Tommy Mauney ( left ) and track owner , John Bartunek .
Paul Daigrepont , Jordan Ensslin Victorious at Union Dragway ’ s Pro Mod / Mountain Motor Pro Stock Shootout
By Nate Van Wagnen
Union Dragway joined the growing list of tracks hosting standalone Outlaw Pro Mod races when it hosted Outlaw Pro Mods and Mountain Motor Pro Stock on May 31-June 1 . With both headlining classes offering $ 8,000 to win , the event attracted numerous racers who haven ’ t raced at Union before , as well as many fans who also made their first trip to the South
Carolina facility . In Pro Mod , which utilized the Drag IllustrateD World Series of Pro Mod rules set , Mooresville , North Carolina ’ s Paul Daigrepont in his swoopy , supercharged ’ 79 Corvette took down fellow Tarheel State racer Zach Houser and his centrifugally supercharged ’ 00 Firebird in the final round .
“ I had to race Scotty Cannon / Bubba Greene first round and late parachutes sent me off the end of the track ,” Daigrepont began in a Facebook post . “ Busted up the nose , broke the fuel tank , amongst many other little odds and ends , but got it all fixed up and staged for the bye run , then met Zach Houser in the finals and got the trophy .”
Earlier in the weekend , Greene drove his Cannontuned , screw-blown ’ 19 Corvette to a 3.741-second blast at 203.44 MPH to set a new track record .
Mountain Motor Pro Stock young gun Jordan Ensslin scored the first win of his career in the class when he defeated Jeremy Huffman and his 3V Performancepowered ’ 10 Cobalt in the final round . Ensslin also qualified No . 1 in his Allen-powered Dark Horse Coffee Company ’ 08 Mustang . The win wasn ’ t without drama , as a chute failure in qualifying sent Ensslin into the sand trap .
“ We had a busy weekend , that ’ s for sure ,” Ensslin said in a post-race Facebook post . “ Friday night we spent most of the night bending parts back and cleaning out all parts of the car after its trip in the sand . We ’ re so thankful it wasn ’ t worse than it could ’ ve been . We completed qualifying as the No . 1 qualifier and we ended up finishing the race in the winner ’ s circle . We can ’ t thank our sponsors and followers enough for all of the support and for sticking with us as we struggled in the beginning of our Mountain Motor Pro Stock journey .”
Other winners on the weekend included Cody Christy in 4.70 Door Cars , Kenzie Whitley in Top Sportsman , Shane Maddox in Top Dragster , Gray Kimble in 6.00 Index , Lane Morgan in 7.90 Index Jr . Dragster , and Hannah Lindsey in Jr . Dragster . DI
PHOTOGRAPHS BY VAN ABERNETHY
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