TJ Pruitt
Atmore, AL — The 2017 DragCoverage.com Spring Nationals Night of Fire Edition at Atmore Dragway is in the books and it will go down in history as one to remember. Racers from as far as Dallas, TX made the voyage to participate in the event and eight champions were crowned, marking the first ever champions for Night of Fire.
Photos by Hobbie Lee and Janice Johnt
The 2016 event was cancelled after mother-nature won the battle in the semi-finals, therefore the event’s first time champions were crowned in 2017.
Jet Car Joe Zacarro gets an autographed Blower belt from Charles Smith and Mike Neal after the defeat.
The highlight of the event was the unexpected showdown between Mike Neal in the Charles Smith blown hotrod and Joe Zacarro’s fire breathing Jet Dragster, driven by Terry Rosberg, marking this the first time Jet Car vs Promod in the history Atmore Dragway. Rosberg red-lit during the first match race and the second match will be one that will be remembered for years to come. Both ran 3.83 and the margin of victory went in Mike Neal’s favor by .013 seconds.
https://www.facebook.com/dragcoverage/videos/10154811620169405/
Neal went on to win the Promodified class after defeating Daniel Ferrouilat in the final round. Keith Baker was the lone semi-finalist.
Champions were also crowned in the Jr. Dragster Class, the SS Motorsports 5.00 Class, Johnson Ford 6.00 Class, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 7.00 Class, the O’Reilly Auto Parts Real Street Class, No-Box, and the electronics Box Class. The Class winner’s and their winner-circle photos is posted below.
TJ Pruitt said “I don’t DragCoverage Spring Nationals Night of Fire One to remember! Huge crowd and Pits at Max Capacity! I don’t even know where to start. The 2017 race was EPIC and I can’t thank the racers and fans enough for making it happen. The stands were jam packed and the pits were full of cars to the last track turn-off. We couldn’t have fit another car in there! What a show and wow what a crowd!”
Thank you racers who continue to attend the DragCoverage Nationals and those who chose to experience it for the first time and said they will be back and not missing another one! Thanks to the Sponsors, Terry Jordan, Johnson Ford, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Jay Todd, Donna Moore, Atmore Dragway staff for a great facility, and the loyal DragCoverage Racers and Followers.”
“Congratulations to our champions! You deserved your wins because it was tough! We will do it again in 2018.”
Promod Winner: Charles Smith/Mike Neal, R/U: Daniel Ferrouilat
SS Motorsports 5.00 Winner: Jonathan Dixon, R/U: Cory Cox
O’Reilly Auto Parts Real Street 5.70 Winner: Benny’s Langford, R/U: Casey Presley
Johnson Ford 6.00 Class Winner: Donald Salter, R/U: Thomas Holley
O’Reilly Autoparts 7.00 Class Winner: Mike “Tut” Turrentine, R/U: Ben Blackstone
“Box” Electronics Class Winner: Will Finley, RU: Gilleti Racing, Spring, TX
No-Box Class Winner: Danny Stacey, R/U: Chris White
Jr. Dragster Class Winner: Hayden Miller, Cory Gilleti
In Motion Solutions Best Appearing Car Award: Daniel Ferrouilat, 1968 Tim McAmis Camaro
