Drag Illustrated Issue 131, April 2018 | Page 115

Known as “ The Fa s t e s t Track in Michi- gan”, US 131 Mo- torsports Park returns to the PDRA schedule this season for the Summer Drags, the unofficial kickoff to the hot summer months. Expect a slew of Mid- west players to show up and mix it up with the touring regulars at this race. FIRECRACKER NATIONALS June 28-30 | Virginia Motorsports Park | Dinwiddie, VA July 19-21 | National Trail Raceway | Hebron, OH FALL NATIONALS Oct. 4-6 | Darlington Dragway | Hartsville, SC Also new to the sched- ule this year is the Super Strip Nation- als at historic National Trail Raceway. The Columbus-area track hasn’t hosted an eighth-mile doorslammer racing event like this since 2009, so local fans – and a large contingent of Midwest sportsman racers – were excited to see this event join the tour. Darlington Dragway made its PDRA debut with last year’s Spring Nation- als, where racers and fans got their first glimpse of the extensive renovations com- pleted by Russell Miller and his family-based team. With a new fall date this time around, ex- pect record performances and close racing as the championship battles heat up heading into the World Finals. DRAG WARS WORLD FINALS Famous for record-set- ting fan at- tendance and record-setting performances on the track, PDRA Drag Wars at GALOT draws out the area’s best racers, from Pro Extreme to Top Jr. Dragster. This is often a critical race for drivers who are contending for the world championship, as it’s the perfect time to shed the hot-weather tuneups and prepare for the cool fall nights. The 2018 PDRA Tour will come to a thrilling, dra- matic close at the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals. This is where world championships are decided, often not until deep into eliminations on Saturday night. The cool fall weather also makes for ideal record-setting conditions; at least one end of each class’ world records were set at this event in the past. Sept. 6-8 | GALOT Motorsports Park | Benson, NC Oct. 18-20 | Virginia Motorsports Park | Dinwiddie, VA T h e first of two con- secutive brand- n e w events on the sched- ule, the Firecracker Nationals will be PDRA racers’ first time on the new concrete racing sur- face at Virginia Motorsports Park. The NHRA Virginia Nationals will take place at VMP just a few weeks before this event, so the track should be properly broken in and ready for 3,000-horse- power doorslammers. SUPER STRIP NATIONALS PDRA660.com 115