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Hobbs,
Shelton, Bellemeur and A. Whiteley Lead Winners at MWDRS
Double Event During Throwdown in T-Town
TULSA, Okla. (May 10, 2022) — Stroud Safety Pro Mod
drivers Ronnie Hobbs and Stan Shelton scored their first
career victories in the Summit Racing Equipment Mid-West
Drag Racing Series (MWDRS) presented by J&A Service at
Osage Casino & Hotel Tulsa Raceway Park’s spring Throwdown
in T-Town, which also included eliminations from the MWDRS
Memphis Nationals.
Hobbs won the Tulsa event, along with Sean Bellemeur in
J&A Service Top Alcohol Funny Car, Robert Costa in Pro Mod
Slammers, Shannon Smith in Voss Wheelie Bars Top
Sportsman, Karl Jones in Race Star Wheels Top Dragster,
Brody Zimmerman in B&C Trailers Pro Jr. Dragster, Kale
Moberly in Zimmerman Properties Sportsman Jr. Dragster,
and Dave Pierce in Dave’s Claremore RV Pro Street.
Shelton was the Memphis winner, joining additional winners
Annie Whiteley in Top Alcohol Funny Car, Todd Martin in
Pro Mod Slammers, Anita Strasburg in Top Dragster, Robert
Irby in Top Sportsman, Alexis Kesterson in Pro Jr.
Dragster, and Tyler Wells in Sportsman Jr. Dragster.
PRO MOD
Ronnie Hobbs’ recent switch to a screw-blown, Wyo
Motorsports-built engine is already paying dividends, as
Hobbs drove it to multiple career-best passes on his way
to victory at Tulsa. Tuned by Todd “King Tut” Tutterow,
Hobbs and his “Texas Rattlesnake” ’17 GT350 Mustang
qualified No. 15 before charging through eliminations to
meet Daniel Pharris, the car’s former owner, in the final
round. Hobbs posted a 3.645 to finish ahead of Pharris and
his 3.668.
“There's no words to express what it takes to be up
against this level of competition and be successful,” said
Hobbs, who defeated Stan Shelton, Tommy Cunningham, and
Dustin Nesloney in prior rounds. “Everybody wants to win
and there's no amount of money that can buy a win. It
takes so much more than money. It takes luck and a lot of
other things. We just wanted to compete and to compete at
this level. The rest has to fall into place. Not only
being able to compete, but actually pull off a win at
really our first race with this new combination, it's
amazing. Unfortunately, I probably wanted it a little too
much and didn't have as much experience in the car as I
needed for that .64.”
Shortly after crossing the eighth-mile finish line, Hobbs
scraped the right-side retaining wall but was able to get
the car stopped safely. He admitted he’s still catching up
to the car, which is already quicker than Hobbs’ previous
career-best of 3.72 going into the weekend.
“Once we made a full pass, I think every pass was the
fastest I’d ever been – 3.70, 3.69, 3.68, 3.66, 3.64 were
all my personal bests,” Hobbs said. “Without a lot of
driving experience, that's a lot of pressure. I failed to
keep it off the wall and scraped the wall, but very
minimal damage. Very lucky there.”
While Hobbs was chipping away at his career-bests, Pharris
was consistently stepping up on his side of the ladder.
Driving the ProCharger-boosted GALOT Motorsports ’69
Camaro, Pharris defeated Ed Thornton, Brian Lewis, and
Mark “Tydo” Werdehausen before meeting Hobbs in the final
round.
Hobbs is confident he’ll catch up quickly with more passes
in the car. A lot of that confidence comes from his trust
in Tutterow, who worked with Larry Jeffers Race Cars and
Modern Racing to convert the car over to its current
screw-blown Noonan configuration. Tutterow also made the
first few test passes in the car and got it race ready.
“The confidence that I had to get in this car knowing that
he's probably not going to miss the tune and it's going to
go right down through there as long as I can drive it is
huge,” Hobbs said. “There's just a handful of guys out
there, and I think most people would say Todd is one of
the best in the business. The whole Wyo team has become my
crew, and it's just been a great relationship. We're just
trying to get everything to jell and win a championship
with them.”
