Solidly attended Pro fields and a convincing wins highlighted action during the IHRA’s Northern Nationals held in Western Michigan. IHRA World Championship contenders Del Cox Jr., Kenny Lang and Frank Gugliotta all picked up IHRA Ironman trophies.

(Pro Racing Summary: Courtesy of Larry Crum)

Martin, Michigan’s beautiful U.S. 131 Motorsports Park has always been known for great racing and record runs, but perhaps at no point in the track’s long history have more records been broken in one weekend.

Two world records were reset over the course of the weekend and nearly half a dozen track records were toppled as well as Del Cox Jr. (Top Fuel), Kenny Lang (Pro Modified) and Frank Gugliotta (Elite Motorsports Pro Stock) all survived the wild weekend and picked up Ironman trophies on Championship Sunday at the IHRA Northern Nationals presented by Dart Machinery.

In the record books Canada’s Tony Pontieri will go down as the new IHRA E.T. record holder at 5.936 seconds, while Brad Personett came just shy of setting a new world speed mark with a pass of 247.07 miles per hour.

In sportsman action, Top Dragster racer Kevin Stone ran an unheard of 5.869 second lap at 235.60 miles per hour to reset both of those records in that category.

Sportsman racing took center stage on Saturday night as Bruce Thrift picked up a cool $22,500 in winning the Moser Axle-Mania Sportsman Showdown over Scott Macy.

In exhibition action Tony Bogolo defeated Tim Stevens in the 8-car Alcohol Funny Car championship event.

All of the championships were run under blue skies and perfect conditions on Sunday as over 400 cars were on hand to participate in yet another successful IHRA national event.

TOP FUEL

With former world champion and winner of this very race one year ago Spencer Massey watching from the starting line, Del Cox Jr. was able to drive around Bobby Lagana Jr. in the Top Fuel final at the IHRA Northern Nationals presented by Dart Machinery Sunday afternoon in Martin, Mich.

It was déjà vu all over again for the rookie out of Downey, Calif. and the Mitch King Motorsports bunch as Cox and his team found themselves parked just inches from where Massey’s rig was parked last year – and everyone knows how that turned out.

Massey went on to win the ’08 Northern Nationals and eventually the championship in his first year on the tour and now Cox, exactly one year later in the same car Massey drove to the victory, was able to repeat the performance of the man who helped him get his current ride. “I had some big shoes to fill this weekend with Spencer being here, but he is my boy,” Cox said. “He has taught me a lot and I am happy he was out here and showing us some love. That is awesome. “He has given me a lot of driving tips over the years and he is just a great driver that is why he is racing for the Snake. It was just an awesome weekend.”

With the win Cox was able to pick up his second consecutive Ironman and third total of the season, but more importantly was able to make up major ground in the Top Fuel title chase after leader Bruce Litton fell out in the first round. Cox is now just 15 points back of the lead.

Cox ran a solid 4.732 elapsed time at 308.14 miles per hour to get around Lagana (Scarsdale, N.Y.) who was in his second final round of the season. Lagana made a 4.780 second pass at 289.63 mph in the runner-up effort as Cox won the race at the line.

PRO MODIFIED

For the sixth consecutive race Kenny Lang found himself in the finals of an IHRA Pro Modified race. This time, however, he was able to finish the deal.

While any driver would be happy with multiple final round appearances, for the defending world champion four runner-ups to only one win was beginning to get a little old so he decided to do something about that on Sunday, picking up his second Ironman of the season and taking over the overall points lead.

Lang ran a solid 6.012 elapsed time at 238.64 miles per hour to get around the big surprise of the weekend Ike Maier (Tottenham, Ontario) who ran a 6.108 E.T. at 231.71 mph in a final that consisted of the best of the best in Canadian drag racing.

“I don’t take anyone lightly because anybody can pick you off at anytime. I knew that car was going to go down every time and it did so we had to make sure we had our stuff together,” Lang said. “Our run wasn’t pretty by any means, but we got down the track. This was a great field; a bunch of fast cars and some really tough competitors so qualifying first was impressive. But getting the win was that much more important.”

Lang (Grande Pointe, Manitoba) defeated Maier, Melanie Troxel, Joe Baker and Jason Kalso to pick up his fifth career win.

He was also able to regain the Pro Modified points lead over former top man Ed Hoover who fell out in the second round. Lang now holds a 56 point advantage over Hoover as the battle for the championship enters the home stretch with three races remaining on the schedule.

Sunday afternoon also saw the wildest afternoon of Pro Modified racing seen all season.

Racing was filled with upsets and a new record too as Pontieri reset the record books with a new IHRA E.T. World Record at 5.936 seconds in a victory over Pete Farber.

ELITE MOTORSPORTS PRO STOCK

While there were plenty of exciting races and record runs throughout the weekend in Elite Motorsports Pro Stock, there was little doubt who the winner was going to be after Saturday night.

After all, there simply wasn’t anyone who could keep up Frank Gugliotta.

Gugliotta, who never faltered even once in putting up consistent chart topping numbers lap after lap, defeated John Montecalvo in the final.

“That is my crew and a good car. We made good calls all weekend long and I drove halfway decent and we just had some consistency and that is what it takes to win,” Gugliotta said.

With the win Gugliotta (Mt. Airy, Md.) extends his points lead over Montecalvo (Center Moriches, N.Y.) to 46 points and pushes his career final round winning percentage to an astonishing 80 percent in picking up his 12th Ironman in 15 tries.

Gugliotta defeated Montecalvo, J.R. Carr, Cary Goforth and Scott Hintz in earlier action.

“There are a lot of tough guys in this class and they will be gunning for us over the next couple of races,” Gugliotta added.