After a seven-week summer break, the PDRA resumed action at US 131 Motorsports Park to kick off the second half of the season. The Talbert Manufacturing Northern Nationals presented by Callies Performance Products is always a great show because you get two shows in one weekend. The PDRA brought some of the fastest door car racing, along with some of the best sportsman and bracket racers around. Then, US131 has top fuel dragsters, nitro Harleys, nostalgia dragsters, and funny cars, along with nitro altereds. Once testing began on Thursday, the better-than-normal conditions were hinting that there were going to be some great passes throughout the weekend, and boy, there were.

Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous

After a dominating season opener, Tim Paap and his team struggled to repeat that same success at the following races. They came to US131 ready, and once qualifying was over, Paap held the number one spot. During eliminations, Paap had low elapsed time in the first two rounds, but in the semi-finals, he was unfortunately shut off after the burnout due to a fluid leak.

Another Pro Nitrous class rookie, Amber Denton, came to the class and has proven that she is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Coming into the event, Denton had the championship points lead, and she and her team did everything possible to keep it. In the semi-final round, Denton got the hole shot win over Billy Albert, but lost the engine just before the stripe. On the other side of the ladder, Tommy Franklin had a bye run but ran it to try and get lane choice in the finals. Franklin, just like his daughter, had an engine failure on the top end near the stripe.

It was an all-hands-on-deck effort to get both cars ready to run each other in the finals. Racers and crews from other teams helped the Franklin/Denton teams with parts, labor, and even a complete engine so that the final round would happen. Due to the borrowed engine not being the same combination, the teams decided to run the finals as equal as possible. So, they decided to run the race all motor with no nitrous on either car. In one of the craziest Pro Nitrous (with no nitrous) finals, Amber Denton was able to get the win over her dad, Tommy Franklin, by a mere 0.006 of a second.

Top Qualifiers: Tim Paap 3.624 at 206.61 mph, Amber Denton 3.625 at 208.82 mph, and Billy Albert 3.637 at 207.28 mph.

WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty Drive

The buzz in the Pro Boost pits this past weekend was about racer Randy Weatherford’s new combination that featured a Harts Charger supercharger. After making some test runs on Thursday, Weatherford and his team came into Friday qualifying swinging and laid claim to the top spot. During eliminations, Weatherford had a first-round bye, and then made it past tough drivers such as Steve King in the second round, and then current Pro Boost champion Jason Harris in the semi-finals.

Ty Tutterow, the last winner on tour, carried that momentum into US 131, where he qualified third and made solid passes every time down the track. Tutterow’s path to the finals wasn’t an easy one either, facing Raymond Matos, Johnny Camp, and Preston Tanner before getting to the finals. In rounds two and three, Weatherford and Tutterow held the lowest elapsed times of the round. In the finals, both cars were locked door-to-door as Weatherford ran 3.578 at 211.07 mph, to Tutterow’s 3.576 at 209.40 mph, but unfortunately, Tutterow red-lit at the start, handing the win to Weatherford.

Top Qualifiers: Randy Weatherford 3.578 at 212.06 mph, Kurt Steding 3.596 at 209.69 mph, and Ty Tutterow 3.597 at 209.40 mph.

Liberty’s Gears Pro Street Presented by Menscer Motorsports

In the cooler conditions, 10 of the 17 cars qualified with a sub-four-second time slip. In the last round of qualifying, it was the big man himself, Fletcher Cox, in his nitrous-assisted, Phil Shuler-tuned, Musi-powered Camaro with a 3.829 at 192.31 mph blast that sent him to the top spot. Cox would work his way through the field before he fell to the eventual event winner and current class champion, Ethan Steding. Steding made it to the finals, getting wins over Jake Blain, Nick Agostino, and Fletcher Cox.

