MARTIN, Mich. (August 2, 2024) – Despite multiple rain showers, the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series completed two qualifying sessions on Friday at the Northern Nationals presented by Talbert Manufacturing. The father-daughter duo of Tommy and Amber Franklin qualified No. 1 in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous and PDRA Pro 632, respectively, to highlight the top performers of the day, which also saw several nitro-fueled race cars make passes to prepare for U.S. 131 Motorsports Park’s 23rd Northern Nationals presented by Gun Lake Casino on Saturday.
The qualifying fields were set in the professional and sportsman classes after two of three scheduled qualifying sessions. The other pro No. 1 qualifiers were Todd Tutterow in WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive, Elijah Morton in Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock presented by AED Competition, and Nick Agostino in Menscer Motorsports Pro Street presented by Afco Racing.
Low qualifier awards in the sportsman classes went to Glenn Butcher in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by PAR Racing Engines, KC Ingram in Laris Motorsports Insurance Elite Top Dragster presented by Greenbrier Excavating & Paving, Lorenzo Brooks in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman presented by Corbin’s RV, and Chuck Stirdivant in Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster presented by Younce RV.
The PDRA’s Jr. Dragster classes completed one qualifying session, with a final session set for Saturday morning. The provisional No. 1 qualifiers are Jase Wanamaker in Coolshirt Systems Pro Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products and Brady Dunigan in Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products. Wanamaker posted a 7.903-second pass to go to the No. 1 spot in Pro Jr. Dragster, which qualifies on a 7.90 index. Top Jr. Dragster uses reaction times to qualify, and Dunigan’s .029 light was the quickest in a session that saw several drivers go red.
In addition to PDRA eliminations, the Saturday show at the Northern Nationals will feature modern Top Fuel dragsters, nostalgia front-engine Top Fuel dragsters, nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars, a Fuel Altered, jet cars and more.
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PRO NITROUS
Last month, three-time and defending Pro Nitrous world champion Tommy Franklin and his daughter, 2022 Pro 632 world champion Amber Franklin, shared the winner’s circle in a Father’s Day weekend double-up at the North vs. South Shootout in Maryland. On Friday night, they both qualified No. 1 in their respective classes at Martin. It was the elder Franklin’s first low qualifier award of the season thanks to a 3.644-second pass at 206.71 MPH in his Musi-powered “Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro in the final session. He’s rolling into Saturday eliminations with a slight points lead over four-time world champion Jim Halsey.
“We’ve got a good team over here,” Franklin said. “Pat Musi Racing Engines just builds us a great piece. That's where it starts. Hopefully I get a chance to say this so many times this year, but I always want to dedicate it to Lizzy [Musi]. We miss her forever and just love Pat and Liz tremendously. They work hard at the shop and give us good pieces and that's what we rolled in here with. All the competition is good out there, but it just makes us push a little harder. We're going into race day like we usually do, taking it one round at a time. We’ll just try to gather points and try to put some gap on it and see what we can do to get a championship.”
Young gun Marcus Butner in his Musi-powered Butner Construction “Heartbreaker” ’69 Camaro qualified No. 2 with a 3.655 at 206.90. Fredy Scriba, who picked up his first Pro Nitrous win at the recent Summit Racing Equipment PDRA ProStars all-star race, qualified third with a 3.675 at 203.53.
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PRO BOOST
Pro Modified veteran Todd “King Tut” Tutterow isn’t usually one to chase down the low qualifier award, but for the second time this season, he put Justin Smith’s screw-blown Quik Fuel ’69 Camaro in the No. 1 spot. In a final qualifying session that saw nearly every driver improve, Tutterow laid down a 3.613 at 206.90 to grab the top spot. The two-time Pro Boost world champion enters race day chasing his third win of the season.
“We've been a little soft all weekend and I felt it and I knew I was gonna try to go after it,” Tutterow said. “It’s one of them deals where I just pick at it and sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't. I only made one test run [Thursday] because we had a parachute suck up under the back of the car and we missed the second test run. The information was good on the first one and Q1 was good, so I knew about what to do [in Q2]. Everything’s good – good crew, good car owner. Very, very fortunate to be doing what I'm doing.”
Derek Ward, who won the World Series of Pro Mod in March and set the new Pro Boost E.T. record in April, qualified No. 2 with a 3.622 at 208.43 in his screw-blown ’68 Firebird. Reigning world champion Jason Harris is third in his ProCharged Party Time Racing/Southern Diamond Company ’69 Camaro with a 3.623 at 205.67.
A notable addition to the Pro Boost field is Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings star Kye Kelley, who drove his new ’84 Camaro to a 3.709 at 199.56 to qualify No. 13 out of 17 cars attempting to make the 16-car field.
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EXTREME PRO STOCK
Elijah Morton’s hot streak in Extreme Pro Stock continued on Friday when the Mountain Motor Pro Stock veteran secured his first No. 1 qualifier award of the season. Morton, who won the most recent event on tour, posted a 4.096 at 175.64 in the final qualifying session to earn a first-round bye run in his Allen-powered Cashion Fishing Rods ’19 Mustang.
