Drag Illustrated Issue 173, December 2021 | Page 42

Dirt

SNOWBIRD NATIONALS
stepped up to a 3.664 at 206.54 to knock out Kris Thorne and his 3.947 .
“ You have to be on your game to be able to win a race like this ,” Salemi said . “ Everybody on our team has to be on our game 100 percent or it doesn ’ t work .”
In the final round , brothers Jon and Jim got even more aggressive on the tuneup . Salemi took advantage of the extra power , running a 3.65 at 206.83 to stop Quartuccio and his 3.692 .
“ We really had a perfect day of racing ,” said Salemi , who thanked the team ’ s sponsors , the G- Force Race Cars shop guys , and car owner Eddie Whelan . “ Our crew worked flawlessly . We were missing Katey [ Knight ]. We weren ’ t the fastest car on race day , but I did my job when I had to and the crew had my back when I was a little late . It was a perfect day all around .”
Salemi also shared her appreciation for the Bradenton Motorsports Park staff .
“ Thank you to Victor [ Alvarez ], Wade [ Rich ] and all of the staff at Bradenton for being so welcoming and working their butts off to put on such an awesome , safe race ,” she added .
Quartuccio , who qualified No . 6 in his Pro- Charger-boosted “ Serial Killer ” ’ 69 Camaro , consistently improved through eliminations up until the final round . He ran a 3.691 to defeat Robert Abbott in the opening round , a 3.684 over Terry Coyle in the second round , a 3.657 over Todd Tutterow in the third round , and a 3.653 alongside a red-lighting Mike Decker Jr . and his 3.631 in the semifinals .
The Outlaw 632 final round was a heavyweight battle between two-time and defending PDRA Pro Outlaw 632 world champion Wes Distefano and Florida ’ s own Daryl Stewart . The drivers left with nearly identical reaction times , then Stewart powered ahead with a 4.133 at 171.51 in his HRE-powered Chassis Engineering ’ 15 Camaro to defeat Distefano ’ s 4.222 at 169.36 .
Pro 275 No . 1 qualifier Manny Buginga stayed hot through eliminations in his ProChargerboosted ’ 03 Mustang , ultimately running a 3.68 at 202.21 to knock out Paul Gargus and his 4.292 at 134.94 in the final round .
Gargus made up for the Pro 275 loss with a win in Limited Drag Radial , where he posted a 4.015 at 188.75 in his ’ 69 Camaro in the final round to defeat Chris Perry ’ s 4.182 at 176.49 .
The X275 final round was decided on the starting line , as “ Mean ” Dean Marinis left . 089 too soon , allowing DJ McCain to coast through to the win with a 31.489 at 68.10 in his small-block , nitrous-fed “ Bowser ” ’ 71 Datsun .
Cocoa , Florida ’ s Jason Spina used a near-perfect reaction time and a 4.528 at 154.72 to score the Ultra Street victory over Kieffer Simpson , who ran a 4.583 at 157.59 in the runner-up effort .
Bradenton Motorsports Park also awarded event trophies to Charlie Farrar in 4.60 Bike , Tom Orr in 5.50 Index , J . T . Sheaffer in 6.50 Index , Austin Logan in 7.50 Index , James Cavanaugh in 7.90 Index Jr . Dragster , Cameron Rich in 8.90 Index Jr . Dragster , and Zandir Cook in 11.90 Index Jr . Dragster . DI
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