(Photo: Luke Nieuwhof)
Austin Prock, in his Funny Car debut, raced to victory at the inaugural SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout presented by Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage, at Bradenton Motorsports Park, on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Reigning Top Fuel world champion Doug Kalitta and six-time Pro Stock world champion and winningest woman in history Erica Enders also picked up wins worth $250,000 and $125,000, respectively.
The sportsman classes at the PRO Superstar Shootout also raced for big payouts, with Darian Boesch (FTI Performance Top Sportsman), Matt Dadas (Super Stock), and Monty Bogan Jr. (Stock Eliminator) collecting checks for $50,000 (Top Sportsman) and $30,000 (Super Stock and Stock Eliminator).
FUNNY CAR
In the Funny Car final round, Prock put together a run of 3.845-seconds at 332.42 MPH in his Cornwell Tools Chevy Camaro SS to defeat defending world champion Matt Hagan, who ran a 3.872 at 329.75. Prock, who was also the No. 1 qualifier and collected a $10,000 bonus award from Lucas Oil Friday night during the chip draw session, received a payday of $250,000.
“I can’t even put it into words. It’s like I said, it still doesn’t even feel real,” said Prock. “This team is just so exceptional and I was just happy to not mess it up for them. This is a championship-caliber team and a race-winning team, and I just had to hang on to the wheel and make sure I got the data for them and we did that today. This win is huge. I had a quote before we came in here that if I ended up winning my first ever race and it was the PRO Superstar Shootout it would be legendary and I guess we did that today.”
Hagan had the starting line advantage, but Prock chased him down for the win in the finals. Prock defeated Alexis DeJoria in round one and then his teammate John Force in round two, conquering the early rounds with the starting line advantage.
TOP FUEL
Doug Kalitta picked up right where he left off at the end of the 2023 season. Kalitta powered his Applied Innovation Top Fuel dragster to claim the inaugural SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout presented by Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Top Fuel title. Kalitta threw down a 3.706 at 325.14, while final-round opponent Clay Millican slowed to a 4.22 at 196.39.
“The first thing that I thought of when we won this thing was how proud Don Schumacher would be of the PRO group putting this together,” said Kalitta. “We’ve never really seen this kind of money and the whole deal was it was pretty cool. I know a lot of people worked real hard to make this happen.”
Kalitta’s crew chief and PRO President, Alan Johnson, was just as excited for the win that shows that backed up their championship season.
“It’s really great for Doug but it’s also great for these crew guys who worked all winter long to maintain this thing because there’s some things we had to change,” said Johnson. “We’re going to a different chassis. There are things we had to change to be able to come out at the first event and run well and win. It is just a testament to how good a job they did over the winter.”
Kalitta had the starting line advantage in the finals, never trailing for the win and the $250,000 check. Millican started to lose traction and clicked off his Top Fuel dragster. Justin Ashley had the starting line advantage over Kalitta in the first round, but lost traction. Kalitta pedaled his car for the win. He then used a 3.709 at 330.63 to take down Leah Pruett’s 3.941 in the semifinals.
PRO STOCK
Erica Enders put together a memorable weekend in Pro Stock at the PRO Superstar Shootout, making a clean sweep at Bradenton Motorsports Park with her victory over Dave Connolly in the final round. The reigning world champion bested Connolly with a 6.531 at 210.05 in her JHG/SCAG/Melling Camaro. Connolly recorded a 6.577 at 208.81 in the runner-up effort.
“Dave [Connolly] and I have a lot of history and that final round, I’d be lying if I told you my heart rate wasn’t a little bit higher than normal,” said Enders. “I called my dad before that final round, and I’m like, ‘Alright, help me with my with my neuro program.’ I had to disregard the emotion behind it because I just want to knock their teeth out, but I just have to go out there and do what we do best. I know I have the best guys in the business standing behind me and it’s a group that I can trust and I cannot emphasize that enough. That means the world to me, but that pressure right there, I’d put it up against a world championship because of who was in the other lane.”
On Friday night, Enders qualified in the No. 1 position in the final qualifying session of the event after struggling throughout qualifying. The throwdown run set a positive tone for Saturday eliminations at an event supported by her Elite Motorsports team’s key partners.
“To have the partners that we have with JHG and SCAG – they dove in headfirst and supported this race, not just our race cars, but this entire event and the sense of pride that I feel having partners that believe in what we believe in it, you can’t compare it,” Enders said.
Before collecting the $125,000 check in the final round, Enders also defeated teammates David Cuadra, Aaron Stanfield, and Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the first three rounds.
Drag Illustrated | Photos: Luke Nieuwhof
