CASTELLANA SCORES THIRD WIN IN ALL AL-ANABI FINAL; AUXIER POSTS CAREER BEST, MAKES THE BATTLE FOR THE BELTS
ROCKINGHAM, NC – Mike Castellana scored his third Pro Nitrous win in three finals rounds on the 2009 National Guard ADRL Tour at the Flowmaster Dragstock VI at Rockingham Dragway. This victory tied him for No. 3 on the ADRL Pro Nitrous all-time winningest driver’s list and marked the second time in his ADRL career that he has won from the No. 1 qualifying spot.
Perhaps the most talked about feat of the event, especially in the Pro Nitrous division, would surely be Castellana’s shot-heard-round-the-world 3.861-second blast in the Friday night’s final qualifying session. The elapsed time was the quickest in the categories history and was nearly a tenth-of-a-second quicker than 2008’s number-one qualifier.
While impressed by the performance displayed by his Speedtech Nitrous/Reher-Morrison engine program, Castellana spoke candidly about the world’s quickest nitrous pass – especially the part about the brandywine 1970.5 Chevrolet Camaro being inches from the wall as it crossed the eighth-mile finish line.
“The car drove towards the wall, out of the groove about 500 feet out. I felt the car drift and knew I was taking a chance being that close to the wall, but luckily we didn’t crash.”
En route to the final round, Castellana disposed of Fredy Scriba with an impressive 3.911-second run at 192.22mph in the opening round, then battled it out with Pro Modified legend Charles Carpenter in the quarter-final, taking the win with a 3.902/192.96. His semifinal match-up against his crew chief and Al-Anabi Racing teammate Shannon “The Iceman” Jenkins produced 3.909/192.08 win, and marked the first time these two have matched up in ADRL competition.
On the opposite side of the ladder, teammate Burton Auxier (No. 3 qualifier, 3.906/193.29) was also mowing through the quickest and fastest field in the history of ADRL Pro Nitrous on his way to his second career final round.
After taking out Randy Weatherford in the first round of eliminations by way of a 3.907/191.81, Auxier put together his first-ever 3.8-second run in the quarterfinals against John Bartunek at 3.890-seconds and 192.38mph to get the win, setting up a semifinal round matchup with points leader Jim Halsey. In the quickest side-by-side race in the history of the class, Auxier left first with a remarkable .007 reaction time followed by Halsey with a .040-light, taking the win by a margin of 11 feet with another career-best run at 3.879/192.52.
For the final round, it would be the second-ever all Al-Anabi Racing shootout as Castellana and Auxier squared off for the National Guard ADRL “Minute Man” Trophy.
With Auxier’s beautiful ’68 Pontiac Firebird in the left-hand lane and Castellana’s ’70.5 Camaro opposite, arguably the two best cars of the day were in the final. Both driver’s are well-known for their starting line prowess, but Auxier had the edge in reaction times with a .027-light to Castellana’s .052. The Westbury, New York-based driver quickly reeled in his teammate, though, who went into tire shake, and took the win with a convincing 3.906 at 193.16mph.
“We had already won before we even raced,” said Auxier, who has quickly shown himself as the sleeping giant on the Al-Anabi Racing Pro Nitrous team. “Having two teams cars in the final round, especially here at Dragstock, we couldn’t really ask for much more.”
Castellana, who won the first all Al-Anabi final in St. Louis earlier this year, was equally content with the situation. “It was great to have three of our four team cars in the semis and two in the final,” he said. “I’m just glad we could win another one for the Sheikh. Racing one of my teammates in the final, I was a little more relaxed than usual because I knew the team was going to get the win, no matter what. Now we just have to turn our attention to the Speedtech Nitrous Battle for the Belts and bring home the championship.”
Staged in Ennis, Texas at the legendary Texas Motorplex next month will be the ADRL Speedtech Nitrous Battle for the Belts – a shootout between the Top 8 points earners in each class which will decide the season champions. With all four cars in the battle, Al-Anabi Racing is well suited to take home the coveted world championship belt, but has an uphill battle against Pro Nitrous veterans Jim Halsey, Stan Allen, Steve Vick and Johnny Pilcher.
Jenkins, who not only drives, but also offers his wealth of nitrous-tuning and racing expertise to the entire Al-Anabi Racing camp, was clearly satisfied with the team’s performance. “This is exactly the kind of weekend we want to have. This team rose to the occasion, showed consistency and performance – and the results are obvious. Our focus now, of course, has to be the Battle for the Belts in Dallas.”
The final stop on the 2009 National Guard ADRL Tour will be the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals V at the Texas Motorplex outside of Dallas on October 23-24.
