DINWIDDIE, VA – Scott Palmer raced to his fourth straight opening-round victory Sunday at the second annual Virginia NHRA Nationals and nearly upset the reigning world champion in the quarterfinals before bowing out by .03 seconds. Still, the native Missourian was all smiles as he peeled off his sweat-drenched firesuit.

“We are loving this hot weather,” said Palmer, who officially finished fifth on the day. “This was by far the hottest conditions we’ve faced all year and just look at how the field evened out. I welcome these summer races with open arms.”

Palmer’s biggest achievement of the day was a first-round triumph over Top Fuel stalwart Doug Kalitta, who had qualified more than a tenth of a second quicker during time trials, slotting fifth to Palmer’s 12th-place perch. But none of that mattered when the lights flashed as Palmer peeled off his quickest pass of the weekend, a 3.869 at 322.58 mph, to eliminate Kalitta’s tire-smoking 5.568-second, 119.26-mph effort.

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DINWIDDIE, VA – Scott Palmer’s Magic Dry Organic Absorbent Top Fuel dragster was definitely consistent during qualifying for this weekend’s second annual Virginia NHRA Nationals and the affable Missourian said he’ll spend the evening trying to fine-tune his power curve to prepare for a true race day battle against the best drag racers in the world.

“This is the hottest race weekend we’ve encountered so far this year so when it gets like this you put a premium on getting down the track every time,” Palmer said. “You also know the one night session is the only real time you can post any sort of number so if you miss that round you’re gonna qualify lower than what you want.

“The reality is if you’re not in the top four by the end of qualifying, you’re gonna be racing a badass in the first round on Sunday. We were going for it last night and gave it a touch too much power and drove right through the clutch. I mean we murdered it but still posted our best pass. In today’s heat we had to switch our plan of attack and we’re really happy with how the car responded.”

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DINWIDDIE, VA – Four races into the 2019 season, Scott Palmer had yet to win a round in his Magic Dry Organic Absorbent Top Fuel dragster. The mini drought prompted him to go on a personal search for his “lost mojo,” beginning in historic Winslow, Arizona where he stopped to visit the Mojo Coffee Company.

Strangely, or perhaps not, his luck changed after that fateful day with round wins coming at every race since then, a streak he is confident will continue at this weekend’s second annual Virginia NHRA Nationals, especially as he fiddles with his newest talisman.

“Mike Kloeber’s wife Korene read the story about my search for mojo and she’s a very spiritual girl who’s in tune with all that stuff so she knew I wasn’t joking around,” Palmer said. (Mike Kloeber is fellow driver Clay Millican’s crew chief). “She was in New Orleans recently and came across this little necklace that had an interesting story attached to it. It basically said if you wear it all the time, you’ll get your mojo back. Then, when everything is right with the world, you’re done with it and you take it off.

“We’ve won our first-round races at the last three national events so our mojo is definitely coming back, but I don’t think we’re fully back to where we want to be. Just to be sure I’m gonna keep wearing it for now.”

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COMMERCE, GA – Ever since Scott Palmer went searching for a little mojo about a month ago, his Magic Dry Organic Absorbent Top Fuel dragster team has been on an encouraging upward trend, which continued this weekend at the 39th annual Arby’s NHRA Southern Nationals.

“We’re gaining a little mojo back each weekend,” Palmer said. “Ever since I realized we’d lost our mojo in Las Vegas, we’ve been on the search for it and I think it’s working because we’ve won rounds at the last three races in a row. We’ve working hard to gain this momentum and need to keep it going.”

Palmer went one-up, one-down at Atlanta Dragway, first beating Richie Crampton in a tire-smoking affair in Round 1, running a 3.971 at 265.85 mph to Crampton’s 4.431 at 180.60 mph. He then lined up opposite reigning series champion and teammate Steve Torrence, but smoked the tires very early and drifted to an 8.919 at 86.97 mph, with Torrence posting a beatable 4.043 at 263.41 mph, that was also hampered by tire spin.

