Special Section
ELITE TOP DRAGSTER ALAN O’ BRIEN
TOP SPORTSMAN JEFF TALVACCHIO
● As always, MagnaFuel Top Sportsman saw an intense fight for the title with several drivers in the running at the World Finals. The top three drivers in the final points were separated by less than a round, with Jeff Talvacchio picking up his first world championship over past world champions Nick Meloni and Joe Roubicek.
Talvacchio didn’ t park his nitrous-fed“ Deep Purple”’ 69 Camaro in the winner’ s circle all season, but he did reach the final round at the North vs. South Shootout and the Northern Nationals. The North Carolina-based driver also reached the semifinals twice. Talvacchio’ s two closest challengers notched two victories late in the season.
● After providing the infrastructure for Jeff Melnick to win the Pro 632 title in 2023( and again in 2025), Team Greenbrier team owner Alan O’ Brien now has another world championship – this time as a driver in Laris Motorsports Insurance Elite Top Dragster presented by Greenbrier Excavating & Paving. He held off three of the most recent world champions in the class – Steve Furr, Kyle Harris, and Larry Roberts – to claim his first world title as a driver.
While the aforementioned past champs each won this season – twice in the case of Furr – O’ Brien went winless, instead avoiding first-round exits at all but one race. He was runner-up at the Mid-Atlantic Showdown in his turbocharged, AMC-powered Greenbrier’ 23 Race Tech dragster and went to the semis at two other events. The West Virginia native was also always near the top of the qualifying order.
TOP DRAGSTER CLAYTON ROBERTS
● Benson, North Carolina’ s own Clayton Roberts delivered his biggest performance of the season at his home track – GALOT Motorsports Park – to help secure his first world championship in Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster presented by Derrick Wolfe Trucking. When the final points were tallied, Roberts denied Nick Meloni a second straight championship by less than one round.
Roberts in his’ 22 Race Tech dragster went deep into the rounds at two of the first three races before reaching the final round at the Northern Nationals. Two races later, he went to the final round at DragWars at GALOT to carry the lead over Meloni into the World Finals. Roberts bowed out in the second round there, but the championship was already his, as Meloni lost his match earlier in the round.
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