A meticulously focused father & son drag racing team — dive deep into PDRA title chase mix….
As drag racing’s premier 1/8th mile sanctioning body – the PDRA – reached it’s 8-event season half way mark last weekend, at Maryland International Raceway, the North-South Shootout event did a Canadian racer winner.
It was 2nd generation driver “Flyin’” Ryan Harris who earned his biggest career win so far – scoring his for the first time in the PDRA’s high development level Pro Junior Dragster class.
Ryan (from Burford ON) is the only Canadian driver currently participating in that class on a full time basis. Pro Junior Dragster is a 7.90 secs index heads-up class with a pro-tree start. 32-cars qualify by closest to 7.90 index.
At MIR the ultra competitive class (presented by Cool Shirt Systems) featured 51 entries!
“In my mind this is the highest level of competition for any JR Dragster racer to compete in,” stated proud father Kyle Harris – post race. “The guys and girls in this category are some serious racers!”
Ryan Harris is no stranger to winning races. Within the local Ontario scene, he has won multiple times within the RCSS at TMP/Cayuga Dragway.
“This first PDRA win is a high achievement for Ryan and our team,” Kyle affirmed. “He’s been competing full time within the PDRA Pro JR Dragster class since beginning in the 2022 season. Ryan has worked hard to bring his game up to the level required to win multiple rounds at these events. He had gone to late rounds before (in PDRA) but this is his first trip to the winners circle.”
Ryan Harris (far lane above photo) delivered a perfect light in the final round – to score his first PDRA event championship title.
Ryan did add a little icing to the cake for his biggest win yet too — clocking in a perfect elapsed time of 7.900 in the finals while topping young lady racer Alyssa Tilghman.
And with this win, Ryan managed to accumulate just enough points to qualify in the last spot available for his class with the PDRA / Summit Racing ProStars event — which goes down next month (July 12-13) at Virginia Motorsports park. For that special race too – his father Kyle also sits in an event qualified position.
“I don’t imagine it is very common for a Father and Son to both be qualified for this very special race,” Kyle added. “To get in, they take the last four races of the previous season and combine with the first four races of the current season and tally up the accumulated points earned for all racers. Then they take only the top 8 from each class. So it is a pretty prestigious field within the PDRA series and we are proud to have both qualified.”
And in another early hint from the team — it should be noted that prior to his Pro Junior Dragster event victory — Ryan had continued steps towards his next driving assignment – making necessary licensing runs in the team’s Top Dragster (the 2015 Horton-built supercharged dragster). In fact Ryan recorded his fastest pass to date within that process — hitting 3.734 secs @ 194.60 mph.
The PDRA circuit focused and top contending — KHR Top Dragster — is a supercharged Horton-chassied machine.
Both Kyle and Ryan are sitting solid in current 2024 PDRA championship standings. Kyle 3rd (Elite Top Dragster) and now Ryan is 3rd to (Pro Junior Dragster). Both have sights firmly set on year ending championship seasons
KHR proud sponsors and supporters includes : DFS Projects, Double O Permit and Project Services Inc, Atchison Machine Service, Harquip, Hartman Machine Works, Boogieman & Company & Fast Eddie Racewear.
Posted by Bruce Biegler
Photos by Steve Embling – Phil Hutchison – Gary Rowe
