For the first time this season and for the last time in their careers, the Cuadra family made up of\u00a0Fernando Cuadra Sr.\u00a0and his sons\u00a0Fernando Jr.\u00a0 and twins\u00a0Cristian\u00a0and\u00a0David, will all be competing together in the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series Pro Stock category.<\/p>\n
When Elite Motorsports hits zMAX Dragway for this weekend\u2019s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, it will be the last time that family patriarch Fernando Sr., will make passes down a drag strip in a Pro Stock car.<\/p>\n
Picking this weekend to make his first appearance on the NHRA tour and his last in a professional category, is no random decision. Fernando Sr. will be celebrating his 65th birthday on Friday, April 26th while the twins will be celebrating their 25th. Even more significant, his 65th birthday weekend not only marks Fernando Sr.\u2019s retirement from driving a Pro Stock car but from running his family conglomerate of leather-goods companies, including Corral Boots, Cuadra and Colombia Impex, brands that have become synonymous with the Cuadra Boys in the NHRA Drag Racing scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all perfect timing. With the businesses, it\u2019s in the by-laws. It\u2019s no surprise, we\u2019ve been preparing. My boys will be taking over,\u201d said Fernando Sr. of his sons taking over the responsibility of 34 factories and 12,000 employees as well as partnerships around the globe. \u201cEach of the boys will have equal say in the company, they will have to unanimously agree on decisions. They\u2019ve been involved for a long time, this is just the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n
To help commemorate the weekend, Friday night during the second qualifying session, the Cuadra Boys will line-up four-wide all together for the last time. Though the family has been NHRA drag racing for five years, it is only the second time they\u2019ve shared the racetrack four-wide, the first was at last year\u2019s event at zMAX.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good way to \u2018go out\u2019 as they say. Lining up with my family, it\u2019s important to me. This whole sport is important to us,\u201d Fernando Sr. said. \u201cPro Stock is special, Elite Motorsports is special. What I\u2019ve learned, what my boys have learned and are able to part of, it\u2019s been amazing. Having Erica, a six-time champion, mentor and teach them. This whole thing is a blessing. We are happy to be here, we are happy to compete and we are happy we get to do it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cuadra\u2019s will be joined at this weekend\u2019s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway by all five of their Elite Motorsports teammates:<\/p>\n
Six-time world champion\u00a0Erica Enders\u00a0and her Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage \/ Melling Performance \/ SCAG Power Equipment team have the Pro Stock points lead after opening the season with a victory at the Gatornationals, a runner-up finish at the Winternationals and a final quad appearance for semifinal points at the Las Vegas rendition of the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. Enders is looking for 50th NHRA national event victory, 49th in Pro Stock.<\/p>\n
Veteran racer and multi-time champ\u00a0Jeg Coughlin Jr.\u00a0came out of retirement making a statement. He sits fourth in points and is coming off a win for the SCAG \/ Outlaw Mile Hi Light Beer team at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals, his first victory since stepping away after the 2020 NHRA season. Jeg Jr. is only two win lights away from reaching a milestone of 700 round wins, he sits at a record of 698-281 in a total of 463 events.<\/p>\n
In just his second season in Pro Stock,\u00a0Jerry Don Tucker\u00a0is starting to make some waves. Tucker took the No. 1 qualifying position at the Las Vegas Four-Wide, the first of his career, before making a final quad appearance and finishing runner-up. His efforts have him and the Outlaw Mile Hi Light Beer \/ SCAG car sitting sixth in points.<\/p>\n
Troy Coughlin Jr.\u00a0in the JEGs.com \/ White Castle entry will be looking to turn around some early race exits when he arrives at zMAX. Troy Jr. is currently 10th in the points standings and is tantalizingly close to reaching 100 round wins at 96.<\/p>\n
Like his Las Vegas Four-Wide weekend,\u00a0Aaron Stanfield\u00a0will pick up double duty driving his JHG \/ Melling \/ Janac Brother\u2019s Racing Pro Stock entry as well as competing in the Factory X category. Stanfield currently sits eighth in the Pro Stock points standings and fifth in Factory X.<\/p>\n
Adding to the competition of the weekend, David, Jeg Jr., Jerry and Erica will be competing in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge during Saturday\u2019s qualifying. The race within a race is a rematch of the previous race weekend\u2019s second round quads. Erica and Jeg. Jr. have each won a #2Fast2Tasty Challenge already this year earning them championship bonus points and a cash prize.<\/p>\n
The NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway begins with four qualifying session Friday at 4:30 and 7 p.m. and Saturday at noon and 2:15 p.m. Eliminations are slated to begin Sunday at noon with Pro Stock first round at 12:35 p.m. Television Coverage of the event will be on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with a qualifying show Sunday at 11 a.m. ET and an eliminations show to follow at 6 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on April 25, 2024. <\/p>\n
The post Fernando Cuadra Sr. to Have Last Dance With Pro Stock at Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the first time this season and for the last time in their careers, the Cuadra family made up of\u00a0Fernando Cuadra Sr.\u00a0and his sons\u00a0Fernando Jr.\u00a0 and twins\u00a0Cristian\u00a0and\u00a0David, will all be competing together in the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series Pro Stock category. When Elite Motorsports hits zMAX Dragway for this weekend\u2019s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92520","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"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92520\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}