PDRA at Budds Creek, Maryland

Multi-time Winners Dominate PDRA North - South Shootout

Words and photos by Slade Tyree

A parade of familiar faces made its way through victory lane at Maryland International Raceway (www.raceMDIR.com) Saturday night, July 18, after a long, hot weekend of eighth-mile drag racing in the inaugural NAS Racing PDRA North-South Shootout. Professional Drag Racers Association superstar star Jason Scruggs led the march with his third NAS Racing Pro Extreme event title this year.

"Everybody I ran today was tough; there are no easy rounds in Pro Extreme anymore," Scruggs said after defeating Lorenzo "Killer" Brooks, Mustafa Buhumaid, Wesley Jones, and Badir Ahli in the final. "I was a little late on the tree against Mustafa, so I guess that was my lucky round, but other than that everything went pretty much like we hoped it would."

Also getting multiple pro class wins for the year were Rickie Smith with his second in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous, Anthony Disomma with his second Precision Turbo Pro Boost title, Chris Garner-Jones with his third-in-a-row Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle crown, and Phil Esz, who also won for the second time in Toefco Pro Open Outlaw competition.

In the PDRA sportsman classes Randy Perkinson won his first MagnaFuel Top Sportsman trophy, while Jordan Wood won a consolation race for Top Sportsman non-qualifiers. Meanwhile, Justin Melton prevailed in Dart Top Dragster, Tia Tutterow won her first Huddleston Performance Pro Jr. Dragster title and Tyler Colbert got the job done in Huddleston Top Jr. Dragster. Additionally, in the first of two special appearances with the PDRA this year by the Disomma Racing Engines Outlaw 10.5 class, Jerry Mitrovic took the trophy home to Toronto, Canada.