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“ When I pulled off at the end of the track , all the other drivers were just kind of standing there stunned ,” she continues . “ I think they didn ’ t know if it happened , didn ’ t happen , whatever . But I think that they might have started to hear Frank screaming from the starting line and then they knew .”
Later in the evening , Gugliotta reflected on the achievement from his perspective . Like Butner , he was quick to point out the others who played a role in the performance .
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“ I ’ m very happy for my entire team , for the Butners , Elite Motorsports , Richard Freeman , the |
Carr family . There ’ s so many people [ involved ],” Gugliotta says . “ I ’ m just happy we finally did it . Had to burn a motor up in the process , but I guess it is what it is . That ’ s the only part I ’ m not happy about , but I ’ m really happy to have finally done it .”
Gugliotta has been a part of PDRA Extreme Pro Stock since the series ’ inaugural season in 2014 . He tuned Carr to numerous No . 1 qualifier awards and event wins , then when Carr sold his complete operation to Elite Motorsports team owner Richard Freeman , Gugliotta stayed on to continue running the program with its new drivers ,
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which were originally Freeman – himself a former Mountain Motor Pro Stock driver – and six-time NHRA Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders .
The Butners made a deal to field the cars in the JHG NHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock class this season , though they ’ ve also dabbled in PDRA Extreme Pro Stock . Without a championship battle in play , Gugliotta made the short trip down to Virginia from his Maryland shop with one specific goal in mind .
“ Me and Rich Purdy [ longtime crew member ] were sitting here talking this morning and it was like , do this , do that , and then it was like , you know what ? We came here with one goal : to run 3.99 ,” Gugliotta asserts . “ Not to win a race , not to qualify here , not to do this , not to do that . To run 3.99 . That was the goal when we left the house . So , we did it .”
Track owner and series owner Tommy Franklin congratulated Gugliotta on the starting line and the Butners on the return road . Later , he discussed the significance of the historic
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moment both personally and from the series perspective .
“ I ’ m not sure a lot of people know , but I raced Mountain Motor Pro Stock back in ‘ 03 , ‘ 04 , ‘ 05 ,” Franklin says . “ The class has always had a special place for me . I love seeing the class do good . Frank came up to me right before that round and said , ‘ I ’ m not going to try to do it once . I ’ m gonna try to do it twice with both cars .’ He ’ s just such a great guy . He ’ s put a ton of years into Mountain Motor Pro Stock , so he deserves it . I ’ m not saying there ’ s not many other people out there that deserve it , but he ’ s dedicated his life to it , so it ’ s cool to see it go to him .
“ Randi Lyn and the Butners , they ’ re great people ,” Franklin adds . “ They came here in February just to do burnouts so she could get ready . It was her first time sitting in the car and here we sit , what , eight months later and she was the first one to hit the 3.99 . I ’ m sure there ’ s a lot of angry guys out there , but props to her . It ’ s awesome to see her go out there and do it and show them how it ’ s done .”
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