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Kenny Delco begins 50th season of Pro Stock with powerful results

The New Yorker is back with a refreshed Frank Iaconio engine, qualified in the top five and is driving faster than ever.
09 Feb 2020
Jacob Sundstrom, NHRA National Dragster Associate Editor
Feature
Kenny Delco

Kenny Delco began the 2020 season with refreshed power courtesy of Frank Iaconio and Gray Motorsports with terrific results. The East Coast racer made the long trek to the 60th Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com and so far it's paid off. 

He qualified in the No. 4 position thanks in part to the re-found speed in his Chevy Camaro, which has grown a little long in the tooth. That hasn't negatively impacted the speed, though. Delco averaged a speed of 210.28-mph over his four qualifying runs and made three passes faster than 210-mph -- he made just 19 runs that fast in all of 2019.

Most of those runs came early in the season. He got off to a flying start in Pomona in 2019, at least from a power standpoint. He qualified in the top half of the field and the underlying numbers were promising through the Southern Nationals in Atlanta. Then the problems started.

Delco says issues with the car started to nag him and eventually they switched from one body back to the one you've seen on the track all weekend in Pomona. He narrowly missed making the Countdown to the Championship in 2019 despite having a very solid car. Delco will have a great opportunity to make it again this year, assuming his horsepower cooperates.

Gray Motorsports honed the block of his Iaconio powerplant, the former being the team that won the 2018 Pro Stock championship with Gander Outdoors Truck Series driver Tanner Gray. The latter being, well, the legend who doesn't need much of an introduction. 

Delco's best hit came in the first qualifying session, a 6.553 at 210.6, though he came close to repeating it in his final pass. He ran a 6.568 at 210.44, just missing it a little at each incremental down the quarter-mile (and down .38-mph at 660-feet). He matches up against (and this is the bad news) teammate Val Smeland in the first round.