MADISON, IL (August 7, 2010) – Alex Hossler’s first American Drag Racing League (ADRL) win 10 months ago ended with the Pro Extreme driver crossing the finish line with his car on fire in one of more memorable ADRL finishes.
In Hossler’s eyes, however, the Canton, IL native topped himself on Saturday during the Hardee’s Gateway Drags III at Gateway International Raceway (GIR).
With more than 100 friends, family and co-workers looking on, Hossler was never better and it paid off with his second career ADRL PX win.
His ’71 Camaro went a Saturday-best 3.69 at 203 miles per hour, beating Gaylen Smith in an entertaining final before a massive overflow crowd at GIR.
“(The 3.69) put quite the exclamation point on the coolest win I’ve ever had,”
Hossler said. “I don’t know how I could have made it any better.
“There is no race I would rather win. This is definitely the highlight of my ADRL
career. This has been great, to share this experience with all the people I care about.”
Joining Hossler in the winner’s circle was Shannon Jenkins in Pro Nitrous, Chuck Ulsch in Extreme 10.5, Ashley Owens in Pro Extreme Motorcycle, Brian Gahm in Extreme Pro Stock and Alexander Oppen in Pro Junior Dragster.
The capacity crowd soaked in the record-breaking weekend, as track E.T. and speed records were broken in every class over the two-day stretch.
Ulsch capped his amazing day with one more record, as his 3.99 run in the finals against Billy Glidden came at 206.55 mph, giving him the new world speed record in XTF.
That it came during a finals victory was simply icing on the cake for the
Clarksville, MD native. “I saw the win light and that’s all I needed to see,” Ulsch said. “This was real cool because I lost this race (in the finals) last year. Anytime you can win, it’s great.”
The location added plenty more for Hossler, but how he did it was also meaningful. After qualifying fifth, Hossler went 3.74 in the opening round and then knocked off Frankie Taylor a round later with a 3.76 at 204 mph.
That gave him KH Al-Thani in the semifinals and the buzz at GIR in preparation for that race was palpable. But it was Hossler who prevailed, denying Al-Thani of his second win in two days with a 3.75 to set up his terrific finals run. “Anybody that tells you don’t get jacked up for something like that, you’re lying.
You do get jacked up,” Hossler said of his semifinal matchup against Al-Thani.
“You just have to try to block that out and do what you always do.”
After wrecking in Houston two weeks ago, Jenkins has been driving the car of
teammate Mike Castellana in Pro Nitrous. It was a lethal combination on Saturday, as Jenkins went 3.88 at 193 mph to deny Randy Weatherford of his first ADRL win.
Instead, Jenkins picked up his class-best ninth – and it still felt as good as his
first. “This is why I still do it,” Jenkins said in the winner’s circle. “Winning is all I dream and think about.” Before that, though, Jenkins had to overcome the crash in Houston and some difficulty on Friday with Castellana’s car.
But after staying up until 2:30 a.m. correcting the problems, Jenkins went 3.93 in the final qualifying session to set the tone for the day. He got better in each round, going 3.92 to beat Burton Auxier in the second round and 3.91 to top Stan Allen in the semifinals.
“We’re just racing for Mike,” Jenkins said. “We came out with that .93 in qualifying and it felt like a different car. After that, we knew we could win.”
Ulsch’s path to the finals was eerily similar to a year ago at the track, as he met Jeff Naiser and Gary White in the second and third rounds, respectively, for the second straight time.
He had passes of 4.03 at 205 mph and 4.02 to reach the finals, and this time he got the better of Glidden, who cut a perfect .000 light but shut the car off shortly after.
“Hopefully this puts us back in the mix. Every little bit helps,” Ulsch said. “We
made major changes before every run and we threw some stuff out there. We got where we want to be.”
It was the same old dominant story for Owens, as the Decatur, AL native made it a double-win weekend after also qualifying first.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the “Fast by Gast” driver, who went 4.09 at 174 mph to beat Kim Morrell’s 4.16 in the finals.
Morrell was making her first finals appearance, but had to relent to Owens, who now has a remarkable six wins in seven ADRL races.
