Mercier, Worsham, Stubbs, Montecalvo Headline Winners at IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series

WEST SALEM, Ohio — Dan Mercier and Del Worsham won Top Fuel and Funny Car races at the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series event at Darana Dragway — West Salem, Ohio.

They earned the $50,000 winners’ purses and the prestigious IHRA Ironman trophies with the races live-streamed on IHRA.TV and SPEED SPORT 1.

Other winners included: John Montecalvo in Mountain Motor Pro Stock, Hank Stubbs in Outlaw Pro Mod, Rickie Smith in Pro Nitrous, Wesley Distefano in Pro Mod, Ryan Peery in Top Fuel Harley, Courtney Moeller in Outlaw Snowmobile, Rachel Curl in Top Alcohol Dragster and Phil Esz in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

The Fuel Altereds also made their IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series debut as No. 1 qualifier Ryan Hill raced to the win.

Mercier won the Top Fuel final over Jake Sanders, who upset No. 1 qualifier Scott Palmer in the opening round. Mercier beat Smax Smith in the quarterfinals and Lex Joon in the semifinals before his final-round victory.

Sanders got the holeshot .056 to .090, but Mercier powered down the track in 3.178 seconds at 273.89 mph for the win. Sanders posted a 3.317-second run at 226.24 mph. Mercier, a Canadian driver, became the fourth different Top Fuel winner in four races this season.

“It’s my first win in Top Fuel, so it’s amazing,” Mercier said. “This race is for my hero, Terry McMillen, who’s a good friend to me. I love this guy. He helped me get started in Top Fuel years ago.”

Worsham became the first repeat winner this season in the Funny Car class. He beat Terry Haddock in the final after dispatching Joe Morrison in the semifinals and Jacob Slater in the quarterfinals.

He has been to all four final rounds this season, matching his own mark of four straight final rounds in 1992. With the money on the line, Worsham won on a holeshot .062 to .110, coupled with his 3.283-second run at 269.95 mph. Haddock had a slightly better time and speed at 3.282 seconds and 271.25 mph.

“What a day. We’ve closed the deal in two of them now,” Worsham said. “We’ve been to all the finals, and I’ve had tough competition. Every time, the car next to me goes to the finish line, and always makes a full run. That makes it tough because it makes no room for error. A lot of hard work went into this one.”

Montecalvo had an incredible .005 reaction time to gain an advantage over Chris Powers with a .014 start. He followed it up with a 4.091-second run at 175.85 mph in his red Ford Mustang. Powers lost power at the end with a 4.312-second pass at 136.99 mph.

“We ran with IHRA back in 2015. We won Bradenton and then West Palm, but that was it,” Montecalvo said. “Chris and I have battled a long time, but it’s all a lot of fun. I just had to stay cool and do my job.”

In the Outlaw Pro Mod final, Pat Moore got a slight edge .144 to .149 at the tree. But Stubbs pedaled through for a 3.716-second run to beat Moore, who finished in 3.895 seconds. Stubbs had back-to-back runs under 3.60 in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

“This means so much to me. Thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity,” Stubbs said. “We came out here with a personal best of a 60 flat. We turned around and backed it up with a 57. The first round, we had a 59, and then a 56 in the semis. Those were all personal bests for me.”

The IHRA Hall of Famer Rickie Smith won a second straight race in the Pro Nitrous class following his win at Hebron, Ohio. Smith got the holeshot .007 to .037 over Jackie Slone Jr., and followed it up with a 3.689-second run at 206.14 mph. Slone posted a 3.710-second pass at 204.36 mph.

Peery got the Top Fuel Harley win as another Hall of Famer, Jay Turner, triggered the red light. Peery took advantage with a 4.219-second pass down the track. Moeller was slower than Edwin Wirbel at the start of the Outlaw Snowmobile final, but came through with a 4.892-second pass to earn the win.

Top Alcohol Dragster saw Curl make a 3.517-second run to edge Rich McPhillips. It proved to be the difference after a .038 better start for McPhillips. Esz scored in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class as final-round opponent Tony Bogolo left -.010 too early.

Hill had a winning time of 3.512 seconds and 211.47 mph. Runner-up Pete Dove had to get out of the throttle and finished in 3.986 seconds at 147.35 mph.

We will have a recap of Pro-am races at this weekend’s IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series later today.

Photos by: Robert Richard/BME Photograph