PHOTOS: RICK BELDEN, TARA BOWKER, TIM HAILEY

PRO EXTREME

A 3.52-second blast at nearly 220 mph is an impressive lap no matter the conditions. It was the quickest and fastest pass of the weekend in Pro Extreme, but it wasn’ t exactly what No. 1 qualifier Jason Scruggs was looking for. Scruggs, who has partnered with car owner Roger Henson for a limited schedule this season, had every intention of dipping well into the 3.4-second zone in Henson’ s screw-blown’ 69 Camaro in both qualifying and eliminations.

“ We were trying to run in the forties on race day,” Scruggs said.“ We were on a 3.48 at 223 in the first round – it was on a real good run – but the car was trying to carry the front end over toward the center line and I had to lift. In the final, we felt like we could take the conservative approach and run a 3.5 or we could treat it like another qualifying round and try to run a. 47 or. 48. That’ s what we were trying to do, but it didn’ t work out. The car rattled a little bit, went into a power wheelie and unloaded the back tires.”

PRO NITROUS

Pro Nitrous heavy hitter Jay Cox entered the new season with a chip on his shoulder. After the loss of his primary sponsor over the winter left him unsure of his ability to race this year, Cox was determined to come out swinging. His barrage of 3.6-second passes throughout the season-opener proved that Cox is capable of race-winning performances even when the odds aren’ t necessarily in his favor.

“ I have so many things going against me,” Cox said.“ To come out and run like that, it gives me a lot of hope that maybe someone will come along and want to be a part of this.”

PRO BOOST

Known primarily as the driver of Mel Bush’ s successful screw-blown entries, Tommy D’ Aprile regularly found himself in the top half of the qualifying order in Pro Extreme for several years. While Bush retired over the offseason, D’ Aprile returned to competition early this year behind the wheel of a Roots-blown’ 69 Camaro owned and tuned by Al Billes, who also provides the supercharger atop the Noonan

Race Engineering powerplant. The duo kicked off the 2018 Pro Boost campaign with a stout 3.678 to qualify No. 1, then charged to a semifinal finish.

“ We went to Florida for the first race and ran very well but we had to make some changes,” D’ Aprile said.“ We came out for the second race and ended up qualifying No. 1 and winning the race. To come here and qualify No. 1 again and make it to the semifinals against a tough class like this, I’ m just blown away.”

EXTREME PRO STOCK

There was a lot of noise surrounding the first 3-second pass in Extreme Pro Stock leading up to the East Coast Spring Nationals, but the driver who made perhaps the strongest statement was Jeff Dobbins, who is driving the’ 14 Dodge Avenger previously campaigned by mountain motor Pro Stock veteran Larry O’ Brien. Dobbins uncorked a 4.007 in pre-race testing Wednesday evening, tickling the elusive barrier just enough to build confidence that the mark would fall during competition. The North Carolina driver was also the closest to the threes in qualifying with his 4.058, but neither Dobbins nor his competitors could light up the scoreboard with a 3-second pass in eliminations, leaving the historic mark to be settled at a later date.

“ Our team is going to race as fast as we can every run,” Dobbins said.“ We’ re not going to go out and lay up. We’ re going to do the best we can. If the track will hold it, I don’ t see a 3-second run being a problem.”

PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE

An offseason rule change allowing turbocharged bikes in Pro Extreme Motorcycle was expected to draw new competitors to the PDRA’ s only two-wheeled class. One of the teams to join the class because of the new rules was Williford Racing, which brought out not only a turbocharged bike for Ehren Litten, but also a nitrous entry for Rodney Williford. While some nitrous stalwarts in the class feared the new turbo bikes, the nitrous bikes proved superior – at least for now – as Terry Schweigert qualified No. 1 and Williford won the event.

“ It’ s been a crazy week,” Williford said.“ I told Ehren he was crazy when he said we’ re going to race a turbo bike and a nitrous bike, but it all worked out in the end. It’ s like a dream come true. The moon and the stars aligned and we came out with a win at the end of the night. I couldn’ t be happier.”

PDRA660. com 101