Maryland’s Fredy Scriba has been having the best season of his PDRA Pro Nitrous career, starting with two runner-up finishes in the first three races. He then won the Summit Racing Equipment PDRA ProStars all-star event to hoist his first PDRA 660 Man trophy, but a points-earning win eluded him until Saturday night.
Lined up against nitrous Pro Modified legend “Tricky” Rickie Smith in the final round of the ProFabrication PDRA DragWars presented by PST Driveshafts at GALOT Motorsports Park, Scriba won when Smith went red on a 3.872-second, 205.16 MPH pass. Scriba was ready for a race, though, as he set low E.T. of race day with his 3.684 at 206.54 in his Musi-powered “Sorcerer” ’69 Camaro.
“I feel like I’ve done a good job tuning, just not a good job driving the whole year,” said Scriba, who thanked his parents, Fred and Anne, his crew, engine builder Pat Musi, chassis builder Robert Hayes, partners like Ty-Drive, Liberty’s Gears, Neal Chance Converters, and Pro Wire, as well as his wife and kids cheering him on from home. “I feel like I’m driving a lot better, so hopefully it’s showing now a little bit. You’ve got to have both. If you don’t have both, you’re not going to go rounds. We’ve got some stuff to work on, but we’re ecstatic. We made two finals earlier in the year, won ProStars, but it means a lot to win one of these points races. The competition is really tough.”
Tara Bowker photo
With points leader Jim Halsey suffering a weekend-ending crash in Friday’s final qualifier and No. 2 in points Tommy Franklin losing in the opening round, Scriba took over the points lead with just one race remaining. The three drivers are separated by less than a round going into the Pro Line Racing Brian Olson Memorial World Finals presented by ProCharger, Oct. 17-20, at Virginia Motorsports Park.
“I think we’re more than happy no matter what happens at the next race,” Scriba added. “I think this has been an awesome year. We’ll just go up there and do our best. That’s all we can do. We have nothing to hang our heads about, that’s for sure.”
Scriba qualified third and won the first round with a 3.717 at 204.63 next to a red-lighting John Vergotz. He cut a .016 reaction time and set low E.T. of the second round, a 3.709 at 205.10, to beat Brian Shrader and his 3.71 in a rematch of the final round at the season opener. His reaction times helped him win in the semifinals, where he posted a 3.721 at 204.82 to hold off Marcus Butner and his 3.718 for a holeshot win.
Smith, who qualified No. 8 in his Musi-powered Parkway Ford ’22 Mustang, eliminated past Elite Top Sportsman world champion Buddy Perkinson in the first round on the strength of a 3.718 at 204.11. A consistent 3.717 at 204.51 followed on a second-round single. Like Scriba, a holeshot advantage helped him advance to the final round when he ran a 3.708 at 205.13 to defeat Tony Wilson and his 3.703.
This story was originally published on October 8, 2024.
The post Fredy Scriba Scores First PDRA Pro Nitrous Win, Takes Over Points Lead first appeared on Drag Illustrated.