“It’s hard to keep this going,” Owens said. “All the little stuff and there’s so
many things that goes into this, it’s just unreal. It’s been a wonderful thing.”
Owens cut a .013 light in the finals, which is simply par for the course in the 2010 season.
His ’07 Suzuki went 4.11 in the first round, a weekend-best 4.08 at 175 mph in the quarterfinals and a 4.10 to put him in the finals, where he remains perfect on the season.
“There’s quite a few people that stepped up and we were just trying to get that win light,” Owens said. “There’s a lot of tough people out here, but everything went good and the bike was real consistent.”
Consistent was also what Gahm kept coming back to en route to picking up his second win of the year.
He didn’t put up monster numbers – though his 4.11 in the finals was strong – but he never went worse than 4.15 on Saturday.
Gahm went a 4.13 at 173 mph to beat Cary Goforth in the semifinals, and Cale
Aronson, making his first finals appearance, timed out on the starting line in the finals.
“We ran consistent all day,” Gahm said. “We weren’t the fastest but we were right there. The guys did a great job of reading the track all day.”
Aronson reached the finals by knocking off red-hot John Montecalvo, denying
Montecalvo the chance to become the first ADRL driver to win five straight races.
That opened the door for Gahm, who gladly took advantage on a productive Saturday.
“We’re always ready to win, but (Montecalvo’s) Chevy has been hard to deal with,” Gahm said. “We’re very happy. It was a great weekend.”
In Pro Junior Dragster, Oppen picked up the win, getting a red-light victory against Kyle Dvorak.
Oppen, a Kenosha, WI native, had a reaction time of .057 and went 7.93 at 80.96 mph.
The ADRL returns to action on September 10-11 for the ADRL Simpson Dragstock VII
from Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, NC.
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 Extreme Pro Stock, Pro Extreme Motorcycle,
Extreme 10.5, Pro Nitrous and Pro Extreme, the quickest doorslammer class in all of
drag racing. The 2010 ADRL tour consists of 10 national events run throughout the
United States. For more information on the ADRL, visit ADRL.us :: American Drag Racing League.
In Hossler’s eyes, however, the Canton, IL native topped himself on Saturday during the Hardee’s Gateway Drags III at Gateway International Raceway (GIR).
With more than 100 friends, family and co-workers looking on, Hossler was never better and it paid off with his second career ADRL PX win.
His ’71 Camaro went a Saturday-best 3.69 at 203 miles per hour, beating Gaylen Smith in an entertaining final before a massive overflow crowd at GIR.
“(The 3.69) put quite the exclamation point on the coolest win I’ve ever had,”
Hossler said. “I don’t know how I could have made it any better.
“There is no race I would rather win. This is definitely the highlight of my ADRL
career. This has been great, to share this experience with all the people I care about.”
Joining Hossler in the winner’s circle was Shannon Jenkins in Pro Nitrous, Chuck Ulsch in Extreme 10.5, Ashley Owens in Pro Extreme Motorcycle, Brian Gahm in Extreme Pro Stock and Alexander Oppen in Pro Junior Dragster.
The capacity crowd soaked in the record-breaking weekend, as track E.T. and speed records were broken in every class over the two-day stretch.
Ulsch capped his amazing day with one more record, as his 3.99 run in the finals against Billy Glidden came at 206.55 mph, giving him the new world speed record in XTF.
That it came during a finals victory was simply icing on the cake for the
Clarksville, MD native. “I saw the win light and that’s all I needed to see,” Ulsch said. “This was real cool because I lost this race (in the finals) last year. Anytime you can win, it’s great.”
The location added plenty more for Hossler, but how he did it was also meaningful. After qualifying fifth, Hossler went 3.74 in the opening round and then knocked off Frankie Taylor a round later with a 3.76 at 204 mph.
That gave him KH Al-Thani in the semifinals and the buzz at GIR in preparation for that race was palpable. But it was Hossler who prevailed, denying Al-Thani of his second win in two days with a 3.75 to set up his terrific finals run. “Anybody that tells you don’t get jacked up for something like that, you’re lying.
