A tradition with the ADRL is to invite the fans to the winners circle after the race is over. Usually a couple of hundred fans show up, but evidently Texas racer Frankie Taylor and the rest of the class winners at the ADRL event in Norwalk, Ohio, were more popular than they knew as thousands of American Drag Racing League fans swarmed the starting-line for a raucous celebration of winners Frankie Taylor, Shannon Jenkins, David Janes and Billy Vose in the 2nd annual ADRL Gatorz Ohio Drags.

Texas native Frankie Taylor, known as the “Mad Man” at dragstrips all over Texas and the Southeast where he is a regular on the “Outlaw” Pro Mod circuits sometimes racing as many as five nights a week, qualified his supercharged 2005 Corvette fourth in the 16-car Pro Extreme field. He then beat Dwayne Watkins and Brian Daniels before receiving a pass to the final when top qualifier and defending series champ Jason Scruggs was unable to stage for the semis after suffering engine damage in round two.
The final round saw Taylor go against Bubba Stanton, the 2006 class champion, who made it past Todd Robertson, Mike Stawicki and points leader Joshua Hernandez to be in the finals.

Stanton lost traction off the line while Taylor had traction and streaked down the eighth mile to the Ohio Drags title in 3.903 seconds at 195.90 mph to Stanton ’s 7.931/76.12 shutoff pass.

“It took a while, but it was worth it,” said Taylor, who has been part of the ADRL since its inception in October 2004. “They say the first one is the hardest to win, so maybe I can get a couple more now. I sure hope so; I could get used to this!”