PRO BOOST

John Strickland

The seemingly unstoppable GALOT Motorsports team continued to dominate Pro Boost. After GALOT driver Kevin Rivenbark won the first three races of the season, the tides have turned in John Strickland’s favor. The veteran tractor puller won his second consecutive event on Sunday, beating fellow southerner Tylor Miller in the final round.

“I didn’t think that I’d even achieve a win at all this year,” admitted Strickland. “I knew the team was capable of achieving a win. I just didn’t think as a driver that I would be capable of doing that because it’s still pretty early in my racing career. The first time out, I struggled with reaction times and I said, ‘Well, I probably won’t win one this year but if I work hard at it this year I’d like to get one next year.’ It all just clicked and started coming together. I have a lot more confidence now than I did have – and two wins definitely helped that,” Strickland laughed.

Strickland’s 1968 Camaro, owned by Earl and Peggy Wells, made it down the tricky MDIR strip on all four qualifying attempts. A 3.815 at 196.44 during Friday’s night session solidified Strickland’s position as the number one qualifier.

“That Friday night round was just a round to see what you could do. It didn’t really help any as far as raceday being on Sunday because it was so hot. All of our racing conditions were similar to what we saw during qualifying on Friday. It helped to have those qualifying passes in the heat to help set up for eliminations,” Strickland noted.

Strickland and Miller were the only two drivers to dip into the 3.8s during Sunday’s continuation of eliminations, so a tight final round was anticipated when Strickland defeated Melanie Salemi and Miller beat GALOT driver Todd Tutterow in the semifinals.

“I knew that I had a car that was capable of winning. I knew that Tylor also had a competitive car, which I was glad to see they came back and ran so well. I knew he was real good on the tree. I felt real confident in the car and the team. I just knew that I would have to go out there and do as good as I had been doing or better to make it work out, and it did,” Strickland said of the 3.89-to-3.99 final round decision.