> HOUSLEY AND HANEY
DI’ s Kayla Zadel.“ I’ m just excited to kick some serious butt.”
At race two of the Winter Series, the U. S. Street Nationals, Deitsch made it into the field on the bump spot with a 3.655 at 206.64. This time, he wasn’ t the lone nitrous car, though, as fellow New York native Andrew Handras also qualified in his Scotty’ s Racing Engines-powered“ Triple Trouble”’ 69 Camaro in the No. 30 spot. Both drivers were dealt first-round exits— Handras to Scott Taylor and Deitsch to six-time NHRA Pro Stock world champ Erica Enders— but again, they represented the nitrous contingent in another ultra-competitive field.
“ I’ ve had ex-nitrous or current nitrous guys come up to me after runs at Snowbirds and U. S. Street Nationals— like Travis Harvey and Jay Cox— shake my hand and say,‘ Really good job, Matty.’ That’ s huge for me,” Deitsch said.
Three-time PDRA Pro Nitrous world champion Tommy Franklin was the highest finishing nitrous racer in the final Winter Series points standings thanks to his third-round finish at the World Series of Pro Mod, where eliminations rounds counted for points and a half. He finished No. 20 in his brand-new, Musi-powered“ Jungle Rat 3.0”’ 69 Camaro, while Deitsch ended up No. 27 after a heartbreaking DNQ at the WSOPM. A second-round exit at WSOPM propelled two-time PDRA Pro 632 world champion turned Pro Nitrous rookie Amber Denton and her Musi-powered“ OG Jungle Rat”’ 69 Camaro to a No. 30 finish in the DIWS points. Multitime MWDRS champion Keith Haney qualified his Musi-powered“ Black Mamba” Camaro at WSOPM as well, putting him No. 42 in the final points standings. At No. 47, Handras was the only other nitrous racer in the top 50.
Nitrous racers Chris Juliano, DJ McCain, Blake Housley, Tim Paap, and Jim Widener also made attempts to qualify for DIWS events, while a minor crash in U. S. Street Nationals pre-race testing prevented Marcus Butner from adding his name to that list. In total, 10 of the 94 drivers on the DIWS final points standings were nitrous racers. It’ s a small but mighty group, one that can be divided among rival drivers, engine builders, and tuners, but Deitsch believes they must stick together in order for the combination to see better days ahead.
“ Honestly, the only way we’ re probably going to get to the next level as a nitrous community is by helping each other out,” Deitsch shared.“ There’ s got to be more R & D, more data-sharing, and a real push to innovate.” DI
> ANDREW HANDRAS
> KEITH HANEY
> BLAKE HOUSLEY
May / June 2025 DragIllustrated. com | Drag Illustrated | 139