Richard Reagan entered the PDRA Thunder Valley Throwdown sitting fourth in points in Liberty’s Gears Pro Street presented by KTR Drag Racing, and threw himself right into championship contention with his win in Bristol. Reagan saved his best run of the weekend for the finals in his screw-blown ’91 Mustang, using a 3.951 at 193.24 mph to outrun class veteran Tim Essick’s 3.986 at 191.00 in his “Brown Sugar” ’18 Mustang.
“I just kept picking away at it, trying to make it leave harder and make it run hard through the middle as we could. Just tried to do a little more each round,” Reagan said regarding making it through a tough day of eliminations.
Reagan qualified No. 2 with a 3.973 at 193.71 mph and consistently got quicker with each round on race day. He was scheduled to race Tommy Youmans in round one, but unfortunately, Youmans suffered engine failure in his twin-turbo, Pontiac-powered GTO in qualifying and couldn’t make the call, giving Reagan a bye run where he ran 4.030 at 191.48.
In the quarterfinals, Reagan ran 3.965 at 193.10 to defeat Jerry Morgano’s twin-turbo ’02 Mustang, who slowed to a 4.491. Reagan then took out No. 3 qualifier Mikey Sasina in the semifinals, using a 3.964 at 192.77 to better Sasina’s 3.992 at 196.50.
Essick qualified eighth with a 4.030 at 190.27 mph, then defeated the most recent event winner on the tour, Joel Wensley Jr., in round one. Subsequent victories over Andy Mac in the Fletcher Cox-owned, nitrous-assisted “Training Day” ’69 Camaro and Scott Kincaid in his silver screw-blown ’69 Camaro placed Essick in the final round.
One of the highlights in Bristol for PDRA Pro Street was seeing 17 entries on the qualifying sheet, the largest turnout the class has seen so far in 2026, including a couple radial veterans making their Pro Street debut.
Longtime Pro 275 competitor – and father of reigning PDRA Super Street world champion Connor McGee – Brian McGee joined the Pro Street ranks with his nitrous-powered ’67 Mustang built by Jeff and Patrick Miller. Meanwhile, Chad Henderson brought out the very familiar black screw-blown 3rd-Gen Camaro formerly known as “Can’t Get Right,” which Kye Kelley drove to victory at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals in 2024.
“I think it’s a great class,” said Reagan. “I mean, the competition has just gotten…I think it was a 3.98 to No. 9 was a 4.05. It’s anybody’s race, you know? You just gotta do your job. Sometimes it gets hard to do it, but, yeah, I think it’s in a great place.”
With his victory, Reagan now sits just one point behind class leader Blake Denton in the standings, and after going through the toughest field of the season should have plenty of confidence heading into the last two races of the year. As for what it will take to end the year as the world champion? Reagan is pretty blunt on the subject.
“I don’t know, maybe we can win the next two. Just have do the best we can.”
The next race on the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series tour will be Drag Wars presented by Big Stuff Total Power Management on August 27-29. It will be the PDRA’s second stop of the season at Galot Motorsports Park in Benson, North Carolina.
This story was originally published on August 13, 2026. 
The post Richard Reagan Makes Strong Push for Pro Street Championship at PDRA Thunder Valley Throwdown first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
