FOUR FOR FORD! DREW SKILLMAN WINS HIS FIRST ADRL SUPERCAR SHOWDOWN TITLE WITH WORLD RECORD POWER!

Words and photos by Brett Kepner

The American Drag Racing League’s outrageous new SuperCar Showdown category crowned its third different champion in four completed events while the Ford Motor Company kept its unbeaten streak alive. Drew Skillman, the twenty-four year-old star who has been one of the hottest performers in the sport in 2012, earned his first SCS victory in a thrilling all-Ford duel with three-time World Champion Jimmy DeFrank at the ADRL Gateway Drags IV at Gateway Motorsports Parks in Madison, Illinois.

Skillman, whose most recent appearance at the ADRL Spring Drags in Bristol, Tennessee, resulted in a semi-final finish before the young Indianapolis-based racer went on to win three major NHRA titles in as many weeks, returned to all-out competition fully prepared for the ADRL’s unique eighth-mile racing format. At the wheel of his 2012 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet, Skillman clocked a qualifying run of an astonishing 5.70 seconds with a finish line speed of 121.01 miles per hour to shatter the SuperCar Showdown World Records for Elapsed Time and Speed set in March during the inaugural event at Houston, Texas.

“When we last raced at Bristol, our Ford Mustang was set up for quarter-mile competition”, said Skillman after the record-breaking effort. “Although my grandfather, Ray, was runner-up at that race, we knew there were ways to drastically improve our performance by preparing our team cars specifically to run the shorter eighth-mile distance. We went home and worked on a program to make the cars launch harder and run faster… and it worked”.

While seventy year-old Ray Skillman was not in attendance at the Gateway Drags, Drew Skillman was joined in the program by his father, Bill Skillman, in an identically-prepared supercharged 5.4-liter 2012 Mustang which qualified third for the SuperCar Showdown with a career-best 5.87 seconds at 117.67 mph. Drew’s white Cobra Jet and his father’s blue entry boast the livery of Ray’s huge chain of Indianapolis dealerships.

Leading the qualified field by a full six hundredths of a second over the most recent winner in the SCS series, Chris Holbrook and his record-holding Mustang Cobra Jet, Skillman opened eliminations with a blistering 5.73/120.44 victorious charge to meet Holbrook in the semi-finals. Despite Holbrook’s quicker reactions, Skillman was able to chase down the Michigan driver to win by a mere 8.54 feet with another 5.73 blast at 120.61 mph.