ADRL.us - Live Drag Racing Event Coverage

October 25, 2009 - 5:16 AM

Hossler Lights Up Texas Motorplex with World Finals Win

ENNIS, TX (Oct. 24, 2009) — Alex Hossler (left) won his career-first National Guard ADRL Pro Extreme event in memorable fashion, crossing the eighth-mile finish line at the Texas Motorplex with his 1970 Camaro on fire after posting a 3.73-seconds pass at 202.48 miles per hour to beat Quain Stott in the final round of the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals V.

Also earning National Guard Minuteman trophies at the final event of the National Guard ADRL’s year, but the first points-paying opportunity of the 2010 season were new class champion Khalid Al-Balooshi in Pro Nitrous, Extreme 10.5 racer Chuck Ulsch, Scott Gray, who also won his first Pro Extreme Motorcycle championship earlier in the day, and Cary Goforth with his first official Extreme Pro Stock win. Morgan Benfield of Virginia Beach, Virginia also won her first Junior Minuteman in the exhibition Pro Jr. Dragster class.

“How’s that for a spectacular finish?” Hossler asked upon climbing from his car after stopping on the track where safety crews sprayed the engine with a fire extinguisher. “It banged the blower right when we crossed the line, but it lasted just long enough to get the job done.”

Hossler and Stott left almost simultaneously, but when a 3.75 at 205.57-mph pass flashed across Stott’s scoreboard, it translated to a .021 margin of victory for Hossler, who hails from Canton, Illinois.

The Pro Nitrous final was close, too, but only because Al-Balooshi (right) had an off-the-pace .191 reaction time attached to a record-setting pass of 3.81 seconds at 196.42 mph that easily eclipsed the 3.98/184.88 combination assembled by veteran Charles Carpenter.

It marked Al-Balooshi’s career-first National Guard ADRL event title, though earlier in the day, he also won the National Guard ADRL’s championship-deciding Speedtech Battle for the Belts when Al-Anabi Racing teammate Burton Auxier was disqualified from the final for leaving .004 before the green light flashed.

“It is good for the Al-Anabi team,” said Al-Balooshi, who calls Doha, Qatar, home. “Very exciting to win.”

The World Finals V Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 final offered a measure of payback for Ulsch (left), who faced off against Spiro Pappas for the second time in one day after Pappas stepped up to win the Speedtech Battle for the Belts final. The Clarksville, Maryland-based driver didn’t miss the opportunity, either, taking a holeshot win in his supercharged ’68 Camaro over Pappas’ turbocharged 2009 Pontiac GXP entry.

Leaving with a .021 reaction to a .115 in the opposite lane, Ulsch put together a 3.94 lap at 201.46 mph that beat out the 3.92 at 193.27 that delivered Pappas a new elapsed time record, but a runner-up finish.

“That feels good! I’m glad I was able to do my job and help my teammates get the win,” Ulsch declared. “I owed him that one!”

Like Balooshi, Pro Extreme Motorcycle winner Gray (right), from Ocala, Florida, doubled up from his earlier Speedtech Battle for the Belts triumph, running 4.21 at 170.67 mph aboard his ’08 Suzuki to down Lance Hines in the World Finals V final.

“It still hasn’t really sunk in that it’s happened,” Gray said of his two-timing win. “After winning the Belt I kind of relaxed because we had accomplished what we came here to do, which was win the championship, but maybe that’s what helped me win tonight, too. I wasn’t too uptight about what was happening.”

The Extreme Pro Stock final came down to a classic Ford versus Chevy match, with Goforth’s 2008 Cobalt coming out on top over the ’09 Mustang of Scott Hintz in his National Guard ADRL debut. Goforth (left), from Holdenville, Oklahoma, ran low ET of the meet for the class with a 4.06 win at 177.23 mph over 4.151 at 173.65 by Hintz.

“This feels so good,” Goforth said, hoisting the National Guard Minuteman trophy high after his first official Extreme Pro Stock win, though he did win last year at Rockingham, North Carolina, when the class was in its introductory exhibition stage. “This is for my team, for the guys on my team, who worked so hard to put me here today.”

Televised coverage of the Speedtech Battle for the Belts will air Sunday, Nov. 8 at 3 p.m. Eastern on the Versus network, with coverage of the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals V to follow two weeks later on Sunday, Nov. 22, also at 3 p.m. Eastern on the Versus television network.

