ADRL Battle for the Belts Taking Shape
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<img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/Deby706/PX-Leader_Hernandez1.jpg"
<br><font color="Navy">Pro Extreme Battle for the Belts points leader Joshua Hernandez opened his 2008 ADRL season with wins at Houston, TX, Valdosta, GA, and in the final from Martin, MI, that was postponed by rain and completed during Friday-night qualifying at the most recent event in Radford, VA. Hernandez also went to the final at Radford, where his winning streak was broken by Travis Swearingen.</font>
<p> 7-9-08 O’FALLON, MO — Halfway through the 2008 racing season, the Battle for the Belts points chase in all four professional classes of the Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL) presented by the National Guard is in full swing.
Each year the last national event on the ADRL’s schedule serves dual purposes: it crowns champions with Friday-night Battle for the Belts showdowns between the top-eight points earners in each class heading into the event, and on Saturday presents a whole new race and the ability for competitors to begin earning points toward entering the next season’s Battle for the Belts.
“This format guarantees year-end excitement and gives our top eight competitors in each class a playoff system where they only have to race against each other to determine the champions,” ADRL President Kenny Nowling explained. “We’ve done it this way since the ADRL’s first full season in 2005 and it’s been very well received by both racers and fans. To be honest, I love it, too.”
With five events remaining on the nine-race ’08 ADRL schedule, Texan Joshua Hernandez has built up a commanding lead in the supercharged Pro Extreme points race based on winning the first three events this year with his National Guard-sponsored ’57 Chevy. Young gun Travis Swearingen gained two positions to sit second in his 1941 Willys after breaking Hernandez’s winning streak at the ADRL’s most recent event, July 6, at Motor Mile Dragway in Radford, Virginia.
Bubba Stanton, the 2006 Pro Extreme champion, is currently third, followed by reigning class champ Jason Scruggs, who fell two positions after suffering a rare DNQ at Radford. Texas racer Frankie Taylor, followed by Bil Clanton, Mike Neal and Wes Johnston round out the current top eight, with Dwayne Watkins making a big jump to ninth from 14th place with his quarter-final finish in Virginia.
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<img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/Deby706/PN-Leader_Harper1.jpg"
<br><font color="Navy">Billy Harper has the hottest car in the ADRL right now, consistently laying down low-3.9-seconds passes over the eighth mile that have carried him to three consecutive Pro Nitrous national-event wins and propelled him into the Battle for the Belts points lead.</font>
<p>Lately in Pro Nitrous it’s been the Billy Harper show, as the former Kentucky gubernatorial candidate won the past three ADRL events with record-setting—and bonus points-paying—performances in his 2000 Dodge Viper. Harper vaulted from third to first with his most recent win, leading teammate Dennis Radford, Randy Weatherford, Stan Allen and Jim Halsey, who fell from second after missing the most recent race.
Tim Savell, Shannon Jenkins and Harold Martin in the National Guard Pro Nitrous entry complete the current Belt contenders, with Doug Riesterer, Burton Auxier and defending class champ Jamie Hancock next in line to make a run at qualifying for the Belt showdown.
<p style="width:310px;float:left;font-weight:bold;padding-right:0px;">
<img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/Deby706/XTF-Leader_Hill1.jpg"
<br><font color="Navy">Despite skipping the Michigan race and making a quarter-finals exit at the ADRL’s latest event at Radford, VA, Mike “Hit Man” Hill is retaining his lead in the 2008 ADRL Battle for the Belts points chase.</font>
<p>The Extreme 10.5 class, named for the car’s relatively narrow 10.5-inch-wide rear slicks, has Georgia racer Mike Hill and his ’63 Corvette on top with a slight advantage over last year’s Belt winner Steve Gorman, who swapped spots with third-place Michelle Wilson after she opted out of making the trip from Texas to Virginia.
Gary White and his ’07 Scion tc, the only import car making a full-time run at an ADRL title, sits fourth, followed by E.T. record holder Steve Kirk Jr., Todd Moyer, Radford winner Billy Glidden and David Janes. Glidden’s rise from 13th to seventh bumped Cory Wheat out of the top eight to ninth place.
By far the tightest current Belts battle is in Pro Extreme Motorcycle where points worth less than one round’s win separate the top-four earners so far. Defending series champion Billy Vose climbed from fourth to first after a semi-final finish at Radford, while his victorious opponent, Ron Procopio, leapt all the way up to second from eighth place.
