|
Ron
Muenks, Jim Whiteley Claim Final MWDRS Wins of the Season
at Xtreme Texas World Finals
FERRIS, Texas (Oct. 26, 2022) — In just his second event
behind the wheel of Dave Pierce’s new screw-blown M&M
Transmission 2010 Mustang, Ron Muenks scored a
season-ending win in Stroud Safety Pro Mod Saturday night
at the Summit Racing Equipment Mid-West Drag Racing Series
(MWDRS) presented by J&A Service Xtreme Texas World Finals
at Xtreme Raceway Park. He defeated fellow past MWDRS Pro
Mod champion and series founder Keith Haney in the final
round.
Jim Whiteley, a three-time NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster world
champion, picked up his first win in J&A Service Top
Alcohol Funny Car, defeating wife Annie in an all-YNot
Racing final round.
Additional winners at the Xtreme Texas World Finals
include Tommy Cunningham in Pro Mod Slammers, Chad Broom
in Race Star Wheels Top Dragster, Kyle Baker in Pat Musi
Racing Engines Top Sportsman, Graeme Rufenacht in B&C
Trailers Pro Jr. Dragster, Tyler Wells in Zimmerman
Properties Sportsman Jr. Dragster, and B. Vann in Jr.
Dragster Slammers.
Pro Mod driver Tony "Sandman" Williams was awarded the
Aryan Rochon Hardest Working Crew award. Major rig issues
left Williams stranded on the side of the road on his way
to the race. He was able to get his rig fixed and made it
to the track just in time for the second qualifying
session, where he made a solid 3.72-second run.
Xtreme Texas World Finals also included a $50,000 grudge
race between YNot Racing drivers Steven Whiteley in Pro
Mod and Anita Strasburg in Top Dragster. Whiteley took the
win, adding to the family’s successful weekend.
The series officially crowned its 2022 season champions
over the weekend. The champions are Dustin Nesloney in Pro
Mod, Chris Marshall in Top Alcohol Funny Car, Anita
Strasburg in Top Dragster, Rod Moore in Top Sportsman,
Alexis Kesterson in Pro Jr. Dragster, Tyler Wells in
Sportsman Jr. Dragster, and Sam Wills in Pingel Top Fuel
Motorcycle.
PRO MOD
After many years of campaigning a nitrous-assisted ’68
Camaro known as the “Purple Gorilla,” Ron Muenks and car
owner Dave Pierce decided to debut a screw-blown Mustang
just weeks before the Xtreme Texas World Finals. That move
paid off Saturday night when Muenks and tuner Jeff Pierce
took the Mustang to the winner’s circle following a
final-round battle with past series champion Keith Haney.
Haney was first off the starting line, but Muenks threw
down a 3.618 at 208.62 to drive around Haney and his 3.676
at 204.36 in his nitrous-fed “Black Mamba” Camaro.
“Hat's off to Jeff, Dave, Ryan [Sadler] and Jeff
Holloway,” Muenks said. “Those guys work their butts off.
We worked like clockwork this weekend. Sometimes you have
little bumps and things that go on, but this weekend, just
like in 2020 when we won the championship, everything
worked like clockwork. Everything just worked out perfect
this weekend. The track was awesome, the track prep was
awesome, the track facility, the employees, the staff at
MWDRS was great, and the crew, you can't say anything more
about them. They're the best.”
After qualifying third, Muenks set low E.T. of all four
rounds of eliminations, starting with a 3.693 at 205.20 to
knock out Robert Costa in the first round. He dipped
further into the 3.60s in the next two rounds, using a
3.635 at 207.18 to beat Mike Labbate’s 3.796 and a 3.632
at 206.80 to beat Brian Lewis. Lewis reached the semis
after running a career-best 3.696 in the second round,
though he had to change engines with the help of crew
members from eight different teams to prepare for the
semis.
“Jeff had a pretty good baseline from testing on Thursday
– I think we popped off a 3.65 at 206,” Muenks said. “From
there, we sat out to get ready for first round of
qualifying. Jeff kept tuning on the thing and making it go
faster and faster every round.”
