Virginia NHRA Nationals

THE START OF SOMETHING NEW



The 2024 Virginia NHRA Nationals roared into life this past weekend, bringing together car enthusiasts, industry insiders, and automotive drag racing fans for three tow-packed days of quarter-mile drag racing at the world-famous Virginia Motorsports Park. The event attracted over 5,000 attendees and more than 100 racers from around the globe., This event, unlike the other, featured a new two-day style event with racers qualifying back to back, keeping the action going and the stakes high, with normal elimination rounds on Sunday.

On Saturday, the mission food 2Fast2Tasty PS Challenge was in full swing with Matt Smith taking down Richard Gadson, Austin Prock snagging the funny car win, Brittney Force grabbing the top fuel dragster win, and Greg Anderson winning prostock car.

Sunday got underway with driver introductions and fan track walk, just before sending down some high horsepower cars and bikes down the ultra-smooth Virginia Motorsports Park surface. Doug Kalitta secured his third win of the season. Austin Prock claimed his second consecutive victory, driving his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro . Aaron Stanfield picked up the prostock car win, and Gaige Herrera set an NHRA record by winning his 10th consecutive race, defeating teammate Richard Gadson in the final.

PDRA Season Opener

PDRA EAST COAST NATIONALS PRESENTED BY FUELTECH

What more can I say than what a show! As the Professional Drag Racing Association PDRA rolled into the world-famous Galot motorsports park over the past weekend and brought nothing but action, well that’s what I’m going to do. With every year comes the anticipation of what’s in store for the season, most teams are looking to better the previous season’s standing, and others to maintain the dominance of their respected classes.

Rows and rows of racers from all classes packed in the pits of Galot Motorsports Park

Over the winter the PDRA staff was hard at work making the series even better as usual from sponsorships to class rules and of course making sure the fans have enough action to keep the heart pumping. With the backlines booming of the Pro street class being packed with more racers wanting to bring outlaw 10.5 back to the forefront to the clutch pedal naturally aspirated monsters of extreme Pro stock making it’s coming back in a big way, there was some excitement to be had. Now let us not forget the teams making debuts with new cars as well as debuts in new classes Brian Clauss in pro 632 Dillon Voss in Extreme pro stock to name a few.

Jeff Melnick being pushed up the lanes in his beautiful Dodge avenger top sportsman ride

The weekend got started with a heavy amount of testing on Wednesday and Thursday followed by qualifying on Friday for all classes. First up with the badest nitrous cars on the planet Pro Nitrous presented by Switzer Dynamics with defending champion Jim Halsey leading the way in his beautiful 68 Camaro with a blistering 3.65 at 206 mph putting him in the number one spot, then came WS construction Pro Boost with Melanie Salemi just crushing the boards with a 3.56 blast at 207 mph in her side piece 2019 Camaro. Liberty’s Gears Extreme pro stock number one spot went to JR carr with a 4.01 at 179 mph rip. The number one spot in Shameless Racing Pro 632 went to Walter Lannigan jr with a 4.12-second pass with a speed of 172 mph. Travis Davis took the number one spot in Drag 965 pro nitrous motorcycle going 3.97 at 176 mph. Menscer Motorsports Pro street presented by Afco racing with Nick Agostino all the way from Ontario taking the top qualifying spot with a 3.92 at 208 mph on a 10.5 tire. Donny Urban, Jeff Pittman, Craig Addis, Frank Falter Iv, Nyck Shirkey, and Kylie Vanier headed top positions in their respected sportsman classes.



