{"id":97369,"date":"2024-12-04T17:18:23","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T17:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/past-pdra-top-sportsman-champ-nick-meloni-adds-top-dragster-world-championship\/"},"modified":"2024-12-04T17:18:23","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T17:18:23","slug":"past-pdra-top-sportsman-champ-nick-meloni-adds-top-dragster-world-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/past-pdra-top-sportsman-champ-nick-meloni-adds-top-dragster-world-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Past PDRA Top Sportsman Champ Nick Meloni Adds Top Dragster World Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just three seasons after winning the PDRA Top Sportsman world championship, New Hampshire bracket racer Nick Meloni became a Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series world champion again as he won the Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster presented by Younce RV title to conclude the 2024 season. Meloni delivered a clutch performance at the season finale to secure the championship, adding to one other win in three total final-round appearances. He also finished No. 10 in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman presented by Corbin\u2019s RV.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Behind the wheel of the Nesbitt-powered TT Motorsports \u201916 Dan Page dragster, Meloni reached the final round at the second race of the season, the Mid-Atlantic Showdown at Virginia Motorsports Park. Later in the year, he scored a big win at the inaugural Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway. That put him within striking distance of points leader Lucas Salemi going into the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals at Virginia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After qualifying, Meloni was three rounds and one point behind Salemi. The door opened for Meloni when Salemi lost in Saturday night\u2019s first round of eliminations. He had to win the next three rounds of competition on Sunday, and he took that a couple steps further by winning the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is special because I\u2019ve been driving good all year, but I woke up this morning not even focused on the championship,\u201d Meloni said in the winner\u2019s circle. \u201cI said, \u2018I\u2019m just gonna focus on winning the race, and winning the race is gonna win the championship.\u2019 I drove good and I\u2019m pretty proud. I don\u2019t get much excitement, but I\u2019m pretty excited. I was happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

This championship race was quite a bit tighter than Meloni\u2019s Top Sportsman championship season in 2021 when won the title by nearly 1,000 points. He proved once again that he\u2019s one of the most versatile drivers in fast bracket racing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to get it in both classes,\u201d Meloni said. \u201cI have IHRA trophies in Top Sportsman and Top Dragster. I have NHRA Wallys in Top Sportsman and Top Dragster. It took me a few years to get a PDRA 660 Man, but now I have both championships and 660 Men, so it means a lot. I love winning. I\u2019ve come in second a couple of times in this car and it\u2019s nice to finish it off and get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gary Rowe photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like many successful racers, Meloni realizes he couldn\u2019t have done this alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d really like to thank TT Motorsports \u2013 Tommy and Paula and Tiana \u2013 for always having the faith in me,\u201d Meloni said. \u201cI appreciate all my friends that always come and root for me. I especially have to thank Ava [daughter] and Kaitlyn [girlfriend] for sure. I really couldn\u2019t do it without them. They\u2019re my biggest supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meloni also gave a shoutout to the PDRA staff for their efforts throughout the 2024 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a lot of guys are finally realizing PDRA is the place to race,\u201d Meloni said. \u201cIn my 22 years of racing, there\u2019s nobody that treats you like PDRA people treat you. The track safety, the track prep, the friendliness, everywhere. Everybody should come racing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salemi in his supercharged MSR Performance \u201907 S&W dragster finished second on the strength of one win in two final-round appearances. Virginia\u2019s Troy Williams drove his Troy Williams Racing \u201910 Miller dragster to consistent late-round finishes, including a runner-up to Meloni at the World Finals, to finish third in points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series will celebrate its 2024 world champions at the annual PDRA Championship Awards Banquet on Friday, Dec. 13 in downtown Indianapolis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on December 4, 2024. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Past PDRA Top Sportsman Champ Nick Meloni Adds Top Dragster World Championship<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just three seasons after winning the PDRA Top Sportsman world championship, New Hampshire bracket racer Nick Meloni became a Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series world champion again as he won the Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster presented by Younce RV title to conclude the 2024 season. Meloni delivered a clutch performance at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97369","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=97369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}