Troy Coughlin Jr. clinched the 2019 East Region Top Alcohol Dragster championship Saturday, Oct. 5, with a clutch win at the Power in the Park Division1 finale at Virginia Motorsports Park. It's Coughin's second straight regional title, pairing with the North Central Region title he won last year. His fifth win of the year in 10 final-round appearances will help his drive for the national championship as well. He has two more national events left on his schedule, including next weekend's 12th annual Carolina NHRA Nationals. Coughlin currently ranks third in the national rankings.

Top Alcohol Dragster: Troy Coughlin Jr., .076 RT, 5.149, 283.49 def. Dan Mercier, .093 RT, 5.421, 250.27

Top Alcohol Funny Car: Matt Gill, .050 RT, 5.413, 272.23 def. DJ Cox Jr., .060 RT, 5.411, 270.32

Comp: Joseph Carnasciale, .063 RT, 11.979, 77.76 def. Richard Schonberger, -.005 RT, 12.312, 74.00

Super Stock: William Sloan, .024 RT, 9.51 dial, 9.523, 140.04 def. Nicholas Chiles, .040 RT, 9.08 dial, 9.076, 142.32

Stock: Allison Doll, .039 RT, 11.25 dial, 10.286, 128.37 def. Matt Rover, .000 RT, 11.25 dial, 10.363, 126.57

Top Dragster: Brooke Foley, .029 RT, 7.43 dial, 7.431, 176.58 def. Carmen Mollichella, .042 RT, 7.05 dial, 7.031, 191.46

Top Sportsman: Scott Weis, .007 RT, 7.68 dial, 7.704, 169.70 def. Vonnie Mills, .021 RT, 6.69 dial, 6.688, 202.42

Super Comp: Howie Smith, .014 RT, 8.882, 187.99 def. John Labbous Jr., -.003 RT, 8.875, 179.56

Super Gas: Rich Price, .011 RT, 9.939, 162.47 def. Jay Cepelka, .030 RT, 9.949, 138.60

Super Street: Brian Sawyer, .028 RT, 10.916, 140.31 def. David Markle, .026 RT, 10.921, 140.63   [10/07/19]

Pro Boost newcomer Randy Weatherford took his centrifugally supercharged WS Construction ’18 Camaro to the No. 1 qualifying spot to start off the Professional Drag Racers Association Fall Nationals presented by $hameless Racing at Darlington Dragway Friday night, Oct. 4. The former Pro Nitrous driver fired off a 3.663-second pass at 204.64 mph to lead the field in his Moroso Pro Boost debut.

Unfortunately, he didn’t make it through to the finals of the penultimate 2019 PDRA event. We’ll have the compete race report in the October issue of DRO later this week.  (Roger Richards photo)  [10/07/19]

Paula Murphy, 72, who drove Walt Fuller’s AA/FC at the Denton, TX, Funny Car Chaos, went off the track and into the sand trap during one of her runs at the event last month.

Also, a source tells the Agent that the Eddyville, Iowa, drag strip may host one of the Chaos events next year. It would be a perfect location. [10/07/19]

A note in the mayo jar on the Phlegm Building’s penthouse porch says that Paul Romine’s old “Man O’ War” Mustang AA Funny Car has been sold again by Monte Grace, who purchased the car from Romine last year. We don’t yet know who the new owner is. [10/07/19]

London Dragway emerged from the pack to take the win at the International Hot Rod Association Division 2 (Heatwave) Summit Team Finals at Memphis International Raceway. The Kentucky-based team finished with 44 points to edge Holly Springs Motorsports with 39 points and the home MIR team with 38 points.

Other tracks who participated were: Beacon Dragway, Brainerd Optimist, State Capitol Raceway, Prescott Raceway and Knoxville Dragway.

Main Event

Top: Jeremy Bargo (London) combined a 6.523-second pass at 90.32 mph with a .045 reaction time to defeat Justin Bowers (Prescott) with a 10.667-second run at 41.60 mph and a .021 reaction time.

Mod: Lucas Walker (Beacon) won on a holeshot with a .008 reaction time along with a 6.028-second run at 110.51 to defeat Benny Combs (London) who finished in 6.113 seconds at 110.81 mph after a .048 reaction time.

Sportsman: Aquinas Grandberry (Memphis) also had a great start with a .008 reaction time and ran 7.724 seconds at 88.19 mph. Runner-up Marty Goldsmith (Brainerd 2) had a .027 reaction time and went 7.857 seconds at 83.89 mph.

Junior: Grace Varner (Brainerd 2) captured the win when Hunter Ray (Memphis) red-lighted. Varner had a package of 8.360 seconds and 76.19 mph along with a .028 reaction time. Ray went down the track in 8.007 seconds at 81.01 mph.

The IHRA Summit Finals continues next weekend with Division 1 (Patriots) at Maryland International Raceway.

Beacon Dragway was selected as the Division 2 Track of the Year. Now under the leadership of manager Kevin Wesmolan, the strong IHRA Summit SuperSeries program continues, going from 24 members the first year to 88 this year. Despite a flood at the race track and a late start to the season, the eighth-mile track in Paducah, KY, still managed to bring almost two full teams to this year’s Division 2 Team Finals.

Their 2019 IHRA Summit SuperSeries track champions are: Jared Fulcher (Top), Charlie Lockhart (Mod), Adalynn Atkinson (Junior) and Chris Mohler (Sportsman).    [10/07/19]