God speed Ministry is a staple of every PDRA racing sharing the word of the lord with fellow racers

On Saturday with the fields set, the grandstands packed with fans, and cool brisk weather racing got underway with a few unseen exits Jim Hasley taking an early exit with Cam Clark moving on. The man himself Tommy Franklin took an early exit in the second round leaving the field wide open. Mike Achenbach AkA the mountain man claimed the class victory. A few surprising exits in pro boost with Stevie Jackson going down to Stan Shelton early, Melanie Salemi going out in the second round to Stan Shelton who would go all the way to finals to be taken out by Todd Tutterow, Tutterow himself facing some of the fastest guys Jason Lee who has been in the 40’s on a 315 tire and Johnny Camp. With all the right conditions the world was ready to see 3.99 light across the board in Liberty’s Gear pro stock but that will live to see another day with Chris powers laying down 4.0 passes all day to take it home. Alan Drinkwater took the victory in Pro 632 knocking out front runner Lannigan Jr, Chris Garner-Jones left where left off in the winner circle in Drag 965 Pro nitrous motorcycle. Tim Essick with his home-built ride took down Agostino in the finals in the pro street class. Sportsman racers Steve Drongowski, Doug Crumlich, Steve Furr, Tisha Wilson, Bladen core, Carter Jackson, and Nathen Tanner rounded out your PDRA East Coast Nationals presented by Fuel Tech.

Check out the album below for some of the event action and highlights

Horsepower Hustle Season kickoff

The hustle at Galot

Packed lanes as racers wait to make some shakedowns

Back in January the motorcycle drag racing world learned of a new action-packed series that was centered around the Grudge racing scene. Some of the greatest minds in the game put their heads together to bring you what they call Horsepower Hustle, Where the bikes do all the talking and yet bring a new attitude and level of professionalism to the sport.

 

Class chip draw for outlaw super stock

This series is for the serious racers racing on the best tracks prepared by one of the best Mass Traction. Horsepower Hustle host eleven classes that’s right eleven classes of the top bike engine combinations in the game as well making it an all-heads-up series. The season got underway at the world-famous Galot Motorsports Park, teams tested during the day and going in the battle under the lights with some lovely locked-in money on the line making it all worth it. HPH will do it all over again at South Carolina Motorplex April 8th - 9th be there to catch all the action.

Check out some event highlights below

XDA WPGC BIKE FEST 2021

The return of the world famous WPGC bike fest was a breath of fresh air as one of the premier races in the world made its way back after missing out the 2020 season due to pandemic, like years before the is race was action packed from on track and off as the bagger sound off competition and bike show, the always amazing bikini contest and live bands. Now let’s not forget the all the action on track from grudge racing, sportsman classes and action-packed pro classes. check out the photo highlights below from weekend

Phones up as the sound off shakes the ground bagger style

Hail Mary Derby doubles back for round two

The epic test fest known as Hail Mary Derby presented by Haltech engine management and Wiseco piston made its way back to Maryland International Raceway for its second running of this event which carried over from the 2020 season.

packed staging lanes with cars from different classes

 

Teams from all over the states made their way to test for four days and pushing for that hail Mary pass or record-setting pass. the event as before was broken down by class into four test sessions a day some, even more, depending on the size of the class, as usual, the all-wheel-drive class took the show by storm. the newly added N/t class through in some spice as well.

One of many Evo’s pushing for that 7second zone

below check out some of the photo high lights from the event

The return of OSCR

THE RETURN OF OSCR VIRGINIA STYLE

Where to start; when it comes to Outlaw Street Car Reunion the world-famous Beechbend Raceway comes to mind but not this time. One of the biggest radial tire and slick tire races in the world put on by Tyler Crossnoe and staff made the announcement the race was coming to Virginia Motorsports Park also known as VMP during the Shakedown event last year.

With some minor changes to classes, the event still set the stage to be an amazing event full of action. With the PDRA series right around the corner held for the race was the pro mod class and with XDA the same weekend the two-wheel pro-street class was also held out.

Classes on tap for the weekend RVW, pro 275 , x275 ,ultra street and handful of other classes including a super exciting N/t street car class. Ken Quartuccio brought out his new pro mod which he tested on big tires earlier in the week switching to 315 radial tires to run RVW. Fletcher Cox brought out his new pro 275 ride as well.

