Longtime sportsman racer Jeff Melnick experienced a wide range of highs and lows during his rookie season in M&M Transmission Pro 632. From dominant wins to a non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma diagnosis and the resulting chemo treatments, Melnick was put to the test. The Ohio-based driver rose to the challenge, though, and delivered a 2023 Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) world championship for car owner Alan O\u2019Brien. Melnick won three times in four final rounds.<\/p>\n
Melnick, who previously raced a ProCharged \u201902 Avenger in Top Sportsman, took on a new challenge when he signed on to drive O\u2019Brien\u2019s one-of-a-kind, AMC small-block-powered Greenbrier Excavating & Paving \u201920 Camaro at the 2022 Brian Olson Memorial World Finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the first pass I made in the car and I thought, \u2018Oh boy, what did I get myself into? This is a different animal.\u2019 A Liberty 5-speed, heads-up, a Pro tree, just a bunch of different stuff for me,\u201d Melnick said.<\/p>\n
Melnick caught on quickly, as he won the 2023 season-opening Summit Racing East Coast Nationals presented by FuelTech at GALOT Motorsports Park, beating 2022 world champion Amber Franklin in the final round. He was runner-up to Franklin at the next race, the Mid-Atlantic Showdown presented by Classic Graphix at Virginia Motorsports Park.<\/p>\n
Melnick went into the hospital with chronic pain in the week leading up to the third race on tour, the DeCerbo Construction American Doorslammer Challenge presented by Callies at Melnick\u2019s home track, Summit Motorsports Park. Knowing he likely had cancer, Melnick threw down another winning performance<\/a> to beat championship runner-up Doug Nicholl in the final round. Despite midseason rule changes that negatively impacted his unique combination, Melnick went on to win again at the Northern Nationals presented by Talbert Manufacturing at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came out strong this spring and won some races,\u201d Melnick said. \u201cThen they hit us with the rule changes and the team never quit. They adapted. We tested. Alan spent umpteen thousands on gear sets and titanium and lead. We made the car still competitive and we were able to hang on here towards the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cnail-biter of the season,\u201d as Melnick says, came at the sixth race of the eight-race season, the Red Line Oil Carolina Nationals at Darlington Dragway. A dead battery prevented him from firing up for the first round of eliminations, marking his only first-round exit of the season. He then reached the semifinals at the last two races to clinch the championship by two rounds and one point.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a four- or five-round lead before we lost first round [at Darlington],\u201d Melnick said. \u201cThat was gut-wrenching to sit there all day and watch our points lead dwindle back down to one round. We were able to extend the points lead at GALOT, then finish the deal off at Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n Gary Rowe photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Melnick was proud to help the O\u2019Brien family accomplish the goals they set out to achieve with the nitrous-assisted, AMC-based powerplant. The family has a rich history with the now-defunct brand, including years of fielding AMC-powered cars in a number of classes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a Cinderella story for Alan and his whole family,\u201d said Melnick, who thanked Greenbrier Excavating & Paving, Barry Allen Racing Engines, PTP Tuning, Mickey Thompson Tires, Visner Engine Development, and his own business, Exotic Fab. \u201cThey\u2019ve been building these AMC motors for 30-40 years. To see a small-block AMC motor win in a professional category is outstanding. Hat\u2019s off to Barry Allen, Alan O\u2019Brien, and Patrick Barnhill. Those guys are the brain trust behind this thing. I\u2019m just the lucky guy that gets to drive it.\u201d<\/p>\n Melnick also credited O\u2019Brien and the team for believing in his driving abilities even after he started to undergo chemo treatment. He battled through chemo\u2019s side effects during the hot summer races and the chilly fall events. After his diagnosis in late May, Melnick vowed to fight for the championship<\/a> no matter what, and he pulled through to back up his claim.<\/p>\n \u201cI was happy to hold up my end of the stick most of the season, enough to get the job done,\u201d Melnick said. \u201cWith my cancer battle and the chemo I\u2019ve been going through, to get that done and hopefully beat the chemo and the cancer and win a championship all in the same season, it\u2019s like a dream come true. It was a nightmare at one time, but a dream come true now.\u201d<\/p>\n The PDRA will celebrate its 2023 world champions during the annual PDRA Championship Awards Banquet on Friday, Dec. 8 in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n The post Jeff Melnick Overcomes Adversity to Claim 2023 PDRA Pro 632 World Championship<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Longtime sportsman racer Jeff Melnick experienced a wide range of highs and lows during his rookie season in M&M Transmission Pro 632. From dominant wins to a non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma diagnosis and the resulting chemo treatments, Melnick was put to the test. The Ohio-based driver rose to the challenge, though, and delivered a 2023 Professional Drag […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,78117,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-race-pages","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91213,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90379\/revisions\/91213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}