Harris Wins Again With PDRA; Reid, Gahm And Latino Also Finish First

Jason Harris kept his perfect record going June 28, with his fourth straight Pro Nitrous victory at the inaugural Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) Summer Drags at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in western Michigan. Also picking up pro class wins were Randell Reid with his second-straight NAS Racing Pro Extreme event title, Brian Gahm with his first Aruba.com Extreme Pro Stock victory, Eric Latino in Precision Turbo/Proline Pro Boost and Eric McKinney with his third win of the year and second straight in Pro Extreme Motorcycle.

Sportsman class victories went to Aaron Glaser with his breakthrough Magnafuel Top Sportsman win, Jeff Mandell for the second consecutive event in STT Safety Equipment Top Dragster, and Isaac Evans and Scottie Taylor in Huddleston Performance Pro Jr. Dragster and Top Jr. Dragster, respectively.

PRO NITROUS
Prior to the start of the PDRA Summer Drags, Jason Harris had driven his ’68 Pontiac “Warbird” to victory at each of the three PDRA races held so far in its inaugural year. Given the level of competition in the Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous class, even Harris was surprised at his continued perfection. After the Summer Drags, where he made a 3.776-second solo pass at 197.25 mph to take his fourth-straight win, he was almost speechless.

“I really don’t know what to say; I really don’t,” the Pittsboro, NC, racer said after beating Matt Guenther, Tim Savell, Pat Stoken and Lizzy Musi, who broke on the line before the final round. “It’s unreal; we’ve had a fantastic season so far; everything has worked so good ever since we unloaded for the first time at Rockingham (NC), I can’t believe how good everything has gone so far.”

Harris qualified second with a 3.795-seconds lap at 198.46 mph, just four-thousandths of a second behind class rookie Musi, who scored her first number-one start in Pro Nitrous.

In eliminations, Musi duplicated her 3.791 qualifying time in an opening-round win over Jim Sackuvich, then ran 3.781 in beating Lee Adkins before going quicker again with a career-best 3.765 to edge out the 3.776 by Tommy Franklin in the semis and reach what also would be her first Pro Nitrous final round. Unfortunately, however, a nitrous solenoid got stuck wide open just as she was about to stage for the final race and she had to shut down on the starting line and watch Harris streak unopposed to the Summer Drags title.

“Lizzy definitely had the car to beat this weekend,” Harris recognized of his rival’s performance. “I knew I would have to step up there, but then she had some problems and I didn’t want to win like that, but it is what it is and if a little good fortune comes our way, we’ll take it.”

PRO EXTREME   
After getting past Todd Martin and Mike Recchia, 12th-place qualifier Randell Reid’s good fortune came into play in the semis when number-one starter Jason Scruggs redlighted to throw away a 3.592 at 212.74 mph, while Reid struggled to a 3.744 at 165.42-mph pass.

“We broke the lower pulley for the blower drive on that pass,” Reid explained. “We got lucky there, but that’s what it takes sometimes to get a win.”

In the final round, Reid, who scored his career-first Pro Extreme win just a few weeks earlier in the PDRA race at Memphis, met Brandon Snider, who qualified sixth and dispatched Terry Leggett, Frankie Taylor and Tommy D’Aprile from the preliminary rounds.

In the final both drivers left with .041 lights, with Snider running a stout 3.575 at 210.92 in his ’63 Corvette, but it was no match for the 3.538 at 209.49 Reid put together in his ’07 version of America’s sports car.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw that .53 up on my scoreboard,” Reid said. “That’s a career best–by far–for me, but it’s all thanks to my crew. They worked so hard this week and Brandon Pesz (crew chief) is the smartest man I know around a race car.”  

EXTREME PRO STOCK
It’s been a long time since Brian Gahm last visited an Extreme Pro Stock victory lane, but at the end of the inaugural PDRA Summer Drags title, that’s where the Lucasville, OH-based driver was headed at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.

“Man, it feels good to pick this up,” Gahm declared as he was handed the PDRA trophy after a .044 holeshot allowed his 4.093 at 175.62 to beat Cary Goforth’s quicker and faster 4.081 at 176.78-mph pass in the final round. “Now, if someone could just give me directions to the winner’s circle we can get this party started!”

Gahm was quick all weekend long, qualifying his 2013 Mustang in the number-one slot with a 4.081 pass of his own at 176.80 mph, just ahead of Goforth’s 4.086 in a 2013 Camaro. In eliminations, Gahm ran 4.108 and 4.101 to defeat Richard Penland and Scott Hintz, respectively, before reaching Goforth, who was going after his third PDRA win this year.

“Our car ran great and I just want to thank my crew for all their hard work to help put a Ford back on top of this deal,” Gahm said. “We had a lot of fun here all weekend.”

PRO BOOST
The Pro Boost final between Canada’s Eric Latino and North Carolina doorslammer legend Todd Tutterow may be remembered as much for what came before it as how it ended with Latino taking the PDRA Summer Drags hardware home to Whitby, ON.

As the final rounds began with the Jr. Dragster classes, both drivers were waiting in the staging lanes at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park when Tutterow suddenly dropped to the ground, writhing in pain and begging for help to relieve a sudden, stabbing headache. Track medical personnel quickly ran to Tutterow’s side, where they discovered some sort of insect had burrowed into the driver’s ear, causing severe pain and affecting his equilibrium.

