Pro Modified icons Jim Halsey and Todd \u201cKing Tut\u201d Tutterow contributed to the Bristol Dragway history books Friday night when they qualified No. 1 in their respective classes at the inaugural PDRA Thunder Valley Throwdown. Competing at the sixth of eight races on the 2024 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series tour, Halsey posted a 3.692-second blast to qualify No. 1 in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous, while Tutterow threw down a 3.63-second pass to top the field in WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting & Ty-Drive.<\/p>\n
Along with the headlining Pro Mod categories, the Thunder Valley Throwdown also features the PDRA\u2019s five other heads-up professional classes. The No. 1 qualifiers after three sessions are Tommy Lee in Liberty\u2019s Gears Extreme Pro Stock presented by AED Competition, Jeff Melnick in PDRA Pro 632, Brunson Grothus in Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle, Bill Riddle in Menscer Motorsports Pro Street presented by Afco Racing, and Connor McGee in Afco Racing Super Street presented by Menscer Motorsports.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The PDRA\u2019s sportsman categories also wrapped up three qualifying sessions, with No. 1 qualifier awards going to Glenn Butcher in MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by PAR Racing Engines, KC Ingram in Laris Motorsports Insurance Elite Top Dragster presented by Greenbrier Excavating & Paving, Dan Ferguson in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman presented by Corbin\u2019s RV, and Mike Kopko in Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster presented by Younce RV.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After two of three qualifying sessions in the Jr. Dragster classes, the provisional No. 1 qualifiers are Zach Shirkey in Coolshirt Systems Pro Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products and Madison Pickens in Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products. Shirkey ran a 7.902 to lead the way in Pro Jr. Dragster, which qualifies using a 7.90 index. Pickens threw down a .002 reaction time to take the provisional top spot in Top Jr. Dragster, which qualifies based off of reaction time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
PRO NITROUS<\/strong><\/p>\n Four-time Pro Nitrous world champion Jim Halsey raced at Bristol Dragway in the early days of his Pro Modified career in the early and mid-1990s. Thirty years later, he\u2019s back at the historic Tennessee facility as the No. 1 qualifier for the fifth time in six races this season. He started qualifying with a 3.713 to take the provisional No. 1 spot in his Fulton-powered \u201cDaddy Shark\u201d \u201968 Camaro, then locked it in with a 3.692 at 204.26 in the final session. Halsey goes into race day as the points leader chasing his third win of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve always had good luck here,\u201d said Halsey, who credited his team, including tuner Brandon Switzer, crew chief Eric Davis, Michael McMillan, and wife Cathy. \u201cWe\u2019ve always ran good here, but the transformation from the last time I was here to now is just unbelievable. The facility is so awesome. It\u2019s pretty cool. The altitude here and the surface here make it very challenging. Especially to run like two or three hundredths faster than the No. 2 guy, we\u2019re very, very happy with that. Everything\u2019s in one piece. We\u2019ll try hard tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n Fellow Maryland-based competitor Fredy Scriba drove his Musi-powered \u201cSorcerer\u201d \u201969 Camaro to a 3.715 at 203.40 to qualify second. Three-time and reigning world champion Tommy Franklin in his Musi-powered \u201cJungle Rat\u201d \u201969 Camaro qualified third with a 3.722 at 203.80.\u00a0<\/p>\n PRO BOOST<\/strong><\/p>\n Veteran Pro Modified driver and tuner Todd \u201cKing Tut\u201d Tutterow\u2019s experience with challenging atmospheric conditions paid off Friday night with his second consecutive Pro Boost No. 1 qualifier award. He tuned teammate Kurt Steding to the quickest passes of the first two sessions, then fired off a 3.63 at 207.69 alongside Steding in the final session to put Justin Smith\u2019s screw-blown Quik Fuel \u201969 Camaro in the No. 1 spot for the third time this season. Tutterow\u2019s first-round opponent is Melanie Salemi, who\u2019s No. 2 behind Steding and ahead of fourth-place Tutterow in the Pro Boost championship points standings.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve done good up here before,\u201d Tutterow said. \u201cWe\u2019ve come up here about every five years and always run good, whether it\u2019s NHRA or outlaw stuff too. My stuff normally runs really good in high altitude. I\u2019m very excited about this weekend. Both me and Kurt have been down the racetrack every time we\u2019ve been to the starting line, other than mine on one run and I was trying to reset the record out there. We\u2019ve got good, good plans for this weekend. I was No. 1 qualifier at the last race and didn\u2019t get to go down [the track]. But we\u2019ve got Melanie first round, and it\u2019d be nice to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnny Camp, who earned his first win of the season at the most recent race on tour, qualified No. 2 with a 3.642 at 204.70 in his ProCharged \u201cHells Bells\u201d \u201969 Camaro. Steding ended up third with his 3.646 at 206.51 in his screw-blown P2 Contracting \u201969 Camaro.