Music City survives tiebreaker to claim second title

National Dragster, Nov 7, 2003 by McKenna, Kevin

GAINESVILLE RACEWAY, NHRA Summit Racing Series Finals (Div. 2) - In a battle that was closer and more hotly contested than the last presidential election, Music City Raceway successfully defended its overall team title at the NHRA Summit Racing Series Finals at Gainesville Raceway.

After the completion of the event, which featured nearly 600 entries, the defending champs from Music City finished in a tie with New Bama Dragway at 42 points. Using NHRA tiebreaker rules, which award the win to the team with the most individual victories, Music City won thanks to Ricky Cook's Super Pro Bike victory. The best finish for a New Bama racer was Brian Fredrickson's runner-up effort in Sportsman.

Heading into the late rounds, six teams were still in contention for the title, even ninth-place Jax Raceways, which was just four points behind the first-place teams.

Silver Dollar Raceway's John Wooley won Super Pro by driving his 77 Vega to a final-round victory over Savannah Dragway's Danny Toole.

Host team Gainesville Raceway finished eighth but was just three points out of the lead thanks to the efforts of Derek Putnam, who won Pro with his '00 Firebird. Putnam, who won a division title in 1998, defeated Atlanta Dragway's Andy Schaefer in the final.

Veteran Moroso Motorsports Park racer Casey Miles won Sportsman by wheeling his Corvette to a final-round victory over Fredrickson, who fouled by four-thousandths.

Wooley, Putnam, Miles, and Cook will join 24 other Summit Racing Series Finals winners from NHRA's other six divisions at the NHRA Summit Racing Series National Championship, which will be held during the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona Nov. 6-9.

Music City was also a factor in Friday night's Race of Champions; reigning Division 2 champ Leon Robertson claimed the Sportsman title. Robertson was joined by Mobile Dragway's Jamie Alexander (Super Pro), Gainesville Raceway's Jason Rollins (Pro), Jax Raceways' Mike Lakoskey (Super Pro Bike), and Coastal Plains Dragway's W.G. Lenkas, who defeated Jesse Young for the High School title.

Music City swept the event by winning the National DRAGSTER Team Spirit award.

Complete coverage of the Division 2 NHRA Summit Racing Series Finals begins on page 128.