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National Guard ADRL
‘Belts’ Tighten for National Guard ADRL Racers
With five events in the record
books, the National Guard American Drag Racing League (ADRL)
has passed the halfway point of
its 2009 season leading up to the
championship-deciding Speedtech
Battle for the Belts this October at
Ennis, Texas.
The Speedtech Battle for the
Belts pits the top eight points earners in each of the National Guard
ADRL’s five professional classes
against each other in a winnertake-all, end-of-season playoff. The
Battles are held on the Friday night
preceding each year’s National
Guard ADRL World Finals at the
Texas Motorplex, near Dallas. National Guard ADRL teams actually
begin accumulating points toward
the next year’s Speedtech Battle for
the Belts during Saturday’s World
Finals eliminations.
Reigning National Guard Speedtech Battle for the Belts World
Champions include Jason Scruggs
for the second-straight year in
Pro Extreme (PX); Billy Harper,
absent from the Pro Nitrous (PN)
chase this year; Billy Glidden in
Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 (XTF);
and two-time winner Billy Vose in
Pro Extreme Motorcycle (PXM).
New this year to the National Guard
ADRL is the naturally aspirated
Extreme Pro Stock (XPS) class.
Scruggs currently enjoys a comfortable lead over the Pro Extreme
crowd after debuting a new car for
the second-straight season, resetting
his own performance records with
it (3.66 seconds at 207.43 mph),
going to four straight final rounds
and winning the rain-delayed Memphis event, his first race win in the
ADRL’s National Guard era. Engine trouble at the most recent two
events ended his final-round streak,
but expect the man from Saltillo,
Mississippi, to remain strong in his
pursuit of an unprecedented thirdstraight world championship.
Close behind the head of the
class are Quain Stott, National
Guard driver Joshua Hernandez
(above) and Todd Tutterow, each
with one win, as is veteran racer but
ADRL rookie Mike Janis, the most
recent event winner on the ’09 tour.
Barring exceptionally bad luck, at
least the top three frontrunners (and
probably more) can be expected to
be around for the Speedtech Battle
for the Belts, though none have so
far clinched a top-eight finish.
The current remainder of the
second half of PX Belts contenders
are Georgia winner Jason Hamstra,
Brian Daniels and Cody Barklage.
Well within striking distance, however, are strong runners like 2006
class champion Bubba Stanton,
Travis Swearingen in the second
National Guard entry and Wes
Johnston, runner-up to Scruggs in
last year’s Belts final.
Like Scruggs, Jim Halsey went to
each of the first four finals counting
toward 2009 Speedtech Battle for
the Belts qualifying, winning twice
and placing him firmly atop the Pro
Nitrous points standings. He, too,
exited early from the most recent
pair of events, but should rebound
with a strong effort in his drive for
dominance at Dallas.
He’ll have to contend with the
likes of second-place man Shannon
Jenkins (left), though, suddenly
the hottest driver on the circuit
after winning two National Guard
ADRL races in one weekend, scoring the rain-postponed Ford Drive
One Summer Drags V title and the
Hardee’s Independence Drags III
win over the course of two days
earlier this month at Heartland Park
Topeka (KS).
Despite suffering a DNQ and
still winless so far in ’09, Johnny
Pilcher holds the number-three position based on consistently going
deep in eliminations at nearly every
event, while Stan Allen in fourth
and Mike Castellana in fifth each
have one race victory this year.
Pro Nitrous rookie and current Pro
Nitrous elapsed time record holder
Khalid Al-Balooshi is sixth and
may be the series most-improved
driver to this point, while veteran
Steve Vick has been solid all year
after debuting a new car at the season opener to hold the seventh spot.
Rounding out the top eight is Pat
Stoken, also in a new car for ’09,
who has climbed from near-obscurity to contention in just the last
couple of races. He’ll be pressed
the rest of the way, however, by the
likes of Tim Savell, Burton Auxier
and Ed Burnley, who has quietly
mounted a campaign that has seen
him qualify for every race held so
far in 2009. Even Charles Carpenter, who missed three events after
20 • August 2009 • www.motorsportamerica.com
crashing at Houston in the season
opener, still has a legitimate shot at
the elite eight as he’s less than six
rounds out of a Speedtech Battle for
the Belts qualifying spot.
With only four National Guard
ADRL events left in which to gather points toward earning a coveted
top-eight finish, the 2009 Speedtech Battle for the Belts is quickly
tightening up, giving some teams
sense of urgency, and leaving others
perhaps hoping for a miracle.
aNational
measureGuard
of confidence,
some
a
driver Joshua
Hernandez.
(Photo: ADRL)
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