LE Tonglet

Matt Smith

LE Tonglet did not race into his fourth consecutive final round Sunday at the Route 66 Nationals, but he did make it into the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing top 10.

Tonglet now will concentrate on staying there as NHRA’s regular season plays out.  The top 10 drivers advance to the six-race championship playoffs that begin in September.

He is 10th with 258 points, only four behind No. 9 and 10 back of the eighth slot.

Tonglet began eliminations with a free pass when rival Jerry Savoie fouled out .054-second before the green light. The Nitro Fish/Tonglet Racing Guzuki GSXR covered the distance in 7.051 seconds at 188.49 mph.

Paired against Matt Smith in the second round, Tonglet missed the light by nine-thousandths of a second and also fouled out.  Smith was timed in 6.591 seconds at 191.32 mph. 

“The good part is we are in the top 10,” said Tonglet.  “We worked hard to get there, and we want to see how far we can go before the Countdown begins. 

“But right now we are looking ahead to our race next weekend at Norwalk (Ohio).”