Race Recap

Top Fuel

Scott Whipple had a great weekend with the Canidae TF entry taking home the race victory and both ends of the world record. Top Fuel started out on Friday with a rough first session on Friday led by Terri Blair’s Fugowie entry with a 2.481. Whipple would steal the show in the night session by setting the E.T. end of the record with a 2.345-159.65mph pass. That run would serve as low qualifier for the weekend. Terri Blair’s Friday pass ended up as the #2 qualifier with Dennis Rieck (2.482) and Chris Barlow (2.491) rounding out the top half of the field. 

In round one, Whipple would get a single as Jeff Janoe’s rough season continued and he would be unable to make the call. Scott ran it all out on the single to a 2.386-162.85mph shot. Dennis Reick came up next and drove the Hammer Down entry past Mike Peasley 2.458-2.879. “Mr. Explosive” Mark Sanders came up just short against Terri Blair 2.605-2.632 in the third pair while Chris Barlow won an extremely close race over Charlie Brown 2.515-2.551 with a MOV of .009. The first pair of round two saw the Canidae teammates Whipple and Barlow face off with Scott taking a close 2.470-2.597 decision. Dennis Rieck advanced to face off with Whipple in the final after a 2.578-2.579 victory against Terri Blair. In the final round, Dennis’ Hammer Down entry had a lead to 60’ before he was forced to lift and Whipple laid down another great pass 2.435-161.29mph to top off his great weekend. Scott ended up with the E.T. record at 2.345 and MPH at 162.85. The win also increased Scott’s lead in the NSDA points battle over 2nd place Dennis Rieck. 


Scott Whipple was the Primm TF winner and also leads the NSDA point series.


Dennis Rieck was runner-up in TF and ran a best of 2.459 on the weekend.


Terri Blair qualified #2 with a 2.48 and made it to the semi-final round.


Chris Barlow had a good outing in the Canidae "Turtle's Toy" car, making it to the semi-final round.

Top Alcohol

Mike DeNunzio emerge the winner in a wild race for the Top Alcohol class in NSDA’s first trip to Primm. Richard “Top Dog” Montiel looked to be the class of the field during qualifying, ending up with the top spot with a 2.500-142mph. Montiel was followed by the Frederosa Racing entry of Shane Sanford with a 2.542, DeNunzio’s 2.588, and Gary Mink’s 2.591 in the top half of the field. Round one was where the fun began. Number one qualifier Montiel was upset by Nick Januik’s front engine dragster taking the win with a 2.727-2.589, Nick’s .054-.300 reaction time was the difference. DeNunzio would go low for the first round with a 2.577 on a single pass when Shane Switzer could not get his car started. Shane Sanford and Gary Mink ran low 2.6’s to advance to the semi-final round. The first pair saw Shane Sanford’s winning streak go down with clutch problems as DeNunzio’s Canidae car took the win 2.627-2.696. DeNunzio would have lane choice over Gary Mink’s “Bad to the Bone” ride as Gary went 2.650 in defeat of Nick Januik’s 2.718. The final round ended up being anti-climatic as DeNunzio took a double red light victory 2.740-2.691. Mike’s .004 red was the lesser of as Mink was -.031. DeNunzio’s win topped off a Canidae sweep of the Top Fuel and Top Alcohol classes. Heading into the fourth NSDA race of the season, Sanford is leading the points, 16 points ahead of DeNunzio and 22 ahead of Mink with Dan Allen rounding out the Top 4.


Mike DeNunzio took home his first Primm TA class title.


Gary Mink had another solid outing, this time ending up with the runner-up spot in TA.


Shane Sanford continues to lead TA points after his semi-final finish in Primm.


Nick Januik had a great weekend, ending up with a semi-final finish and running a best of 2.718.

Top Eliminator

Peter Schenk topped the ever tough Top Eliminator class for the weekend victory. Jeff Mamer’s “Sidewinder” car ended up as the #1 qualifier with a great 2.954 pass in the weekend’s first session. Round one would see a big upset as points leader Jim Williams would be defeated by Terry Crawford 2.966-3.033. Another race that shook up the points was Taylor Brewer going out in round one with a red light against Steve Hoffman. The upsets would continue as #1 qualifier Mamer would lose on a holeshot 3.334-3.244. Mamer, however, would take the points lead away from Williams. In a classic round two 4-cylinder matchup, DL King ended up with a holeshot win over Steve Hoffman 3.021-3.011. The first semi-final matchup was John Keller’s “Plum Nasty” altered against Mark Punos’ blown dragster. Keller would take the win and advance to the final with a 3.05 in his quest for back-to-back NSDA TE class wins. His opponent would be Peter Schenk who ran a great 3.02 to defeat DL King’s “Animal Control”. Schenk would deny Keller of two straight victories winning with a solid 2.998 to Keller’s 3.197. Mamer ends the weekend 4 points ahead of Jim Williams’ “Wild American” dragster while Terry Crawford and Taylor Brewer are their next closest threats, around four rounds behind the leaders.


Peter Schenk took the TE win with a nice final round 2.998.


John Keller came up one round short of repeating his SJ March victory .


Mark Punos had a great weekend in TE reaching the semi-final round.

Pro Bracket Recap

All photos courtesy C3 Productions - www.c3productions.net