ADRL at St. Louis

The ADRL Returns

Words and photos by Jeff Burk

St. Louis racing legend Bill Weckman came out of retirement for this event.

The newest version of the venerable American Drag Racing League completed its 2016 one-race schedule at Gateway Motorsports Park, located just across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis on Nov. 4-5. It was a success by any measure as more than 80 teams paid their entry fees and approximately 2,000 fans paid to park and watch the event under near perfect, 70-degree, blue sky weather for three days of practice, qualifying, and eliminations.

After three days of racing concluded a couple of local racers go wins, John DeFlorian racing in Extreme Pro Stock and Howard Cook in Super Pro.

New ADRL owner Larry Jeffers brought his “Bad Bus” to the event.

Extreme Pro Stock

John DeFlorian Jr. of Arnold, Missouri won the Extreme Pro Stock title defeating Brad Waddle of Salina, Kansas. At this and all other ADRL races in 2017, Extreme Pro Mod races on 1,000-foot tracks so the time may be a little confusing.

In the final round Waddle had a premier reaction time of .017 to DeFlorian's .070 effort, but Waddle's Mustang drifted out of the tracks "groove" and drifted toward the concrete track wall, forcing him to abort the run and allowing DeFlorian's 2015 Camaro to cruise to a 5.22/206.54 victory.

Despite his loss in the finals Waddle and his Ford Mustang did manage Top Speed and Low ET of the class with a 5.207/207.59 during qualifying.