IHRA crowns champs as 2012 season ends

Words by Larry Crum / IHRA
Photos courtesy IHRA

From a 17-year-old fresh out of the ranks of Junior Dragster to a 64-year-old reveling in one more shot at glory, the 2012 IHRA Summit Racing Equipment Tournament of Champions featured just about everything you could cram into an event.

Rookies, veterans and everything in between were on hand at Memphis International Raceway over the weekend for the IHRA Summit Racing Equipment World Finals and at the end of the day 10 drivers were left standing as the 2012 class of IHRA World Champions.

Among them were rookies, multi-time champs and even a few that probably weren’t supposed to be here, but all 10 were able to walk away from Memphis with the biggest prize in IHRA sportsman drag racing during the Summit Tournament of Champions and Summit SuperSeries championship races.

A grand total of 10 world champions were crowned on Saturday, Oct. 13, led by Top Sportsman TOC winner Mike Thompson (Naples, Fla.), Top Dragster winner Wesley Washington Jr. (King George, N.C.), Super Stock winner Michael Beard (Seagrove, N.C.), Stock winner Brent Darroch (Monaca, Pa.), Quick Rod winner Corey Manuel (Winston Salem, N.C.), Super Rod winner Mike Ruff (Orlando, Fla.) and Hot Rod winner Patrick Forster (Pittsburgh, Pa.). From the Summit SuperSeries were Top winner Tim Butler (Sarasota, Fla.), Mod winner Shane Kay (Ragland, Ala.) and Junior Dragster winner Austin Johnson (Pearisburg, Va.).

Among that class only Michael Beard has claimed a prior IHRA championship.

After a grueling season nearly 200 drivers made their way to Tennessee from 20 different states and four Canadian provinces to participate in the Summit World Finals culminating with the two championship tournaments Saturday evening. All of the drivers had to earn their way into the tournament and, once there, had to compete on the track to decide the champions in each of the 10 classes.

Corey Manuel

One of Saturday’s most surprising winners was 17-year-old Corey Manuel. The younger brother of 2010 Super Rod World Champion Cameron Manuel, Corey wrapped up his Junior Dragster career just two years ago and snuck into the 2012 Tournament of Champions in a big car via a big win at the Richmond TOC qualifier back in May. Clearly excited, but with no real expectations to go multiple rounds, Manuel surprised everyone by following in his brothers footsteps and storming through the field to take his first championship in the Quick Rod category all before the young man can even vote.

“It just feels like a dream. It doesn’t feel real, but here I am holding this trophy,” Manuel said. “It feels awesome knowing I am carrying on the name and doing well just like my family. To do it so early is just so exciting.”