ADRL.us :: Beyond the Guardwall

The Best of the Rest

Of course, everyone’s still talking about the massive, record-setting crowds for the ADRL NATIONALGUARD.com U.S. Drags II at Virginia Motorsports Park (VMP) this past weekend, but your Agent just wants to give a shout out to several National Guard ADRL race teams that deserve a little recognition for their accomplishments, even if they didn’t find victory lane.

First, who suspected going in that John Stanley (above) would run a career-best 3.79 at 193.13 mph to wind up qualifying his new McAmis-built ‘68 Camaro fourth in Pro Extreme? And then to prove it was no fluke, the diminutive driver made a pair of 3.849 passes at 194.72 and 194.77 mph in the first two rounds of eliminations. He fell to a brilliant light by Todd Tutterow in round two, but check out the incrementals on Stanley’s elimination rounds: .964 and .966 to the 60-foot mark, and 2.577 and 2.577(!) to half-track each time. Now that’s consistency!

Camp Stanley, John’s “Wild Bunch” founding-member father and crew chief, later told your Agent they’ll arrive in St. Louis next weekend for the Hardee’s Gateway Drags II with the exact same tune-up in place and all that’s left is to “turn up the wick a bit.”

Pro Extreme praise also belongs to Mike Janis, who lent out a cylinder head to semi-final opponent Tutterow, who promptly went out and won the round with JanCen parts on his car. Now, Janis got out of shape and ended up coasting across the finish line, but had he not been so generous in the pits, he’d almost assuredly have had a free pass to the final.

“I don’t want to win a race because he couldn’t make it,” Janis said later. “As racers go we try our best to help out other racers. This sport can bring out the best and worst of people, but here at the ADRL I’ve only seen the best and I’m glad we could help.”

How can you not love that attitude?

Then there’s Gary White (above) in the Titan Motorsports Scion. While most of the attention (and rightfully so) was being directed toward Chuck Ulsch and his record-setting run of the table in Extreme 10.5, White ran a career-best 4.05 at 181.25 to place second in qualifying and after a slightly off-the-pace pass in his first-round win over Randy Matlock, he laid down a trio of 4.07 passes in a runner-up effort to Ulsch.

And your Agent hadn’t noticed earlier, but was tipped off by the math skills of his Agent 1320 counterpart over at DragRacingOnline.com that the margin of victory in the final round was just one-thousandth of a second! Kudos to White and the Titan gang.

Another driver who continues to impress your Agent is Pro Nitrous rookie Khalid Al-Balooshi (right) in the Al-Anabi/Awesome Motorsports ‘68 Camaro. How could you not be impressed by a guy who qualifies third, runs 3.95 and 3.94, then dips into the .80s and wins with a .027 holeshot over legendary teammate and mentor Shannon Jenkins to reach his first National Guard ADRL final?

Jim Halsey stopped Balooshi’s day with a stripe-to-stripe win, but it was a great outing for the Qatar-based driver, nonetheless.

For that matter the entire Al-Anabi/Awesome team was exceptionally impressive in Virginia. Consider taking the top three spots in qualifying (Mike Castellana, followed by Jenkins and Balooshi), then making up three-quarters of the semi-finalists (Jenkins, Balooshi and number-nine starter Burton Auxier), and you have a powerhouse performance from a powerhouse team.

Eric McKinney gets the nod from your Agent in Pro Extreme Motorcycle at this race, for demonstrating consistency at both ends of the track on his way to the final, where he posted by far his worst light of the event against Lance Hines. Even his second-worst reaction time would’ve easily secured the victory for McKinney (who’s team, BTW, was named Best Appearing Crew), so your Agent expects him to visit the winner’s circle very soon.

Also deserving of PXM notice is James Helton, who scored a round win for the second-straight race, doubling his National Guard ADRL career total!

In Extreme Pro Stock, your Agent heard that Matt Hartford was feeling a little (maybe a lot) under the weather, which makes his semi-final finish after a third-place start that much more worthy of note. Only a .009 red-light start prevented Hartford from going to his first XPS final, so he’s another one your Agent will be watching more closely in the events to come.

Finally, how can your Agent not mention the heroics of two-time reigning Pro Extreme World Champion Jason Scruggs and his talented team of volunteers, who all ended up dog-tired by the end of their weekend (left)?

By now most of you know the story of how Scruggs’ car blew an oil line just as he launched for his first test pass of the weekend, sending his ‘68 Camaro hard into the left guardwall right at the 60-foot mark. With damage to the chassis deemed too severe for trackside repair, Scruggs summoned a friend to deliver his 2008 championship-winning Dodge Stratus from Mississippi, a 14-hour journey that had the back-up car in the Scruggs pits about 4 a.m. on Saturday. A quick swap of the motor from the Camaro into the Stratus had Scruggs ready to go for a one-shot chance to qualify and he didn’t disappoint, going 3.76 at 202.45 to vault straight to the top of the list. He eventually lost the top spot by three thousandths to Mike Janis, but it was a massive shot, regardless.

Anyway, after a 3.77/202.39 win over Cody Barklage, Scruggs went to fire it up in preparation for a quarter-final meeting with 2006 PX champ Bubba Stanton, but he and crewchief/father, Mitchell Scruugs quickly realized something was seriously amiss in their 526 Hemi, so a second engine swap was initiated at the last moment. With all other cars through with the round and Stanton waiting patiently for his opponent, the Scruggs crew, with the help of several others, thrashed to make the change. No prima-donna driver, Scruggs was elbow-deep in transmission and clutch parts (below) while his teammates buttoned up the brand-new, never-before-tested powerplant up front. With seemingly seconds to spare before National Guard ADRL officials finally insisted on a single from Stanton, Scruggs rolled his rebuilt-for-the-second-time Stratus to the line.

Again, the fans were treated to a race for the ages. With the last three Pro Extreme championships on the starting line, Stanton did his best James Bond impression with an outstanding .007 light, while Scruggs waited .074, allowing Stanton’s 3.77 at 197.45 to cover the eighth mile just ahead of the 3.76 pass at 203.28 mph in the left lane. Regardless of the loss and the fact that Scruggs has gone a full tenth quicker in the past, considering the circumstances, your Agent considers that pass to be among the most impressive ever in the history of the National Guard ADRL.

Your Agent also mentioned to Scruggs afterwards, his amazement and admiration at the mental strength it must take to go from a mad, mechanical thrash, complete with nervous sweat, hot temperatures and ADRL officials repeating, “Hurry up, Hurry up,” to having to calm down, hope everything is tightened up and adjusted as it should be, make sure he does everything right in the cockpit, then try to cut a good light and make another 200-mph-plus pass. Truly remarkable.

A couple of interesting sidenotes, too. Though he’d earned lane choice in the first round, Scruggs volunteered the choice to Stanton just before they raced. Also, Stanton reportedly approached ADRL President and CEO Kenny Nowling during the Scruggs thrash and said if he had to make a solo pass he’d prefer to just hit it for a couple of hundred feet and shut off to save wear and tear, but (and here’s the stand-up part) if Nowling wanted a show for the tens of thousands of fans in attendance, Stanton and his Roger Henson-owned team would honor the request and run it through at speed.

And that’s what makes these guys your Agent’s type of racers!