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COMMERCE, GA – On-and-off rain showers made qualifying for the 39th annual Arby’s NHRA Southern Nationals a little more taxing than normal, but Scott Palmer and his Magic Dry Organic Absorbent dragster crew still managed to earn the No. 10 starting spot in the talent-laden Top Fuel class.

“We are happy with the performance of the car,” Palmer said. “It did exactly what it was supposed to do. We smoked ’em first round and that put us a little behind but we went down the track in Q2 and Q3 exactly the way we wanted to.”

Palmer’s best 1,000-foot pass of the last two days was a 3.827 at 314.24 mph, which placed him 10th in the 16-car elimination field. For his efforts, he’ll open race day opposite No. 7 qualifier Richie Crampton, who posted a top run of 3.814 at 312.64 mph.

“Even though we are not in the greatest qualifying spot, there is no easy draw out here,” Palmer said. “Lane choice is important, everybody says, if you have it. If you don’t have it, everybody says it’s not important.

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COMMERCE, GA – Coming off an odd, but ultimately successful, drag race in North Carolina, Scott Palmer arrives in Georgia for this weekend’s 39th annual Arby’s NHRA Southern Nationals with high hopes of another memorable national event.

After struggling mightily during qualifying for last weekend’s Four-Wide Nationals, Palmer came to life on race day, beating past world champions Brittany Force and Antron Brown on his way to a fifth-place finish overall.

“Going to Atlanta, we are Cloud 9 because of our performance on Sunday in Charlotte,” Palmer said. “We didn’t qualify well because of some parts failures and we certainly didn’t have a good draw with Brittany Force, Antron Brown and my teammate Dom Lagana in our foursome. I mean, that’s a terrible first-round draw. Nobody thought, with the struggles we had in qualifying, we could pull it off but me and Dom both advanced.

“Then we spun the tires down-track in the next race but it made it 600 feet before it did. We easily could have won that round and been in the final but we ended up being the quickest of the four that didn’t make it, so we finished fifth. We are not disappointed by that result.”

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CHARLOTTE – After a problem-plagued two days of qualifying where he failed to get his Magic Dry Organic Absorbent Top Fuel dragster down the track under full power, Scott Palmer came to life when it mattered most, racing to a fifth-place finish at the 10th annual NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.

Coming from the No. 10 qualifying position after mustering only a best of 4.103 seconds at 273.05 mph during three rounds of time trials, Palmer upset heavyweights Antron Brown and Brittany Force to lead his quad of racers in the opening round of eliminations with a 3.782 at 325.61 mph. Good friend and teammate Dom Lagana also advanced from the group with a second-best 3.796 at
320.51 mph.

The semifinal round of eight wasn’t quite as lucky for Palmer, who was forced to shut off a bit early, crossing with a 4.279 at 217.53 mph, which was bested by both stablemate Steve Torrence (3.777 at 324.05 mph) and Terry McMillen (3.828 at 316.75 mph). Combined with the other foursome, Palmer ended up just outside the top four who raced for the trophy in fifth place on the day.

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CONCORD, NC – Top Fuel driver Scott Palmer’s preparation for this weekend’s 10th annual NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals included cruising Tulsa in his Studebaker. This comes on the heels of his interesting lead-in to the Houston race, which was highlighted by a cross-country search for mojo.

“That Studebaker is my golf game,” said Palmer, a drag racing throwback that still tunes his own racecars, including the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent Top Fuel dragster he’ll race in Charlotte. “Everybody else golfs to relax. That car is what makes me smile.”

To be clear, Palmer’s Studebaker isn’t quite like the one grandpa drove. His has a Top Fuel engine poking out of the hood and he dreams of making it run the quarter-mile in less than five seconds at speeds of more than 300 mph. It’s a car Palmer tinkers with on occasion and admittedly the project has gotten a tad out of control.

“It’s so crazy and outrageous,” Palmer said. “It doesn’t even make sense what we’ve done to that car, putting a Top Fuel motor in a door car like that. We have a great time with it, though, every time we roll it out and it gets me back to my center.

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