PDRA at Darlington, SC

Four Top Qualifiers Take Wins

Words by Nate Van Wagnen

Photos by Roger Richards

Kevin Rivenbark (far lane) was off the line first and held on for the Pro Boost win over Melanie Salemi.

Points leader Kevin Rivenbark secured his second victory of the season in Moroso Pro Boost at the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) Fall Nationals presented by $hameless Racing at Darlington Dragway on Oct. 5. The win helped the 2016 world champion pad his points lead as the all-eighth-mile series heads to the season finale.

The low qualifiers in the PDRA’s four other professional classes parlayed their Friday success into Saturday victories.

PRO BOOST

Kevin Rivenbark gained considerable ground in his pursuit of a second Pro Boost world championship when he marched through an all-star line-up of opponents to claim his second win of the season. In the final round, he left first with a .008 reaction time in his ProCharger-boosted GALOT Motorsports ’69 Camaro and held off Melanie Salemi and her .014 light in her roots-blown “Purple Reign” ’68 Firebird. Rivenbark reached the eighth-mile mark first with a 3.643 at 206.42, followed closely by Salemi’s 3.655 at 205.48.

Rivenbark’s race day started with low ET of the event, a 3.632 at 208.24, to take out James Beadling in his roots-blown ’68 Camaro. The Steve Petty-tuned GALOT Motorsports Camaro stayed consistent in the second round, running a 3.637 at 205.86 to win over No. 1 qualifier Randy Weatherford, whose ProCharger-boosted ’19 Camaro stumbled off the line and idled to a 14-second pass.

“I think every round, having an eight-car field, there was not a round that was given to anybody,” Rivenbark said. “It was unbelievable the lights we had. I think this is one race I can say there's not a round I felt like I had given to me. Randy [Weatherford] had some bad luck next to me, but if he didn't have that it would've been a tight race also because he's running very well so far.

“I think overall it was a great race,” Rivenbark added. “It put us around 290 points over [Kris] Thorne going into Virginia. Makes me feel a little better and breathe a little better, but it's still anybody's game. Anything can happen.”

Salemi, who qualified No. 3, was similarly consistent with a first-round 3.67 at 204.82 over Tylor Miller, followed by a 3.652 at 205.01 to take down Kris Thorne in his twin-turbocharged ’16 Corvette and his 3.656 at 218.34.

Pro Boost newcomer Randy Weatherford took his centrifugally supercharged WS Construction ’18 Camaro to the No. 1 qualifying spot to start off the qualifying Friday night. 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.

PRO NITROUS

Jim Halsey (near lane) got the Pro Nitrous win over Tommy Franklin.

The Fall Nationals included bracket racing in multiple classes, but somehow, Jim Halsey’s 3.60-second Pro Nitrous ’68 Camaro was the most consistent race car on the property. He drove his Brandon Switzer-tuned, Fulton-powered Camaro to four consecutive 3.62s in eliminations, capping it off with a 3.626 at 207.85 to defeat two-time world champion Tommy Franklin’s 3.641 at 206.90 in the final round.

“It’s kind of like a dream come true,” Halsey said. “If we could’ve set the record, that would’ve been icing on the cake. We made some good runs today, just not quite good enough [to set the record]. We’re very, very happy.”

Halsey took advantage of his earned first-round bye run to lay up his quickest pass of the weekend, a 3.622 at 208.92. He slowed by just six thousandths to a 3.628 at 207.37 to dispatch Ron Muenks, then stepped back up to a 3.623 at 203.53 to grab a holeshot win over Lizzy Musi, who ran a 3.618 at 208.72, backing up her record 3.615 from the previous round.

After qualifying No. 6 in his Musi-powered “Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro, Franklin escaped first round with a 4.123 at 172.81 over Ed Burnley. He used his best pass of the weekend, a 3.636 at 207.47, to move past Chris Rini and his 3.675. No. 2 qualifier Jay Cox went red in their semifinal matchup, allowing Franklin to slow to a 5.516 at 87.31 before the final round.