\u00a0<\/p>\n EXTREME PRO STOCK<\/strong><\/p>\n As a driver and crew chief, Tommy Lee has just about seen and done it all in Pro Stock racing, but his PDRA Extreme Pro Stock No. 1 qualifier award on Friday night was a career first. Making his first PDRA appearance of the season with Curt Steinbach\u2019s 3V Performance-powered Stellar Marine \u201922 Camaro, Lee laid down a 4.136 at 174.73 to qualify No. 1 over fellow 3V-powered driver Jeremy Huffman by speed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOh, man, it feels awesome,\u201d Lee said of his first No. 1 qualifier award in the series. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working some issues out in the car and we\u2019re slowly getting them better. But to be able to come out here and run with these guys that\u2019ve been running good all year, yeah, it feels great. We\u2019ve got a fast hot rod. I\u2019ve just got to do my job on the starting line.\u201d<\/p>\n Huffman posted a 4.136 at a slightly slower 174.08 in his Patriot Axe Throwing \u201910 Cobalt to end up No. 2. Past world champion Chris Powers qualified third in his Sonny\u2019s Racing Engines \u201921 Camaro with a 4.146 at 174.84.\u00a0<\/p>\n PRO 632<\/strong><\/p>\n Just a couple weeks after scoring his first Pro 632 victory of the season, reigning world champion Jeff Melnick picked up his second career No. 1 qualifier award and his first of the season. The driver of Alan O\u2019Brien\u2019s Greenbrier Excavating & Paving \u201920 Camaro charged to a 4.203 at 169.23 in the final qualifying session to solidify his place atop the qualifying order.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re definitely on a roll with this thing now,\u201d said Melnick, who credited O\u2019Brien, tuner Patrick Barnhill, engine builder Barry Allen, and the Greenbrier team. \u201cWe got things sorted out really good in hot air, cool air. It doesn\u2019t really matter what track conditions. The thing goes right down every time, makes a great lap. Hats off to these guys. They give me a great race car every time. We\u2019re finally getting this thing sorted out to where it\u2019s at the top of the field where it should be. We\u2019re No. 1 and it\u2019s a 12-car field, so that gives us a pretty decent path, hopefully to the final. I\u2019m just ready to take it one round at a time and hopefully we do our best.\u201d<\/p>\n Walter Lannigan Jr. steered Chris Holdorf\u2019s Nelson-powered Dewitt Custom Concrete \u201910 GTO to a 4.226 at 166.64 to qualify No. 2. Rookie Andy House, who won in his debut at the season opener, qualified third with a 4.244 at 166.17 in Meade Baldwin\u2019s Southern Diamond Co. \u201969 Camaro.\u00a0<\/p>\n PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s been more than two months since Pro Extreme Motorcycle\u2019s last event on the PDRA schedule, but Brunson Grothus picked up right where he left off, earning his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier award. Riding Robert Varela\u2019s turbocharged Dallas Flat Glass Distributors \u201919 Hayabusa, Grothus recorded a 4.036 at 184.83 in the opening qualifying session to take the top spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have tons of good memories being at Bristol. It\u2019s a super cool place,\u201d said Grothus, who last raced at Bristol at an all-motorcycle event in 2011. \u201cRight off the trailer, we run a 4.03, like a perfect lap. I got to take a rest a little bit \u2013 I\u2019ve been under the weather. Got my feet under me a little bit and then just made another good lap. It wasn\u2019t perfect. We tried a few things, which obviously didn\u2019t work out, as it didn\u2019t improve, but the bike\u2019s happy and the motor\u2019s happy. You can\u2019t complain about that.\u201d<\/p>\n A pair of Alabama-based riders, Chris Garner-Jones and Ashley Owens, followed Grothus in second and third, respectively. Garner-Jones, the two-time and reigning world champion, posted a 4.05 at 170.77 on his nitrous-fed T.T. Jones Racing \u201918 Hayabusa, and Owens rode his nitrous-assisted McKinney Motorsports \u201910 Suzuki to a 4.065 at 175.11.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n PRO STREET<\/strong><\/p>\n It was a day of ups and downs for Pro Street No. 1 qualifier Bill Riddle, who had a run-in with the retaining wall shortly after launching his roots-blown Corrigan Race Fuels \u201989 Camaro in the final qualifying session. Fortunately, the damage was minimal and he\u2019ll get to race on Saturday. Before that, the reigning world champion fired off a 4.004 at 188.04 in the opening qualifying session, and to Riddle\u2019s surprise, it held up through the final session under the lights.