Bo Butner Wins the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Ohio
- Jul 11, 2017
“Today was a great day, we made four pretty consistent runs and my car was good when it needed to be,” Butner said. “It’s one thing to have a good car, but we also had a lot of things go our way to get those win lights today.” Butner raced with the second-best qualifying time and beat Val Smeland, Vincent Nobile and John Gaydosh for his fifth final round appearance of 2017. This helped Butner add to his lead in the Pro Stock standings, as well as becoming the first three-time race winner in the Pro Stock category this season. Steve Torrence won in Top Fuel, Jack Beckman won in Funny Car and LE Tonglet won in Pro Stock Motorcycle. This was Torrance’s career best victory of the season with a 3.743-second pass at 331.45 mph in his Capco Contractors dragster beating Doug Kalitta in his Mac Tools dragster with a 3.736-second pass at 331.36 mph. For the first time since Englishtown, Torrence was the winner and he reached his sixth final round of the season. It was sixth final round appearance in the past eight events.
By qualifying third Torrence conquered Troy Coughlin Jr., Clay Millican and Brittany Force. Kalitta defeated Troy Buff, Tony Schumacher and Leah Pritchett which led him to his second final round appearance of the season. Earning his 26th career victory and second of the season, Beckman with a 4.073-second pass at 311.85 mph in his Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R/T beat Robert Hight with a pass of 6.673 seconds at 98.53 mph in his Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS. Since Englishtown this was Beckman’s first win making this his third final round appearance this season. “We were consistently a bit off this weekend, but we are definitely happy to earn the victory this weekend,” Beckman said. “Now that we are getting down the track consistently, it keeps our opponents honest and that is definitely a formula we will continue to use for the rest of the season.” Tonglet was victorious in Pro Stock Motorcycle with a 6.824-second pass at 195.76 mph in his Nitro Fish Racing Suzuki beating Matt Smith’s pass of 6.882 seconds at 195.31 mph in his Victory Polaris Magnum. This win was Tonglet’s 13th career victory and third win this season.
Tonglet has made the finals in five rounds this season and he won three of those appearances. He has defeated Melissa Surber, Steve Johnson and Hector Arana Jr. before the final round. Tonglet was able to secure first in the Pro Stock Motorcycle points standings and Eddie Krawiec has dropped to second place because of his loss in the first round. The 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season continues with the Fallen Patriots NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by K&N Filters at Route 66 Raceway. | |||
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