WES DISTEFANO COLLECTS PRO 632 ’ S BIGGEST PAYDAY
�Wes Distefano entered the World Doorslammer Nationals with the No . 1 on his window as the defending world champion in PDRA Pro Outlaw 632 . His Musi 632-powered $ hameless Racing ’ 68 Camaro qualified No . 3 , giving him a solid start going into Sunday eliminations . He continued running strong all day , firing off a 4.158-second pass at 173.07 to defeat defending event champion Dillon Voss and his 4.246 at 168.45 in the final round .
“ We were working on some things and we were pretty consistent ,” Distefano said . “ We knew we were chipping away at the little stuff and sneaking up on it [ going into eliminations ]. With the weather today , it just came to us . In this kind of air , everybody is going to run incredible . We just figured it out to the point where we ran the best .”
Distefano collected a class-record $ 15,000 payday for his winning efforts . Along with the Holdorf family and C & C Pumping , Distefano and $ hameless Racing put up money so the class could race for its highest payout alongside the marquee Pro Stock and Pro Mod classes .
“ It ’ s great to recoup some of that ,” Distefano joked . “ We had the odds stacked against us when you put up money like that . It was good to overcome the adversity and come out on top . We ’ ve supported and promoted the 632 class and I think we ’ re seeing the growth of that . This big payout encourages people to continue building cars knowing that this class is strong , it ’ s going to be around , and that there ’ s going to be strong car count and participation .”
Distefano ran a 4.233 at 171.27 to beat Bobby Starr ’ s 4.276 in the opening round . He dipped into the 4.10s with a 4.199 at 172.04 in the second round , beating Walter Lannigan and his 4.274 . The Michigan-based driver improved to a 4.161 at 173.03 in the semifinals . He was set to face No . 2 qualifier Jimmy Pelcarsky , who had issues off the starting line .
Along with his parents , David and Brenda Swallow , Distefano mentioned his sponsors and suppliers for playing a major role in his success .
“ We worked with our sponsors and suppliers like Marty Chance at Neal Chance Racing Converters and Carl Rossler at Rossler Transmission ,” Distefano said . “ We were working on a new converter . Also , we put on a new wheel from Race Star Wheels that they thought would help us out and everything really came together .”
Voss qualified No . 4 in his Voss Racing Engines-powered ’ 17 Corvette , then raced past Tony Lobaldo , Chris Holdorf and No . 1 qualifier Daryl Stewart on his way to the final round .
– NATE VAN WAGNEN DI
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