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The ADRL returns to the always-quick Virginia Motorsports Park this weekend for the sixth running of the U.S. Drags, and while the competition itself is plenty newsworthy, it will be the debut of the brand new Pro Drag Radial category that steals the headlines this weekend. Several of the biggest hitters in radial tire racing are expected to be on hand this weekend at what is one of the most anticipated races on the calendar this season. Keep it tuned right here all weekend as we bring you news, notes, and photos all weekend long!
A special thanks to the presenting sponsor of our same day event coverage, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels!
After riding up all night with Kevin Fiscus and Chris Heffner, they prepped the car and were first down the track at 10 AM running a 4.48 @ 179 to set the tone for the debut of Pro Drag Radial here at the ADRL US Drags VI.
Tim Lynch and the Proline Racing crew are here with the infamous Corvette for the first racing stateside this year after a second place finish running OL 10.5 in Qatar. It took a couple of runs on the radials to get the car going A to B with a 4.43 @ 181 and a soft 1.28 60'. He got faster every pass winding up with low ET in Pro Drag Radial with a 4.32 @ 184 MPH.
Brad Waddle is debuting a new car this weekend for Extreme Pro Stock fresh out of Jerry Hass Race Cars. I spoke with crew chief Chuck Lawrence, who also works at Jon Kaase Racing as an engine builder. This car replaces the previous car which was an older NHRA Pro Stocker and was sold the end of last year. An NHRA Pro Stock chassis is designed for the 500 ci engines used there and do not work as well with the mountain motor engines used in ADRL. His first full run on the car was a 4.16 @ 175 MPH.
The 820 cubic inch Kaase engine was updated over the winter and makes a bit more steam for this year. Hurco Mind Over Metal CNC came on board as a sponsor for this year along with Brad Waddle's Innovators West Inc. with the team based out of Salina, Kansas. Jeff Hoskins did a fabulous job on the paint.
For yesterdays test session the Traction Twins had each lane prepped differently, the left side for the Pro Drag Radial cars, the right for the slick tire cars. The radial side was working well with several of those testing in the 4.4X range. Of course the other side was on point as well.
Brian Gahm left hard on this run netting a 4.11 @ 175 MPH for the Extreme Pro Stock Racer.
Mike Castellena made some test hits on Thursday, his first good hit was a nice 3.775, he came back later in the session and ripped off a 3.759 @ 198.47, his best run with the car in the US.
Dave DeMarco rolled in with his legal NMCA 10.5 car sporting radials. He was at Cecil County recently but had little luck getting the car down the track his first time on the tire. They figured it out yesterday thanks in part to a good track and pulled off a 4.57 @ 155 despite the trans not shifting to high gear on several attempts. Hopefully they will get that issue straightened out for qualifying on Saturday.
Steve Jackson will be pulling double duty this weekend driving in Pro Nitrous and Pro Drag Radial. He hurt the engine in Qatar earlier this year and had a last minute thrash session to get it back together after a parts delay held up getting the engine repaired until Wednesday.
Dave Vantine finished number four overall in Pro Extreme Motorcycle for 2012. The longtime IHRA racer and former champion has struggled some this year. He ran a 4.13 earlier and is looking to get the bike back in the 4.0 range. He uses engines from Dan Wagner’s DTM Performance in a Walt Timblin chassis.
Cecil Towner was doing the clutch maintenance on Jeremy Teasley’s bike when I stopped by their pits. Brian Schnitz is driving for Teasley during Thursday test session as he wont be here until Friday. The two bike team is based out of Orient, Ohio and uses Wizards of NOS Pulseoids developed by Trevor Langfield who is based in South Yorkshire, England
Steve Crisafulli purchased Dan Lowery’s Outlaw 10.5 car last year and recently had it updated for drag radial by Victory Racecraft. During testing on Thursday they had a bad injector which took a couple of passes to track down. He runs a 607 ci. 5 inch bore space wedge head engine from Proline Racing Engines with a pair Precision Gen II turbos.
Kevin Scott is here driving for Todd Berry this weekend with a freshly updated car. They managed a 4.80 yesterday after struggling a bit with new car blues after some off season updates.
Tommy Rainer is here this weekend spectating, he dropped his Limited Street/Drag Radial Camaro off at Teddy Houser Race Cars and is having him build a 2002 Camaro set up for Pro Drag Radial/Radial vs. the World and Outlaw 10.5.I asked him what he thought about the Pro Drag Radial “I love it, it’s a great opportunity, maybe everybody will not cry and be a whiner and leave it alone and lets run what you brung baby”
I caught up with Adam Flamholc who runs Pro Mod at ADRL events. They were changing out valve springs on the blown Camaro. He is one point back from points leader Raymond Matos who is from Puerto Rico and runs a nitrous combination making the top two in Pro Mod and international affair. We will see if that changes this weekend.
Raymond Matos sits number one in Pro Mod points with the Cuda formerly owned by Dennis Radford. They run an 860 cubic inch engine maintained in house with fuel injection from Pat Musi. I spoke with Rick Fogle about the car which is crew chiefed by Jim “Skid” Rowe. The car is owned by Ramond Matos Sr. and Jr. along with Carlos Colon based out of Puerto Rico.
