MARTIN, Mich. — Pro Boost driver Randy Weatherford raced to victory for the first time since the 2021 season Saturday night at the Talbert Manufacturing PDRA Northern Nationals presented by Callies Performance at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.
The WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting and Ty-Drive final round saw Ty Tutterow, the most recent winner on the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series tour, go red by .017 seconds, marking an early end to what would’ve been a side-by-side 3.57-second race.
With his WS Construction ’21 Camaro sporting a new Harts Charger centrifugal supercharger, Weatherford recorded a 3.578 at 211.07 mph for the win. Tutterow posted a 3.576 at 209.40.
Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous rookie Amber Denton defeated her father, three-time world champion Tommy Franklin, in the final round to earn her first career win in the class.
Randy Weatherford completed a clean sweep of the Pro Boost category for the new Harts Charger centrifugal supercharger in its PDRA debut, as he qualified No. 1 on Friday and claimed his first win since 2021 on Saturday.
Weatherford in his Steve Petty-tuned WS Construction ’21 Camaro recorded a 3.578 at 211.07 next to Ty Tutterow’s 3.576 at 209.40 in the final round, but Tutterow was disqualified on the starting line when he went red by .017.
“Dustin [Hart] told me he was working on a centrifugal supercharger and he got it right,” Weatherford said. “We’re sitting here today in the winner’s circle with this thing. No. 1 qualifier. No problems, no issues with it. Harts Charger to the front. He did exactly what he said he’d do. We came here to prove a point. We’re not out, we’re not dead. We’re back. Now I know I can run with these guys. I can stay right there with them. That’s huge. It makes you as a driver drive better because you know you’ve got something that can win.”
In what was likely the most unique final round in the history of Pro Nitrous, rookie Amber Denton collected her first career win in the class with her father, three-time world champion Tommy Franklin, in the other lane.
After both drivers suffered engine issues earlier in the day, the teammates thrashed to prepare for the final round, with numerous other teams jumping in to help. With a wounded engine in Franklin’s car and a borrowed engine from fellow competitor Buddy Perkinson in Denton’s “OG Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro, the two drivers fired up their hot rods for a special family moment.
Without the nitrous oxide activated, both drivers were sluggish out of the gate and well off their usual pace. Still, it was a side-by-side competition, with Denton winning by .006 seconds with a 5.44 at 147.49 to Franklin’s 5.468 at 149.01.
“I’ve dreamed about getting to a final with my dad since I could remember, and it’s definitely not the way we imagined it, but I got up here and I got strapped in and I took a second and just soaked it all in because it was awesome,” said Denton.
Two of the toughest young guns in Pro Street, Ethan Steding and Blake Denton, paired up in a supercharged versus nitrous oxide final round.
Denton entered as the points leader with two wins in the last three races, while Steding went in as the defending world champion with one win this season, putting him No. 2 in points.
Denton grabbed a slight starting line advantage, but Steding in his Ty and Todd Tutterow-tuned, roots-blown P2 Contracting “College Fund” ’24 Camaro fired off a career-best 3.888 at 194.55 to turn on the win light. In the other lane, Denton made his worst pass of the day, a 3.972 at 193.80.
Over a month after winning the most recent event on tour, the North vs. South Shootout at Maryland, 2023 Extreme Pro Stock world champion Alan Drinkwater scored his second consecutive event win to pad his points lead. In a final-round showdown against No. 1 qualifier and No. 2 in points driver Jeremy Huffman, Drinkwater in his Kaase-powered Flatout Gaskets ’08 Mustang left the starting line first and rolled to a 4.114 at 176.96 to turn on the win light.
Huffman wasn’t far behind out of the gate, but he slowed to a 4.537 at 165.81.
Jeff Melnick, the 2023 Pro 632 world champion, continued his domination of the Northern Nationals when he raced to his third consecutive Michigan win and his second straight win on the season.
Behind the wheel of Alan O’Brien’s Barry Allen-powered Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’20 Camaro, Melnick used a string of mid-4.10 second passes to get the win.
Melnick and final-round opponent Lexi Tanner left the line together before Melnick pulled ahead with a winning 4.144 at 171.69 to Tanner’s 4.176 at 170.78. Incredibly, Melnick won all three Northern Nationals titles using three different engines – an AMC in 2023, a Chevy in 2024, and a Ford this year.
With an increased $8,000 Power Purse prize presented by Butcher & Son Demolition on the line in the Elite Top Sportsman final round, the pressure was on for Jeff Simons and Bryan LaFlam. Simons, who made the trip from Massachusetts with his ProCharged ’69 Camaro, went red by .023, tossing out a 3.892 on a 3.88 dial-in. Meanwhile, LaFlam in his supercharged BigStuff TPM ’67 Mustang posted a winning 3.791 on a 3.78 dial-in to collect the bonus from his friend and fellow competitor, reigning world champion Glenn Butcher.
The Elite Top Dragster final round was decided on the starting line when No. 2 qualifier KC Ingram went red by .025 in his supercharged ’20 Miller dragster. He then lifted off the throttle and coasted across the finish line, while No. 15 qualifier Al Peavler took the tree and backed his ProCharged ’25 American dragster off the starting line and into the FuelTech winner’s circle.
Chaz Silance, the 2018 Elite Top Dragster world champion, came out on top in an all-North Carolina Top Dragster 32 final round against Clayton Roberts, who broke out with a 4.215 on his 4.25 dial-in. Silance in his ’21 Race Tech dragster left the line first and ran a 4.481 on a 4.48 dial-in.
Bryan LaFlam (MagnaFuel Elite Top Sportsman presented by PAR Racing Engines), Al Peavler (Laris Motorsports Insurance Elite Top Dragster presented by Greenbrier Excavating & Paving), Gary Kintz (MagnaFuel Top Sportsman), and Chaz Silance (Laris Motorsports Insurance Top Dragster presented by Derrick Wolfe Trucking) collected victories in the sportsman classes.
Alayna Thompson and Knox Schween were victorious in Paragon Pro Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products and Classic Graphix Top Jr. Dragster presented by Philadelphia Racing Products, respectively.
