Courtesy Drag Illustrated Nate VanWagnen

Images  Geoff Sculley

Pro Modified icons Jim Halsey and Todd “King Tut” Tutterow contributed to the Bristol Dragway history books Friday night when they qualified No. 1 in their respective classes at the inaugural PDRA Thunder Valley Throwdown. Competing at the sixth of eight races on the 2024 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series tour, Halsey posted a 3.692-second blast to qualify No. 1 in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous, while Tutterow threw down a 3.63-second pass to top the field in WS Construction Pro Boost presented by P2 Contracting & Ty-Drive.

Along with the headlining Pro Mod categories, the Thunder Valley Throwdown also features the PDRA’s five other heads-up professional classes. The No. 1 qualifiers after three sessions are Tommy Lee in Liberty’s Gears Extreme Pro Stock presented by AED Competition, Jeff Melnick in PDRA Pro 632, Brunson Grothus in Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle, Bill Riddle in Menscer Motorsports Pro Street presented by Afco Racing, and Connor McGee in Afco Racing Super Street presented by Menscer Motorsports. 

PRO NITROUS

Four-time Pro Nitrous world champion Jim Halsey raced at Bristol Dragway in the early days of his Pro Modified career in the early and mid-1990s. Thirty years later, he’s back at the historic Tennessee facility as the No. 1 qualifier for the fifth time in six races this season. He started qualifying with a 3.713 to take the provisional No. 1 spot in his Fulton-powered “Daddy Shark” ’68 Camaro, then locked it in with a 3.692 at 204.26 in the final session. Halsey goes into race day as the points leader chasing his third win of the season. 

“We’ve always had good luck here,” said Halsey, who credited his team, including tuner Brandon Switzer, crew chief Eric Davis, Michael McMillan, and wife Cathy. “We’ve always ran good here, but the transformation from the last time I was here to now is just unbelievable. The facility is so awesome. It’s pretty cool. The altitude here and the surface here make it very challenging. Especially to run like two or three hundredths faster than the No. 2 guy, we’re very, very happy with that. Everything’s in one piece. We’ll try hard tomorrow.”

Fellow Maryland-based competitor Fredy Scriba drove his Musi-powered “Sorcerer” ’69 Camaro to a 3.715 at 203.40 to qualify second. Three-time and reigning world champion Tommy Franklin in his Musi-powered “Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro qualified third with a 3.722 at 203.80. 

PRO BOOST

Veteran Pro Modified driver and tuner Todd “King Tut” Tutterow’s experience with challenging atmospheric conditions paid off Friday night with his second consecutive Pro Boost No. 1 qualifier award. He tuned teammate Kurt Steding to the quickest passes of the first two sessions, then fired off a 3.63 at 207.69 alongside Steding in the final session to put Justin Smith’s screw-blown Quik Fuel ’69 Camaro in the No. 1 spot for the third time this season. Tutterow’s first-round opponent is Melanie Salemi, who’s No. 2 behind Steding and ahead of fourth-place Tutterow in the Pro Boost championship points standings. 

“We’ve done good up here before,” Tutterow said. “We’ve come up here about every five years and always run good, whether it’s NHRA or outlaw stuff too. My stuff normally runs really good in high altitude. I’m very excited about this weekend. Both me and Kurt have been down the racetrack every time we’ve been to the starting line, other than mine on one run and I was trying to reset the record out there. We’ve got good, good plans for this weekend. I was No. 1 qualifier at the last race and didn’t get to go down [the track]. But we’ve got Melanie first round, and it’d be nice to get it done.”

Johnny Camp, who earned his first win of the season at the most recent race on tour, qualified No. 2 with a 3.642 at 204.70 in his ProCharged “Hells Bells” ’69 Camaro. Steding ended up third with his 3.646 at 206.51 in his screw-blown P2 Contracting ’69 Camaro. 

EXTREME PRO STOCK

As a driver and crew chief, Tommy Lee has just about seen and done it all in Pro Stock racing, but his PDRA Extreme Pro Stock No. 1 qualifier award on Friday night was a career first. Making his first PDRA appearance of the season with Curt Steinbach’s 3V Performance-powered Stellar Marine ’22 Camaro, Lee laid down a 4.136 at 174.73 to qualify No. 1 over fellow 3V-powered driver Jeremy Huffman by speed. 

“Oh, man, it feels awesome,” Lee said of his first No. 1 qualifier award in the series. “We’ve been working some issues out in the car and we’re slowly getting them better. But to be able to come out here and run with these guys that’ve been running good all year, yeah, it feels great. We’ve got a fast hot rod. I’ve just got to do my job on the starting line.”

Huffman posted a 4.136 at a slightly slower 174.08 in his Patriot Axe Throwing ’10 Cobalt to end up No. 2. Past world champion Chris Powers qualified third in his Sonny’s Racing Engines ’21 Camaro with a 4.146 at 174.84. 

