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BROWNSBURG, IN (July 15, 2017) – The world’s quickest door-slammers made an excursion into fuel-car country to race at the PDRA Mid America Showdown at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Indiana.
Extremely competitive sportsman racing goes down in Indiana and what better track to test Sackuvich Racing’s new ProCharged PLR 481X-powered top dragster than Indy. Pro Line Racing debuted the new FuelTech EFI ProCharged 481X engine geared towards sportsman racers who demand consistency, and the setup showed promise early. On just the third pass for the new combination, Jimmy Sackuvich ran 3.968 at 185 MPH to claim 14th qualifier out of 36 cars vying for a spot in the show. Sackuvich then improved to a 3.952 at 186 MPH in the final round of qualifying and moved up to 13th going into eliminations. Unfortunately, Sackuvich lost to Kathy Fisher in the first round, but making the show the first time out with a new engine combination was still a huge accomplishment. A big thanks to Sackuvich Motorsports for helping Pro Line Racing blaze new trails in engine development!
While the PDRA Pro Extreme missiles may not be as quick as the top fuel cars that call Indy home, they are the quickest cars with doors that have ever been on Lucas Oil Raceway. Among those ranks was the EGR/Q80 Racing “Beast” 1969 Camaro which went 3.58 at 223 MPH in testing at the event. The team ran into a few problems during qualifying and managed to slide in at number 15. Things started shaping up in round one of eliminations with the Steve Petty-tuned, PLR Hemi-powered Beast ran 3.66 at 220 MPH and beat the number two qualifier, Jason Scruggs. Surprisingly, a second round red light against Mattias Wulcan was the end of the event for the Beast.
Two Pro Line Racing-powered teams competed in the Pro Boost class: the EGR/Q80 Racing 1967 Mustang “Eleanor” and the FuelTech sponsored 1969 Camaro driven by Fabio Costa. Eleanor, the Pro Boost points leader, qualified third with a 3.75 at 213 MPH pass and Costa qualified eighth with a new personal best of 3.81 at 207 MPH. The PLR Hemi-powered Eleanor then ran 3.79 at 211 MPH to defeat Craig Sullivan in the first round of eliminations. Costa lost in the first round to Marc Caruso by a mere five feet, yet consistent improvement is the big story for a car with only six passes on it to date. It’s only a matter of time before the Josh “Squatch” Ledford-tuned PLR Hemi pushes Costa to the top of the pack. Second round was the end of line for EGR/Q80 Racing team when Eleanor lost a close race to event winner, Ty Tutterow.
Jason Collins earned his second NHRA Pro Mod victory of the season at the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol. After a wild second-round incident involving a detached steering wheel during his burnout, Collins and the Scott Tidwell Racing team battled back to claim the win and lock themselves into the NHRA Pro Mod Countdown to the Championship.
Scott Taylor earned a $10,000 payday after winning the Outlaw Syndicate Racing Series Small Tire event at Southside Dragway, while also setting a new track record.
Travis Harvey captured the $125,000 Pro Mod Mania title at Milan Dragway with a perfect .0000 reaction time in the final round. Harvey's 3.605-second pass at 208.24 mph held off Melanie Salemi's quicker 3.602-second run, proving once again that races are won at both ends of the track. The victory marked one of the most exciting finishes of the weekend at IHRA Pro Mod Mania.