<p style="width:310px;float:right;font-weight:bold;padding-right:0px;">
<img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/Deby706/CProphit11-1.jpg"
<br><font color="Navy">After qualifying fourth and reaching the semi-finals at the most recent ADRL event in Radford, VA, reigning Pro Extreme Motorcycle world champion Billy Vose vaulted from fourth to first place on the 2008 ADRL Battle for the Belts points list</font>
<p>Race winner Charlie Prophit is third, with T.T. Jones, Coodee Thomas, and Prophit’s brother Matt sixth in his rookie season. Class organizer Monte Campbell is currently seventh, with Jack Young holding on to the eighth spot just ahead of Ron Clark and Scott Gray.
The next race in the ADRL’s 2008 season is the inaugural 1-800-Go-Guard.com U.S. Drags at Maryland International Raceway in Budd’s Creek, Maryland. The 2008 Battle for the Belts will be settled Oct. 24, as part of the 4th annual ADRL World Finals at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas, near Dallas.
ABOUT FLOWMASTER
Flowmaster, Inc. is housed in two ultra-modern facilities in Santa Rosa and West Sacramento, California, together totaling over 400,000 square feet. Flowmaster employs over 250 workers dedicated to building the highest quality U.S.-made exhaust products available. Flowmaster’s product line includes exhaust products for Performance Street, Muscle Cars, Trucks, Street Rods, RVs, Motorhomes, and all types of race applications. With more than 400 different muffler models, 370-plus exhaust systems and numerous exhaust accessories available, Flowmaster offers the choice to fit your specific vehicle needs, or your sound preference from "wild to mild."
ABOUT THE NATIONAL GUARD
The National Guard is the oldest component of the Armed Forces of the United States and one of the nation’s longest enduring institutions. The National Guard operates in all 50 states, three territories (Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands) and the District of Columbia.
ABOUT THE ADRL
Based in O’Fallon, Missouri, the American Drag Racing League is the nation’s premier sanctioning body for the sport of eighth-mile drag racing. The professional categories featured in the ADRL are Pro Extreme Motorcycle, Extreme 10.5, Pro Nitrous, and Pro Extreme, the quickest doorslammer class in all of drag racing. The 2008 Flowmaster ADRL series presented by the National Guard consists of nine national events run throughout the United States.
<p style="width:310px;float:left;font-weight:bold;padding-right:0px;">
<img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/Deby706/PX-Leader_Hernandez1.jpg"
<br><font color="Navy">Pro Extreme Battle for the Belts points leader Joshua Hernandez opened his 2008 ADRL season with wins at Houston, TX, Valdosta, GA, and in the final from Martin, MI, that was postponed by rain and completed during Friday-night qualifying at the most recent event in Radford, VA. Hernandez also went to the final at Radford, where his winning streak was broken by Travis Swearingen.</font>
<p> 7-9-08 O’FALLON, MO — Halfway through the 2008 racing season, the Battle for the Belts points chase in all four professional classes of the Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL) presented by the National Guard is in full swing.
Each year the last national event on the ADRL’s schedule serves dual purposes: it crowns champions with Friday-night Battle for the Belts showdowns between the top-eight points earners in each class heading into the event, and on Saturday presents a whole new race and the ability for competitors to begin earning points toward entering the next season’s Battle for the Belts.
“This format guarantees year-end excitement and gives our top eight competitors in each class a playoff system where they only have to race against each other to determine the champions,” ADRL President Kenny Nowling explained. “We’ve done it this way since the ADRL’s first full season in 2005 and it’s been very well received by both racers and fans. To be honest, I love it, too.”
With five events remaining on the nine-race ’08 ADRL schedule, Texan Joshua Hernandez has built up a commanding lead in the supercharged Pro Extreme points race based on winning the first three events this year with his National Guard-sponsored ’57 Chevy. Young gun Travis Swearingen gained two positions to sit second in his 1941 Willys after breaking Hernandez’s winning streak at the ADRL’s most recent event, July 6, at Motor Mile Dragway in Radford, Virginia.
Bubba Stanton, the 2006 Pro Extreme champion, is currently third, followed by reigning class champ Jason Scruggs, who fell two positions after suffering a rare DNQ at Radford. Texas racer Frankie Taylor, followed by Bil Clanton, Mike Neal and Wes Johnston round out the current top eight, with Dwayne Watkins making a big jump to ninth from 14th place with his quarter-final finish in Virginia.