Head over to racevmp.com for the rest of the race results, check out some of the action shot below

The Hail Mary Pass

The Hail Mary Derby was everything as described, high flying action as if it was a deep pass from a quarterback to a receiver to win the game. From high-speed front-wheel-drive imports: earth turning rear-wheel-drive slick cars and a large count of all-wheel drive monsters to keep the fans on their feet for the weekend. Unlike the staple event World Cup Finals presented by Haltech, MBP replaced the year-end race with a massive testing event that tossed out the rulebook, qualifying, and eliminations for the weekend allowing teams to go for it all.

Jason Miller of MBP interacting with the fans in the stands

The derby which lasted four days of testing broken down by classes. With some wild cars on the property, the excitement was at an all-time high. Teams pushing the limits and accomplishing personal best Chris Moore on his pro street bike with a blistering 6.30 at 233 mph. Team AMS performance with it stable to all-wheel drive cars from GTRs to a sick huracan ripping off a 7.61 pass. T1 put on a show as well with its line up GTRs, adding to the mix a few new build debuts.

AMS Performance Alpha 7 second Drag Huracan pitted with some AMS beast

Shakedown Nationals XVIII

Shakedown Nationals XVIII with its second year at Virginia Motorsports Park came with a surprise, in the form of a massive rainfall from one of many large tropical storms to reach the east coast. Staff and racers with backs against the wall didn’t let the rain stop them from racing, will over an inch of rain in the forecast major changes were placed in effect to ensure the event would be able to be completed by the end of the weekend. On Wednesday the limited testing was opened to all racers that were on the grounds, with many still en route from all over states. As Wednesday testing was nearing the rains came in overnight and all day Thursday pouring buckets of water on the VMP complex making for a long tear down and prep of the track surface.

Bruder Brothers waiting with new single turbo combo for tech inspection

Overnight the storms moved out leaving a beautiful day of qualifying for all classes. Once the track was dry and a fresh layer of sticky VHT was laid on the track, the staging lanes began to fill and burnouts got underway with big tire pro mods and top sportsman cars laying the rubber for radial guys who only needed a few passes in too start laying down low E.t and records. Tyler Crossnoe and Jimmy Bradshaw had the track on kill with the combination of great air had cars carrying the wheels sending the fans into loud cheers.

Marc McCloud in his Monte Carlo dragging the bumper in ultra street

As night fall closed in most of the fields were set for eliminations on Saturday, with a few classes making final passes on Saturday morning. Radial class leading the pack with records the big tire cars were looking for records as well. Twenty Six entries in pro mod with supercharged cars at the top with low 60’s and nitrous cars close in trail. Stevie fast took shadow deep in the 3.50s Ron green in pro 275 locked down the record and x275 hosted some back to back teen passes from a few teams.

Steve Beaston wheels up in the Virginia sunset

Shakedown carried over into Sunday where winners were crown and racers collected trophies with huge paychecks to show who was the man of the weekend, but I can’t forget the big surprise with the announcement of outlaw street car reunion coming to VMP in 2021. Don’t forget to check out the list of the class winners and the gallery below as well.

Radial vs. The World: Stevie Jackson

Pro 275: Ron Green
Outlaw 10.5: Blake Copson
Limited Drag Radial: Daniel Ray
X275: Rob Goss
Ultra Street: Louie Filippides
Real Street: Shane Stymiest
Limited 235: Danny Niceley
Top Sportsman – Ultimate 48: Bootie Harris
No Clock Small Block – Elite 8: Kenny Leach

Pro Modified winner Ron Muenks under the lights

XDA D.M.E RACING FALL NATIONALS

XDA series crowning its 2020 champions after three events. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a major effect on the racing community the whole season causing promoters to take drastic measures to give the racers and fans something to look forward too. The series dropping from six action-packed races to only three caused a major stir with most competitors but proved to be some of the most exciting racing in 2020. With two races under its belt, the series moved to its final race of the season the DME Fall Nationals with its famous Orient Express Pro-street Battle Royale with its huge 10k payout to the winner.

