NHRA Heritage Top Fuel Dragsters In Tight Points Battle Going Into Tulsa Nitro Nationals!


NHRA Heritage Top Fuel Dragsters In Tight Points Battle Going Into Tulsa Nitro Nationals!

(Photos by Dyan Lover and Darr Hawthorne) The All American Fuel Dragster coalition is bringing a full field of front-engine Top Fuel dragsters to the Nitro Nationals at Tulsa Raceway Park for the next to last battle in the 5-race NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Championship. This volatile nitro-fueled mix of qualifying and 8-car eliminations carries on a Tulsa Top Fuel dragster competition tradition set in motion at the NHRA World Finals from 1965 to 1968 and into the Seventies with the PRA National Challenge when the storied drag strip was known as Southwest Raceway.

Current Top Fuel points leader Jim Murphy (above) and the WW2 Racing Team juggernaut are set to reprise nitro-burning action at Tulsa Raceway Park after unexpected rain at the Nightfire Nationals in Boise pushed the final round between Murphy and Adam Sorokin out to the California Hot Rod Reunion. Adam Sorokin feels the Champion Speed Shop small block Chevrolet combination is on track against the Roland Leong-tuned WW2 hemi and anyone else. “I was clicking it early all through the Boise race. We only scuffed two pistons. I think the car is going to really start running”.

Driver Mendy Fry (above) will be living on Tulsa time from the number two points position in the High-Speed Motorsports hemi-powered Top Fuel contender.

Dusty Green (above) will meet the Nitro-Hemi in T-Town for a run at the stripe from the number four slot. Jim Young and the Young Guns are rolling their hemi-powered front engine AA/fueler towards the Oil Capital of the World from Wisconsin.

Tyler Hilton (above) is moving towards Tulsa Town after footing his big block Chevrolet-powered Great Expectations III AA/Fuel dragster to a 5.89 ET at 247 MPH against Paul Romine’s Funny Car at US 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan.

Local favorite Paul “Nobody” Schultz is in good spirits and suiting up to run the hemi-powered Spirit of Tulsa AA/Fuel dragster for a Nitro Nationals top spot. Tim Cullinan and his Nitro Nostalgia entry are on the way from Illinois, and Julius Hughes and his Atlanta Speed Shop AA/Fueler will represent the oldest speed shop in the southeast. Last minute entries into the fray are as yet unknown. Reigning Top Fuel Champion Tony Bartone is on the injured list with the California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield in sight as a recovery plan.

As more nitro is good nitro the All American Fuel Dragsters will join front-engine blown alcohol and injected nitro A/Fuel dragsters led by Washington’s Drew Austin (above), fuel-huffing supercharged Drag Racing Online AA/FC Challenge and front engine Junior Fuel dragsters along with a collection of nostalgia high-axle Gassers and pre-1972 door slammers that may or may not have a tiger in the tank. The Nitro Nationals will also feature a car show, live bands, and a pinup contest held in conjunction with drag racing action.

NITRO NATIONALS SCHEDULE: 

The 2017 Nitro Nationals runs Friday and Saturday, September 22nd and 23rd. Gates open Friday at 10 AM for racers and vendors. Spectator gates open at 5 PM. Racing commences at 6 PM. Gates open Saturday at 9 AM. Racing starts at 2 PM.

Top Fuel and A/Fuel dragster, Funny Car and Junior Fuel begin qualifying under the lights Friday at 8 PM and resume Saturday 2 PM. Eliminations Saturday the 23rd at 6 PM, 8 PM, and 10 PM. Schedule subject to change.

 

NHRA HOT ROD HERITAGE SERIES TOP FUEL POINTS STANDINGS:

Top Fuel points standings heading into the Nitro Nationals at Tulsa Raceway Park and fourth event in the 5-race NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series. Boise final round Top Fuel points to be settled at the California Hot Rod Reunion and last stop for the All American Fuel Dragster coalition this year at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California October 20th-22nd.

  1. Jim Murphy* 311
  2. Mendy Fry 265
  3.  Adam Sorokin* 203
  4. Dusty Green 185
  5. Bret Williamson 128
  6. Tony Bartone 126
  7. Tyler Hilton 104
  8. Jim Young 98
  9. Pete Wittenberg 74
  10. Phil Ruskowski 62

*Boise Final Round points TBD at California Hot Rod Reunion with 20 points awarded to winner

 


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