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Ace Manzo Owns Maple Grove: Records 10th Straight National Event Win At the Grove


Ace Manzo Owns Maple Grove: Records 10th Straight National Event Win At the Grove

In terms of wild drag racing stats, this one ranks right up there with some of the best. With yesterday’s final round defeat of Marc White (on a hole shot no less!) Frank Manzo won his 10th straight NHRA National Event in Top Alcohol Funny Car at Maple Grove Raceway. If you race an alky Funny Car, skip that one next year, it’s futile to resist the Manzo steamroller.

Alcohol Funny Cars are widely recognized as the toughest cars to drive in drag racing with the driver needing to perform multiple tasks at several different points down the track, all of them in the not so comfy confines of a Funny Car cockpit. Frank Manzo is one of the best ever people in the history of drag racing at doing them, if not the best.

Here’s a few numbers to blow your mind. In his last 54 final rounds—which is not all of his final rounds, just the last 54—he has 50 wins and 4 losses. He’s 32 and 1 in his last 33. Since 1999 only four freaking drivers have beat him in the finals and according to Drag Race Central’s Jim Samuel, White (his opponent in this race) beat him on a holeshot back in 2002. We’re thinking Frank never forgot that.

It’s pretty awesome to see someone in racing figure out what they are good at and stick with it. Manzo has never waivered in his Alky Funny Car competiton for “bigger” things. He’s seen more guys “move up” to a Fuel car, fail, and fall from the sport forever to follow the same path. He is a living example of finding out what you’re good at and refining yourself to be better than everyone. Other than the fact he wipes the floor with most everyone, you’ll not hear many ill words about Frank Manzo either.

As one of the winningest drivers in the history of the NHRA, he doesn’t need our congratulations but man, we feel we owe it to him anyway. Hell of a job, Frank!


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