Lizzy Musi, who already held the speed record of 209.23 mph in the class, put a complete stamp on the quickest and fastest marks in Pro Nitrous thanks to her record-setting pass of 3.615 seconds at 208.62 mph on Saturday in the Frank Brandao-owned Edelbrock/Lucas Oil “King Kong 7” 2018 Dodge Dart. Her 3.618/208.72 in the semifinals back up the record.  (Tara Bowker/Black Rock Photography)

EXTREME PRO STOCK

The Extreme Pro Stock final round was a battle between a seasoned Mountain Motor Pro Stock veteran, John Montecalvo, and a rookie, Johnny Pluchino. Pluchino (far lane), the 2018 Pro Outlaw 632 world champion, left first in his father John’s Strutmasters.com ’13 Mustang, but Montecalvo drove around his 4.158 at 175.85 with a 4.075 at 176.89.

It was a familiar position for Montecalvo, who experienced similar success with his Sonny’s-powered ’18 Camaro at the PDRA Northern Nationals in Ohio in July. He left Ohio with the points lead and clinched his first PDRA world championship with the Darlington victory.

“This is exactly where we left off in Ohio – we qualified No. 1 and we won the race,” Montecalvo said. “I gotta say, I was most anxious coming to this race because for me it was a long layoff [since Ohio]. Any time I'm not behind this wheel every three or four weeks, I start getting a little bit nervous. My crew did a great job. They gave me a good car. I did a really good job driving, if I must say so myself. We went to five finals in a row with this car. We actually missed the Virginia race and we could miss the next Virginia race and still sewed up the championship.

“[Crew chief] Tommy Lee, William, Bobby, and of course my beautiful wife, Lois Anne; they all stood by me and we jelled really well together this year,” Montecalvo continued. “We got a great team here, we just want to keep this thing going.”

Montecalvo’s first two opponents went red, handing him the win lights at the starting line. He was ready for Jeff Dobbins’ first-round 4.082, though, as he ran his weekend-best 4.072 at 177.65. He slowed to an 8-second run after Chris Powers negated his 4.036.

Pluchino qualified No. 7 and popped off his best run of the race, a 4.084 at 176.96, next to Todd Hoerner’s 4.154. The second-generation Extreme Pro Stock wheelman then had to do some driving to run a 4.228 at 169.36 in his semifinal victory over Brian Gahm and his 5.767.

PRO OUTLAW 632

Wes Distefano was an immediate standout in Pro Outlaw 632 when he made his debut at the 2019 season opener in April. He reached the final round there, and again two races later at the Mid-Atlantic Showdown in Maryland.

After grabbing his first No. 1 qualifier award Friday night, Distefano (near lane) earned his first event win Saturday night. He drove his Musi-powered $hameless Racing ’68 Camaro around Chris Holdorf’s holeshot advantage to win with a 4.17 at 174.55 over Holdorf’s 4.303 at 163.76.

“It felt really good to close the deal,” Distefano said. “We've been really, really close and we put in a lot of hard work. To have it all pay dividends now, it feels really good. I don't celebrate much and I'm always looking to the next thing, so we're ready to get back to work.”

Distefano’s 4.227 at 173.14 was the quickest run of the first round. That trend continued through eliminations, as he fired off a 4.166 at 173.68 alongside Jordan Ensslin, who suffered a fiery backfire. Semifinal opponent Tony Gillig left the starting line too soon, while Distefano crusied to a 4.178 at 173.68. With the 173.68s and 174.55, he bettered his own class speed record twice.

Holdorf qualified No. 2 in his nitrous-assisted C&C Pumping ’53 Corvette and used a 4.287 at 166.30 to win first round over a red-lighting Vinny LaRosa. The Florida driver slowed to a 6.997 at 63.02 on a bye run in the second round, then bettered his first pass with 4.283 at 166.05 in the semifinals to defeat Robert Sellers’ 4.348 at 163.10 and move on to the final round.

PRO NITROUS MOTORCYCLE

Cool weather conditions and a tightly prepped track helped Paul Gast set and reset the Pro Nitrous Motorcycle elapsed time record on his way to the event win in just his second PDRA appearance of the season.