PRO EXTREME

Racing out of the third spot, Mike Recchia did not have an easy path to his first winner’s circle celebration. He opened eliminations with a 3.583-second victory over Swedish driver Stefan Holmberg, then upset past world champion Jason Scruggs 3.541 to 3.551 in the second round. Recchia reached the finish line before semifinal opponent Frankie Taylor in a pedalfest. Finally, his win light turned on in the final round as soon as Valdosta event winner Tommy D’Aprile left too soon.

“I knew Tommy could cut a light and had a really fast car,” Recchia said, who recorded a 3.591 at 208.01 in the final. “My son [Michael Recchia] does my tuning for me, and he said, ‘It’ll make it down, but I don’t know if it’ll beat a .52.’ So I knew I had to do my job on the tree. I’m not sure what happened with Tommy. He must’ve been distracted because that’s not Tommy – he’s always spot-on.”

The event win was especially rewarding for Recchia and his Roselle, IL-based team. While he’s come close on several occasions, Recchia hadn’t won a professional touring series event during his time as an eighth-mile doorslammer driver.

“This win validates everything we’ve been doing for the last five or six years. Trying to keep up with these guys [in Pro Extreme], it seems like we’re always a year or six months behind everyone’s performance. Finally I feel like we’re getting somewhat closer to them, but there’s still more to be had. This win just validates everything we’ve been working towards – the engine swaps, the transmission work and everything else we do,” Recchia said.

After missing the PDRA’s season-opening race in Valdosta, GA, earlier this month to recover from major health issues over the winter, Terry “Legbone” Leggett made a triumphant return to competition Friday when he earned the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot. He drove his Leggett Logging & Trucking ’71 Mustang to a 3.527-second, 217.56-mph blast during the second session of the day’s rain-shortened qualifying schedule.

PRO NITROUS

James Hancock (far lane) got the Pro Nitrous win over Tommy Franklin.

First-time PDRA Pro Nitrous winner James Hancock’s day started rather unspectacularly – a 3.839 over Todd Howard in the first round and a 3.744 over No. 16 qualifier Brian Shrader in the second round. The Brian Shaw-owned Speedtech ’69 Camaro then stepped up and came out on the winning end of two of the tightest races of the weekend.

In the semifinals, Hancock left the starting line just one thousandth of a second ahead of opponent Randy Weatherford and maintained the lead to win, 3.722 to 3.729. Waiting for him in the final round was No. 2 qualifier Tommy Franklin. Again, Hancock used a starting-line advantage to secure the win. This time, however, it was a holeshot victory as Hancock ran a 3.701 at 200.65 to Franklin’s 3.700 at 203.86.

“It was a good race,” said Hancock, who tunes the Sonny’s-powered entry along with Fuel Tech’s Luís Fernando Backes de Leon. “I enjoy racing everybody – it’s not like you want to outrun them, we just want to outrun ourselves. You want to obviously win and go to the next round, but I like Tommy and all the guys out here. Outrunning them is not really want I want to do, but if that’s what it takes to win the race, that’s what we have to do.” 

Lizzy Musi

The stars of the ultra-competitive Pro Nitrous class were shining bright Friday night as it took a 3.6-second run to qualify in the top three. Lizzy Musi and Tommy Franklin recorded a pair of side-by-side 3.675-second passes; Musi earned the provisional top spot via her 205.07-mph speed.

It’s crazy how close we were,” Musi said of her run against fellow Pat Musi Racing Engines-powered driver Franklin. “On the run, the car actually made a little move toward the center line. I saw the scoreboards light up with two 3.675s and thought, how is this even possible? I didn’t even know who got the number-one spot until one of my crew guys said we got it by speed.”