(ADRL/Tocher photos)

October 25, 2009 - 5:10 AM

LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals V Final Rounds

Pro Extreme -- Alex Hossler (near lane), Chevy Camaro, 3.735, 202.48 def. Quain Stott, Chevy Corvette, 3.754/205.57. 

Pro Nitrous -- Khalid Al-Balooshi (near lane), Chevy Camaro, 3.815, 196.42 def. Charles Carpenter, Chevy BelAir, 3.985/184.88. 
 
Extreme 10.5 -- Chuck Ulsch (far lane), Chevy Camaro, 3.949, 201.46 def. Spiro Pappas, Pontiac GXP, 3.920/193.27. 
Pro Extreme Motorcycle -- Scott Gray (near lane), Suzuki, 4.215, 170.67 def. Lance Hines, Suzuki, 5.782/93.21.
Extreme Pro Stock -- Cary Goforth, Chevy Cobalt, 4.063, 177.23 def. Scott Hintz, Ford Mustang, 4.151/173.65. 
Pro Junior Dragster -- Morgan Benfield (far lane), Motivation, 8.008, 80.79 def. Timmy Clifton Jr., Strike Force, foul (early start).
(ADRL/Richards photos)
 

October 25, 2009 - 1:40 AM

2009 Speedtech Battle for the Belts Settled

ENNIS, TX (Oct. 24, 2009) — Todd Tutterow (left) turned on the win light three times over two days at the Texas Motorplex to secure his first National Guard American Drag Racing League’s (ADRL) Pro Extreme world championship.

The Yadkinville, North Carolina-based driver entered the championship-deciding Speedtech Battle for the Belts—a unique eight-car playoff for the top points earners in the class—in fifth place and raced through Mike Janis, two-time defending series champ Jason Scruggs and Joshua Hernandez to take the Belt. 

“This is awesome,” the new reigning champ declared as he hoisted the Belt high. “Where else can you race for $50,000 against the very best door cars and drivers in the world? What the ADRL has created here is something really special and something I feel truly honored to win.”

Joining Tutterow as new National Guard ADRL World Champions are (below, clockwise from upper left) Khalid Al-Balooshi, who made 28-hour, round-trip flights from Qatar in the Middle East to compete in each of 10 Pro Nitrous events; Chicago racer Spiro Pappas who prevailed from an eighth-place start in Flowmaster Extreme 10.5; Ocala, Florida’s Scott Gray with a championship run in Pro Extreme Motorcycle from the number-one position; and Matt Hartford from Phoenix, Arizona, who scored the Extreme Pro Stock title in his final appearance in the class. 

Al-Balooshi beat his Al-Anabi Racing teammate, Burton Auxier of Dixie, West Virginia, in the final round when Auxier left four-thousandths of a second too soon. He previously beat Stan Allen in the opening round and another Al-Anabi teammate, Mike Castellana, whose car would not start with a faulty battery in the semi-finals. 

As the eighth-place starter, Pappas actually had to win four times for his Speedtech Battle for the Belts triumph, since numbers seven and eight initially raced to earn a berth against the second-place qualifier while number one in each class received a first-round bye.    

So, Pappas opened with a win over Jake Carlton to reach Gary White, then got past Jeff Naiser before leading stripe-to-stripe over Chuck Ulsch, the quickest and fastest record holder for the class.

“It’s been a long, tough road to get here, but my guys never gave up and it was all worth it,” Pappas said. “This took a real team effort.”

As the top points earner in Pro Extreme Motorcycle, Gray had the free pass from round one to the semis where he edged Travis Davis thanks to taking a starting-line advantage. Gray won the final with another holeshot performance, leaving .022 ahead of Ashley Owens and finishing just eight thousandths ahead.

“Wow, that was a close one, but we’ll take it. Without a doubt, this is a huge, huge win for us,” Gray said.

Hartford, who is leaving the Billy Dingman crew for other racing opportunities next year, started third and took out Dean Goforth in round one before he and Doug Kirk both ran exactly the same times in the semis, but Kirk left a single thousandth too soon to turn on the red light off the start. Hartford narrowly outran number-one Belts qualifier Brian Gahm in the final round.

“What a way to go out,” Hartford said. “I want to thank Billy Dingman and all my crew for giving me a great car all year and hope they get to repeat again next season.”

(ADRL/Richards/Tocher photos)