PDRA EAST COAST NATIONALS PRESENTED BY FUELTECH
What more can I say than what a show! As the Professional Drag Racing Association PDRA rolled into the world-famous Galot motorsports park over the past weekend and brought nothing but action, well that’s what I’m going to do. With every year comes the anticipation of what’s in store for the season, most teams are looking to better the previous season’s standing, and others to maintain the dominance of their respected classes.
Rows and rows of racers from all classes packed in the pits of Galot Motorsports Park
Over the winter the PDRA staff was hard at work making the series even better as usual from sponsorships to class rules and of course making sure the fans have enough action to keep the heart pumping. With the backlines booming of the Pro street class being packed with more racers wanting to bring outlaw 10.5 back to the forefront to the clutch pedal naturally aspirated monsters of extreme Pro stock making it’s coming back in a big way, there was some excitement to be had. Now let us not forget the teams making debuts with new cars as well as debuts in new classes Brian Clauss in pro 632 Dillon Voss in Extreme pro stock to name a few.
Jeff Melnick being pushed up the lanes in his beautiful Dodge avenger top sportsman ride
The weekend got started with a heavy amount of testing on Wednesday and Thursday followed by qualifying on Friday for all classes. First up with the badest nitrous cars on the planet Pro Nitrous presented by Switzer Dynamics with defending champion Jim Halsey leading the way in his beautiful 68 Camaro with a blistering 3.65 at 206 mph putting him in the number one spot, then came WS construction Pro Boost with Melanie Salemi just crushing the boards with a 3.56 blast at 207 mph in her side piece 2019 Camaro. Liberty’s Gears Extreme pro stock number one spot went to JR carr with a 4.01 at 179 mph rip. The number one spot in Shameless Racing Pro 632 went to Walter Lannigan jr with a 4.12-second pass with a speed of 172 mph. Travis Davis took the number one spot in Drag 965 pro nitrous motorcycle going 3.97 at 176 mph. Menscer Motorsports Pro street presented by Afco racing with Nick Agostino all the way from Ontario taking the top qualifying spot with a 3.92 at 208 mph on a 10.5 tire. Donny Urban, Jeff Pittman, Craig Addis, Frank Falter Iv, Nyck Shirkey, and Kylie Vanier headed top positions in their respected sportsman classes.
God speed Ministry is a staple of every PDRA racing sharing the word of the lord with fellow racers
On Saturday with the fields set, the grandstands packed with fans, and cool brisk weather racing got underway with a few unseen exits Jim Hasley taking an early exit with Cam Clark moving on. The man himself Tommy Franklin took an early exit in the second round leaving the field wide open. Mike Achenbach AkA the mountain man claimed the class victory. A few surprising exits in pro boost with Stevie Jackson going down to Stan Shelton early, Melanie Salemi going out in the second round to Stan Shelton who would go all the way to finals to be taken out by Todd Tutterow, Tutterow himself facing some of the fastest guys Jason Lee who has been in the 40’s on a 315 tire and Johnny Camp. With all the right conditions the world was ready to see 3.99 light across the board in Liberty’s Gear pro stock but that will live to see another day with Chris powers laying down 4.0 passes all day to take it home. Alan Drinkwater took the victory in Pro 632 knocking out front runner Lannigan Jr, Chris Garner-Jones left where left off in the winner circle in Drag 965 Pro nitrous motorcycle. Tim Essick with his home-built ride took down Agostino in the finals in the pro street class. Sportsman racers Steve Drongowski, Doug Crumlich, Steve Furr, Tisha Wilson, Bladen core, Carter Jackson, and Nathen Tanner rounded out your PDRA East Coast Nationals presented by Fuel Tech.
Check out the album below for some of the event action and highlights
