Dunphy Leads Drag Week, Ultimate Iron a Six-Second Battle Royale
The opening day of Hot Rod Drag Week 2024 at National Trails Raceway in Ohio saw six-second runs aplenty on a day that saw plenty of delays but ultimately delivered impressive numbers.
Ned Dunphy’s Dodge Viper was one-and-done thanks to a 6.196/247mph, with the only hiccup being a small fire at the turn off. Some gas from the street tank got onto the brakes but fortunately the only damage was to the parachutes. Dunphy was able to set off for the street drive in the early afternoon, cruising at a little over 50mph the whole way to Indianapolis.
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The six-second chaos continued in Ultimate Iron. Bryant Goldstone needed to wait until the all-run session to make a full pass and he made it count with a 6.523/223mph blast. The Ultimate Iron class looks crazy competitive this year, as Goldstone’s mark was followed by a personal best 6.815 from David Armentrout’s radial tire Nova and a 6.831 out of Steven Spiess. Remarkably, Alex Taylor’s 6.878/215mph did not even make the top three!
One more six-second run for the day came from Dave Schroeder, who pedalled his Unlimited class Corvette to a 6.784.
Several more drivers were on the cusp of the sixes. Clark Rosenstengel’s 7.07 leads Modified Power Adder and Alan Whitaker’s 7.137 has him in charge of Pro Street Power Adder.
An entertaining Pro Street NA war has begun between Scott Miller and Matt Sweet. Miller’s Ford Mustang clocked a 7.869 thanks to the 762ci Hemi-headed Ford up front, while Sweet is only marginally behind with a 7.869.
We enjoyed seeing Jim Trettel nail a 7.594 with the chutes out early in his Super Street Big Block Power Adder Pontiac Firebird, a great reward after a lot of battling with the car these last few years.
Street Race Small Block Power Adder looks like it is going to live up to its reputation as the home of the most gangster 8.50 racers in the country. Bill Schwarz leads with an 8.501, followed by Randy Seward (8.502), Michael Maione (8.504) and Brian Acton (8.506)!
Other day one leaders include Jason Bergeson in Super Street Small Block Power Adder (7.714), Charles Krause in All Motor Big Block (10.457), Heads Up Hustle promoter John-Paul Franks in All Motor Small Block (8.717), Randy Belehar in Street Race Big Block Power Adder (8.515), Chris McNeeley in Street Race Big Block NA (9.252), David Hembree in Street Race Small Block NA (9.015), Mike Finnegan in Gasser A (8.704), Cody Helger in Gasser B (9.499) and Riely Grabiak in Hot Rod (10.980).
The day’s drive took the Drag Weekers along 200 miles consisting mostly of interstate with a few rural highways mixed in, spitting the field out in Indianapolis ahead of day two of competition.
