John Montecalvo is coming up on his fifth race weekend in a row. This trying stretch started with a
Mountain Motor event at Maryland International Raceway and then alternated between the ADRL and
IHRA event schedules to make for five consecutive race weekends. The endurance test has had its
payoffs, however. Montecalvo came away with a final round finish at the ADRL Quarter-Max Memphis
Drags that were postponed due to rain and finished at the Ford Summer Drags. Montecalvo then rolled
through round one of the Summer Drags before the rains came again, postponing yet another event.
The completion of that event will now take place at the Hardees Independence Drags over the July
4th weekend. Despite battling rain for two consecutive ADRL events, Montecavlo isn't complaining:
"I was thrilled to get to the finals of the Memphis race. Brian [Gahm, winner] is always a tough
competitor. Congratulations to him for a job well done in the final round. Unfortunately, the rain
took over the show again on Saturday, and we'll have to finish the Summer Drags later, but we're
still in it and I feel good heading into Topeka. I was amazed at the energy this weekend at U.S.
131 Motorsports Park. The stands were packed. The fans were enthusiastic. My hand is worn out from
signing autographs! I've never had that happen before!"
Montecalvo now stands 5th in the ADRL Battle for the Belts points standings, and is well on his way
to being in the final race run-off. He is coming down the home stretch of his enduring race
schedule now, as he switches gears again, back to quarter-mile racing. The IHRA Sooner Nationals
are set to take place at Tulsa Raceway Park for an unusual but highly anticipated two-day event.
"I'm really looking forward to Tulsa. We made it to the finals there last year so I'm hoping we can
build upon that this year. We had some trouble with our motor in Dallas, but we sent it off to
Sonny's to get freshened up after that race. He went through the entire motor, and he's even
improved upon it some. It already had good power so I'm looking forward to seeing what it can do
now.
"I think this two-day format is going to be good for this event and IHRA. It's also a great idea to
allow us to test on Friday before the event. I know we're all looking forward to taking advantage
of that. It should be a great weekend if we can all keep cool in that Tulsa heat!"
