nitrous class with his third-straight ADRL
national-event win.
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#5 - ADRL Gatorz Ohio Drags - Norwalk, Ohio
Though winning for the first time with the Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL) presented by the National Guard, longtime Pro Extreme pilot Taylor headlined the quartet of veteran racers in victory lane, which climaxed with series president Kenny Nowling personally handing out ADRL memorabilia to every single fan who remained when the interviews and photo sessions were over.
“It’s just our way of saying thank you for being part of a truly remarkable event,” Nowling stated. “We enjoyed a record-setting day here in Norwalk and I just wanted to cap it off by sending a little bit of the ADRL home with everyone here.”
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#6 - 1-800-GO-GUARD.com U.S. Drags - Budds Creek, MD.
A record-sized crowd at Maryland International Raceway watched
first-time winners prevail in four out of five professional racing
classes July 26, in the inaugural 1-800-GO GUARD.com U.S. Drags. The
eighth-mile drag racing event, staged by the Flowmaster American Drag
Racing League (ADRL) presented by the National Guard, drew more than
20,000 fans to the track, which has been in continuous operation for
more than 40 years.
Only Extreme 10.5 star Billy Glidden had visited victory lane before,
as he won his second-straight event in record-setting fashion.
Baltimore’s Tommy Gray made the most of his debut with a new car in the
unlimited Pro Extreme class; veteran Rickie Smith finally scored a win
in his fourth trip to a Pro Nitrous final round; Nikie Corley continued
a streak of first-time winners in Pro Extreme Motorcycle; and, Robert
Patrick made a little history as the winner of the first-ever ADRL
Extreme Pro Stock event.
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#7 - ADRL HUSH POWER DRAGSTOCK - Rockingham, NC
Former Pro Extreme class champion Bubba Stanton of Potts Camp, MS, steered his supercharged 1963 Corvette to a final-round, 3.81-second pass at 197.02 miles per hour over the Rockingham eighth mile to beat Semora, NC’s Chip King. Reigning class champ Jason Scruggs lost in the semi-finals, but not before thrilling the fans with a pair of 200-plus mph passes in the preliminary rounds.
Puerto Rico’s Raymond Matos recently purchased the 1970 Cuda of current Pro Nitrous championship contender Dennis Radford and picked up the event win with it in his career-first ADRL start after going 4.03 at 183.22 mph against Andy Jensen of Nescopeck, PA. Jensen earlier set a new ADRL elapsed time record of 3.87 seconds with his turbocharged 1968 Camaro.
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#8 - ADRL LEN-MAR World Finals - Dallas, Tex.
Quain Stott proclaimed earlier in the week that he planned to make the
ADRL series his primary source for racing in 2009. On Saturday night at
the ADRL LenMar Motorsports World Finals in Dallas, Texas, he got a
head start on the competition.
Joining Stott (Pro Extreme) in the winner’s circle were such
heavy-hitters as Mike Castellana (Pro Nitrous), Billy Glidden (Outlaw
10.5) and Scott Gray (Pro Extreme Motorcycle).
Stott, of Inman, S.C., drove past newly crowned world champion Jason
Scruggs in the final round to claim his fourth career ADRL Pro Extreme
national event crown.
Stott streaked to a winning 3.877 elapsed time at 183.59 miles per
hour to upend the heavily favored Scruggs who nearly crashed his Dodge
Stratus in the final round.
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