On the other side of the ladder, Haney was having his best
performance of the season. The No. 5 qualifier, Haney
started race day with a 3.739 at 202.61 over Keith Goolsby,
followed by a 3.713 at 203.16 over Tony Strachan’s 3.869.
The Oklahoma native then used a holeshot advantage and
3.669 at 204.17 to defeat newly crowned champion Dustin
Nesloney and his 3.673.
TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR
With three NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster world championships
and success in both quarter-mile and eighth-mile Pro
Modified competition, Jim Whiteley has a lengthy racing
résumé. Now he can add a MWDRS Top Alcohol Funny Car win
to that list, as he defeated his wife and teammate, Annie
Whiteley, in the final round at XRP. Jim recorded a 3.685
at 209.79 in his white J&A Service Camaro, while Annie had
to lift to a 7.624 at 58.90 in her blue J&A Service Camaro.
The husband-wife duo’s success started in qualifying, as
Annie and Jim both set 3.63-second passes to qualify No. 1
and 2, respectively. Jim won a side-by-side race with
Steve Macklyn in the first round of eliminations, with
Whiteley running a 3.701 at 207.47 to Macklyn’s 3.715. He
then posted a 3.671 at 210.38 on a single in the
semifinals.
Annie’s No. 1 qualifying effort earned her a first-round
bye run, which she used to run a 3.669 at 211.27. She
repeated that run almost down to the ten-thousandth with a
3.669 at 211.96 to get the semifinal win over 2022 series
champion Chris Marshall, who red-lit away his best run of
the weekend, a 3.637.
TOP DRAGSTER
The Top Dragster final round featured an all-Texas
throwdown between Chad Broom and Jessica Ogden, who won
the MWDRS season opener at XRP. Broom’s .001 reaction time
and 4.776 on a 4.73 dial-in allowed him to hold off Ogden
and her solid 4.411 on a 4.41 dial-in.
TOP SPORTSMAN
Fresh off a runner-up finish at the Great Bend make-up
race held at Tulsa, Kyle Baker turned on the final-round
win light in Top Sportsman. Driving his boosted J&A
Service ’08 Cobalt, Baker won with a 4.137 on a 4.12
dial-in. Opponent Bob Gulitti followed with a 4.073 on a
4.03 dial-in in his nitrous-fed NTG ’67 Mustang. Baker and
Gulitti had nearly identical reaction times – .014 for
Baker and .015 for Gulitti.
JR. DRAGSTER
Graeme Rufenacht scored the Pro Jr. Dragster win, thanks
in part to a quicker reaction time in the final round.
Rufenacht ran an 8.191 on an 8.14 dial-in to defeat Maddy
Poplawski and her 7.935 on a 7.90 dial-in.
Sportsman Jr. Dragster season champion Tyler Wells added
one more win to close out his stellar season. The Oklahoma
driver beat Makenzie Roberts in the final round, with
Wells’ 8.932 on an 8.90 dial-in topping Roberts’ 8.985 on
an 8.94 dial-in.
The MWDRS will hold a special awards banquet on Saturday,
Jan. 7, 2023, in Claremore, Okla., to celebrate the 2022
champions.
ABOUT MWDRS
The Summit Racing Equipment Mid-West Drag Racing Series is
an all-eighth-mile drag racing organization with
headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The series is headlined
by Pro Modified and Top Alcohol Funny Car, with additional
classes including Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, and two Jr.
Dragster categories. The 2022 MWDRS schedule consists of
eight national events. For more information on the MWDRS,
visit www.MidWestDragRacingSeries.com.
Pro Mod winner Ron Muenks
Top Alcohol Funny Car finalists Jim and Annie Whiteley
Top Dragster winner Chad Broom
Top Sportsman winner Kyle Baker
Pro Jr. Dragster winner Graeme Rufenacht
Sportsman Jr. Dragster winner Tyler Wells
|