They were able to extract the bothersome bug with water and after Tutterow’s balance quickly returned, PDRA officials decided he could still compete, but delayed the Pro Boost final to the last race of the event.

“I had never felt pain like that before in my life. It felt like someone was drilling straight into my ear,” Tutterow said before leaving the track to visit a local hospital for a check-up as a precaution.

“King Tut; what can I say? Todd Tutterow has been racing for so long and he’s one guy that I really look up to. He really is like a hero to me,” Latino said. “So to be racing him in the final was so exciting. And then, I hate to see what happened to him, it’s just such a bizarre thing. I’m just glad he seems okay now, but man, that was a pretty scary scene.”

Latino qualified his roots-blown, Hemi-powered ’69 Camaro with a 3.870 pass at 191.25 mph, behind only Australian Paul Mouhayet, who in his first race on American soil and with a brand-new, untested, twin-turbocharged 2013 Mustang, ran 3.836 seconds at 206.64 mph to secure the top spot. Tyler Miller started third, with Tutterow in the fourth qualifying position with his new ’69 Camaro before eliminations began Saturday afternoon.

Tutterow took down Jeremy Ray, Steve Summers and Mouhayet, who was unable to make it to the semis, while Latino defeated Randy Bryan, Larry Higgenbotham and Tutterow’s teammate Kevin Rivenbark to reach the final round. He gave credit to chassis consultant Joe Lepone Jr. for a turnaround in performance after struggling with power application problems early this year. “The car drives like a Cadillac now,” Latino said.

“It’s my team, though, they got the job done,” he added. “I’m happy to have won this for them.” 

PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE
Past two-time class champion Eric McKinney was pretty pleased when he unloaded his 2012 Suzuki for pre-race testing at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI, where it promptly ran 4.04 at 177 mph with the same tune-up still in it after winning the previous PDRA event a few weeks earlier at Memphis, TN. “Other than the most basic maintenance, changing the oil and plugs, we didn’t even touch the motor since Memphis,” McKinney said.

The tactic seemed sound, too, after McKinney led through the first two of three scheduled qualifying rounds with a 4.075 at 175.69 effort, but then Western Canada’s Terry Schweigert stepped up with a 4.072 at 172.28 in the final session.

“Man, I was bummed that we lost the number-one qualifier, but this definitely makes up for it,” McKinney declared, hoisting a PDRA Summer Drags trophy immediately after going 4.080 at 175.05 to defeat a red lighting Dave Norris in the final round.

TOP SPORTSMAN/TOP DRAGSTER
He won a championship last season, but the inaugural PDRA Summer Drags in Martin, MI, represent the first event win for Top Sportsman driver Aaron Glaser in the ’69 Camaro he purchased late in 2012 from Pro Nitrous star Bob Rahaim.

Glaser started from the number-five position and beat Boyd Beyer, Glenn Butcher and Curt Fredrich in order to reach Eric Burnett in the final. 

“That was great,” Glaser declared after taking the win. “I’ve known Eric my whole life, we’ve raced Jr. Dragsters together, I’ve painted all his cars; it’s great to share an experience like this with a true friend.

“We had a great year last year, won a lot of rounds and that’s what kept the points coming, but we just never could put a run together that got us through the final round,” he added. “So it feels really good to get that first win with this car.”

For the second-straight race, Jeff Mandell brought the Top Dragster trophy home to Culleoka, KY, winning from the 12th starting position with his Pro Fab-built dragster over ninth-place qualifier Jim Prevo in the final.

In a double-breakout final, Isaac Evans of Athens, AL, ran 7.890 at 83.64 in the Pro Jr. Dragster final to beat a 7.888 at 83.16 by Preston Tanner. The Top Jr. Dragster win went to Scottie Taylor, son of PDRA Pro Extreme star Frankie Taylor.

About the author

dragzine

Dragzine® delivers the hard-hitting news, rumors, and event coverage that drag racers crave from NHRA, IHRA, NMCA, PDRA, Outlaw, and Drag Radial events, not to mention videos, in-depth car features, tech articles, and interviews. It’s drag racing — 24 hours a day! Our goal is to deliver to you the quickest news and insights in the drag racing world. You’ll also find some of the best technical content on the web — from installations, dyno tests, project vehicles and more.
Read My Articles

Drag Racing in your Inbox.

Build your own custom newsletter with the content you love from Dragzine, directly to your inbox, absolutely FREE!

Free WordPress Themes
Dragzine NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

Dragzine - Drag Racing Magazine

We'll send you the most interesting Dragzine articles, news, car features, and videos every week.

Dragzine - Drag Racing Magazine

Dragzine NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

Dragzine - Drag Racing Magazine

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...


Street Muscle Magazine
Hot Rods & Muscle Cars
Diesel Army
Diesel Army
Engine Labs
Engine Tech

Dragzine - Drag Racing Magazine

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...

  • Streetmuscle Hot Rods & Muscle Cars
  • Diesel Army Diesel Army
  • Engine Labs Engine Tech

Dragzine - Drag Racing Magazine

Dragzine

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Dragzine - Drag Racing Magazine

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Loading