Earlier in the weekend, the MWDRS completed eliminations
from the Memphis Nationals, which was postponed due to wet
track conditions. Tractor pulling standout Stan Shelton
secured his first career win in drag racing after beating
Dustin Nesloney in the final round. On his way to the
final, Shelton and his screw-blown Culp Lumber ’67 Mustang
defeated past MWDRS champions Aaron Wells and Ron Muenks,
as well as Steven Whiteley. Shelton recorded a 3.683 at
204.20 deny Nesloney his second consecutive win on the
MWDRS tour.
TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR
The Top Alcohol Funny Car field got a brief reprieve from
the dominance of Sean Bellemeur and the “Killer Bs” team
at the Memphis race, as the team chose to sit out the race
to reserve parts. But Bellemeur, tuner Steve Boggs and
team owner Tony Bartone were right back to their winning
ways at Tulsa. Bellemeur in the Hussey Performance ’22
Camaro ran pass after pass in the 3.60s, qualifying No. 1
and winning in the final round with a 3.653 at 210.24 over
Chris Marshall and his 3.732 at 205.82.
“It was typical Steve Boggs making power, the team doing
what they do, and me trying to keep up as the driver,”
said Bellemeur, thanking partners like Hussey Performance,
Red Line Oil, Mastercam, Talon Air, and NGK Spark Plugs.
“We had a little momentum coming in from our win at [NHRA]
Charlotte the weekend before. We found a problem in the
car while we were in Charlotte. Since we fixed that
problem, the car has not had abort a run.”
Bellemeur, who won the MWDRS season opener in Texas, had
to sit back and watch as most of the other TAFC
competitors completed the Memphis Nationals eliminations
at Tulsa during qualifying.
“Unfortunately, the availability of parts is still an
issue, so we chose to sit out the Memphis race looking
ahead so we can run more races in the near future,
including MWDRS St. Louis,” Bellemeur said. “It was
frustrating to sit there and watch the competition, but it
gave us time to do a little homework and see what
everybody was doing. Obviously, there was a lot of talk
about Jim Whiteley now in a Funny Car. Jim's a great
driver and they're a great team, so you know they're going
to be tough. It was neat to see them out doing their
thing. Chris Marshall was tough, as was Annie and the
whole rest of the Mid-West gang. It had its pros and cons,
but I don't like sitting on my hands when I'm at the
racetrack.”
When it came time to start Tulsa eliminations, Bellemeur,
Boggs and team quickly got back into their groove.
Bellemeur recorded low E.T. of all three rounds, including
a 3.666 at 210.24 on a first-round bye and a 3.635 at
210.80 to beat Bryan Brown’s 3.679 in the semis.
“It was typical Tulsa and typical Mid-West – Jimmy [Boles]
and the gang, they've prepped that track and it's just
incredible. It’s such a good racetrack,” Bellemeur said.
“If you give Steve Boggs the ability to throw everything
he's got at it, good things are going to happen for us. We
were able to do that. We tried to race it one round at a
time, race the racetrack, and it turned out our way.”
Marshall was appearing in his second final round of the
weekend after losing to Annie Whiteley in the Memphis
final. He qualified No. 2 in his Disturbed Racing ’17
Camaro and ran a pair of consistent 3.70s to beat Shayne
Lawson and Steve Macklyn in the first two rounds.
Whiteley, who has multiple wins in NHRA competition,
earned her first MWDRS victory in her J&A Service Camaro.
She used a 3.683 in the Memphis final to beat Marshall,
who slowed to a 5.001.
SLAMMERS
New Mexico’s Robert Costa bounced back from a DNQ in Pro
Mod by racing his way to victory in the Pro Mod Slammers
class, which features drivers who don’t qualify or lose
first round in Pro Mod. Costa in his ProCharger-boosted
’67 Mustang ran a 3.905 in the final round, while opponent
Ron Muenks lifted to a 7.725 in Dave Pierce’s nitrous-fed
“Purple Gorilla” ’68 Camaro.
