NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car finals at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals proved to be two of the best races of the weekend, especially for Chris Demke and Sean Bellemeur, who were crowned champions of the 49th annual East Coast opener. Demke and Bellemeur shared the winner’s circle with Frank Aragona Jr. (Comp), Kevin Riner (Super Stock), Jeff Taylor (Stock), Greg Slack (Super Comp), Jim Perry (Super Gas), Ronnie Proctor (Top Sportsman presented by Racing RVs), and Al Kenny (Top Dragster presented by Racing RVs).

Demke drove his supercharged dragster to a narrow 5.305 to 5.313 win over Josh Hart and his Advance Auto Parts dragster [video]. 

Bellemeur wheeled Tony Bartone’s Camaro Funny Car to an equally close 5.460 to 5.483 win against Annie Whiteley in the final. [video]

A year ago, Aragona bought what is arguably the best Comp car in the country when he purchased the E/DA that Doug Doll Jr. drove to the 2016 national championship. Aragona won a lot of races last year, but he ultimately finished second to David Rampy in the points battle. Aragona claimed his 10th national event win in Comp and second in Gainesville. Paired with Greg Kamplain’s B/Econo dragster in the final, Aragona won with a (-.538) 7.332 to Kamplain’s (-.501) 6.829. Aragona entered the final down .12-second in index, while Kamplain had .13-second in Competition Index Control penalties. [video]

The father-son duo of Bill and Drew Skillman advanced to the semifinals of Super Stock, but Bill dropped a close battle against Pat Clifford and Drew fouled by three-thousandths against Riner. In a battle of first-time finalists, Riner came out on top when he drove his SS/JA Camaro to a slowing 11.014 on his 10.87 dial after Clifford ran into a problem and ran six-tenths off his dial. Earlier in eliminations, Riner defeated Irvin Johns, Richard Kay, and Ed Longhany. [video]

Taylor’s latest victory, the 45th of his career, came in Gainesville after he drove past fellow veteran Kenny Miele in the Stock final. Taylor was good when he needed to be and admittedly lucky on a couple of other occasions. He gave up a hundredth of a second to Miele on the starting line but finished the job with a 9.816 on his 9.80 dial after Miele missed his prediction by six-hundredths. It was Taylor’s first national event win since the end of the 2014 season, when he claimed the Super Stock title in Pomona. [video]

Super Comp produced another first-time winner after Slack stopped chassis builder Ray Miller Jr. in the final round. Slack’s driving was solid throughout eliminations, but his best performance came in the quarterfinal round, where he stopped two-time world champ Sherman Adcock Jr. Both drivers were nearly perfect off the starting line, and Slack won with an 8.926 after Adcock broke out by three-hundredths. In the final, Slack banked nine-thousandths at the start and won by a narrow 8.911 to 8.910 count. [video]

For the third time in the last seven years, Perry earned a Wally at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. The 2009 Super Comp world champion claimed his fifth national event title by driving his S-10 truck to a 9.912 to 9.933 Super Gas win over Michelle Furr’s Corvette roadster in the final. Perry’s path to the final includes wins over some of the toughest racers in the Southeast division, including Chuck Trotter, Chuck Westcott, and Ray Miller III. [video]

The Top Dragster presented by Racing RVs class also featured a single in the final round after Steve Cohen, the 1987 Super Comp world champion, reportedly broke a transmission. Cohen staged but did not leave the starting line, allowing Kenny to claim his eighth national event title, and his first in Top Dragster. Kenny’s other wins came in Super Comp and Super Gas, and he also spent time in the Pro Comp class more than 30 years ago. Kenny reached the final after a tough battle against former world champ Jeff Strickland in the third round. After a pair of near-perfect reaction times, Kenny took the stripe by .002-second at over 210 mph. [video]

The final round of Top Sportsman presented by Racing RVs was anticlimactic after Lester Johnson broke in his five-second ’55 Chevy. Johnson’s misfortune allowed for Proctor to claim his first national event win in the class. Proctor, in his Ford-powered ’09 Mustang, had been a runner-up on four occasions, but he scored his first national event title after wins against Scott Lyons, Donny “Hollywood” Urban, Derick Brown, and Jeff Pittman. [video]