NHRA Dodge Nationals Winners
Reading Recap
The 20th stop on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yellow tour and the final stop for the right coast brought us to Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, PA for the 33th annual Dodge Nationals. This is the first time in a few years that the forecast for this even did not have a drop of rain in the area. In years past this even was run a week or 2 later in the year because the forecast is always so dismal and Mother Nature doesn’t ever disappoint, especially in the hills of PA. Most of the drivers were stacking/parking on Monday or Tuesday with Charlotte being run the week before. D1 racers in the area will usually drop their rigs off then go to work for a few days and come back for the National event, then again leave their rigs beached for another 2 weeks until the ever so popular Dutch Classic.
The weekend for racing was pretty much perfect with 4 time trials in each category and class runs in Super Stock, and did I mention no rain at Maple Grove? Tech was nonexistent, but I did see a few cars go into the “barn” for tear down, none of the participants were in there for a lengthy period of time, and I didn’t hear any horror stories of competitors being bounced. The track surface was great and the eliminations went smooth with some really competitive runs being thrown down in early rounds of Stock and Super Stock. At the end of the event we only had 1 first time winner and in every single sportsman final there was at least 1 D1 racer!
Comp: Tom Martino over Scott Benham
Martino was the “veteran” winner in the sportsman ranks as he grabs his 7th Wally and his 1st in Comp. Neither of these drivers will get an award for best reaction time as Martino had the better of the 2 with a .104 (Benham .134). At the end of the track Martino had more power and was able to stay ahead for the win at 8.684 on the 9.21 index. Benham was qualified in at the #6 spot at -.693 under his index, but could only run an 8.232 on the 8.71 index, giving the win to Martino by almost a tenth at the stripe.
Super Stock: Byron Worner over Anthony Bertozzi
Get your popcorn ready as 2 east coast Super Stock heavy weights battle it out, with Worner prevailing and collecting his 6th National Event win. Byron gets the clean tree, and knocks it down with a .008 reaction time, shortly after Bertozzi let go with his worst light of the weekend, .029. At the finish line it was all zeros with the math adding up to be .000 stripe, unfortunately Bertozzi had to break out in order to make it that, running 9.062 on the 9.07 dial. After the .008 bulb Worner ran 9.863 on the 9.85 dial, shutting out Bertozzi and his .029 light with a .021 total package.
Stock: Karl Martel over Lenny Williams
Williams cannot hold off Martel after giving up the starting line advantage, which allows Karl Martel to get his 1st ever win in his 1st ever final round. As usual, Lenny Williams was off to the races first in the big ole Buick with an 11.09 dial and a .064 light. Just about a second later, after a huge wheel stand, Martel puts about 5 hun in his pocket with a .015 light and goes around Williams before 1000’ to run 10.262 on the 10.24 dial, giving Williams no chance at victory while running 11.139.
Super Comp: Lauren Freer over Jeff Kundratic
After qualifying #1 by running dead on 1 in the 1st round of eliminations, Lauren Freer gets the trophy on Sunday and makes it her 4th overall. Although she was behind at the start with a .022 light compared to the .009 of Kundratic, Freer had the better car and ran under by just .001 (8.899) on the 8.90 index. Kundratic, who was getting chased over 10 mph, took too much finish line and broke out by more, going 8.869, handing the double breakout win over to Freer.
Super Gas: Kevin Robb over Ray Sawyer
Robb also gets his 4th National event win by virtue of a double breakout over a member of the Sawyer racin’ family. Robb made a near perfect run in the final with a .007 light and went 9.899 on the 9.90 index, showing .006 total to Sawyer. Regrettably Ray Sawyer waiting just a little too long before hitting the brakes and ran under by 7 thou more at 9.892, with a .025 light.
Photos By – Auto Imagery