PRO 632

Just a couple weeks after scoring his first Pro 632 victory of the season, reigning world champion Jeff Melnick picked up his second career No. 1 qualifier award and his first of the season. The driver of Alan O’Brien’s Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’20 Camaro charged to a 4.203 at 169.23 in the final qualifying session to solidify his place atop the qualifying order. 

“We’re definitely on a roll with this thing now,” said Melnick, who credited O’Brien, tuner Patrick Barnhill, engine builder Barry Allen, and the Greenbrier team. “We got things sorted out really good in hot air, cool air. It doesn’t really matter what track conditions. The thing goes right down every time, makes a great lap. Hats off to these guys. They give me a great race car every time. We’re finally getting this thing sorted out to where it’s at the top of the field where it should be. We’re No. 1 and it’s a 12-car field, so that gives us a pretty decent path, hopefully to the final. I’m just ready to take it one round at a time and hopefully we do our best.”

Walter Lannigan Jr. steered Chris Holdorf’s Nelson-powered Dewitt Custom Concrete ’10 GTO to a 4.226 at 166.64 to qualify No. 2. Rookie Andy House, who won in his debut at the season opener, qualified third with a 4.244 at 166.17 in Meade Baldwin’s Southern Diamond Co. ’69 Camaro. 

PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE

It’s been more than two months since Pro Extreme Motorcycle’s last event on the PDRA schedule, but Brunson Grothus picked up right where he left off, earning his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier award. Riding Robert Varela’s turbocharged Dallas Flat Glass Distributors ’19 Hayabusa, Grothus recorded a 4.036 at 184.83 in the opening qualifying session to take the top spot. 

“I have tons of good memories being at Bristol. It’s a super cool place,” said Grothus, who last raced at Bristol at an all-motorcycle event in 2011. “Right off the trailer, we run a 4.03, like a perfect lap. I got to take a rest a little bit – I’ve been under the weather. Got my feet under me a little bit and then just made another good lap. It wasn’t perfect. We tried a few things, which obviously didn’t work out, as it didn’t improve, but the bike’s happy and the motor’s happy. You can’t complain about that.”

A pair of Alabama-based riders, Chris Garner-Jones and Ashley Owens, followed Grothus in second and third, respectively. Garner-Jones, the two-time and reigning world champion, posted a 4.05 at 170.77 on his nitrous-fed T.T. Jones Racing ’18 Hayabusa, and Owens rode his nitrous-assisted McKinney Motorsports ’10 Suzuki to a 4.065 at 175.11.  

PRO STREET

It was a day of ups and downs for Pro Street No. 1 qualifier Bill Riddle, who had a run-in with the retaining wall shortly after launching his roots-blown Corrigan Race Fuels ’89 Camaro in the final qualifying session. Fortunately, the damage was minimal and he’ll get to race on Saturday. Before that, the reigning world champion fired off a 4.004 at 188.04 in the opening qualifying session, and to Riddle’s surprise, it held up through the final session under the lights. 

“It was pure luck, really,” said Riddle, who thanked partners like Corrigan Race Fuels, Mickey Thompson Tires, SSI Superchargers, Motorsports Unlimited, and Red Line Oil. “I was shooting for a 4.05. A 4.05 to 4.08 is actually what I told my daughter [Brooke] when we went up there, so the 4.00 was really surprising. Then we figured we had nothing to lose in the second round of qualifying, so we tried to go after it and it was just a little too much for that right lane.”

Fellow Michigan-based racer Dan Norris followed Riddle in the qualifying order with a 4.018 at 192.60 in his roots-blown ’22 Mustang. Jerry Morgano qualified third with a 4.023 at 201.46 in his turbocharged ’02 Mustang.

SUPER STREET

Earlier this season, Super Street young gun Connor McGee raced to his first career win in the class at the American Doorslammer Challenge at Norwalk. He added another highlight to his 2024 scorecard Friday night when his 4.637 at 159.48 in the final qualifying session netted him his first career No. 1 qualifier award. His nitrous-fed ’90 Mustang is powered by a 440-cubic-inch engine built by Gene Fulton, who was inducted into Bristol Dragway’s “Legends of Thunder Valley” hall of fame in 2012. 

“Getting my first No. 1 at the first PDRA race at Bristol makes it 10 times cooler,” said McGee, a 19-year-old graduate of the PDRA’s Jr. Dragster program. “I know they say Pro Boost is the best category and it definitely is at the top, but I think after tonight, we’re all close together too and it’s certainly a good class. No one knows where you’re going to end up, and No. 1 through 14, anybody can win tomorrow. It’s anybody’s race. It’s just a good class and it really says a lot about everybody that comes out. We’re all a big group and a big family and it’s just a great group.”

Tommy Thrasher went into the final session as the No. 1 qualifier in his Massachusetts-based ’93 Mustang, but his improved 4.655 at 163.93 wasn’t quick enough to take the top spot back from McGee. Points leader Dan Whetstine in his ProCharged “Red Velvet” ’90 Mustang qualified third with a 4.667 at 157.71.