PRO OPEN OUTLAW

As soon as Jody Stroud arrived at the top end of U.S. 131 Motorsports Park after defeating Eddie Lykins in the Pro Open Outlaw final he climbed from his "Zombie Rage" dragster and did his best Ricky Bobby impression.

"I was so glad someone gave me that out because I was almost down to my underwear," said Stroud, who revealed he'd promised his crew the night before that he'd perform the skit if he won the second Pro Open Outlaw race held this year. "They reminded me just before we ran the final what I'd said, so being as crazy as a dooky house bat I had to go through with it," the New Carlisle, Ohio-based driver added.

Stroud started number one with a 3.66 pass at 198.50 mph in an eight-car field after 11 entries made qualifying attempts. He made it past Michael Scheel and set a new ET record for the class with a 3.61 win over Bryan Keller in the semis. Lykins, meanwhile, started third and beat Eddie Careccia and Phil Esz to reach the final round.

Once there, Stroud left with a .009 advantage off the line, then ran 3.62 at 198.41 for the win while Lykins had to pedal and posted a 3.95 at 186.41 mph.

SPORTSMAN CLASSES

Second generation racer Tricia Musi set a new PDRA Top Sportsman elapsed time record of 3.934 seconds on her way to the Top Sportsman final, where she came up short in a pedaling contest against Tim Lawrence. It marked the first PDRA event win for Lawrence, the number-14 qualifier from Princeton, WV.

The Top Dragster title at the PDRA Summer Drags was won by number-eight qualifier Joe Hessling, who ran his Procharger-equipped dragster to an off-the-pace 4.17 win at just 138.89 mph in the final round over Jim Prevo.

The PDRA Pro Jr. Dragster win went to number-11 qualifier Preston Tanner, with the Top Jr. Dragster title going to first-place qualifier Caleb Russell.

The PDRA will return to action July 16-18, with the inaugural PDRA North-South Shootout at Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek, MD.