The Memphis Nationals Slammers final featured a
side-by-side race between MWDRS veteran and track co-owner
Todd Martin and series newcomer Mark “Tydo” Werdehausen,
who’s driving the Zimmerman family’s twin-turbocharged
“Wolverine 2.0” ’69 Camaro as a tribute to the late Tim
Slavens. Martin got the win on a holeshot, running a 3.808
in his screw-blown “Lethal Acceleration” ’67 Mustang to
edge out Werdehausen’s 3.80.
PRO STREET
The spring Throwdown in T-Town was the first of two MWDRS
appearances for the Pro Street class this season, with the
possibility of running more events in 2023. Class
proponent Dave Pierce was the star of the show, qualifying
No. 1 and racing to the final round in his
nitrous-assisted, former Pro Stock GTO.
Pierce posted runs in the mid-4.20s to win the first two
rounds, then ripped off a weekend-best 4.238 at 166.07 to
defeat No. 2 qualifier Jake Mason in the final round.
Mason, who was just a couple numbers behind Pierce in
qualifying, laid down his best run of eliminations, a
4.339 at 171.53, in the runner-up effort.
Pro Street will make its next appearance at the fall
Throwdown in T-Town, Oct. 7-8 at Tulsa Raceway Park.
TOP SPORTSMAN
In Top Sportsman, Shannon Smith took his incredibly
consistent hot rod to the final round, where he lined up
against Bob Copeland. Smith was slightly behind at the
starting line, but he ran a 4.489 on a 4.48 dial-in,
repeating his 4.489 from the semis, to win over Copeland’s
5.074 on a 5.04 dial.
The Memphis Nationals Top Sportsman competition came down
to Robert Irby and Jeff Staab in the final round. Irby
scored the win.
TOP DRAGSTER
A strong .006 reaction time helped Karl Jones secure the
Throwdown win in Top Dragster, as he ran a 4.627 on a 4.60
dial-in in the final round to beat Dan Phelps, who
recorded a 4.307 on a 4.24 dial-in.
In the Top Dragster final round from Memphis, YNot Racing
drivers Anita Strasburg and Delaina Whiteley faced off,
with Strasburg taking the win in her supercharged entry.
JR. DRAGSTER
Brody Zimmerman recovered from an early exit at the season
opener to score the Pro Jr. Dragster win in his Team
Wolverine entry, using a quicker reaction time and an
8.074 on a 7.96 dial-in to beat Kaelee Brudidge’s 8.044 on
a 7.95 dial-in. It was Zimmerman’s second consecutive
winning weekend, as he also recently won a points race at
his local track.
The Memphis Nationals Pro Jr. Dragster win went to Alexis
Kesterson of nearby Owasso, Oklahoma.
The Throwdown final in Top Jr. Dragster saw Kale Moberly
defeat second-generation MWDRS racer Kenzie Wells. Moberly
was first off the starting line and followed through with
a 9.038 on a 9.01 dial-in, while Wells broke out slightly
with an 8.918 on an 8.92 dial-in.
The Wells family still walked away from the Throwdown with
a win, though, as Tyler Wells was victorious in the
Memphis Nationals Top Jr. Dragster final round, beating
Eli Reed in the final round. Wells also won the MWDRS
season opener in Texas.
The MWDRS season will pick up again in a month at the
Great Bend Nationals, June 3-4 at SRCA Dragstrip in Great
Bend, Kansas.
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.
Tulsa Pro Mod winner Ronnie Hobbs
Memphis Pro Mod winner Stan Shelton
Tulsa Top Alcohol Funny Car winner Sean Bellemeur
Memphis Top Alcohol Funny Car winner Annie Whiteley
Tulsa Slammers winner Robert Costa
Memphis Slammers winner Todd Martin
Pro Street winner Dave Pierce
Tulsa Top Sportsman winner Shannon Smith
Tulsa Top Dragster winner Karl Jones
Tulsa Pro Jr. Dragster winner Brody Zimmerman
Tulsa Sportsman Jr. Dragster winner Kale Moberly
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