Sat, 18 Jun 2011, 10:18 AM Personett Leads Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series Qualifying at Bristol

Courtesy of NHRA Communications Photo copyright 2011 Auto Imagery, Inc.

BRISTOL, Tenn. --

Brad Personett

Brad Personett raced to the qualifying lead Friday in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Tri-Cities Area Ford Dealers.

Personett set both ends of the track record by covering the Bristol Dragway quarter-mile in 5.961 seconds at 252.80 mph in his turbocharged ProCare Rx ’68 Camaro to lead the 16-car lineup. 

  Two of Personett’s teammates – Melanie Troxel and Leah Pruett-LeDuc – were second and third respectively. Troxel posted a 5.962 at 252.66 in her turbocharged RoadRage.com ’53 Corvette, while Pruett-LeDuc covered the distance in 5.987 at 241.89 in her supercharged RoadRage.com ’68 Camaro.

  "We're starting to see the consistency we were missing earlier in the year and it's a welcome sight," Personett said. "We got onto something in Englishtown and it's carried over. It's easy to panic and make big moves that usually get you into more trouble but we were able to stick to our gameplan and just work through it. To have all five of the R2B2 Racing cars running so well is pretty cool, especially with the top three cars all from our team. There's been a lot of long hours put into this and it's nice to see the hard work paying off."

  Series points leader Khalid Balooshi, who has won two races this season, was fifth overall in his nitrous injected Speedtech ’68 Camaro, with a performance of 6.014 at 242.15.

  Veteran driver and Bristol Dragway legend Rickie Smith was involved in a high-speed crash during the second qualifying session. Smith was reported to have suffered a fractured left knee in the incident by medical officials at the Bristol Regional Medical Center. Smith’s ’68 Camaro went out of control and collided with Pete Farber’s ’69 Daytona as the pair were making a side-by-side qualifying run. Farber was checked and released at the track by NHRA emergency services officials.

  NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series qualifying continues Saturday with the final round of qualifying at 1 p.m., and will be followed by the first round of eliminations at 3:30 p.m. Eliminations will continue for the ultra-fast doorslammer category on Sunday starting at approximately 3:30 p.m.