Eight years ago Brad Plourd cemented his reputation as one of the most talented and versatile young racers on the NHRA Lucas Oil tour when he won Super Comp eliminator at the 51st annual NHRA US Nationals.  Plourd, who had already tasted victory on the biggest stage in both Stock and Super Stock, won the biggest event in drag racing driving John Coughlin’s JEGS.com dragster, a car he’d never previously sat in, competing in Super Comp, a category he had rarely raced in prior to that event.

Eight years later, Plourd is a professional drag racer boasting a list of accomplishments that racers twice his age would covet.  He’s won over a dozen NHRA national events, and is on the elite list of competitors to “double” in national event competition.  He’s earned division championships and finished in the top ten of NHRA’s national Lucas Oil standings on numerous occasions.  He’s claimed the JEGS All-Stars crown and has several big dollar bracket wins on his ledger.

Eight years ago Brad Plourd cemented his reputation as one of the most talented and versatile young racers on the NHRA Lucas Oil tour when he won Super Comp eliminator at the 51st annual NHRA US Nationals.  Plourd, who had already tasted victory on the biggest stage in both Stock and Super Stock, won the biggest event in drag racing driving John Coughlin’s JEGS.com dragster, a car he’d never previously sat in, competing in Super Comp, a category he had rarely raced in prior to that event.

Eight years later, Plourd is a professional drag racer boasting a list of accomplishments that racers twice his age would covet.  He’s won over a dozen NHRA national events, and is on the elite list of competitors to “double” in national event competition.  He’s earned division championships and finished in the top ten of NHRA’s national Lucas Oil standings on numerous occasions.  He’s claimed the JEGS All-Stars crown and has several big dollar bracket wins on his ledger.

While Plourd’s recent victory in Stock Eliminator at the 59th annual US Nationals is neither as head turning or surprising as his first, several similarities do exist.  Plourd, concerned that his personal K/SA Stock Eliminator ride (which he’s already claimed two national event victories in) would struggle to qualify at the “Big Go,” arranged to drive good friend D.J. Pires’ H/SA Chevrolet Nova.  Just like in 2005, the machine was one that Plourd had never driven prior to the event.

“D.J. couldn’t make it to Indy, but good friend Chick Ross and his family offered to put his car in their trailer,” Plourd explained.  “He and I made arrangements, and I got to shoe it in the US Nationals.  D.J. and his family have built a car that’s about perfect for Stock Eliminator.  It’s fast, and it’s consistent.  You definitely need both of those attributes at Indy.”

Plourd got a gift in the opening round of eliminations when Michael Ficacci fouled.  In round 2, he posted a competitive .035 reaction time and expertly maneuvered Pires’ Nova at the finish line to post a perfect 11.480 ET on his 11.48 dial and dispatch recent LODRS runner-up Joey Shipp.  Chris Holbrook fouled opposite Plourd in round three, as did Jack Matyas in the quarterfinal round.  Between those two fouls, however, Plourd received what he calls his lucky break, opposite Kevin Stubbs in round 4.

“I missed the tree fourth round, and when I saw that (Stubbs) was coming around me, I just instinctively buried the brakes.  In addition to my bad light, I hit the brakes way too early and ran way over the dial-in.  Luckily, he broke out by .005 of a second.  I had a lot of good fortune throughout eliminations, but I’d say that was my biggest break.”

In that round, Stubbs had the starting line advantage, .016 to .052, but broke out with a 10.445 on his 10.45 dial, to Plourd’s safe 11.58 on an 11.52 target.

In Monday’s semi-final round, Plourd worked both ends of the race track with precision to dispatch title contender Chuck Downing.  Plourd posted his best reaction of eliminations, .009, and eased off the throttle to cross the finish line first by just .016 with an 11.59 ET on his 11.56 dial.  That set up a dramatic heads-up final round clash with the similarly equipped H/SA entry of Mike McGinley.

“Normally, I’m not a fan of heads-up rounds,” said Plourd.  “I’m a bracket racer, so I’d much rather have the outcome determined by driving ability rather than horsepower.  But in this instance, I almost wanted both Mike and I to win the semi-final round.  Stock at Indy is all about going fast.  Our cars were running very similar ET’s, and I just thought that would be a cool ending to the week at Indy – a close heads-up final!”

Plourd got his wish, and was able to emerge victorious despite trailing off the starting line.  McGinley posted a near perfect .006 reaction to Plourd’s conservative .052, but the Pires Nova held up its end of the deal, with a 11.419 ET to best McGinley’s 11.563.

“Honestly, we should have been closer in terms of performance,” admitted Plourd.  “Coming into the final, I felt like it would likely be decided on the tree.  I was just .009 in the semi-final, and these cars tend to pick up reaction time when we hop them up for a class run.  So I was pretty conservative in the final, and it showed with the .052 light.  (McGinley) had a great .006.  If you had told me that before the round, I would have said that we would have lost.  Luckily for me, he had some issues getting down the track, and that opened the door.  Had he run the ET that we thought he was capable of, I would have been a US Nationals runner-up.”

With the win, Plourd now has 15 NHRA national event victories in three classes (Stock, Super Stock, and Super Comp), including two wins at the NHRA US Nationals.  In regards to his success at Indy, Plourd offered open yet humble input.

“Indy is a race that is so unique, because for the sportsman racers it’s such a marathon.  It’s nearly a week-long event.  Just qualifying for Stock Eliminator is a task in itself. Elimination rounds were contested over 3 days; and there were times when we had more than 24 hours between rounds.  A lot of my bracket racing buddies were giving me a hard time about the runs I was making.  What they don’t understand is how difficult it is to make good runs when you’ve got so much downtime between rounds.  You have to make the right calls in various conditions, and you don’t get into any type of rhythm as a driver.  It’s one race that really requires a completely different skill set than 98% of the racing that we do.  It’s a real challenge, but it’s all worth it if you’re able to win: it’s the US Nationals!”