Double-Win Weekend for Three ADRL Competitors

Courtesy of ADRL

BAYTOWN, TX — For three American Drag Racing League (ADRL) drivers, winning once this weekend at Houston Raceway Park (HRP) wasn’t enough. For Pro Extreme driver Joshua Hernandez, one rousing victory in front of a boisterous hometown crowd proved to be plenty.

After winning the ADRL Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza VI presented by Safety-Kleen, which was completed at HRP on Friday after being postponed in March, Pro Nitrous driver Rickie Smith, Extreme 10.5 standout Billy Glidden and Extreme Pro Stock’s John Montecalvo all made it a two-win weekend by coming up victorious at Saturday’s ADRL UTI Inaugural Texas Drags.

Hernandez and Ashley Owens (Pro Extreme Motorcycle) pulled out the other two class wins on Saturday, with Hernandez and his ’57 Fight Me MMA Chevy bringing the crowd to its feet on several occasions.

The last came in the final, when the Houston-area native went 3.72 – the low round of the weekend – at 204.91 miles per hour to knock off Steve Wiley that set off a memorable celebration in front of plenty of friends and family.
“This was just incredible. The show of support for a hometown boy was just amazing,” Hernandez said. “To hold that trophy at the end of the night in front of the fans, that’s what it’s all about.”

Hernandez had the Texas heat figured out all weekend and was the most consistent PX driver by far on Saturday.
In the process, he treated fans to spectacular races on both days, but none were more entertaining than his semifinal duel with KH Al-Thani.

The Al-Anabi racing member went 3.76 in a great run, but Hernandez went 3.74 in an epic battle that captured everyone’s attention. Hernandez followed with another spectacular performance in the final, which was simply par for the course for the weekend.

“We changed a lot of stuff and the track was the great equalizer this weekend,” said Hernandez, who was also the top qualifier and became the new points leader.

“Everyone was struggling in the same areas and it was just a matter of who figured it out the fastest.” The victory double-dip proved especially rewarding for Smith, who dedicated both victories to his ill father. He teared up after the win on Friday and his father served as motivation a day later as well. “I wanted to dedicate this race to him and it was on my mind,” Smith said. “I didn’t want to try too hard and mess up, but it’s so unbelievable to do two in a row. It’s a tremendous lift for me.”

Smith was impressive on Friday in running the best times in the class, but he was dynamite a day later, reaching 3.90 in both the semifinals and finals.

After qualifying in the top spot, Smith went 3.90 to defeat Shannon Jenkins in the semifinals, before knocking off Johnny Pilcher on a red-light win in the finals. Pilcher surprised many by running well while debuting a new Camaro, but Smith had far too much power and consistency to be denied on this weekend. “We’ve been fighting the engine all year and I’m just so tickled with this car right now,” Smith said. “The car is just working great.”

Glidden weaved his own memorable tale at HRP, winning for a second straight night just weeks after a devastating crash in Topeka. The XTF standout returned quicker than expected to the track and the payoff was his best weekend in more than a year. “We’re really happy and at least something appeared for us after all the work we’ve been doing,” said Glidden, who has a class-best 11 career victories. “Everything in me is cramping up.”

Glidden also extracted revenge on Gary White after losing to the Titan Motorsports driver at Michigan in June.
This time, White red-lighted and handed the victory to Glidden, who managed to come up victorious despite plenty of struggles in his 2010 Mustang on Saturday.

“Today, we didn’t do a very good job. In the first and second run, the car just took off,” Glidden said. “It was tough to maneuver today. For the semis, we changed the shocks, the transmission and the tires. We changed everything but the car, the motor and me. “But if we continue progressing, we can be a contender again.”

Montecalvo shot to the top of XPS after a weekend the New York native will never forget. Nearly overcome by emotion in the winner’s circle, Montecalvo didn’t hold back when describing what the double-win weekend meant to him. “It is by far one of the best weeks I’ve ever had in drag racing,” Montecalvo said. “I’ve never doubled up before and we just came through. I’m just so pumped right now. My adrenaline is through the roof.”

Montecalvo was nearly flawless on Saturday, again saving his best for last in the final. After knocking off Elijah Morton – whom he beat in the finals on Friday – to advance, Montecalvo turned in a class-best 4.11 in the finals, knocking off Brian Gahm for the second straight race. Montecalvo also has three straight wins to his credit, making him the hottest current driver in the ADRL. “Today, we were on fire,” Montecalvo said. “It went picture perfect and I have to thank my crew for making this possible.”

After Owens had his streak of dominance snapped on Friday, the thought of it not being his weekend seemed to apply after he also broke two transmissions in three passes. But Owens and his team kept at it and the payoff proved to be a trophy that the entire Fast by Gast team enjoyed.

His performance on Saturday was also an indication there might not be any chinks in his armor in PXM. “We just kept working all weekend,” Owens said. “I had never broke a transmission before and then I did two in three passes. I still don’t know what happened. The guys just kept working hard.” That was evident, as Owens ripped off two eye-popping times in the semifinals and finals.

After going 4.13 to advance to the finals, Owens denied Travis Davis a double-win weekend by running another 4.13 that smashed any other elapsed time for any competitor in PXM. That those times and the win came in the second-fastest PXM field in ADRL history added even more gratification for Owens, who maintains a massive lead in points. “It is satisfying,” Owens said. “It’s a great group of guys and we came through.”

In Pro Junior Dragster, Corey Tankersley beat Cole Burk after a holeshot win. Tankersley had a reaction time of .002 to get the win.

The ADRL returns to action on August 7-8 for the ADRL Hardee’s Gateway Drags III at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., just outside of St. Louis. Like the weekend in Houston, it will also be a double-race weekend.

The completion of the ADRL Hardee’s Independence Drags at Heartland Park Topeka will take place on Friday, with the Gateway Drags to be completed the next day.