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Victory in Virginia
Bubba Stanton and Doug Reisterer will be recorded as the big winners of the inaugural ADRL.us Independence Drags July 6-7, at Motor Mile Dragway in Radford, VA, but the biggest winner of all may have been the American Drag Racing League (ADRL), which again shattered track attendance records and demonstrated once more why it’s the hottest property in drag racing today.
 A sold-out crowd packed Motor Mile Dragway, for the ADRL’s inaugural Independence Drags at the picturesque eighth-miler nestled in the mountains near Radford, VA. |
The qualifying show drew the largest Friday-night crowd ever seen at Motor Mile, but it was dwarfed by the turnout on Saturday for eliminations followed by a lengthy fireworks display to cap off the July 4 week. As the day wore on, spectator parking overflowed to the top of a nearby mountain beyond the circle track next door and cars full of ADRL fans were still streaming into the grounds at 9 p.m. as the semi-finals were about to start.
Only Pro Extreme and Pro Nitrous were contested at Radford, since many drivers and riders of the new-for-this-year Extreme 10.5 and Pro Extreme Bike had prior, conflicting commitments to honor, so it made for a rapid pace in both qualifying and racing.
The hot, humid air at a corrected altitude of up to 5,000 ASL threw many of the tuners for a loop, with just a handful of the 45 teams (25 PN, 20 PEX) having raced at the track before. But after three rounds of qualifying Joe Baker secured the number-one spot in Pro Extreme with a stout 3.97-seconds pass at 188.76 mph in his ’41 Willys. Reisterer started from the top of the Pro Nitrous list after going 4.04/178.71 with his 706-equipped ’68 Camaro in the opening round of qualifying.
Bubba Stanton (far lane) and Travis Swearingen performed side-by-side burnouts prior to getting it on in the Pro Extreme final at Motor Mile Dragway. Stanton won his first ADRL points-paying event when Swearingen’s ’41 Willys faltered out of the gate.
Stanton had never won an ADRL points-paying event before, though he is the reigning Pro Extreme champion by virtue of winning an eight-car Battle for the Belt shootout at the end of last season. After qualifying his ’63 “Widowmaker” Corvette seventh in the 16-car field, he started eliminations at Motor Mile with a relatively easy win over Dwayne Watkins, then mounted a come-from-behind effort to advance past Mike Neal Sr. in round two.
Original outlaw Hugh Scott suffered the most serious incident of the weekend at Radford when his ’41 Willys got out of control immediately off the hit for his final qualifying attempt on Saturday afternoon. Scott was uninjured and damage to the car appeared minimal beneath its shattered fender, but he was unable to continue in eliminations and his 16th-place starting position went to first alternate T.J. Harrill.
