Phil Hutchison Drag Racing Action Online

Images: David Smith, Kalyn Rose Guenther, and Bob Reed

In 1999, a young Tom Stalba was in his first ever career Northeast divisional final at Numidia Dragway in his Super Comp dragster. After years racing, the hard work paid off with a win. Fast forward to 2025 and it was Tom’s son Paul in his first final at the same track in Pennsylvania, and again, hard work and determination paid off with a first ever Lucas Oil win for Stalba. 

Paul and his family celebrate his 2024 Jr win at the NED Banquet

Stalba, no stranger to the winner’s circle, the 18-year-old has been a force in the Junior Dragster class with division and Mid Atlantic Jr wins plus a NED title in 2024 for the 11-18 age group. But his Jr days are numbered as Stalba will not be eligible after this year as he ages out of Juniors.

If the Lucas Oil Divisional at Numidia is any example, the Nesco NJ racer’s journey in the “big” cars will be as successful as his days in the half scale cars.

 With Stalba, the old saying that the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree rings so true. His dad has eight NHRA Northeast Division titles along with Lucas Oil Top 10 finishes and NHRA national event wins.  Mom Karen was 2011 NED Top Alcohol Dragster champ with eight divisional wins. And Paul’s sister Emily has seven Junior wins under her belt.  

The Stalba’s purchased the ex-Brit Cummings’ ’01 Corvette in the spring of 2025 and Paul started driving the Chevy as soon as he could.

“We bought the Corvette from Gavin Lehew who got it from Cummings,” Stalba said, “He has been a great help as well getting us to understand Stock Eliminator as a class and also teaching us a lot of stuff about the Corvette.”

Tom adds, “We had a Camaro that would have worked in Stock Eliminator, but we thought something more competitive would be a better fit. Our friend Bill Kennedy called and said Gavin was selling the Corvette. I have known the Cummings for years and knew the car was perfect for us and I said, ‘Let’s buy it’.”

Stalba qualified the B/SA Vette in the middle of the pack at Numidia and worked his way to the finals defeating Nick Scardelli and Todd Bednaz in the early rounds before making a move to the finals. In R4 it was wins over Sean Conway then Carl Massafra’s E/SA Camaro to get the chance for his first Lucas win. On the other side of the ladder, Bubba Linke from Old Bridge NJ in his B/SA ’97 Camaro was working his way through the field with wins over George Mizra, Anthony Bongiovanni and Louis Gill to reach the money round. 

Linke, who has been on a roll in 2025 with a win at Charlotte and late round finishes at Maple Grove and Epping was looking for a victory after wading through a nearly 100 car field and 5 rounds.  In a rare heads up final it was two B/SA cars with different setups. Linke uses a LT1 motor and Stalba has a LS powerplant under the hood. But now it was whoever got to the finish line first with no break out involved.  

With the win on the line and needing to squeeze as much performance as possible both drivers were ready for an historic final. Stalba adds, “We were thrashing on the car before that final round doing whatever we could to try to speed it up. We knew Bubba is fast so we had to do whatever we could to give it a good race in the finals.”  And the finals did not disappoint. Stalba had an impossible 0.000 reaction time to Bubba’s 0.068, and it was all she wrote after that. Stalba posted a winning 10.095 to Bubba’s losing 10.141.

 “The final round was very exciting, but I didn’t feel any nerves,” Stalba said. “I had a big gut feeling that this Corvette was fast, a lot faster than people thought, and I was confident, with the help I had, rolling up to that pre stage bulb, that my win light was going to come on.”  “I was told to be 30 on the tree by everybody but I think just me being super ready and the car being jacked up I wound up being .000. As we left the line I didn’t look over until I’m shifting into high gear. Seeing his front bumper out my window. I was waiting for one of us to make a move. It felt like an eternity but after I saw my car make a creep forwards my eyes got big and by the time we got to the finish line I had the biggest smile on my face. It was really a dream come true; after running juniors for so long and winning in a big car, it’s nothing like the other wins.” 

After his son’s win Tom added, “I’ve seen Paul turn on the win light before, but it was different  seeing him win at Numidia, It’s so hard to describe. I normally don’t act like that, but I was so happy. To beat Bubba Linke who almost never loses a heads up was exciting. He’s one of the best. Paul crushed it. He had ice in his veins.”   

“I feel like all the work my dad and mom and friends had done for me had paid off,” Paul continues, “Seeing my dad after the run made it even better. He was the most emotional one there and I’ll continue to do my best to keep seeing that reaction out of him.”  

“I have to thank my family of course. Dad, Mom, Emily nothing would have happened without them.” 

“A lot of help came from Josh Decker as well he knew exactly what to do when the time came and has taught me a lot of stuff over the short amount of time he’s hung out with my family and me.” “We are 3 for 3 in wins whenever he has been up here with us. Joe Santagelo and Steve Everett as well helped me prepare for that final round heads up I appreciate them a lot for helping.” 

If there was a downside to Paul’s Numidia win was his mom and sister were hundreds of miles away in South Carolina. Emily, in addition to being a winning Jr Dragster racer, is also an ace Girl’s softball player to and was at a tournament the same weekend with mom. 

As mom Karen explained, “I wasn’t there for the win, Emily and I watched live timing at a restaurant in Myrtle beach while we were there for softball. Emily and I were screaming when his win light came on people must have thought we were crazy.”  At the Cecil .90 he was feeling down in himself because he was making some top end mistakes, and I told him he was doing a great job and learning a lot and the wins will come! I think hearing others tell him the same gave him some confidence. I’m so excited for him.”

Finally, Paul adds, “My sponsors Hoosier Tire and VP Race Fuels have been with us for a long time and we greatly appreciate their continued support and I’m very glad I am able to get them a win in the big car after racing Junior dragsters all these years.”