Decker, Glidden Take Victory at PRO Cordova Event!

PRO HOT ROD & MUSCLE CAR NATIONALS EVENT THUNDERS THROUGH
CORDOVA DRAGWAY: 5,800 FANS WATCH DECKER, GLIDDEN STREAK
TO VICTORY.

CORDOVA, Ill. -- The PRO Hot Rod & Muscle Car Nationals
entered Cordova Dragway park this weekend, July 27-28, 2002,
with their second ever event in history. And history was made
as 5,800 people thundered through the gates at Cordova to
witness one of the greatest side by side Pro Street races in
history. Pounding rain and thunderstorms beset the event on
Saturday morning until noon, but when the skies cleared the
people came in droves to see this street legal national event
PRO extravaganza. 

Over 4,000 people witnessed the Saturday
night spectacle of UDRA Pro Mods, PRO-Edelbrock Fastest
Street Car Heads up Drag Racing, Hooters Jet Car, and the
Eagle One Auto Show Spectacular. Milt Decker and Billy

Glidden captured titles in their respective categories at the
second round of the PRO Edelbrock Fastest Street Car
Nationals held at Cordova Dragway Park, July 28. Decker, from
Dover, Pa., drove his Gene Fulton-built, nitrous-injected
small-block to a win in Pro Street over Randy Adler and his
blown big-block, alcohol-powered '57 Chevy. Decker and Adler
qualified first and second respectively which set up the
final round showdown. Adler threw away a beatuiful 6.738/199
mph run at the stating line after leaving in .609 seconds,
which left the door open for Decker who left with a .521.
When the two reached the stripe, it was Decker getting the
win light despite a slower elapsed time of 6.82; winning the
race by a margin of just one foot.

In Nitto Tires Street Super Street, Glidden from Whiteland,
Ind.once again established himself as the car to beat in the
class after qualifying in the top spot and charging through
eliminations to a final round showdown with Mark Enwina.
Enwina, from Skokie, Ill., overcame two consecutive top end
runoff runs in the first two rounds after his parachute
failed to deploy properly -- each time, resulting in his '92
Mustang having to be towed out of the sandtrap. In the final,
Glidden had a slight advantage from the start and stretched
for the win; running 7.69/174 mph to Enwina's losing 8.04/174
mph lap.

Bob Alexander, of Clinton, Ill drove his '93 Mustang to his
first PRO win in Flowmaster Nostalgia Pro Street after
beating another newcomer, Mike Foulk of Plainfield, Ill.,
driving a 1969 Torino. Alexander, who qualified in the top
spot, had a slight starting line advantage and was able to
hold off the beefy Torino on the top end 7.96/173 to Foulk's
8.04/174 mph pass.

Tony Orts has now gone two-for-two after winning in Vortech
Extreme Street over Ernie Parison, who was making the first
runs in his car since a spectacular fire at the World Ford
Challenge in May. Parison qualified his Mustang in the top
slot with Orts a close second. In the final, Ort's drilled
the tree with a .444 reaction time in his Camaro and extended
that lead to take the win 8.56/160 to Parison's 8.67/160 mph
effort.

The Nostalgia Muscle Car final featured a classic Chevy
versus Mopar battle as Dekalb, Ill. driver Mike Trittle drove
his '74 Barracuda to the Winner's Circle at Cordova after
posting a 14.025 on a 14.00 index to beat the hard-charging
effort of Rock Falls, Illinois' Stan Bardo and his '57 Chevy
which ran 13.339 on a 13 flat index.

In Mr. Gasket Cheap Street, Bowling Green Champion Jeremy
Taylor of Holts Summit, Mo., outlasted a strong effort by
fellow Chevy driver, Jay Canella to capture his second
consecutive win. Taylor, driving a '66 Nova dropped into sub
ten-second territory, in the heat of the day to end Canella's
hopes of victory after posting an impressive 9.88/133 mph
time to Canella's losing 10.01/133 mph effort.

Dan Paolini of Westerville, Ohio drove his '94 Camaro to the
win in Diamond Pistons Pro Stock over Chris Uratchko and his
'69 Camaro. Paolini, attending his first PRO event of the
year, charged to the win over the series points leader,
posting a 9.38/145 mph run to Uratchko's losing 9.58/143 mph
lap.

Greg Edwards not only took his 1967 Camaro for a 30-mile
cruise, he also posted a three-lap, quarter-mile et average
of 9.358 to become the "King of Illinois" over runner up,
Craig Zoetmulder, driving a 1980 Jeep CJ-7 which averaged
11.21 seconds.

In Hamburger's Nostalgia Super Stock, Evansville, Indiana's
Joe Ewing, drove his '63 Dodge to victory after posting a
10.535 et against a 10.50 index, ousting Newland N.C. driver
Jeff Puckett, who was making his second consecutive trip to
the final in the class and just like at Bowling Green, lost
by mere inches as he ran his '67 Tempest to a 11.037 run on a
11.00 index.

Shane Fought took home the honor as champion in SuperChips
Open Comp after ousting Scott Laws. In a battle of Mustangs,
Fought's '95 posted an 11.61 against an 11.63 index while
Laws' '82 , ran the quarter-mile in 10.67 seconds on a 10.71
index.

Also in action at the inaugural PRO Series event were UDRA
Pro Modifieds, the class was won by Pat Moore over Jimmy
Detrick.Bill Glidden pocketed an extra $500.00 after beating
Milt Decker in the The ATI ProCharger Top Dog Shootout, a
handicapped race which pits the number one qualifier in Pro
and Super Street against each other. It was Glidden's second
shootout win of the season. Tony Miclure took home the top
prize in the Performance Wheel Outlet burnout contest.

In Toyo Tires bracket racing action, Steve Klemme took home
the win in No Box competition while Lane Dicken was the
winner in Box. In a special runoff between the two, Dicken
took the win.

Look for complete round-by-round action in the January issue
of Fastest Street Car Magazine.

The next race on the PRO Edelbrock Drag Racing Series will be
held at Maple Grove Raceway August 23-25.