X275 heavy-hitter “Mean Dean” Marinis added yet another line to his racing resume on Friday when he captured The Pilgrimage X275 crown at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, New Hampshire. The Pilgrimage, pitting racers from the X275 and Northeast X275 series against one another, was the first-ever small-tire, drag radial exhibition at an NHRA national event, giving the class some significant exposure.

Such a hit were the X275 competitors and their machines that class founder John Sears shared professional drivers even made it a point to stop by to check the cars out during the course of the weekend. The fans and the NHRA brass, too, were plenty pleased with the exciting, wheels-up, anything-can-happen style of racing that small-tire fans have come to know and love.

Marinis, in his familiar bright orange, nitrous oxide-assisted Ford Mustang, qualified second in the event after the lone session with a 4.650 at 162.24, just behind Massachusetts native Mark Dykeman’s 4.64, but stepped things up considerably in a round one victory over Aaron Bates with a 4.541 — low elapsed time of the round. In the semifinals, he took down current X275 national record holder Rich Bruder in his controversial supercharged Ford Mustang with a quicker-yet 4.474 to advance into the final round, to be held in primetime aead of the evening’s professional qualifying session.

On the opposite side of the ladder, Robert Baptista had disposed of Tommy DePriest and Dykeman to move into the final in his ProCharger-fed Chevrolet Camaro. With the first-ever X275 Wally trophy on the line, Marinis rolled to low elapsed time of the event to seal the deal, running a 4.462 at 164.03 mph as Baptista launched into a picturesque wheelstand and had to back off the throttle.

It should be noted, as well, that after receiving his well-deserved accolades at Epping, Marinis and company loaded up and trekked to the Cecil County Dragway for the Outlaw Street Car Shootout, where he captured a second win in as many days, defeating Darrell Varner in the final (he also ran 4.43, 4.44, and 4.45 in the process).