BENSON, N.C. — With the supercharger wars raging in the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series’ WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive category, Melanie Salemi scored a No. 1 qualifier award for Team Screw Blowers Friday night at the Summit Racing Equipment East Coast Nationals presented by FuelTech.
With a brand-new engine between the frame rails in Eddie Whelan’s Al-Lee Installations “Purple Reign” ’68 Firebird, Salemi powered to a 3.580-second pass at 208.68 mph in the final qualifying session at Darana Motorsports Park to lead Pro Boost into Saturday eliminations.
Marcus Butner (Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous presented by Jerry Bickel Race Cars), Andy Mac (Liberty’s Gears Pro Street presented by KTR Drag Racing), Jeff Pittman (PDRA Pro 632 presented by Mark Williams Enterprises), and Connor McGee (1320 Fabrication Super Street presented by Brian’s Heating & Cooling) also collected No. 1 qualifier awards in the professional classes.
A long day of trials and tribulations for defending Pro Boost event winner Melanie Salemi ended with a rewarding No. 1 qualifying pass in Eddie Whelan’s screw-blown Al-Lee Installations “Purple Reign” ’68 Firebird. She didn’t make it down the track in the first qualifying session, then she wounded an engine in dramatic fashion in the second session. Her family-based team swung a new motor in, but when something didn’t sound right on the warmup, they swapped in a different brand-new engine, fired it up, and headed to the lanes. The first pass it made was the 3.580 at 208.68 that put Salemi at the top of the qualifying order.
“It was a sigh of relief, honestly, when I looked up at the scoreboard and saw the .58 come up,” Salemi said. “Of course, we get back to the pit and we’re expecting everybody’s gonna keep going faster. I had not done very well during the day so I was one of the first cars out there. It was really cool to be able to come back to the pit and we had our ears glued to the PA system and trying to just keep our morale. I think we had a bigger party in our pit after the last pair went down than we’ve had in a while. It was pretty cool.”
Two-time Pro Boost world champion Jason Harris was just a tick behind Salemi with his 3.586 at 210.50 in the Harts Charger-boosted “Party Time” Harold Denton tribute ’69 Camaro. Johnny Camp, winner of the postponed Carolina Nationals on Thursday night, qualified third in his Brandon Stroud-tuned, ProCharger-boosted “Hells Bells” ’69 Camaro with a 3.594 at 211.10.
Marcus Butner’s Pro Nitrous world championship defense season is off to a strong start, as the Tobaccoville, North Carolina-based driver raced to a semifinal finish at the season-opening Carolina Nationals and kicked off the East Coast Nationals with a No. 1 qualifying effort. He sat outside the 16-car field after the first session, but under the lights in the final session, Butner and tuner Jay Cox swung for the fence with a 3.636 at 208.20 in the Musi-powered Butner Construction “Heartbreaker” ’69 Camaro.
Defending event winner Tim Paap saw his team’s offseason upgrades pay off with a No. 2 qualifying position as he posted a 3.642 at 206.32 in his Jeffrey Barker-tuned, Musi-powered Paap Auto Body Corvette. “Mountain Man” Mike Achenbach, who won Thursday night’s postponed Carolina Nationals final round, qualified third in his Brandon Switzer-tuned, Fulton-powered ’20 Camaro with a 3.644 at 206.32.
After retired Super Bowl champion Fletcher Cox won the delayed Carolina Nationals Pro Street final round Thursday night, he handed the proverbial keys to longtime crew member and veteran grudge racer Andy Mac, who took the opportunity and ran with it. In the third and final qualifying session on Friday night, Mac wheeled Cox’s Phil Shuler-tuned, nitrous-fed “Training Day” ’69 Camaro to a 3.895 at 193.74 to secure his first No. 1 qualifier award and the car’s fourth. Cox, meanwhile, plans to make his Pro Boost debut at the next race.
Class E.T. national record holder Richard Reagan charged to a 3.927 at 196.85 in his screw-blown ’91 Mustang to take the No. 2 spot. Another nitrous-assisted driver, Blake Denton, piloted the Musi-powered “Bonnie” ’69 Camaro previously driven by the late Lizzy Musi to a 3.959 at 201.19 to qualify third.
Jeff Pittman has been steadily gaining ground in Pro 632 since he joined the class last season as a teammate to Alan O’Brien’s championship-winning Greenbrier Excavating & Paving operation. Pittman, who previously competed in Top Sportsman, raced to a runner-up finish in the postponed Carolina Nationals Thursday evening and followed that up with his first career No. 1 qualifier award on Friday night. With Patrick Barnhill tuning and Barry Allen providing the horsepower in his Hickory Enclosed Trailers ’68 Chevelle, Pittman ran a 4.147 at 171.29 to take the top spot.
J.C. Beattie Jr., who had a career-best weekend with a No. 1 qualifier award and win at the Carolina Nationals, qualified second with a 4.169 at 170.45 in his Reher-Morrison-powered ATI Performance ’18 Camaro. Young gun Carson Hoyle ran a 4.178 at 169.23 in his Musi-powered ATI Performance ’69 Camaro to sit third.
Connor McGee, both the defending world champion and defending event champion in Super Street, already has an event win, a No. 1 qualifier award, and the first leg of a new class E.T. national record racked up before East Coast Nationals eliminations begin. On Thursday night, McGee secured the first win of the season when he won the postponed Carolina Nationals from Darlington Dragway. McGee, in his Fulton-powered Brian’s Heating & Cooling ’90 Mustang, kept it rolling in Friday qualifying, posting a dominant 4.467 at 160.29 to set the first end of a new record. He’ll need to run a 4.511 in eliminations to back up the record.
Austin Vincent, who finished second in the Super Street championship battle last season, laid down a 4.548 at 152.80 in his Vincent Performance ’88 Mustang to qualify second. Ryan Altman ended up third with a 4.657 at 150.51 in the Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’02 Camaro.
A trio of different power adder and engine combos led the way in Elite Top Sportsman, each posting 3.77-second passes. For the second consecutive race, Jamie Fowler secured the No. 1 position in his nitrous-fed, Fulton-powered Pee Dee Fleet ’69 Camaro with a 3.772 at 198.41. Another South Carolina-based driver, Scott Duggins, posted a 3.773 at 196.19 in his ProCharged PAR Racing Engines ’63 Corvette to take the No. 2 spot on speed. Reigning world champion Bryan LaFlam in his roots-blown Big Stuff TPM ’67 Mustang qualified third with a 3.773 at 195.68.
Mike Alexander Jr. just missed out on the 16-car Elite Top Sportsman field with his 4.172 at 172.30, but that pass in his ProCharged ’63 Corvette put him No. 1 in the Top Sportsman 32 field.
After qualifying just outside the top three at the season opener, Granville, Ohio’s Bruce Westfall picked up his first No. 1 qualifier award in Elite Top Dragster on the strength of a 3.719 at 196.53 in his supercharged ’25 Race Tech dragster. Josh Duggins, who qualified No. 1 at the season opener, ended up No. 2 in his ProCharged PAR Racing Engines ’14 Maddox dragster with a 3.725 at 200.62. Gray Kimble rounded out the top three with a 3.761 at 198.23 in his ProCharged Finney Builders ’18 Miller dragster.
Taylor Holland was the quickest of the drivers who qualified outside the Elite Top Dragster field, running a 4.168 at 168.60 to qualify No. 1 in Top Dragster 48.
