Drag Racing Action Online

Story Rob Keister

Images Rob Keister and Hope 70 Photography/Jennifer ‘Hope’ Dudley

Maryland International Raceway – July 11th & 12th – The Mid Atlantic Super Series rolled into MIR for the first time in series history for a double-header event featuring all the stars & cars of the NHRA Lucas Oil Series. The Mid Atlantic Super Gas series had visited MIR in 2009, but this was the first time the series came down with all the classes fully loaded for a show.

Saturday – Race # 3

In Super Comp it was 2025 champion David Rowe finding his way to the winner circle over Race # 1 winner Kathy Smulligan, both drivers were tardy at the hit (.054 to .064 in favor of Rowe) but at the top end Dave put it dead on the dial with an 8.907 to Kathy’s breakout 8.891. Randy Winfelder Jr & Sean Lanigan were the semi-finals for the Saturday event at MIR.

In Super Gas it was the ageless wonder Bob Phillips who at 78 years young are still turning on win lights in his 2003 ex Allen Johnson Neon. In the final Bob found himself behind at the green (.060 to .029) to local racer Dale Koncen and his 63 Corvette Roadster but Koncen had a mechanical problem and couldn’t scrub enough speed to break out with a 9.789 to Bob’s winning 9.860. Red-Hot Rick Mattioli who won the first race of the LODRS at MIR was the semi-finalist. 

In Super Street, tell me if you have heard this before? Keith Mayers claimed yet another victory with the series after he was supposed to be in Michigan for the IHRA event but made a quick U-Turn and found his way to MIR instead after the IHRA season was abruptly cancelled. Keith worked his way through the field and found himself up again in the Bob Phillips team car with Dave E’Nama driving. At the green Dave was ready going .000 on the tree to Keith’s tardy .044 but with a 25+ mph difference in stop set-ups Dave ran under with a 10.866 to Keiths follow through 10.925 for the win. Stevie Ray Sicheri was the lone semi-finalist.

In Stock- SS combo if there was a redemption story to be written it was written at MIR for Marty Rinehart, after taking the tail end of 2025 and the start of 2026 off to go work for IHRA, Marty found himself with a free weekend to roll out his 1969 Camaro to go have some fun.

Marty found himself in the finals against Lisa Bolton’s 1973 Dart and at the hit it was about an event start (.037 to .042) and at the top end neither driver wanted to take the stripe as Marty went 3 over his 9.92 (9.950) dial and Lisa went 6 over her 11.10 dial (11.167) to give Marty his first win with the series. Rick Gallidays stocker was the lone semi-finalist.

In Pro Dragster Crissy Parks has been finding herself at home in the normally driven Melissa Cox dragster, with Melissa and DJ expecting their first child in the fall Chrissy has taken over the driving duties. A runner-up at the D1 LODRS at MIR had her poised for her first win, Chrissy worked her way through the field to match up with local racer Joe Martin.

At the start Chrissy took a .007 to .020 lead and in the world of 1/8 mile racing that is crucial as Chrissy took the win by the narrowest margins with a 4.263 (4.27 dial) over Joe’s 4.742 (4.75 dial). This is Chrissy’s second win with the series as she claimed a SC win at Cecil a few years back.  Points leader Robbie Steward was the lone semi-finalist for the category.

In Pro Door slammer competition, another driver who raced to a runner-up finish at the LODRS event in June made good on claiming the victory 3 weeks later. Dale Koncen took the Cal Starcher Corvette to the final round again and matched up with another one of the Starcher Motorsports cars driven by Carlos Wells, both drivers were looking for their first wins with the series and unfortunately Carlos pulled the trigger just a tad bit too soon and went -.085 red to hand the win to Dale.

It would have been a close final as Dale was 5.073 (5.08 dial) compared to Carlos 4.986 (4.99 dial). Brian Moody & John Richmond III were the two semi-finalists for the day. 

In the Junior Dragster class, it was a somewhat light field due to most teams being down in Bristol for the ECF fun races, but we still had a strong 14 car field. In the finals it pitted two MIR regulars in the final of the 13-up class as Alex Nelson took the win over Chevi Rae Kamperin. In the finals Chevi Rae hit the tree just a little too quick and tuned is -.064 red and handed the win to Nelson. Nelson rode it out to a 7.854 (7.90 dial) to Chevi’s 7.977 (7.92 dial) to prevent her from doubling up with her grandpop Dale. Gabriella Held & Summer Letourneau were the two semi-finalists.

In the 6–12-year-olds, we had a battle of brother & sister as the Budd family battled it out for the trophy, Easton got the jump on his sister Everly and rode it to his first victory in the class as he went deal on his dial 14.205 (14.20 dial in) to Everly’s breakout 11.879 (11.90 dial).

In Junior Street, Jordyn Willingham took the victory as she was unopposed in the finals and took the single for the trophy and check.

To allow the Junior racers to get a little more practice in for the ECF a 2nd chance race was added to the program, in the end it was Calvin Weaver going .000 on the tree to defeat a red-lighting Maddie Schonberger in the final round. 

A brief rain storm rolled into the track on Saturday Night which forced a later then normal start to the Sunday program as the drying process needed to be completed, as Race # 4 got underway most classes were down to semi’s or finals and Super Gas was in the lanes for Round 2 when the rains came again forcing the postponement of the rest of the event which will be scheduled to pick back up at Cecil County during Q2 on Saturday, once champions are crowned for all the events we will have full coverage of the MIR and Cecil County events.

In closing: President Rob Keister had to say, MIR hosted us for the first time in series history, unfortunately Mother Nature wasn’t being nice for some of the weekend and forced a postponement of the Sunday event. I had hoped for a better car count, but I think most of those who did attend the event were greatly pleased with how the event ran and the payouts we did payout. We know a lot of racers have been on the road for 4-5 weekends straight and just need some time home to catch up on life, we hope Royce invites us back for the 2027 season and maybe we can work something out to piggyback the LODRS event to help on the towing costs and getting through the Baltimore / DC traffic which can be a nightmare for many. We hope to see a lot of you at Cecil County for the 33rd annual Uncle Buck Pig Roast which this year is 4 races for 1 tow as racers can leave their rigs at the track for the following LODRS / Sports nationals event which kicks off on Wednesday!

If you need information, please visit www.midatlanticsuperseries.net or e-mail Rob at BKSG1198@gmail.com or call him at 856-332-2851. To view more images from go to Hope70 Photography 

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