The San Antonio crowd was enthusiastic for all the entertainment at the Nitro Jam.

Words and photos by Larry Crum

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and that goes double for the racing.

In front of one of the largest crowds to ever watch a race at San Antonio Raceway, records fell by the wayside and a number of new winners emerged from the shadows to lay claim to an IHRA Nitro Jam trophy and take home a victory during the finale of the San Antonio Nitro Jam Saturday night, April 2.

Peter Gallen also made headlines during the two-night event, setting a new Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car record for elapsed time and speed at 5.744 seconds at 252.10 miles per hour.

In addition to the pro winners seven sportsman champions were also crowned on Saturday including Trent Wilson (Castroville, Texas) in Top Sportsman, Gordon Cole (Wells, Texas) in Top Dragster, Cody Blackmon (San Antonio, Texas) in Super Stock, David Latino (Donaldsonville, La.) in Stock, Tommy Phillips (Forney, Texas) in Quick Rod and Super Rod and Deborah Ridenhour (Kennedale, Texas) in Hot Rod.

All seven winners not only took home IHRA hardware, but also punched their ticket to the year-end Summit Racing Tournament of Champions in Virginia.

Other winners from the San Antonio Nitro Jam included Ryan McDonnell in Top ET, R.J. Doerr in Mod ET and Raleigh Scales in Junior Dragster. The event also featured appearances by the jet dragsters of Jill Canuso and Terry Rosberg, the “Airborne Express” wheelstander and the monster showdown between Grave Digger and Shockwave.