<p style="width:310px;float:right;font-weight:bold;padding-right:0px;">
<img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/Deby706/PN-Leader_Harper1.jpg"
<br><font color="Navy">Billy Harper has the hottest car in the ADRL right now, consistently laying down low-3.9-seconds passes over the eighth mile that have carried him to three consecutive Pro Nitrous national-event wins and propelled him into the Battle for the Belts points lead.</font>
<p>Lately in Pro Nitrous it’s been the Billy Harper show, as the former Kentucky gubernatorial candidate won the past three ADRL events with record-setting—and bonus points-paying—performances in his 2000 Dodge Viper. Harper vaulted from third to first with his most recent win, leading teammate Dennis Radford, Randy Weatherford, Stan Allen and Jim Halsey, who fell from second after missing the most recent race.
Tim Savell, Shannon Jenkins and Harold Martin in the National Guard Pro Nitrous entry complete the current Belt contenders, with Doug Riesterer, Burton Auxier and defending class champ Jamie Hancock next in line to make a run at qualifying for the Belt showdown.
<p style="width:310px;float:left;font-weight:bold;padding-right:0px;">
<img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/Deby706/XTF-Leader_Hill1.jpg"
<br><font color="Navy">Despite skipping the Michigan race and making a quarter-finals exit at the ADRL’s latest event at Radford, VA, Mike “Hit Man” Hill is retaining his lead in the 2008 ADRL Battle for the Belts points chase.</font>
<p>The Extreme 10.5 class, named for the car’s relatively narrow 10.5-inch-wide rear slicks, has Georgia racer Mike Hill and his ’63 Corvette on top with a slight advantage over last year’s Belt winner Steve Gorman, who swapped spots with third-place Michelle Wilson after she opted out of making the trip from Texas to Virginia.
Gary White and his ’07 Scion tc, the only import car making a full-time run at an ADRL title, sits fourth, followed by E.T. record holder Steve Kirk Jr., Todd Moyer, Radford winner Billy Glidden and David Janes. Glidden’s rise from 13th to seventh bumped Cory Wheat out of the top eight to ninth place.
By far the tightest current Belts battle is in Pro Extreme Motorcycle where points worth less than one round’s win separate the top-four earners so far. Defending series champion Billy Vose climbed from fourth to first after a semi-final finish at Radford, while his victorious opponent, Ron Procopio, leapt all the way up to second from eighth place.
<p style="width:310px;float:right;font-weight:bold;padding-right:0px;">
<img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/Deby706/CProphit11-1.jpg"
<br><font color="Navy">After qualifying fourth and reaching the semi-finals at the most recent ADRL event in Radford, VA, reigning Pro Extreme Motorcycle world champion Billy Vose vaulted from fourth to first place on the 2008 ADRL Battle for the Belts points list</font>
<p>Race winner Charlie Prophit is third, with T.T. Jones, Coodee Thomas, and Prophit’s brother Matt sixth in his rookie season. Class organizer Monte Campbell is currently seventh, with Jack Young holding on to the eighth spot just ahead of Ron Clark and Scott Gray.
The next race in the ADRL’s 2008 season is the inaugural 1-800-Go-Guard.com U.S. Drags at Maryland International Raceway in Budd’s Creek, Maryland. The 2008 Battle for the Belts will be settled Oct. 24, as part of the 4th annual ADRL World Finals at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas, near Dallas.
ABOUT FLOWMASTER
Flowmaster, Inc. is housed in two ultra-modern facilities in Santa Rosa and West Sacramento, California, together totaling over 400,000 square feet. Flowmaster employs over 250 workers dedicated to building the highest quality U.S.-made exhaust products available. Flowmaster’s product line includes exhaust products for Performance Street, Muscle Cars, Trucks, Street Rods, RVs, Motorhomes, and all types of race applications. With more than 400 different muffler models, 370-plus exhaust systems and numerous exhaust accessories available, Flowmaster offers the choice to fit your specific vehicle needs, or your sound preference from "wild to mild."
ABOUT THE NATIONAL GUARD
The National Guard is the oldest component of the Armed Forces of the United States and one of the nation’s longest enduring institutions. The National Guard operates in all 50 states, three territories (Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands) and the District of Columbia.
ABOUT THE ADRL
Based in O’Fallon, Missouri, the American Drag Racing League is the nation’s premier sanctioning body for the sport of eighth-mile drag racing. The professional categories featured in the ADRL are Pro Extreme Motorcycle, Extreme 10.5, Pro Nitrous, and Pro Extreme, the quickest doorslammer class in all of drag racing. The 2008 Flowmaster ADRL series presented by the National Guard consists of nine national events run throughout the United States.
