Photos provided by Auto Imagery

Taylor Dietsch is on a heater right now, and the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown class better take notice. The second-generation racer just backed up his U.S. Nationals triumph with another national event win, this time in front of a jam-packed crowd at Maple Grove Raceway during the NHRA Reading Nationals.

Dietsch entered eliminations as the number one qualifier and proved it wasn’t a fluke. He plowed through David Davies II, Lenny Lottig, Raymond Nash, and finally defending event champ Scott Libersher to lock down his second win in as many races.   The road to the Wally wasn’t easy. In the opening round, Dietsch torched a motor, forcing his crew to thrash until 2 a.m. just to get the car back in fighting shape. Running on four hours of sleep, Dietsch still delivered, even if he joked about his slow light in the finals.

“I say it every time I have an interview, but I have the best team out there,” said Dietsch. “These guys were up till 2am last night, wrenching on this car after blowing an engine the first round yesterday. I got four hours of sleep, and that’s what I’m going to blame my slow light on in the finals. Winning again was awesome.”

NHRA Reading Nationals

Libersher, who was chasing back-to-back Reading wins, had to settle for runner-up honors in his fourth career final. Dietsch’s consecutive victories also doubled the Flexjet bounty to $2,000 for anyone who can stop him in St. Louis.

Meanwhile, Mark Pawuk kept his points lead intact with a semifinal finish. The Empaco Dodge Challenger Drag Pak driver is looking for a second straight Factory Stock title and enters the Midwest Nationals with a comfortable cushion over Jason Dietsch, Lee Hartman, and Jason Allergrucci.

“I have a totally different feeling this year heading to St. Louis,” said Pawuk after a semifinal finish at the NHRA Reading Nationals. Hopefully, I’ll be relaxed going to St. Louis this year. I wish Scott Libersher the best. He helped me out by knocking out Lee Hartmand, and David Janac helped by beating Jason Dietsch in the first round. Those two guys gave me a little bigger lead. I feel pretty comfortable going into St Louis that we got a shot at winning our second championship.”