Hawk, Schuster win Summit SuperSeries titles

Words by Larry Crum
Photos courtesy IHRA

The joy behind the Summit SuperSeries is that anyone, anywhere can win it.

Drivers from all across the United States, Canada and even a few additional nations have the opportunity to race for a track championship and, with a little luck and a lot of skill, make it all the way from their local track to the big stage at the IHRA Summit Racing Equipment World Finals presented by RacingJunk.com at Virginia Motorsports Park to compete for a world championship.

And that is exactly the tale told by Matt Hawk and J.P. Schuster.

Both drivers won at their local tracks, both earned their way to the Summit SuperSeries World Championships in Virginia and both, after a long and tumultuous weekend, came out on top by winning the championship in their respective divisions as Hawk claimed the No Box title and Schuster the Box crown Sunday at VMP.

In Box J.P. Schuster of Damascus, Ohio, qualified 11th of the 15 cars in the field behind the wheel of his dragster and had a strong showing throughout the afternoon culminating with his first championship.

“This is just unbelievable,” Hawk said. “All these guys out here are great racers and to get a chance to race them and come out of here with the win is incredible. It would have been worth the trip had I lost first round, but this is just everything you could hope for and more.”

Hawk traveled all the way from Tucson, Ariz. – a journey of over 2,000 miles – to be in Virginia this weekend and compete for the No Box World Championship. Hawk, who calls Southwestern International Raceway home, qualified ninth on the 16-car ladder after three hits at the track and rode that position all the way to the finals.