Laurie Prickett, left, lines up at the starting line in her 1981 Chevy nexy to Gary Stoffer in his 68 Pontiac in the Super Pro races at Top Gun Raceway.
Saturday and Sunday marked the first two qualifying races at Top Gun Raceway for the Summit ET Series after March’s test and tunes.
Drivers from Junior Dragsters, Sportsman, Pro and Super Pro brackets competed to earn points toward the division finals in Las Vegas as well as towards Dave’s Automotive Group All Star Series Challenge, a local tournament.
Racers will return to Top Gun on April 30 at 9:30 a.m. for the third street legal competition.
Saturday:
Sparks’ Nicholas Morris was the sole representative of the Junior Dragsters division on Saturday, finishing a single qualifier in 11.957 seconds averaging 52.83 miles per hour (mph).
In the Sportsman division, Walt Stacey (83 Ford) prevailed in the finals against Jim Setterberg in 12.186 seconds/108.41 mph vs. Setterberg’s 12.986/106.39 mph.
Sparks’ Steve Tintinger took the finals in the Pro division in his 1988 Mustang against Alvin Clarke’s 78 Camaro with a second and change, finishing 10.509 to Clarke’s 11.880.
Grace Rowan (1923 Ford) won the final race against Laurie Pickett (1981 Chevy) in an uncharacteristically small Super Pro division with only seven competitors. Rowan finished with a time of 9.320 to Pickett’s 9.940, one of the widest margins of victory of the day.
Sunday:
Morris finally had a competitor on Sunday, losing to Yerington’s Laney Brown again in the Jr. Dragsters division. Though Brown blazed past Morris (8.276 vs. 11.923) Morris came away with the most points, 110 to Brown’s 33.
Walt Stacey fought to the final race of the Sportsman division again Sunday, this time defeating Gene Bruflat, 8.405 vs. 8.702. Walt, at the top of the bracket of 10 Sportsman competitors, has earned 150 points toward the finals, followed by Setterberg (117) and Gene Bruflat (80 Mustang) who earned 95.
In the Pro, Clarke had a second chance to come out on top but took second to Erik Doukas (65 Pontiac) who finished 7.215 to Clarke’s 7.616. Despite finishing second both days, Clarke earned the most points in Pro (139) by defeating his opponents in rounds 1-3 by more than second each time. Tintinger came second with 117 points followed by Winnemucca’s Jason Arienne who tied Reno’s Eric Sutterberg for 84 points.
Pickett found herself against Gardnerville’s Gary Stoffer (68 Pontiac) in Sunday’s final race of the Super Pros, triumphing again at 5.816 to Stoffer’s 6.030. Pickett naturally walked away with the most points earned (118) followed by Stoffer (107) and Rowan in third (96).