You do get jacked up,” Hossler said of his semifinal matchup against Al-Thani.
“You just have to try to block that out and do what you always do.”
After wrecking in Houston two weeks ago, Jenkins has been driving the car of
teammate Mike Castellana in Pro Nitrous. It was a lethal combination on Saturday, as Jenkins went 3.88 at 193 mph to deny Randy Weatherford of his first ADRL win.
Instead, Jenkins picked up his class-best ninth – and it still felt as good as his
first. “This is why I still do it,” Jenkins said in the winner’s circle. “Winning is all I dream and think about.” Before that, though, Jenkins had to overcome the crash in Houston and some difficulty on Friday with Castellana’s car.
But after staying up until 2:30 a.m. correcting the problems, Jenkins went 3.93 in the final qualifying session to set the tone for the day. He got better in each round, going 3.92 to beat Burton Auxier in the second round and 3.91 to top Stan Allen in the semifinals.
“We’re just racing for Mike,” Jenkins said. “We came out with that .93 in qualifying and it felt like a different car. After that, we knew we could win.”
Ulsch’s path to the finals was eerily similar to a year ago at the track, as he met Jeff Naiser and Gary White in the second and third rounds, respectively, for the second straight time.
He had passes of 4.03 at 205 mph and 4.02 to reach the finals, and this time he got the better of Glidden, who cut a perfect .000 light but shut the car off shortly after.
“Hopefully this puts us back in the mix. Every little bit helps,” Ulsch said. “We
made major changes before every run and we threw some stuff out there. We got where we want to be.”
It was the same old dominant story for Owens, as the Decatur, AL native made it a double-win weekend after also qualifying first.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the “Fast by Gast” driver, who went 4.09 at 174 mph to beat Kim Morrell’s 4.16 in the finals.
Morrell was making her first finals appearance, but had to relent to Owens, who now has a remarkable six wins in seven ADRL races.
“It’s hard to keep this going,” Owens said. “All the little stuff and there’s so
many things that goes into this, it’s just unreal. It’s been a wonderful thing.”
Owens cut a .013 light in the finals, which is simply par for the course in the 2010 season.
His ’07 Suzuki went 4.11 in the first round, a weekend-best 4.08 at 175 mph in the quarterfinals and a 4.10 to put him in the finals, where he remains perfect on the season.
“There’s quite a few people that stepped up and we were just trying to get that win light,” Owens said. “There’s a lot of tough people out here, but everything went good and the bike was real consistent.”
Consistent was also what Gahm kept coming back to en route to picking up his second win of the year.
He didn’t put up monster numbers – though his 4.11 in the finals was strong – but he never went worse than 4.15 on Saturday.
Gahm went a 4.13 at 173 mph to beat Cary Goforth in the semifinals, and Cale
Aronson, making his first finals appearance, timed out on the starting line in the finals.
“We ran consistent all day,” Gahm said. “We weren’t the fastest but we were right there. The guys did a great job of reading the track all day.”
Aronson reached the finals by knocking off red-hot John Montecalvo, denying
Montecalvo the chance to become the first ADRL driver to win five straight races.
That opened the door for Gahm, who gladly took advantage on a productive Saturday.
“We’re always ready to win, but (Montecalvo’s) Chevy has been hard to deal with,” Gahm said. “We’re very happy. It was a great weekend.”
In Pro Junior Dragster, Oppen picked up the win, getting a red-light victory against Kyle Dvorak.
Oppen, a Kenosha, WI native, had a reaction time of .057 and went 7.93 at 80.96 mph.
The ADRL returns to action on September 10-11 for the ADRL Simpson Dragstock VII
from Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, NC.
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 Extreme Pro Stock, Pro Extreme Motorcycle,
Extreme 10.5, Pro Nitrous and Pro Extreme, the quickest doorslammer class in all of
drag racing. The 2010 ADRL tour consists of 10 national events run throughout the
United States. For more information on the ADRL, visit ADRL.us :: American Drag Racing League.
