ADRL 2012 Season is a Wrap 

The “door slammer” rich ADRL circuit wrapped up its 10-event 2012 drag racing season with it’s World Finals VIII (presented by CarSafe) held recently at the Texas Motorplex.  Season champions were decided….

Event winners Cary Goforth (XPS), Motorcycle rider Eric McKinney PXM and Aeromotive Fuel Systems Pro Modified driver Mike Castellana also celebrated American Drag Racing League (ADRL) world championships.  Those racers joined Mick Snyder (Pro Extreme), Bob Rahaim (Pro Nitrous), Alan Pittman (Mickey Thompson  Extreme 10.5) and Marco Abruzzi (Summit Racing Equipment Top Sportsman) on that elite season championship list.

Tommy D’Aprile won in the ADRL’s P/X category for the first time

Three other drivers – Tommy D’Aprile (Pro Extreme), Pat Stoken  (Pro Nitrous) and William Brown III (Summit Racing Equipment Top  Sportsman) – won for the first time in the ADRL at the World Finals while Billy Glidden added to his record win total.

For Castellana, he claimed a ADRL world championship for the second season, this time in Aeromotive Pro Modified.  He finished the 2012 season with five victories, going a weekend-best  3.857 at 195.22 mph in his Al-Anabi Racing 2012 RJ Race Cars Camaro  to beat Mike Janis in the finals.

Prolific Pro Mod racer Mike Castellana won a ADRL title for the 2nd year in a row.

“Knowing we had already won the championship, that made us relaxed  for the finals. Getting that win was sort of the icing on the cake, I  guess you would say,” Castellana said.

Tommy D’Aprile capped off his first winning weekend in the ADRL with  a 3.633 at 206.51 mph to beat Von Smith in the Pro Extreme finals.  Driving a Jeffers Pro Cars Corvette, D’Aprile was also helped by a  brilliant .009 reaction time against Smith.

“I was in the zone driving and on the tree, and the guys were just flawless with this car today,” D’Aprile said.

Snyder clinched the world championship in his heated race against Jason Scruggs when Scruggs went red against Smith in the second round. Snyder and the Powersource Transportation team advanced to the  semifinals, firmly securing their first ADRL world championship.

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Pat Stoken and his RJ Race Cars ’69 Camaro went a blistering 3.786 at 198 mph in the Pro Nitrous finals, knocking off Shannon Jenkins in a thrilling first victory.

With the help of Reher-Morrison, Switzer Dynamics and his two sons,  Stoken chased down Jenkins and ended up in the winner’s circle for  the first time after four previous final round appearances.

Montana’s Pat Stoken recorded his first ADRL event win during the season finale event — winning in P/N

Stoken qualified No. 1 with a 3.769 and then was consistent in eliminations, running a 3.83 and 3.82 before stepping it up in the finals.

“It still hasn’t sunk in that we just won. It’s just unbelievable and it makes the winter a lot better,” Stoken said. 

In winning his second straight world championship in XPS, Goforth and  his Jerry Haas Race Cars GXP went 4.096 at 175 mph to beat John DeFlorian and cap off his tremendous back-to-back championship run.

“It feels good to come here, get the win and get the  championship,” said Goforth, who also thanked Sonny’s Racing  Engines in winning for the third time in 2012 and ninth time in his  ADRL career. “This is just a great feeling — that makes this very sweet. It was a great team effort from a great group of individuals. We are extremely happy.”

In PXM McKinney won 5-straight races to close out the season, capping off his remarkable year in Pro Extreme Motorcycle by going 4.032 at 176  mph to knock off Dave Norris in the finals.

McKinney qualified No. 1 with a 4.051 and then went 4.042 in a first-round win before stepping it up in the finals. In all, McKinney  finished with seven wins – the most for any ADRL competitor in  2012 – and advanced to nine finals.

William Brown III made a valiant run for the championship in Summit Racing Equipment Top Sportsman, but came up just short as Abruzzi advanced to the semifinals to clinch the first world title for the class in the ADRL.

But Brown took the consolation prize, which was going 4.222 at 168 mph to beat Glenn Butcher in the finals and pick up his first ADRL win.

Billy Glidden picked up his second straight win and an ADRL-best 15th for his career, going 3.946 at 187 mph to beat Dan Myers in the finals of Mickey Thompson Extreme 10.5.  Glidden went as quick as 3.915 at 190 mph, qualifying No. 1 and ending his season on a strong note.

Kevin Helms gave Mopar its first win in the SuperCar Showdown (which was introduced new to the ADRL for 2012), going 5.889 at 116.42 mph, knocking off Fred Henson in the finals.

Frankie Taylor provided the event’s biggest performance highlight running his P/S Corvette to a world record 3.577 secs.

Posted by:  Josh Hachet – Photos by:  Roger Richards 

Event Essentials:  ADRL World Finals VIII (Oct. 19-20^th, 2012) Dallas, TX