Perfect Weekend Has PX’s Snyder Headed In Right Direction As St. Louis Approaches

As consistent as Mick Snyder was during a successful 2011 season in Pro Extreme, the one thing that was missing was a win.

That drought ended and plenty of celebration ensued on a weekend where everything went right at Maple Grove Raceway.

Snyder was the No. 1 qualifier at the Northeast Drags II presented by Penske earlier this month, ran a career-best and finished off his perfect weekend with a a 3.648 at 207.46 miles per hour to beat Tommy D’Aprile under the lights.

Snyder had felt the car was close a month earlier in Bristol before bowing out in the semifinals, and two weeks later, Snyder picked up his second career ADRL win, giving the Powersource Transportation team plenty of momentum heading into next weekend’s Gateway Drags IV presented by CarSafe at Gateway Motorsports Park in St. Louis.

“To qualify No. 1 and then win at an event like this and at a place like this, it’s just great. My dad (Larry) had this car tuned up like a bracket car and it was just outstanding,” Snyder said. “There’s not a bad car out here in Pro Extreme and this has just been awesome.

“We pretty much left it alone all weekend. The car was so consistent, it was running so well, so if you go out there and knock the tires off you just look stupid. We wanted to go out there and win the race. It was one of those deals where everything came together.

“Hopefully we can do that in St. Louis, too. Consistency wins races and championships.”

In a loaded Pro Extreme class, there’s not many who are as consistent as Snyder, who set a career-best with a 3.636 – also the quickest run in the class through three events in 2012 – at Maple Grove.

Snyder has always been great on the tree as well, exemplified by the .031, .032 and .006

lights he had during eliminations at Maple Grove.

 

But, that’s par for the course these days in the class.

“Just winning rounds in our class is tough. It’s tight,” Snyder said. “If you’re .050 on the tree, you might as well go home. Nobody has enough on anybody to have a bad light and get a win.”

To get an edge – or at least attempt to – Snyder and his family-based team went to work over the winter, making changes to just about everything on the car formerly driven by Jason Scruggs, including the transmission, converter and plenty more.

In all, it lost about 50 pounds and displayed its potential in full force at the historic track.

“This car is just something else. It truly is an amazing car. I’m just so happy that Jason (Scruggs) let me drive it,” Snyder said.

“When we got it from Jason and Mitchell, it already a nice car. Over the winter, we put it on a pretty big diet and got a lot weight off of it, but that car is pretty much the same way it was.”

“It seemed like those changes really worked, but it really took us until (Maple Grove) to get everything ironed out. We found a lot more horsepower and everything is just starting to come together,” Snyder said.

The win bumped Snyder all the way to the top spot in the points standings (2 ahead of Von Smith) heading into St. Louis.

It ended up being a special moment for Snyder as well, as his wife, Lindsey, and young son, Cameron, joined in on the festivities in the winner’s circle.

Of course, it’s always a large gathering for the Snyder family at an ADRL event, making it one of the most enjoyable pits at every race.

“We have a large crew, but that just means it’s more fun,” Snyder said.

(Photos by ADRL/Richards)