TOP SPORTSMAN

A race he won early this year in Florida helped Ronnie "The King" Davis seize his second consecutive PDRA MagnaFuel Top Sportsman race crown.

Davis started his Kaase-powered '63 Corvette from the number-one slot after going 4.01 seconds at 180.84 mph in high-80-degree temperatures on Friday, but faced low- to mid-60s when race day finally arrived on Sunday.

"The track was really cold so I went back and took a run from when I won down at Gainesville in February and applied that same tune-up to the car here. I put that little, small tune-up in it, set the car identical to what it was there and it ran the numbers every single time," Davis explained.

Davis dialed in at 4.27 for the final and after posting a perfect light he ran 4.28 at 164.63 for the win. Aaron Glaser dialed his '69 Camaro in at 4.13, but after leaving with a .028 reaction time he broke out at 4.02 and 165.09 mph.

Davis powered his way through Dane Wood, Rick Corn, Cheyenne Stanley and Glaser with a series of 4.31 and three 4.28s to take the win home to Suwanee, Ga. He posted reaction times of .001, .005, .022 and a perfect .000 in the final round.

"I had eye surgery in the off season and I don't even have to wear glasses of any kind now for the first time in at least 25 years," Davis said. "I never had any problem with wearing glasses, but I'm glad I had the surgery. I really think that has a lot to do with how well I'm seeing the tree now."

TOP DRAGSTER

After 31 cars made qualifying attempts, Jon Bradford resided first on the Dart Machinery Top Dragster list with a 3.87 pass at 188.52 mph. Starting eighth with a 4.05 at 174.93, however, was eventual race winner Lynn Ellison.
A redlighting Derrik Sholar handed the first-round win to Ellison, who went 4.06 on a 4.05 dial in. Round two saw a double breakout win for Ellison, followed by a 4.08 win on a 4.05 dial in for the semis against Laramie Reid.

That left only the final against number-seven starter John Scali Sr. Scali left with a .044 light, then broke out with a 4.03 at 170.90, while Ellison drove his Central City, Kentucky-based M&M dragster to a 4.05 lap at 176.01  mph against a 4.05 dial.

JR. DRAGSTER

The PDRA Huddleston Performance Pro Jr. Dragster win at St. Louis went to number-three qualifier Aaron Philpot, who laid down an impressive .010 reaction time in the final, followed by steering his 2012 Halfscale machine to a 7.90 at 81.74 mph that exceeded his 7.90 class index by only two-thousandths of a second. In the opposite lane, opponent Andrew Green had a .032 light, then broke out by going 7.89 at 80.23 against the index.

In Huddleston Top Jr. Dragster, number-11 qualifier David Roloff won a double-breakout final over second-place qualifier Alexis Tanner.

(Jeff Burk photos)