While Steding had his hands full, Blake Denton was doing work on the other side of the ladder, making it past Richard Reagan, Adrian Herrera, and Ron Green. In the finals, Denton had a huge starting line advantage, but that’s where it ended as Ethan Steding made his best pass of the weekend, running 3.888 at 194.55 mph, and earned a trip to the winners’ circle.

Top Qualifiers: Fletcher Cox 3.829 at 192.31 mph, Blake Denton 3.893 at 195.74 mph, and Ron Green 3.901 at 199.12 mph.

AED Competition Fuel Systems Extreme Pro Stock presented by Liberty’s Gears

Coming into this event as the current points leader, Alan Drinkwater’s goal was to try and expand his points lead over Jeremy Huffman. Qualifying would go Huffman’s way as he landed in the number one spot with Drinkwater in the number two spot. In the finals, they would face off against each other, and with a slight starting line advantage, Drinkwater would be able to hang on to the lead as Huffman had problems down track. Drinkwater ran a 4.114 at 176.96 mph to Huffman’s slower 4.537 at 165.81 mph. This was Drinkwater’s second win in a row, and gave his points lead just a little more room to breathe.

Top Qualifiers: Jeremy Huffman 4.047 at 178.15 mph, Alan Drinkwater 4.080 at 176.61 mph, and Chris Powers 4.109 at 176.82 mph.

Pro 632 presented by PTC Torque Converters

At the last stop of the PDRA tour, we saw Lexi Tanner walk away with a runner-up finish. Tanner came to the Northern Nationals and, for the second time this season, took the number one qualifier spot to lead the field. Tanner went on to get wins in the first and second rounds against Kyle Salminen and Carson Hoyle to find herself in the finals yet again with Jeff Melnick. Melnick, the defending event champion and the last winner on tour, qualified number two. He faced Joe Valerio and Nicole Liberty on his way to the finals.

Once again, it was Lexi Tanner and Jeff Melnick in the finals. Tanner was hoping for a little revenge from the last race, and even though she had a slight starting line advantage over Melnick, the Barry Allen-built Ford power plant was too much, and Melnick set the event low elapsed time with a 4.144 at 171.63 mph for the win. This was Melnick’s third win in a row at the Northern Nationals.

Top Qualifiers: Lexi Tanner 4.148 at 171.56 mph, Jeff Melnick 4.152 at 171.82 mph, and Walter Lannigan 4.159 at 169.75 mph

Sportsman, JR’s, and Bracket Results

Elite Top Sportsman

Number two qualifier Bryan LaFlam made his way into the finals after getting wins over Tim Lawrence, Jeff Melnick, and Dewayne Silance. Jeff Simons’ trip to the finals was no easy task either, beating Mike Alexander Jr., Glenn Butcher, and Dan Hill before matching up with LaFlam. LaFlam ran 3.791 at 194.13 mph on a 3.78 dial-in versus Simons’ red light start, 3.892 at 194.64 mph on a 3.88 dial-in, handing LaFlam the win.

Elite Top Dragster

Number two qualifier KC Ingram and number 15 qualifier Al Peavler worked their way through each side of the ladder to meet up in the final round. Ingram defeated Tisha Wilson, Mike Kopko, and Alan O’Brien, while Peavler had Terry Long, Jeff Libla, and Patrick Forster. In the finals, Ingram went red, while Peavler, who had trouble on the starting line, got the win.

Top Sportsman

The three and four qualifiers made it to the final round in Top Sportsman. Gary Kintz (3) landed a huge reaction time advantage against Jeff Talvacchio (4), and took it all the way to the winners’ circle, running 4.186 at 171.30 mph to Talvacchio’s 4.198 at 168.73 mph.

Top Dragster

Number 30 qualifier Chaz Silance got the win over number nine qualifier Clayton Roberts. Silance, with the better reaction time, ran a 4.481 at 152.28 mph on a 4.48 dial, while Roberts went 4.216 at 166.11 mph on his 4.25 dial, breaking out trying to make up for the starting line difference.

The next PDRA race will be August 21-23 in Bristol, TN, for the Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway.