The lure of a money-laden second annual CTECH World Doorslammer Nationals presented by JEGS event at Orlando Speed World Dragway was enticing for racers and fans in Pro Stock, Pro Mod, Pro 632, Comp Eliminator Factory Shootout, Top Sportsman, and Stock/Super Stock. A good crowd came to watch on Friday, Saturday – despite threats of rain and a late start due to precipitation – and on a glorious and cool Sunday. For sure these fans got their money’s worth.
And speaking of money, the payouts were way greater than what the professional classes will race for at this coming weekend’s 52nd annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, with Pro Stock’s winning driver taking home $75,000 and Pro Mod’s champion earning $50,000. The remaining class winners earned a minimum of $10,000.
How they got to their finals is the story of this three-day meeting. Obviously, everyone’s eyes were on the returning champions from the first Doorslammers event last year, which was the final time racers were able to compete from March until mid-July, due to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
While Jeg Coughlin Jr. earned the Pro Stock victory in 2020, his nephew Troy Coughlin Jr. has taken over the yellow-and-black JEGS Chevrolet Camaro in 2021, with Jeg Jr.’s retirement, and was the guy to watch in the early going. He was joined by a heady roster of teammates: four-time, reigning Pro Stock champion Erica Enders, Alex Laughlin’s Camaros and, new this year, Bo Butner in an Elite Ford Mustang.
Fastest in the three qualifying segments, Summit Racing’s Greg Anderson was a favorite after Friday’s two sessions and the single pass on Saturday, the reverse of what had originally been scheduled (one Friday, two Saturday sessions). It was interesting to see the three Cuadra Mustangs on the sidelines Saturday as patriarch Fernando Cuadra elected to park himself, sons Fernando Jr. and Cristian in the iffy weather conditions.
Eyes were also on Laughlin, who took home the grand prize in Pro Mod last year. He wasn’t the fastest driver in class this year; that honor went to a record-setting Khalid al-Balooshi, who kept lowering the ET in Pro Mod throughout the three-day event. Many of the regular NHRA Pro Mod competitors, including newcomer J.R. Gray, taking over the seat of car owner Mike Janis, were using this race meeting as a tune-up for next weekend’s Gatornationals, even as all were intending to try and drop alBalooshi and Laughlin from their perches as favorites to win the big money.
As it turned out, saving their cars from Saturday’s cool and weather-affected weather was the smart idea for the Cuadra family. While still searching for their first NHRA Pro Stock Wally trophy, Fernando Jr. and Cristian faced one another in the finals of the CTECH Doorslammers, with Fernando Jr. copping the big money when his brother fouled at the Christmas Tree. “For me,” Cuadra Jr. said, “both of us won. The moment I saw Cristian win in the semifinals, it was like a dream come true. We didn’t expect to be here. It was great night, an unbelievable night. This is such a special moment and the excitement is unbelievable. This is the best feeling ever.”
While his final round lacked drama, the brothers’ semifinal round against the favorites in Pro Stock – Anderson and Enders – was one for the ages. The underdogs against these champions, Cuadra Jr. hit the timing stripes with the fastest Pro Stock run of the weekend at 212.90mph (also his career finest) against Anderson, who had turned the quickest run in the quarterfinals at 6.497 seconds. Then Cristian delivered a .001 ruction time again Enders to win his semifinal on a hole shot, going 6.524/211.30 against Enders’ 6.516/210.54.
Al-Baloochi was the cream of the crop from the start of the weekend, setting and resetting fast times from the moment he hit the water box. He qualified No. 1 without, seemingly, competition for the top spot and then did the job in all four of his passes down the quarter-mile Orlando Speed World dragstrip on Sunday. “The car got the job done this week,” al-Balooshi said, “and Brad (former Pro Mod NHRA champ and tuner Personett) has given me a badass car. Brad has given me a great car since last year and I think we’ve got a good shot to do even better this year. We couldn’t have asked for anything more than what we did. I’m living the dream.”
The Bahrain 1 Racing team was racing in a different stratosphere over the weekend, with al-Balooshi racing 5.61-sec on two different passes. He qualified No. 1 at 5.659/251.25 as a preview of what his competitors and the fans in attendance would witness on Sunday. Breaking records seemingly with every pass, al-Balooshi first put Kris Thorne on the trailer with a then-record 5.617 in Round 1. He followed that with 5.634 against Jerico Balduf in the quarters, following with 5.625 against Gray.
In the finals, al-Balooshi would meet Laughlin, who was the better leaver. In a class that now welcomes manual shifting, the Los Angeles resident hit his shifts perfectly in the money race, showing the benefits of extensive testing in Bahrain in the long off-season. “We ran it all winter long,” Personett said. “This is probably the best car I’ve worked on. It just prints tickets, and Khalid just keeps getting better and better as a driver. When the conditions change here, it’s Disney World. It’s a confidence builder for all of us.”
In the remaining classes, Wes Distefano earned the win and $15,000 in Pro 632, Erica Enders’ Pontiac was the winner in Comp Eliminator (erasing the sting of losing in the Pro Stock semifinals) for $10,000, John Cerbone’s Camaro won Factory Shootout and $10,000, while Top Sportsman ($10,000) went to Derrick Brown’s 2014 Camaro and Stock/Super Stock’s $10 grand went to Brian Oakes in his ’69 Camaro.
There was one singularly nasty accident on Saturday, when Rick Hord’s Pro Mod Corvette took a sharp right turn from the left lane in the single qualifying session and impacted the right-lane’s wall. He did walk away but was unable to compete on Sunday.
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