Todd Hoerner (far lane) met Frank Gugliotta in the MMPS final.  (Chris Haverly photo)

Todd Hoerner was the winner of the eight-car Mountain Motor Pro Stock exhibition class at Bristol. He defeated Steven Boone and Elijah Morton to meet Frank Gugliotta in the final. Hoerner’s 6.425 at 219.36 took the win as Gugliotta’s Camaro got loose around half track and he called it a day. Gugliotta had gotten past Chris Powers and John DeFlorian to get to the final.

John DeFlorian Jr. set Low ET and Top Speed for the class at 6.345 seconds and 221.82 mph.  (Ron Lewis photo) [06/19/19]

Tii Tharpe (near lane) beat Bob Malloy for the second straight event at Bristol.  (Chris Haverly photo)

It was two NHRA Top Fuel Harley wins in eight days for defending champion rider Tii Tharpe, associate sponsor Samson Exhaust, and the Jay Turner Racing team. Maybe an even more impressive result is that Tharpe’s win this past weekend at NHRA’s Thunder Valley Nationals was his third straight Father’s Day victory at Bristol Dragway.

Although Tharpe was second behind team boss Jay Turner’s 6.319 after Friday qualifying, his 6.393 dropped to fifth in the order on Saturday. The bike either had an ill-handling tire or an ill-handling rider, and success was anything but assured for Tharpe as he went up against last year’s championship rival Doug Vancil in round 1 on raceday. But as Vancil struggled to keep his bike off the centerline in the right lane, Tharpe cruised to victory in the left.

Tharpe’s 60-foot time sharpened from 1.15 to a 1.12 in round 2 and he posted his best lap of the weekend with a 6.36 at 222 mph to take out former teammate Tracy Kile.

That set up a rematch of Tharpe’s winning final from the week before in Topeka against the high-gear only bike of Bob “Opie” Malloy. In Topeka, Malloy’s bike suffered a highlight reel explosion at half-track. But in Bristol, his bike was performing better as the weekend wore on and Tharpe’s win streak was in jeopardy.

And never did the threat seem more real than when Malloy threw down a 1.08 60-foot time after putting .005 on Tharpe at the tree. Tharpe was still slower to 660 feet but his 183 MPH trap speed was trending higher than Malloy’s 181. Malloy was STILL quicker to 1,000 feet, but that is where he dropped a hole. Tharpe’s bike also put out a cylinder, but just late enough that he was able to cross the finish line about 11 feet ahead of Malloy.  [06/19/19]

Numidia Dragway in northeast Pennsylvania hosted the inaugural North vs. South .90 Shootout presented by VP Racing Fuels on June 15.

In Super Comp, Bill Hardifer Jr. took a gamble in the off-season and parked his trusty 30-year-old dragster to upgrade to some new pipe from S&W Performance in the off-season. With help from crew chief Dave Huber the team worked tirelessly to get the car just right for the season opener. After, a few early exits and some Lady Luck on his side, it all paid off at Numidia for Hardifer as he wheeled the W&T Pipeline Consultants Dragster into the winner circle.

In the final Steve Everett Sr. (far lane) strapped a .003 light on Hardifer’s tardy .143, but Everett took way too much stripe and broke out with an 8.881 to Hardifer’s winning 8.967.

In Super Street, 19-year-old Kevin Kohr was competing in just his first Mid Atlantic Super Street event and made it pay off as he wheeled his 1965 Dodge Dart to a string of 10.90’s and the victory when Rick Mattioli went red in the finals. Kevin celebrated with his parents in the winner circle for his first 10.90 victory.

To round out the night, 2017 Super Gas .90 Champion George Smith (near lane)  wheeled his famous “Live Wire” Camaro to victory lane. In an all New York final Smith took down the Mustang of Frank Volpe Jr. In the finals Smith was behind at the green (.019 to .016) but, laid down a 9.901 to Volpe’s breakout 9.885.

Mother Nature forced the cancellation of Race #4 but, with one race completed Team North took the overall Championship with Hardifer, Smith and Kohr collecting additional bonuses. Next up for the series is the world famous 26th Annual “Uncle Buck” Pig Roast on July 13-14 at Cecil County Dragway.   [06/19/19]

Despite rumors saying the Maple Grove track has sold, it’s not a done deal, although the group mentioned in our earlier 1320 note has shown interest. Justin Prince of Coldwell Banker tells the Agent that no offers have been accepted yet, but he expects the track to sell within “a couple of weeks.”

We’ll let you know when that happens. In the meantime, get those offers together.  [06/19/19]

Doug Kalitta will be campaigning a new look Top Fuel dragster adorned in the logo of new Team Kalitta business partner Applied Imaging. The award-winning Michigan-based company focuses on managed print and network services as well as hardware and software solutions for companies across the Midwest.

Additionally, Applied Imaging is partnering with Boundless Bus, an organization dedicated to helping people complete things on their bucket list. Together they are bringing a once in a lifetime opportunity to a family through Mom’s House Toledo. The goal of Mom’s House is to prepare young, single mothers for the challenges of balancing educational goals with responsible parenting.  [06/19/19]

This weekend’s NHRA event at Summit Motorsports Park is the title event for Summit Racing Equipment, KB Racing's longtime sponsor. Greg Anderson and Jason Line have been under the Team Summit umbrella since 2004.

After a slow start this season, Anderson has been steadily climbing in the Pro Stock standings. He reached the final round at back-to-back events in Las Vegas and Richmond to move up to No. 5 in the Pro Stock points. Anderson was the No. 1 qualifier and reached the semifinals at the most recent event on the Pro Stock schedule, the Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Joliet, IL.

"My Summit Racing Chevy Camaro was fast in Chicago, and we're excited to get to Summit Motorsports Park this weekend,” said Anderson. “We've got some momentum and worked hard over the past two weeks to make our cars even better. I knew what I needed to work on, personally, leaving Chicago, and I've been doing that. I feel good going into this race, I feel like we're prepared, and I feel like if Mother Nature plays nice, we have a good chance on Sunday. We'll start the week on Wednesday with the Summit Racing Equipment employee picnic, then Thursday we'll get to have some fun with them at Summit Motorsports Park for our annual sponsor race. It's just a great way to start the weekend, and it always gets us pumped up to do our best."

“Our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros were good in Chicago, but we can be better,” said Line, who is the dyno operator at KB Racing and is part of the tuning team. “We spent a lot of time between races working on a few things, because there is no better way to thank the people who support us than by getting them a trophy on Sunday. We haven't yet shown what we're capable of this year, and I see this weekend as a perfect opportunity to do that."  (Ron Lewis photos)   [06/19/19]

Eastbound Dragway near the Canadian town of Avondale, Newfoundland, has signed a multi-year sanctioning agreement with the IHRA.

The eighth-mile strip is part of Eastbound International Speedway and Concert Park, a 55-acre facility that also contains a 3/8-mile asphalt track and musical entertainment venue. Racing includes stock cars, motorcycles and snowmobiles in addition to drag racing. The track has been open about five years.

“Every year we’ve seen an increase in people involved,” said Eastbound Park Director of Events Mike James. “We worked with the local police who were concerned about the safety of street racing. We had burnouts on the oval and we opened up the drag strip. Thousands of people showed up, people who had never been on the drag strip before.”

Darien Legge is the 2018 Jr. Dragster track champion for the IHRA Summit SuperSeries with Dave Anthony as Top champion and Curtis Mitchell the Mod champ.   [06/19/19]