TJ Pruitt
After seven months and more than two dozen stops across North America, the IHRA Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour presented by AMSOIL officially wrapped up its season last week at Darlington Dragway with more than 50 drivers claiming divisional championships.
After a memorable season of racing within the six divisions of the Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour, several big-name drivers and a few new faces have emerged as division champions completing the field for this year’s Tournament of Champions.
The Summit Racing Equipment Tournament of Champions presented by AMSOIL, which determines the world championships in each of IHRA’s seven touring classes, is made up of the top three drivers in each class within each division on the Summit Pro-Am Tour. All of the qualified drivers will travel to Memphis International Raceway in October to compete in the preeminent sportsman event to determine the world champion in each class.
John Dustin won five times in 2014 and claimed the Division 1 Hot Rod championship
All big car Summit Pro-Am Tour divisional champions receive $2,000 courtesy of Summit Racing Equipment.
Headlining the 2014 Summit Pro-Am Tour divisional champions is Donaldsonville, Louisiana’s Jimmy Hidalgo Jr., the only driver to claim multiple divisional titles in 2014. Hidalgo, the defending IHRA World Champion in Super Stock, won the Super Stock and Stock divisional titles racing out of Division 4 en route to racking up the most points in the division.
Hidalgo also led the way in finals this season, visiting eight final rounds with five wins.
John Dustin, from Rockville, Maryland, was the other big winner this season in Summit Pro-Am Tour action, racking up five wins and a divisional championship in Hot Rod. Racing out of Division 1, Dustin had the most points of any driver on the entire Pro-Am Tour this season with 538 points accumulated en route to winning the Hot Rod championship. Four of Dustin’s five wins came in the Hot Rod class, with his other win coming in Quick Rod.
Dustin was also one of three drivers that came just shy of claiming multiple divisional titles. In addition to claiming the Division 1 Hot Rod title, Dustin came just 27 points shy of also earning a division title in Quick Rod. Darcy Clarke, racing out of Division 6, took the Stock divisional title and finished runner-up in Super Stock and Chris Dean, representing Division 9, took the Super Rod divisional title and finished third in Hot Rod.
Brent Darroch won the Division 3 Stock title for the third year in a row
Seven drivers repeated as division champions in 2014 led by Brent Darroch, from Hookstown, Pennsylvania, who won the Division 3 Stock championship for the third consecutive season. Other drivers producing back-to-back divisional titles were Gerald Pierce, Mark Miles, Katherine Craft, Chris Cadle, Michael White and Hidalgo. All divisional champions, plus drivers finishing second and third in their division, will travel to Memphis to compete in the Summit Tournament of Champions October 10-11 at Memphis International Raceway.
In all, the 2014 Summit Tournament of Champions will feature 117 different drivers from 22 states and four Canadian provinces. The field also includes 12 former IHRA World Champions and features seven drivers that will go for gold in more than one class. Those drivers are Brett Nesbitt, Aaron Allison, Gil Carty, Darcy Clarke, Jimmy Hidalgo Jr., John Dustin and Chris Dean.
This year’s divisional champions in Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Super Stock, Stock, Quick Rod, Super Rod, Hot Rod, Junior Dragster Master, Junior Dragster Advanced and Junior Dragster Beginner are:
Division 1 Patriots
Travis Housh (TS), Chad Traylor (TD), Pete D’Agnolo (SS), Jim Marshall (ST), Wally Roberts (QR), Gerald Pierce (SR), John Dustin (HR)
Division 2 Heat Wave
Rick McDonough (TS), Kevin Brannon (TD), Mark Nowicki (SS), Myron Piatek (ST), Mark Miles (QR), Michael Ruff (SR), Joe Tillman (HR), John Tolisano III (JRM), Jonathan Brannen (JRA), Katherine Craft (JRB)
Division 3 North Stars
Jeff Southerland (TS), Chris Cadle (TD), A.H. Adkins (SS), Brent Darroch (ST), Jeremy Mason (QR), Tom Dimond (SR), Greg Fowler (HR)
Division 4 Renegades
Russell Marr (TS), Elie McGee (TD), Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. (SS), Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. (ST), Mark Meadows (QR), Shannon Brinkley (SR), Dennis Clark (HR), Shallon Broussard (JRM), Mallory Bontrager (JRA), Graeme Rufenacht (JRB)
Division 6 Border Bandits
John Tiegen (TS), Scott Taylor (TD), Don Thomas (SS), Darcy Clarke (ST), Travis Ringguth (QR), Tom Patterson (SR), Dwaine Ringguth (HR), Ethan Ochitwa (JRM), Kassie Thomas (JRA), Connor Scott (JRB)
Division 9 Raiders
Steve Corker (TS), Michael White (TD), Adam Hull (SS), A.J. Currie (ST), Dale Harrison (QR), Chris Dean (SR), Glenn Ferguson Jr. (HR), Tucker Creech (JRM), Mia Schultz (JRA), Mallory Logan (JRB)
The Summit Tournament of Champions presented by AMSOIL will be part of a grand-scale weekend that will include the Summit Tournament of Champions, Summit SuperSeries and Nitro Jam professional drag racing series all during the IHRA Summit Racing Equipment World Finals at Memphis International Raceway the weekend of October 10-11.
For more information on the Summit World Finals weekend and a complete breakdown of this year’s Summit Tournament of Champions field, visit www.ihra.com.
