NHRA (CLAREMONT) - GARDELLA WINS FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SEASON AT THE INAGURAL SPORT COMPACT NATIONALS

Gary Gardella won his first race of the season in the Pro FWD class during eliminations of the Indy NHRA Sport Compact Nationals presented by BP at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis on Sunday.

The others winners of the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series race were Norris Prayoonto in the Honda Tuning Magazine All Motor, Brent Rau (Modified), Stephanie Eggum (Hot Rod), and Brad Personett (Pro RWD).

Gardella used all the power his 2007 Cobalt could muster in the finals as he ran a 7.344 pass at 198.96 to defeat the top qualifier of Marty Ladwig who lost with a run of 7.509 at 197.54. Not only was this the first win for Gardella this season it was also his first with in the NHRA in two seasons.

“It feels to get back up on our feet and get the monkey off our backs, the car was running great numbers and the car really stepped up and I hope this can keep going on,” stated an excited Gardella in victory lane. “At the beginning of the year we were working bugs out and we didn’t think we had what it takes. But with a lot of hard work, good crew members and energy we finally know we have the car to beat.”

In the Honda Tuning Magazine All Motor Class it was two team cars matching up in the final as Prayoonto faced Salceda in the opposite lane. The teammates raced each other clean but Salceda’s pass of 10.165 seconds at 135.50 wasn’t enough to overcome the 9.681 second at 140 mph pass of Prayoonto.

“It is more relaxing to race your teammate like that because you don’t have to worry about playing games in the lights or stuff like that and makes it a lot easier,” said Prayoonto. “I’m just glad I won here at Indy for the first time, great to be here and to leave number one in the points.”

For Modified driver, Rau, the weekend started shaky with only one pass on Saturday but his 7.186 second pass was good enough to not only place him in first but also give him the opportunity to set a new national event elapsed time record and gain 20 precious championship points. In the finals he was able to do just that when he laid down a winning pass of 7.257 seconds at 188.54 mph.

“It was a great weekend for me and the entire team. We came out here and gained valuable points on Ken and Paul, it was an awesome weekend and right now we are the car to beat,” he said. “This track is an awesome place and a ton of history here. Indy’s a great place and this is an awesome win for the team.”

Eggum bested top qualifier Kenny Tran in the finals with a winning pass of 7.958 seconds at 183.79 mph to a losing pass of 12.914 at 73.20. For Eggum and her team it has been a scramble since they destroyed a motor in testing during the week but they were able to put it all together for her fourth win of the season.

“This has been a crazy weekend for us. We got here Friday night like at 5:00 a. m. in the morning so my crew has been going on no sleep. Yesterday we did pretty decent and qualified number two and then today we had two really good passes back to back,” said Eggum after the race. “I was really excited to come here and had never raced here I really like winning at different tracks so it adds that to my racing resume.”

For Elkhart, IN., native Personett the win was his fifth win of the season as he ran a pass of 7.029 seconds at 207.46 mph. The win was also in his backup car after he wrecked his new car two weeks ago.

“It’s good but bad because we’ve been going through some rough times lately with these things,” said Personett following the win. “We just need to look ahead to the future and see what can come about for the rest of the season.”

The Pro RWD and Pro FWD classes will next be at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis for the NHRA Sport Compact Nationals at the 53rd annual Mac Tools U. S. Nationals at ORP on September 1 -3. For more information go to nhrasportcompact.com.

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PRO RWD

Brad Personett, Elkhart, Ind., '08 Scion, 7.029, 207.46 def. Boris Rojas, Orlando, Fla., dragster, 8.162, 169.44.

PRO FWD

Gary Gardella, Howell, N.J., '07 Cobalt, 7.344, 198.96 def. Marty Ladwig, San Antonio, Texas, '07 Cobalt, 7.509, 197.54.

MODIFIED

Brent Rau, St Francis, Minn., '99 Eclipse, 7.257, 188.54 def. Paul Efantis, Ijamsville, Md., '03 Solara, 7.364, 187.47.

HOT ROD

Stephanie Eggum, Elgin, Ill., '00 Civic, 7.958, 183.79 def. Kenny Tran, Garland, Texas, '06 tC, 12.914, 73.20.

HONDA TUNING MAGAZINE ALL MOTOR

Norris Prayoonoto, Springfield, Va., '04 Insight, 9.681, 140.08 def. Saul Salceda, Gardena, Calif., '00 Integra, 10.165, 135.50.

URBANRACER.COM SPORT FWD

Cortney Green, Taylorsville, Utah, '95 Civic, 9.861, 153.16 def. Jasen Penman, West Jordan, Utah, '93 Honda, 11.325, 87.68.

SPORT RWD

Jason Greenawalt, Hunker, Pa., '93 Nissan, 9.483, 145.05 def. Ari Yallon, Garland, Texas, '93 RX7, 10.270, 135.14.

QUICK 16

Karl Martin, Riverton, Utah, '93 RX7, 10.569, 117.64 def. Marty Salerno, Carol Stream, Ill., '63 Ghia, 11.441, 117.14.

BFGOODRICH TIRES STREET STOCK

Loan Nguyen, Burke, Va., '99 Civic, 15.686, 62.95 was unopposed.

QUICK 16

Karl Martin, Riverton, Utah, '93 RX7, 10.569, 117.64 def. Marty Salerno, Carol Stream, Ill., '63 Ghia, 11.441, 117.14.

ET1

Jason Phillips, Granite City, IL, ’07 Eclipse, 17.824, 75.54 def. Angelo Taylor, Kokomo, IN, ’84 Horizon,17.258, 74.88

ET2

Jason Jimerez Bloomington, IN., 13.348, 99.83, def. Kevin Dunmire, Indianapolis, IN., ’92 Nissan, 13.737, 111.05mph