Millican 7, Jenkins 2, Montecalvo won at U.S. 131

Words and photos by Jeff Burk

Two-time top Sportsman national event winner Monte Weaver drove from Texas to compete. His nitrous aided Corvette with a Mike's Transmission powerglide ran 6.32.

The only thing that hasn't changed at Martin, Michigan's historic U.S. 131 Dragway is the name. The new ownership completely refurbished and changed the historic track which until recently had an NHRA sanction and was the host track for years of the old Popular Hot Rodding Meet. Now it has an IHRA sanction and hosts IHRA's Northern Nationals that has been run at various tracks for over two decades.

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An IHRA season high of over 650 racers were parked in the brand new facility and by all accounts were rewarded with an extremely smooth track with very good bite. The numbers that came up on the boards for Top Fuel, Fuel Harley, and all of the professional classes backed up the fact that the traction and track were excellent.

For the first time in a while half of the field in Top Fuel made four-second passes and the 300-mph mark was exceeded on numerous occasions. Top Fuel Harley had one of its largest fields of the season and saw laps in the 6.40's at nearly 220 mph. The bump spot in Pro Mod was a respectable 6.41.

Eleven Nitro Harleys showed up at Martin. Doug Vancil (who this is not) was the winner.

With the single exception of a little thing like a torrential rain and thunderstorm that canceled Saturday's Night of Fire, turned the pits into a quagmire of mud and sent the nearly full house of spectators home early, it was a great first race for IHRA's newest facility.

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