Four drivers raced to $5,000 victories, while a couple of families had weekends to remember at the IHRA Summit Sportsman Spectacular event at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI.

John Linnabary from Taylor, MI, and Jason Ford from Beaver Creek, Ontario, Canada, earned $5,000 top prizes for the Top and Mod divisions on Moser Engineering Saturday. David Sherbondy from Laporte, IN, and Maverick Green from Grand Haven, MI, captured the $5,000 wins during Battle Born Batteries Sunday.

Linnabary had the fast reaction time of .004 coupled with a 5.811-second elapsed time at 111.28 mph against a 5.80 dial-in. His final-round opponent, Tom Aretakis Jr. from Ray, MI, had a 6.453 run at 105.49 mph against a 6.45 dial-in with a .017 reaction time.

Ford won on a holeshot with a .009 reaction time to deny Green in Saturday’s final. Ford’s winning pass was 6.382 seconds at 103.64 mph against a 6.37 dial-in. Green came off the line in .043 and then ran 5.863 seconds at 118.58. mph against a 5.84 dial-in.

It was also a weekend to remember for the Wanamaker family starting with hometown driver Kyle Wanamaker winning the Street division when final-round opponent Todd Rogers red-lighted. Wanamaker had a 9.280 elapsed time at 73.46 mph with a .029 reaction time. Rogers finished in 7.594 seconds at 90.18 mph.

Saturday Jr. Dragster Master: Jake Foster, White Cloud, MI, def. Hannah Yerrington, Waterview, MI, no show

Saturday Jr. Dragster Advanced: Connor Denbleyker, Zeeland, MI, .006 RT, 8.999, 71.39 def. Hunter Scholten, West Olive, MI, .044 RT, 8.934, 73.35

Saturday Jr. Dragster Beginner: Mason Waikel, Ft. Wayne, IN, 14.561, 42.34 def. Jaidyn Card, Delton, MI, red light

Sherbondy heads up the list of Sunday winners with a 5.041-second effort at 134.61 mph against a 5.00 dial-in. He also had a slightly better reaction time .014 to .018 against Jeff Ledford from Stanton, MI. Ledford finished with a 5.343 elapsed time at 130.93 mph against a 5.30 dial-in.

Maverick Green got the best of his father, Jeff, in the Mod final. Maverick had a 5.812 elapsed time at 119.21 mph against a 5.82 dial-in with a .023 reaction time. Jeff was quicker at the start (.019) and finished with a 5.967 run at 115.80 mph against a 5.99 dial-in. (photos courtesy IHRA)

Todd Rogers from Plainwell, MI, matched his dial-in with a 7.60-second run at 89.95 mph in Sunday’s Street final while Paul Filip from Kalamazoo, MI, finished in 7.674 seconds at 86.96 mph.

Sunday Jr. Dragster Master: Jake Foster, White Cloud, MI, 11.369, 50.58 def. Katelyn Jones, red light

Sunday Jr. Dragster Advanced: Kassie Wanamaker, Martin, MI, 11.854, 62.61 def. Jase Wanamaker, Kalamazoo red light

Sunday Jr. Dragster Beginner: Aliyah Pitsch, Dorr, MI, 12.050, 54/03 def. Kenzie Wanamaker, red light

The IHRA Summit Sportsman Spectacular returns to action July 26-28 at Xtreme Raceway Park, in Trumbull, TX.   [07/15/19]

Frank Malvaso of Rochester, NY, and his “Rush” 1933 Willys scored another win at Lancaster Dragway @ New York International Raceway Park on Friday night, July 12, as he topped the field of Supercharged Bounty Hunters in the 716 vs. 585 Shootout.

The 716 vs. 585 Shootout for the Supercharged Bounty Hunters featured an eclectic mix of eight vehicles. The final pairing featured multi-time winner Malvaso going head-to-head with Ron D’Alessandro. Malvaso scored the win after D’Alessandro left the starting line too soon. Ron Szewczyk had the quick time of the meet with an elapsed time of 4.56 seconds for the eighth mile.

In regular Friday night action, Mike Sobczynski bested Pete Maduri in the final of Mallare Trucking Top ET. Both drivers nearly cut a perfect light on the starting tree, with Sobczysnki making up the difference in dial-ins to beat Maduri at top end.

