Ken Quartuccio adds another U. S. Street Nationals win to take Winter Series points lead
BY CRAIG COOK
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DARREL JACKSON
A TEAM EFFORT BETWEEN DUSTIN NESLONEY
AND SCOTT TIDWELL, QUARTUCCIO’ S SCREW- BLOWN‘ 69 CAMARO QUICKLY BECAME ONE OF THE MOST FEARED CARS IN OUTLAW PRO MOD.
EN QUARTUCCIO proved once again why he considers Bradenton Motorsports Park to be“ home,” taking home a $ 75,000 payday and the Drag Illustrated Winter Series points lead driving the screw-blown’ 69 Camaro out of the Scott Tidwell Racing camp. Quartuccio used a. 001 reaction time and 3.586-second pass at 208.62 mph to defeat 2022 NHRA U. S. Nationals Pro Mod winner Lyle Barnett’ s 3.608 at 207.62 in the final round of the U. S. Street Nationals presented by M & M Transmission in late January.
Quartuccio is no stranger to success at BMP. Most recently, he won the 2023 U. S. Street Nationals and was the runner-up in 2024 at both the U. S. Street Nationals and Snowbird Outlaw Nationals. He stated on Friday night during qualifying that whenever he runners-up at the Snowbirds, he goes on to win U. S. Street – a prediction that soon became reality.
“ It’ s just crazy the level of confidence that I have when I come here,” Quartuccio said.“ This is a totally different team than when I runnered-up to Mark Micke last year, or the year before that when we won it. It’ s a totally different group of
March / April 2025 guys, different combination, different car, but just something about this place is magic for me. They can bury me in the back here( at BMP). Let them put a house on me. I don’ t care. This is where I’ m going to rest my final days.”
Quartuccio stayed in the 3.50s in every round but one on Saturday. His slowest pass in eliminations was a 3.607, which he said also would’ ve been in the. 50s if he hadn’ t let off early. That consistency, along with incredible reaction times – he posted. 001,. 007,. 018, and. 022 throughout the day – proved to be too much for the rest of the 32-car field to overcome.
“ This whole thing is a testament to Steve Petty and Scott Tidwell, Dustin Nesloney, and this whole entire team,” said Quartuccio.“ Last night in Q3, it broke a rear gear and believe it or not, Pro Line put a gear together, put it in a truck and drove through the night and delivered a rear end to us at the hotel at 6 o’ clock this morning. That’ s what you get when you get affiliated with Pro Line – they go above and beyond. It makes my job easier, so I can just concentrate on doing a great job driving.”
In the first-round chip draw on Saturday night, Quartuccio drew Brazilian native Sidnei Frigo. On Sunday, the two had identical. 022 reaction times, but Quartuccio used a 3.572 at
209.65 mph to outrun Frigo’ s 3.622 at 207.21. He then drew 2023 NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod champion Ty Tutterow in the second round. It would’ ve been a side-by-side race, but Tutterow went red, throwing away a 3.619; Quartuccio was still slightly quicker, running a 3.607-second pass at 207.56. Quartuccio dipped back into the. 50s in the quarterfinals, ripping off a 3.599 at 208.81 to defeat two-time NHRA U. S. Nationals Top Dragster winner Zach Sackman’ s 3.751. In the semifinals, Quartuccio combined a. 007 reaction time with yet another 3.50 pass – this time a 3.595 – to take the win over West Coast-based newcomer Rian Hayward, who ran a career-best 3.609 at 209.04 in a losing effort.
With the victory, Quartuccio left Bradenton with 1,210 points, a sizable advantage over his closest competitors: Kye Kelley( 896), Mark Micke( 714), Kurt Steding( 707), Mike Decker III( 700), and Melanie Salemi( 700). The championship will be decided at the World Series of Pro Mod, Feb. 27-March 1, and although he’ s in a great position to take home the additional $ 25,000, Quartuccio isn’ t looking past any of his rivals.
“ Going into that race, with points and a half, any one of them can win,” Quartuccio said.“ I feel good about it, but like I said, they’ re all badasses.
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