TOP SPORTSMAN

Ronnie Davis

When Ronnie Davis arrived at Virginia Motorsports Park he had his eye firmly fixed upon the prize: the 2015 PDRA Top Sportsman championship. The Georgia-based golf cart dealer came with enough points to win so long as he qualified and won just one round of racing. Failing that, defending class champ Dan Ferguson would've had to win the race and set a record to overtake Davis.

After Davis slotted into 10th in the 16-car field with a 4.04 pass at 178.19 mph in his nitrous-boosted '63 Corvette, Ferguson ran 3.99 at exactly 183 mph to occupy the last of a record six three-second passes atop the PDRA Top Sportsman qualifying sheet.

The championship chase ended quickly, though, once eliminations began as Ferguson's borrowed '63 Vette shook hard off the launch in round one and he coasted across the finish line for his final 5.76 seconds as 2014 champion.

"My goal has always been to win the championship in whatever series I race in," Davis explained after defeating Chuck Mohn in round one. "I've won in NHRA, in IHRA, I missed in ADRL when it was around, but I'm real happy to get it done in PDRA now. I love this type of racing."

With the championship secured, Davis set his sights on winning the PDRA World Finals, beating Rachel Edwards in round two and John Benoit in the semis. Opposite him, Don Klooster drove his own nitrous-fed '63 Corvette to wins over Cheyenne Stanley, Mark Malcutt and Randy Perkinson.

"Don's a good friend and we really wanted to meet in the final, get the two Corvettes out there and just go for it together," Davis said. "I was really happy to see that work out." It worked out on the track for him, too, as Davis left with a .024 light, then ran 4.07 at 170.21 against a 4.04 dial in to take the win over a .071/4.02/181.30 package on a 4.00 dial by Klooster.

"This feels like an important win to me," Davis said of his third PDRA race title this year. "This is the way you want to win a championship."