Rodney Williford on his Williford Racing Pro-Street GSXR1000

Along with the Pro-Street shootout on hand was the DME Racing Real Street class, Pro Xtreme , Vans and Hines 4.60, HTP Super Stock , crazy 8’s ,5.60, Top-sportsman and street E.T. The event also featured the After Dark Underground with grudge and bulls.

Cj Fair behind the bars of this turbo grudge bike

At the end of this crazy weekend where championship points and crowns on the line with every round win, loss and record created some fierce competition round after round. Jeremy Teasley locked up the Orient Express Pro-Street championship with brother Brandon Teasley taking home DME racing Real Street. Travis Davis took home the Pro Extreme championship, David Fondon taking home the first ever HTP Super-Stock championship. Ronald Procopio locked up another Vans and hines 4.60 championship , Dustin Lee taking home both FBR shop 5.60 and Mickey Thompson Tires Top Sportsman. Spencer Claycomb took home the final Crazy 8s championship, James Farmer taking home the MPS Pro E.T Championship and Derrick Milbourne taking home the Brocks performance Street E.T title. The Bulls crowned two Champions as well, David Page in Monster Bulls and Jeremy Teasley in APE Nitrous Bulls. With the series completed teams start to plan for the 2021 season April 23-25 with the PFR spring Nationals. Below check out some of the event photos.

XDA VIRGINIA BIKE BASH PRESENTED BY MTC

The XDA rolled into Virginia motorsports park for the 2nd annual MTC Virginia bike bash for the second stop of the XDA series. With the shortened season due to the Covid-19 pandemic and mother natures rain the season pushed on. This event hosted the first real street royal rumble with a huge five thousand dollar purse to win and few small bounties for a few racers to keep the excitement going.

Ben Knight on his pro charged real street bike

The event also had on tap the Orient Express pro street class, pro xtreme , HTP super stock, and the super-competitive Vans and Hines 4.60 class which held the largest field yet of racers. There was also on hand a number of sportsman classes as well as a grudge where the bad boys come and play with the clocks off.

NHRA competitor Matt smith on his Vans and Hines 4.60 ride

With the event being so action-packed how can we not forget the records dropping in the pro street class as well as the real street class Jeremy Teasley with a blistering 6.34 at a crazy 222 mph pro street and a 7.52 at 187 mph in real- street. Shane eperjesi from Dallas with a 3.97 in pro-Xtreme. David Fondon from PR with an 8.83 on his HTP superstock bike. This race was just raining records something truly amazing for this time of the year.

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Jeremy Teasley on his record run

6.32 @222 mph on his DME Racing GSXR 1000

Check out some of the action from the event

PDRA MID-ATLANTIC SHOWDOWN RECAP

Another battle-tested event with mother nature throwing everything she has at the PDRA staff and racers at Virginia Motorsports Park. Tyler Crossnoe and the team prevailed against the weather has heavy rains crossed through the area. On Thursday testing was cut short due to rain, but that set-up for an amazing day of high horsepower exciting racing for the rest of the weekend, Quifilying on Friday was fast-paced as things were kicked into high gear to make sure all rounds would be completed.

Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous racers in the Lanes at Virginia Motorsports Park

All classes were on deck with the exception of Drag965 Pro Nitrous motorcycle as the class oped out in respects to long time racer TT Jones who passed away, none to less there was plenty of four wheel action to go around even the long a waited debut of Dan woods beautiful pro nitrous mustang

The first round of Qualifying in pro Boost brought some excitement as long time wheel man Travis Harvey strapped in for racer Eric Gustafson who was running late. First time competitor in the newly formed pro street class Ron Hamby made a statement running 4.0’s in his nova. Pro junior dragster Kaylee Love set the top speed for the class at 83.57 mph. Xtreme Pro-stock racer jr carr getting ever so close to the 3-second barrier where just some of the high lights from the event. check out some of the photo galleries below

Eric Gustafson pro-charger pro boost ride with chutes at full bloom

Total Chaos radial action

Hot on and off the track, as radial testing goes full swing under the lights at Maryland International Raceway. With some changes in the event schedule due too the current pandemic Maryland International Raceway (MDIR) staff dreamed up an idea to make use of the open calendar space with some radial testing under the lights dubbed Total Chaos.

