Drag Racing Online: The Magazine

Volume VIII, Issue 3, Page 22

PRO NITROUS

Mike Castellana
Shannon Jenkins
Harold Martin
The Pro Nitrous fields at ADRL just keep getting stronger at every event. At Houston 15 cars made qualifying attempts to make the advertised eight-car field. After two sessions the bump for eight spots was held by James Hancock’s respectable 4.105, and Mike Castellana, with the tuning aid of crew chief Shannon “Iceman” Jenkins, sat on the pole with a 4.034. Then ADRL pres Kenny Nowling made the decision to support the nitrous contingent by increasing the field to 16 cars, which meant Castellana got a single into the second round.

Terry Housley
Once Castellana got into the second round he was basically unstoppable running ET’s of 4.028, 4.015, and 4.014 to put points leader Johnny Pilcher, who uses one of Sonny Leonard’s Hemi-Chevy engines, on the trailer.

One his side of the ladder Pilcher took out his closest rival in the points chase, Keith Baker, when Baker shook the tires and shut off. Pilcher then ran his best ET of the event (4.046/180.58) to beat Ken Thomas and win the right to meet Castellana in the finals. His 4.18 in the final was no match for Castellana and Jenkins, but getting to final did put him into the point lead over Baker by just two points, 731 to Baker’s 729!

CONCLUSION

The ADRL show continues to improve with each event. Despite the long for many racers, 49 cars attempted to qualify for the Houston race, including Valdosta winner Harold Martin who towed from Detroit. Despite the fact that this race was held on the same weekend as the Houston Rodeo (which is a very big deal in Houston) there was a near capacity crowd on Saturday and ADRL claims that 11,000 tickets were disbursed over the two-day event.

The ADRL seems to be establishing itself with the Pro Mod racers as the premier series for them, as it is the only sanctioning body where Pro Mods don’t share the spotlight with another class and it is the only major series with separate classes for both supercharged cars and nitrous aided. Now, if they can just get a few more nitro burners it would be perfect.

 

ADRL at Houston: Photos [3-6-06]
ADRL at Valdosta [2-21-06]
ADRL at Kennedale, TX [10-20-05]
 

 

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