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was pure luck, really,\u201d said Riddle, who thanked partners like Corrigan Race Fuels, Mickey Thompson Tires, SSI Superchargers, Motorsports Unlimited, and Red Line Oil. \u201cI was shooting for a 4.05. A 4.05 to 4.08 is actually what I told my daughter [Brooke] when we went up there, so the 4.00 was really surprising. Then we figured we had nothing to lose in the second round of qualifying, so we tried to go after it and it was just a little too much for that right lane.\u201d<\/p>\n Fellow Michigan-based racer Dan Norris followed Riddle in the qualifying order with a 4.018 at 192.60 in his roots-blown \u201922 Mustang. Jerry Morgano qualified third with a 4.023 at 201.46 in his turbocharged \u201902 Mustang.<\/p>\n SUPER STREET<\/strong><\/p>\n Earlier this season, Super Street young gun Connor McGee raced to his first career win in the class at the American Doorslammer Challenge at Norwalk. He added another highlight to his 2024 scorecard Friday night when his 4.637 at 159.48 in the final qualifying session netted him his first career No. 1 qualifier award. His nitrous-fed \u201990 Mustang is powered by a 440-cubic-inch engine built by Gene Fulton, who was inducted into Bristol Dragway\u2019s \u201cLegends of Thunder Valley\u201d hall of fame in 2012.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGetting my first No. 1 at the first PDRA race at Bristol makes it 10 times cooler,\u201d said McGee, a 19-year-old graduate of the PDRA\u2019s Jr. Dragster program. \u201cI know they say Pro Boost is the best category and it definitely is at the top, but I think after tonight, we\u2019re all close together too and it\u2019s certainly a good class. No one knows where you\u2019re going to end up, and No. 1 through 14, anybody can win tomorrow. It\u2019s anybody\u2019s race. It\u2019s just a good class and it really says a lot about everybody that comes out. We\u2019re all a big group and a big family and it\u2019s just a great group.\u201d<\/p>\n Tommy Thrasher went into the final session as the No. 1 qualifier in his Massachusetts-based \u201993 Mustang, but his improved 4.655 at 163.93 wasn\u2019t quick enough to take the top spot back from McGee. Points leader Dan Whetstine in his ProCharged \u201cRed Velvet\u201d \u201990 Mustang qualified third with a 4.667 at 157.71.\u00a0<\/p>\n TOP SPORTSMAN<\/strong><\/p>\n Elite Top Sportsman points leader Glenn Butcher collected his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier award when he drove his nitrous-assisted, Albert-powered \u201969 Camaro to a 3.819 at 195.73 to top the all-3-second, 16-car field. Randy Perkinson, who\u2019s No. 2 in points, also ended up No. 2 on the qualifying sheet with a 3.82 at 192.06 in his ProCharged \u201967 Mustang. Jacky Bennett, making his second PDRA appearance of the season, took the No. 3 spot in his ProCharged \u201968 Camaro with a 3.821 at 198.64.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dan Ferguson went into the weekend shooting for a spot in the 16-car Elite field with his nitrous-fed 2000 Dodge Viper, which was previously campaigned in Pro Nitrous by Billy Harper, but he ended up instead qualifying No. 1 in the Top Sportsman 48 field with a 3.99 at 189.39.\u00a0<\/p>\n TOP DRAGSTER<\/strong><\/p>\n Missouri\u2019s KC Ingram charged to a 3.69 at 205.13 in his supercharged \u201920 Miller dragster to earn his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier award and his third of the season in Elite Top Dragster. Charles Careccia, who hails from Asheville, North Carolina, ran a 3.769 at 191.70 in his supercharged \u201924 NexGen-built dragster to qualify second. Championship contender Frank Falter IV qualified third in his supercharged \u201cCandy Man\u201d \u201922 Miller dragster with a 3.778 at 200.23.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Just two thousandths of a second kept Mike Kopko and his supercharged \u201912 M&M dragster from qualifying in the 16-car Elite program. He was the quickest of the 64 drivers who didn\u2019t make the quick 16, though, using a 3.878 at 186.54 to take the top spot in Top Dragster 48.\u00a0<\/p>\n The inaugural Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway will continue Saturday at 9 a.m. beginning with Jr. Dragster final qualifying and the start of sportsman eliminations. Pro class eliminations will kick off at 2 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fans at home can watch the full event live on the official livestream through\u00a0www.FloRacing.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n This story was originally published on August 24, 2024. <\/p>\n The post Halsey, Tutterow, Lee, Melnick, Grothus, Riddle and McGee Qualify No. 1 at Inaugural PDRA Thunder Valley Throwdown<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pro Modified icons Jim Halsey and Todd \u201cKing Tut\u201d Tutterow contributed to the Bristol Dragway history books Friday night when they qualified No. 1 in their respective classes at the inaugural PDRA Thunder Valley Throwdown. Competing at the sixth of eight races on the 2024 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series tour, Halsey posted […]<\/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-95587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95587","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=95587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}