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Vegas Victory for Pontieri!
Bruce Biegler - October 31, 2007
 By combining some very sharp driving with race day consistency, Toronto's Tony Pontieri earned the biggest victory of his racing career during NHRA's ACDelco Nationals at Las Vegas last weekend.
Pontieri earned his much overdue first ever NHRA national event title when he prevailed in the event's AMS Pro Mod Challenge, the concluding race for that series for 2007.
Tony drove Rob Sporring's Quality Plus Compressors-sponsored '57 Chevy past the '63 Corvette of Steve Engel in the Championship final round when he combined a superior .027 RT with a run of 6.159 secs 230.57 mph which held off Engel's quicker and faster 6.119 secs at 237.50 mph.
Pontieri's final round driving prowess was typical of his overall event effort. He in fact had superior reaction times to every one of his competitors during eliminations including superb .018 and .017 lights in rounds two and three.
 "I've gotten close so many times, just to be denied, most of the time it seemed by Josh Hernandez," Pontieri said. "When he went out first round, I said to myself 'I've got a chance!' - and sure enough, we did it! That final against Steve was a heck of a race - I honestly didn't know who won, I was just praying the light would come on in my lane."
He won the opening round also on a holeshot when his 6.145 secs held back the quicker 6.131 secs from opponent and fellow Canadian Glen Kerunsky (Priddis, AB). Tony then had runs of 6.198 secs and 6.199 secs while defeating California-based drivers Kurt Kuhns and Jay Payne.
The victory makes Pontieri the third Canadian driver to win on the NHRA AMS Pro Mod tour, joining Glen Kerunsky who won in 2005, and Al Billes who won three times during the 2004 racing season.
Photos Courtesy of: Matt Polito www.DragBike.com
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