Drag Illustrated Issue 140, January 2019 | Page 38

Special Section TOP SPORTSMAN ELITE 16 DONNY URBAN Donny “Hollywood” Urban was an absolute star in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman Elite 16 compe- tition, stringing together a championship season that couldn’t have been scripted with more drama and excitement. Urban promptly parked his Jeffrey Barker- tuned ’06 Chevy Cobalt in the winner’s circle at the season-opening East Coast Spring Nationals at GALOT Motorsports Park. He missed the next two events, then picked up right where he left off with a runner-up finish to Derrick Brown at the Fire- cracker Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park. Two races later, a final-round win over fellow Southeast Top Sports- man veteran Bruce Thrift at Drag Wars at GALOT gave Urban a major points boost. The most in- credible part of Urban’s season was the finale. When he hurt the nitrous- e q u i p p e d Nesbitt engine in his Cobalt early in the World Finals, Urban’s champi- onship hopes were seemingly dashed. Time was limited, as were options for spare engines. Then, Brett Nesbitt swooped in like the hero in an action movie and saved the day. “Brett Nesbitt is one of my best friends and one of the best engine builders in the country,” Urban said. “Brett went way above expectations when I hurt the motor at the World Finals. He stopped everything he had going in his business and family life, loaded up his own car for me to drive and headed out for VMP, where he worked on the car every lap and gave me the last chance I had at winning this championship. Thank you, Brett.” Urban took Nesbitt’s ’69 Camaro, a car he’d never driven before, to the quarterfinals at the World Finals. Going one round further than his challeng- ers, Henry Underwood and Billy Albert, gave Urban all the points he needed to clinch the 2018 Top Sportsman Elite 16 world championship. “I’ve been so blessed with wins and championships over my career, and they’re all very special, but I wanted this one more than any other,” Urban said. “I guess it’s so special because it was so tough and honestly, unexpected. Just qualifying for Elite Top Sports- man at the five races we ran was an accomplishment, so to have two wins, a runner-up and a championship is amazing with the amount of talent in the class.” TOP SPORTSMAN 32 DENNIS GABORIAULT Dennis Gaboriault and his twin- turbocharged ’07 Ford Mustang stormed onto the MagnaFuel Top Sportsman scene this season as a newcomer. Eight races later, the Millbury, Mas- sachusetts-based driver was crowned the 2018 Top Sports- man 32 world champion. 2 38 PDRA660.com STREET RACE The first half of Gaboriault’s championship season was high- lighted by a runner-up finish at the North-South Shootout in Maryland and a win at the Summer Drags in Michigan, bookended by quarterfinal exits at the season-opener at GALOT and the Firecracker Nationals at Virginia. Another runner-up at Drag Wars followed, then a series of misfortunate events at the Fall Nationals and World Finals capped off the year. Still, the veteran New England Top Sportsman racer was thrilled to claim the title and look back at the memories that came with a hard-fought championship battle. “Going into this season, I knew I had to focus on one series because my work schedule would be demanding, so it would be challenging to make the races, never mind compete for a championship,” said Gabo- riault. “The plan was to run the PDRA series until we were out of the championship hunt, which fortunately never hap- pened. It was going to mean considerable travel time since the closest race is nine hours from home. It was definitely the right decision, not just because I won the championship, but because of all the new friends I was able to make and the old friends I was able to race with again.”