“Mike [Allen Jr., crew chief] did a little tuning between round one and two and he said I better hold on,” Morton said. “The conditions were real foggy. They did a good job of wiping the windshield off right before I left, so I was able to shift the first three gears not being able to see. The next two were a little bit iffy. I may have let out a little early, but we done good. We made a good run. My Allen Competition guys tuned it up, and running those AED carburetors, we ran a good number. I'm getting back in my groove a little bit. We’ve got the car working a little different. Hopefully we can just turn on some win lights. We're looking forward to doing it.”
Past world champion Chris Powers went to the No. 2 spot in his Sonny’s Racing Engines ’21 Camaro with a 4.116 at 175.58. Jeremy Huffman, who earned his first low qualifier at the last race, ended up third with a 4.137 at 174.69 in his 3V Performance-powered Patriot Axe Throwing ’10 Cobalt.
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PRO 632
For the fourth time in five races, 2022 Pro 632 world champion Amber Franklin took her Musi-powered “OG Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro to the No. 1 spot. This time, the top spot was achieved using PDRA-provided, randomly assigned nitrous jets thanks to a new spec jet policy that was put in place for the Pro 632 class starting at this event. Franklin, who won the PDRA North vs. South Shootout in Maryland and the PDRA ProStars race, recorded a 4.189 at 169.30 in the final qualifying session to get around reigning world champion Jeff Melnick.
“These guys go to work for me and they are constantly having my back, which is more than I can ask for as a driver,” said Franklin, thanking her Jeff Pierce-led crew and partners like Pat Musi Racing Engines, Red Line Oil, and Hoosier Tires. “It's a good confidence booster going into race day as the No. 1 qualifier. We struggled a little bit in testing, and that put us behind a little bit for Q1, but they were able to get after it on Q2 and show everyone that they know the car. We just want to keep the momentum going and keep doing our thing and hopefully turn on a lot of win lights tomorrow.”
Melnick, who went into the final session as the provisional No. 1 qualifier in his Barry Allen-powered, Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’20 Camaro, ended up No. 2 with his 4.20 at 169.81 from the first session. Kyle Salminen wasn’t far behind with a 4.202 at 172.55 in his ’03 Cavalier to take the No. 3 spot.
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PRO STREET
Canadian Pro Street standout Nick Agostino spent the offseason rebuilding his turbocharged, small-block-powered ’69 Camaro after a high-speed crash at the penultimate race of the 2023 PDRA season. After chasing gremlins at the first few races of the season, the Markham, Ontario-based driver found what he was missing while testing close to home. He continued to refine his rebuilt “Cannoli Express” Camaro at the Northern Nationals, where he recorded a 3.99 in the first qualifying session to take the provisional No. 1 spot and a 3.939 at 201.97 in the final session to make it official.
“We really struggled with bugs after the accident,” said Agostino, who thanked his crew, as well as the companies and individuals that helped him rebuild his car, including M&M Transmission, Dave Visner, Ross Racing Pistons, Maxima Racing Oil, Pande’s Performance, Joe Van O, and 27 Auto Collision. “We chased our tail and chased our tail and we found it. It's something you can't put words to because in this game, you spend so much time and so much money, you spend time away from your family and away from work. Your crew spends time away from their family and work, and you struggle, you struggle, you struggle, and it gets old. Then all of a sudden, out of the blue, boom, we find it and we come here, we go No. 1, and it's like we won a lottery or something like that. It's very, very rewarding.”
Ron Green, who recently picked up his first Pro Street win at the PDRA ProStars all-star event, qualified No. 2 on the strength of his 4.003 at 188.76 in his ProCharged “Gamechanger” ’00 Firebird in the first session. Young gun Scott Kincaid drove his screw-blown ’69 Camaro to a 4.004 at 192.23 to qualify third.
TOP SPORTSMAN
Doylestown, Ohio’s Glenn Butcher secured his first Elite Top Sportsman No. 1 qualifier award of the season when he drove his nitrous-fed, Albert-powered ’69 Camaro to a 3.785 at 194.64. Another nitrous car, the Fulton 903-powered Pee Dee Fleet ’69 Camaro driven by Jamie Fowler, went to the No. 2 spot with a 3.829 at 193.22. Randy Perkinson in his ProCharger-boosted ’67 Mustang qualified third with a 3.839 at 191.73.
Longtime doorslammer racer Lorenzo Brooks in his Youngstown, Ohio-based ’20 Camaro took the No. 1 spot in Top Sportsman 32 with a 4.252 at 146.01.
TOP DRAGSTER
A trio of supercharged machines battled for the top spot in Elite Top Dragster, but it was KC Ingram in his Missouri-based ’20 Miller dragster taking those honors on the strength of a 3.732 at 200.09. Frank Falter IV in his “Candy Man” ’22 Miller dragster qualified second with a 3.804 at 199.29. Canadian Kyle Harris in his wild ’15 Horton-built Altered recorded a 3.813 at 193.06 to round out the top three.
Just outside the 16-car Elite field, Dorr, Michigan’s Chuck Stirdivant secured the No. 1 spot in the Top Dragster 32 field with his 4.292 at 163.22 in his ’21 Miller dragster.
Saturday’s on-track activities at the Northern Nationals will begin with Jr. Dragster final qualifying at 9 a.m., followed by an Edelbrock Bracket Bash presented by COMP Cams time trial and the start of eliminations in the sportsman and Jr. Dragster classes. Pro class eliminations will begin at 2:30 p.m., with the second round set for 5:15 p.m. The nitro show is scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m.
Photos by Tara Bowker
