Drag Illustrated Issue 172, November 2021 | Page 44

Special Section

THE PDRA TOP 3 LIST IS AN EVER-CHANGING LIST OF THE BIGGEST NEWSMAKERS AND POW- ER PLAYERS IN THE PDRA ’ S PROFESSIONAL CLASSES . THIS MONTH ’ S EDITION , REPRESENT- ING PERFORMANCES FROM DRAGWARS PRE- SENTED BY PROLINE RACING , OCT . 1-2 AT GALOT MOTORSPORTS PARK , AND THE BRIAN OLSON MEMORIAL WORLD FINALS PRESENTED BY PROCHARGER , OCTOBER 15-17 AT VIRGINIA MOTORSPORTS PARK , DOES NOT REFLECT THE CURRENT POINTS STANDINGS , THOUGH MOST OF THE DRIVERS WHO APPEAR ON THIS LIST CAN ALSO BE FOUND NEAR THE TOP OF THE POINTS STANDINGS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE CLASSES . PHOTOGRAPHS BY TARA BOWKER

A mere . 005-seconds redlight start in the DragWars semifinals prevented Jim Halsey from finishing his third consecutive Pro Nitrous world championship season with back-to-back final round appearances . He went into the World Finals with the title clinched , but he capped off the season with one final win in his Fulton-powered “ Daddy Shark ” ’ 68 Camaro . Two-time world champion Tommy Franklin made a serious comeback in his Musi-powered “ Jungle Rat ” ’ 69 Camaro , qualifying No . 2 and winning Drag- Wars and qualifying No . 1 and reaching the semis at Virginia . Speaking of comebacks , twotime champion Jason Harris put his Albert-powered “ Party Time ” ’ 69 Camaro in the Drag- Wars final round and Virginia semis after switching back from Pro Boost .

Knowing he still had an outside chance at the Penske / PRS Pro Boost presented by WS Construction world championship , Daniel Pharris went into the final two races with a full head of steam . He won his second race at DragWars and came within inches of a third victory at the World Finals in his ProCharger-boosted GALOT Motorsports ’ 69 Camaro . Randy Weatherford was the driver who stopped him , running a 3.606 in his WS Construction ’ 17 Camaro in the final . Johnny Camp ’ s “ Hells Bells ” ’ 69 Camaro was the consistently quickest car in the last two races , qualifying No . 1 at both events , but holeshot losses stopped him in the semis .

A first-round exit at Drag- Wars meant Chris Powers needed a big performance at the World Finals to stay in the Liberty ’ s Gears Extreme Pro Stock presented by AED Competition championship hunt . He managed a runnerup finish in his Sonny ’ s Racing Engines ’ 14 Camaro to clinch his first title . JR Carr qualified No . 1 and reached the finals at DragWars , but he broke his season-long No . 1 qualifying streak at the World Finals . Returning Mountain Motor Pro Stock hitter Tony Gillig was the talk of the class after he won his first race back at DragWars , then added a semifinal finish at Virginia . With killer reaction times , he ’ ll be a serious threat in 2022 .

Season-long points leader Wes Distefano kept his finalround streak going in $ hameless Racing Pro Outlaws 632 at DragWars , where he won the event and clinched his second consecutive world championship in his Musipowered $ hameless Racing ’ 68 Camaro . A red-light DQ stopped him in the second round at Virginia . Chris Holdorf , who scored his first No . 1 qualifier at DragWars , backed it up with his first official PDRA win at the World Finals . In the final round , he defeated rookie Amber Franklin , who was appearing in her second final round in just two races . Driving her father Tommy ’ s former Pro Nitrous car , Franklin will be a title contender in her sophomore season .

Travis Davis put himself back in Drag 965 Pro Nitrous Motorcycle championship contention with his DragWars victory over Meshal Al-Saber , but perennial contender Chris Garner-Jones ultimately denied Davis his third consecutive championship . Davis lost to Paul Gast in the opening round at the World Finals , while Garner-Jones raced on to score his second win of the season aboard his T . T . Jones Racing Hayabusa . The second-generation rider earned his first PDRA title in the process . Gast , playing the spoiler role at the final race , was stopped by Garner-Jones in the final round , as Gast shut off on the starting line .

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