In Top 8, Bill Bigham had just over a one second advantage on Rich Yacos in the final round. Bigham was able to hold that advantage and beat Yacos for the Top 8 win.  (photo courtesy Lancaster Dragway)

The Giannia Mazia’s Mod final was a battle of Plymouth Dusters between Reid Ricketson and Mike Hickey. Hickey broke out after he ran under his dial-in to give Ricketson his second win of the season.

Mike Peters remained hot in the Hebeler’s Sales Bikes & Sleds as he won for third week in a row. His latest opponent to conquer was Matt Luke as he broke out to keep Peters’ streak alive.  (photo courtesy Lancaster Dragway)

Lancaster Dragway Wall of Fame member DJ Raiser picked up his first win of 2019 in Tread City Tire Street when John Wachowicz tripped the red light in the final to give Raiser a win in the class he also sponsors.  [07/15/19]

Mike Coughlin’s son, Clay, was on hand to see his dad win for the second weekend in a row. (JEGS photo)

Mike Coughlin remains unbeaten in his JEGS.com Top Dragster ever since changing to a Fowler F12 roots-style supercharger, winning Sunday's Burndown at Sundown Division 3 race at Route 66 Raceway. It was Coughlin's second win in as many weekends and the first time he's ever won two races in a row.

Coughlin’s 6.231 at 214.38 mph on a 6.22 dial took the win by .0140 seconds over Bradley Green’s 6.596/203.71 on a 6.57 dial.

"If you had come to me a month ago and said I'd win two in a row I would have said 'no way, no how,'" said Mike, a two-time Division 3 champion in Top Sportsman who switched to Top Dragster three years ago. "This is such a different racecar since we switched to the Fowler. It's so easy to drive and it responds to everything we ask of it.

(Sackman Boyz Racing photo)

For the second year in a row, Chicagoland native Matt Sackman swept the NHRA North Central Region event at Route 66 Raceway. Sackman qualified No. 1 in the Novak Electric/Gemini Farms/Hangsterfer’s Laboratories A/Fuel dragster and defeated Troy Coughlin Jr. in the Top Alcohol Dragster final round, claiming car owner and tuner Randy Meyer’s eighth win of the season in the team’s 13th 2019 final round.

Sackman went into the final round with lane choice over Coughlin, who was deadly consistent in prior rounds with a pair of .064 reaction times and 5.32 passes. Both drivers stepped up for the final round, with Coughlin in the JEGS-backed McPhillips Racing A/Fuel dragster leaving first with a .007 light followed by Sackman’s .025 bulb. Sackman drove through tire shake and edged past Coughlin by just .0001, winning with a 5.348 at 273.33 over Coughlin’s 5.366 at 274.11.

“Fortunately, I was able to go .025 staged shallow, so I was really happy with my light,” Sackman explained. “The thing took off and around 200 feet it started fast-shaking, so I grabbed the brake and hung on. I never saw TJ but I was kind of surprised when the win light came on after driving through the shake. TJ went by me as soon as the win light came on, so I knew he was right there the whole time. To win by one ten-thousandth, that's the closest race I've ever been a part of. We were very fortunate to be on the winning side of that.”

TAFC: Ray Drew, 5.787, 257.33 def. Sean Bellemeur, 10.928, 80.35

Comp: Shaun Vincent, .035 RT, 8.95 Index, 8.462 ET, 157.45 def. Chad Voges, .053 RT, 8.12 Index, 7.639, 179.82

Super Stock: Ricky Decker, .082 RT, 9.97 Index, 9.980, 130,.77 def. Tyler Bohannon .055 RT, 10.12 Index, 10.160, 130.87

Stock: Ben Wenzel, .015, 10.56 Dial, 10.634, 118.91 def. Ron Mattson, .078, 10.81, 10.838, 120.35

Super Comp: Luke Bogacki, .025, 8.90 Index, 8.932, 167.47 def. Rick Hughes, .054, 8.90, 8.907, 166.64

Super Gas: Bradley Schultz, .043, 9.90 Index, 9.901, 136.94 def. Pat Debottis, .019, 9.944, 165.33

Super Street: Mark Smith, .014, 10.90 Index, 10.954, 144.74 def. Ronnie Maggart, .033, 10.941, 148.89

Top Sportsman: Curt Fredrich, .001, 6.77 Dial, 6.810, 204.66 def. Dave Esposito, .005, 7.03 Dial, 7.066, 197.28   [07/15/19]