PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE

Eric McKinney continued to show why he was last year’s champion. The Homersville, Ohio, racer qualified his 2012 Suzuki in the No. 7 spot with a 4.123/173.14 and went on to take the win.

In the final round he met the always tough Terry Schweigert, who had qualified at the top of the Memphis field with a 4.059 at 175.07 mph on the eighth mile.

McKinney was first off the line (0.021 to 0.041) and ran 4.080/176.05 for the win. Schweigert’s ’09 Suzuki moved around a bit early in the run and his 4.148/172.61 was not enough.

TOP DRAGSTER


Strassweg (far lane) narrowly beat McElwee to the finish line.  (Roger Richards photo)

J.B. Strassweg had a break in the Evansville, Indiana, team’s schedule and decided to stop by Memphis for their first ADRL experience. It turned out to be an excellent decision.

Strassweg qualified with a 4.18 that placed him in the number 8 spot. The field, whittled down from 21 entries, was led by a stout 3.786 for Mark McElwee from Port St. Lucie, Fla., who ended up as Strassweg’s final-round opponent.

The finals saw Strassweg give up a huge advantage at the start (0.037 to McElwee’s 0.007), but at the stripe he dropped to a one-thousandth under to the one-hundredth under McElwee for the win. It was a race that Strassweg needed both ends of the track to pull off. 

"It was an outstanding race," said Strassweg. "Torrie and I could not be more happy we made the trip. Everything about the event was top notch. We will definitely plan more ADRL events into our schedule next year."

TOP SPORTSMAN

There were also 21 entries in the Top Sportsman class with Willie Brown III making it to the winner’s circle. The Chesapeake, Va., racer qualified his 2005 Grand Am in the No. 9 spot.

Ronnie Davis had qualified No. 2 in his ’63 Corvette and with a 0.007 RT in the final round, looked to be on his way to a holeshot win, but he had problems near the end of the run and Brown came on to win 4.293/169.78 to a 4.343/174.10 for Davis.

TOP JR. DRAGSTER: Isaac Evans, Athens, Ala. 0.070, 9.012/73.65 def. David Rologg, Willowbrook, Ill., -0.070, 9.020/74.01.

PRO JR. DRAGSTER: Nick Isenhower, Lebanon, Ind., 0.020, 7.908/77.08 def. Abby Molek, Lemon Furnace, Pa., 0.069, 7.894/82.26. [8/9/2013]