PRO BOOST

Jose Gonzales (far lane) over John Strickland in the Pro Boost final.

After 23 cars made qualifying attempts, the twin-turbocharged ‘67 Mustang of the Dominican Republic’s Jose Gonzales sat atop the Pro Boost field with a stout 3.711-second pass at 212.26 mph. Second on the 16-car qualified list was Tommy Gray and his supercharged ‘06 Corvette from Maryland, followed by GALOT Motorsports’ own John Strickland from nearby Harrells, NC, in a blown ‘69 Camaro.

After taking out James Beadling and his Ohio-based ‘14 Camaro in round one, Gonzales won a close race in the quarter-finals against Buffalo, NY’s Melanie Salemi and her supercharged ‘68 Firebird. In the semis, Gonzales led stripe-to-stripe over Sweden’s Adam Flamholc in a ‘63 Corvette with a 3.712 pass at 213.40 mph that also earned him lane choice for the final against Strickland, who drove through “Turbo Todd” Moyer and GALOT teammate Ty Tutterow before running 3.722 at 198.61 to beat Jeremy Ray on his side of the ladder.

Gonzales was obviously up for the challenge, as he left with a .032 holeshot, then made his quickest and fastest run of the weekend at 3.685 seconds and 214.48 mph, while Strickland also made his best pass at 3.719 and 198.88 mph.

“We knew it was going to be tough with Strickland and the whole GALOT Motorsports team. They’re always very fast, and they were on their home track so we knew we had to tickle it a little bit and make it just a little bit faster because you never know how fast they’ll be able to go,” Gonzales said. “The final was good for us. The car went straight down the track and conditions could not be better. The whole PDRA and Jason Miller did an outstanding job on the track all weekend long.”