Booher Scores Second Consecutive Runner-Up Finish of 2015

NORWALK, OH – Brandon Booher is working his way back into championship form in NHRA’s North Central region, where he now has back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2015. The for-hire Pro Mod tuner drove the AB Construction Top Alcohol Dragster to his seventh regional-level final round at Summit Motorsports Park last weekend, just two weeks after taking runner-up at the season opener in Indianapolis.

“It was definitely good to be in those final rounds and to acquire the points. Obviously I would’ve liked to win them both, or at least one. It certainly could’ve been worse. I suspected a few issues at Indy, though they were overshadowed by other unrelated problems. Those issues made themselves evident at Norwalk, but there was nothing we could do about that at the track. I just had to maintain performance and do my job as a driver,” said Booher, who also tunes the family-owned car.

A threatening forecast for the Norwalk area forced officials to cut Top Alcohol qualifying down to two sessions, though Booher managed to qualify sixth in the eight-car field with a 5.427 elapsed time. Racing in front of over 20,000 people, he left first with a .012 light and ran 5.475 to beat Canadian Jeff Veale in the first round. Booher improved to a 5.440 at 265 mph to defeat Mike Manners in the semifinals, again leading the race from the starting line. The same can’t be said for the final round, though, when defending region champion Marty Thacker leaped off the starting line and won with a strong 5.430 performance.

“I had to make a tuning call that I didn’t want to make, but I knew Marty would run right about where he did, and you know he’s dynamite on the line, so I wanted to go out there and run 5.36-38. It was close, it just rattled the tires and I had to pedal it. At that point I could see too much of his car. I knew I wasn’t going to catch him so I just lifted. No need to beat the parts up to get a better losing et,” Booher explained.

The issues plaguing the torque-converter-equipped dragster have been resolved for the team’s upcoming home race, the Burndown at Sundown NHRA North Central regional event, June 5-7, at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago. There, Booher also plans to debut a prototype wheelie bar for the Top Alcohol Dragster class.

“We’ve been having some issues with the wheelie bar bending, so Frank and Mike Valerio of MVM Motorsports Products stepped up to work with us on debuting a carbon fiber dragster wheelie bar, similar to the MVM bars you see on a lot of the NHRA Pro Mods and PDRA Pro Extreme and Pro Nitrous doorslammers. It will be a lot more rigid, stronger and it’s carbon fiber, so it just looks cool.”

Brandon Booher was sure to thank his father and team owner, Aaron Booher; brother and main crew member Brian Booher; and crew members John Halloran and Nate Van Wagnen for their work at Norwalk.