Drag Illustrated Issue 139, December 2018 | Page 24

Dirt ELITE 16 with it on a track prepped for Pro Mods. It really was just an amazing event.” Top qualifying honors for the Elite 16 went to MWPMS regular Brandon Pesz with an outstand- ing 3.61-seconds pass at 208.75 mph in his screw- blown C1 Corvette. He was followed by newly crowned MWPMS Pro Mod champ Jonas Aleshire (3.62/208.84), 2018 NMCA Pro Mod champion Jason Hamstra (3.63/210.21), and Merick at 3.65 and 206.83 mph. Other notables included Dillard in 10th at 3.67 and 201.67 mph with his ProCharg- er-equipped ‘69 Camaro, Haney’s nitrous-boosted 2016 Camaro 14th with a 3.70 run at 203.43 and “Turbo Todd” Moyer anchoring the field with a whopping 215.89-mph pass in 3.71 seconds. After dispatching Smith in the opening round of racing, Merick actually lost to a holeshot by Taylor in round two, but caught a huge break to advance, regardless. When his engine let go in a big way at the finish line, in a great show of sportsmanship Taylor immediately recognized any lost parts and fluids would put him below the 2,700-pound minimum weight so he bypassed the mandatory weigh-in, automatically handing the win over to Merick. “It seems like to win a race like this, you’ve gotta’ “There were no easy ones, that’s for sure, but I felt pretty good about my car going into this, even though it was just the fifth race on it since we brought it out in May. I just really felt like we had a good chance of winning,” Merick said. “And this was the right one to win. “But really, my crew chief, Ed Briggs, Todd Tut- terow, Larry Jeffers, they’re the ones that made it happen. I’m just the guy that gets to ride in the car,” he added. “The easiest person on a race car team to replace is the driver. A lot of them don’t wanna’ tell you that, but it’s the truth. There are a lot of people out there in the world who can drive these kind of race cars, but there’s really not that many who are smart enough to make them go down the track.” The brainchild of MWPMS owner, promoter and competitor Keith Haney, the Elite 16 brought together teams from at least four major drag racing series with just as many engine combinations for an exclusive end-of-season clash at the all-concrete Motorplex, one of the fastest tracks in the country. The weekend also featured the MWPMS World Finals, postponed by rain from a few weeks earlier in Tulsa, as well as a special Second-Chance Pro Mod race for Elite 16 non-qualifiers presented by Jerry Bickel Race Cars and the Summit Racing Equipment Top Sportsman class, pushing the total purse to more than $125,000. “Man, what an amazing event. Everyone had a great time, I know I did, we saw some very fast runs and our Mid-West Series guys showed everyone what they’re made of,” Haney said. “Pro Mod vs. The World is what I call it. That’s basically what it was and I was so happy to see Randy win; he’s a great supporter of the series with his Twin Lakes Whitetails hunting ranch.” “We also enjoyed the support of Elite Motors- ports, Summit Racing, Jerry Bickel, Stroud Safety and Chilly Willys. I also think we learned a lot about what these cars are capable of when they’re forced to run hard against each other. I mean, you had to go a 3.71 or better just to get into the Elite 16,” Haney pointed out. “Nobody was pulling any punches and we saw that with a few failures when they pushed a little too hard, and of course the hotter weather favored the screw blowers some, but we still saw other combinations going fast, too. We even had Taylor Lastor show up with a radial-tire car and prove you could run 3.80s 24 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Issue 139