JOHN STRICKLAND WINS PDRA CAROLINA SHOWDOWN

June 17, 2020

JOHN STRICKLAND WINS PDRA CAROLINA SHOWDOWN

Galot Motorsports' John Strickland secured his first win for 2020 at the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) Carolina Showdown, presented by ProCharger at Darlington Dragway Saturday night.  In a breakthrough final against teammate Kevin Rivenbark, it was an all Galot, all Proline powered race to the stripe.  It didn’t disappoint as Strickland ran a 3.668 to Rivenbark’s 3.684!  And it was the first time the two have competed against each other since 2016.   

The lead up to the event was not looking good, weather-wise, as scattered thunderstorms were predicted for the entire time, reminiscent of the previous PDRA event at Galot Motorsports Park – East Coast Nationals.  And even as our PLR customers set up their pits for the weekend, Thursday’s testing was canceled due to the weather but by the time we got to Friday the weather cleared and we went straight into qualifying from 1 pm.

The line up of Proline customers in Pro Boost was impressive and they all ran extremely well from the start especially as the humidity and corrected air was not ‘race perfect’.

John Camp took top honors in Q1 putting his 69’ Camaro into No1 with a 3.710 ET.

But by the time Q2 rolled around, Jason Harris had his Camaro tuned in and took the top spot from John Camp, dipping well into the .60s with a 3.681.  Q3 cemented his position as he wheeled a slightly better 3.674 to Randy Weatherford’s 3.678 and John Camp’s improved 3.687!

It was a close field to say the least, with the top 6 cars ranging from 3.674 to 3.691.

Race day weather was better than we experienced in qualifying, and the close racing just continued to rock on.  First-round for Pro Boost was brought forward, and we were on track racing from 1.45 pm.

With five Proline customers qualifying in the top half of the field it meant that only one pairing saw two customers line up against each other in the first round.  All five got through to the second round and all ran between 3.695 (Strickland) and 3.734 (Harris). 

And then there were four Proline customers left to battle it out in the semi-finals!

Unfortunately, Harris red lit (-.002) handing the win to Kevin Rivenbark (3.676) and John Strickland (3.66) pipped Randy Weatherford (3.671) to the finish line. 

So, with no rain delays and very little in the way of clean-ups, the final saw the teammates and friends lining up against each for the first time since 2016. 

Galot Motorsports, John Strickland, and Kevin Rivenbark faced off at 9.19 pm Saturday in Pro Boost. John left first and got to the finish line first, but it wasn’t a whitewash as the timeslip proves.

Congratulations to all our Proline racing customers, we’re proud to help them run fast and support them in their efforts to get into the winner’s circle.

 

Congratulations to all our Proline racing customers, we’re proud to help them run fast and support them in their efforts to get into the winner’s circle.