Warrior Outlaw racer Bill Cole headed back to the pits after tech inspection

On deck for testing were and a handful of killer pro teams ready to make some laps down the track from 1320 warriors, outlaw 10.5, ultra street even the sick RVW vett of Decker’s selvage. DMV N/T racers were definitely on the grounds as well Brooks Boys Performance, No Roof Crew, and Life Runners to name a few.

Driver/tuner Marques Hatton behind the wheel of Da Wizard

With track temps in the 100’s, teams took it easy finding the right tune to make it down the fully prepped yet hot track surface during the day. As the sun dropped, the tune-ups changed allowing teams laying down to sub 4 second passes with the clocks on, while the No Time racers left the car show competitors wondering just how fast is that car.MDIR staff kept the surface top-notch and event rolling smoothly leaving smiles on the faces of all in attendance. check out the gallery below of some of the action

BIKE ACTION IS BACK CUSTOM T'S STYLE

NANUS BIKEFEST 2020 FAMILY REUNION

 

The action was hot and humid just like the weather but that didn’t stop the racers and fans from enjoying the festivities. Darion Payne aka Nanu and long time friend Ervin Wilkerson along other sponsors hosted the event on the grounds of Custom T’s Motorsports park also known as Colonial Beach Dragway . There was something for everyone from a game truck for the kids to corn hole for the adults, food trucks for whatever tastebuds that crossed your mind. Ontrack action didn’t disappoint as well from street bike class up to 4.60 not to forget the grudge action.

Racers suiting up to make some passes during time runs

Action got underway Friday night with testing and a round of 4.60 time runs as well as a lot of trash talking grudge runs. As they prepared for Saturday’s showdown the heat was on as fans filed in to see all the action. Even a few NHRA pro stock motorcycle stars blessed grounds riding their super sportbikes. Check out some of the action shots from the event.

4.60 winner Dystany Spurlock during eliminations

NHRA Pro stock motorcycle racer Joey Gladstone on his HTP super stock GSXR 1000

 

Winners:

Bracket Et:

Winner Taylor Dunham

Runner Up Rick Butler

5.60 Index

Winner Taylor Dunham

Runner Up Jeremy Brown Happy Birthday JB

$50 Bounty Russell Dennison Jr.

4.60 Index

Winner Dystany Spurlock

Runner Up Ronnie Procoppio

Super Stock

Winner : Joseph Gladstone

Big Boy Shootout

Winner : Derek Shelton

Street Tire

Winner: James Taylor

THC Shootout

Winner: Problem Child

PDRA Pro Line Racing Mid-Atlantic Showdown

PDRA Pro Line Racing Mid- Atlantic Showdown July 23-25 at Virginia Motorsports Park

PDRA Pro Line Racing Mid-Atlantic Showdown, presented by: Line-X


Professional Class Line-Up

We will be contesting all of our professional categories at the third stop on the #PDRA tour. This will include 

Switzer Dynamics

 Pro Nitrous, 

Penske Racing Shocks

 / 

Precision Racing Suspension

 Pro Boost, presented by: WS Construction, 

Liberty's Gears

 Extreme Pro Stock, 

Drag965

 Pro Nitrous Motorcycle, 

Shameless Racing

 Pro Outlaw 632 and the new 

Drag965

 Pro Street category, presented by: 

Vortech Superchargers

 - bringing small tire racing to the #PDRA for the second time this season.

Mark your calendars now as the Pro pits will be jam-packed at 

Virginia Motorsports Park

 on July 23-25 with the best in the business fighting it out at the PDRA 

Pro Line Racing

 Mid-Atlantic Showdown, presented by: 

Frederick LINE-X

 
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