The opening shots of the 2023 drag race season were fired at Bradenton Motorsports Park this past weekend. A bevy of Challenger Drag Paks, along with their arch rival Cobra Jet Mustangs and COPO Camaros, filled the field at the inaugural D H Davies Racing Factory Stock Classic. Held in conjunction with Drag Illustrated Magazine’s World Series of Pro Mod, this was an invite-only event and based on the entries, some serious players showed up. The man who created the inaugural Factory Stock Classic with Drag Illustrated Magazine is fellow Drag Pak racer David H Davies. He’s also the dude who orchestrated the deal that brought Flexjet in as the series sponsor for the NHRA Factory Stock Showdown series. “I just love this class and these cars. The racing is prenominal and sponsoring this race within a race, it’s a just small token on how I want to give back to the racers and the fans. Getting with Wes Buck at Drag Illustrated Magazine and running the D H Davies Racing Factory Stock Classic at World Series of Pro Mod also exposed new fans to the excitement of the Factory Stock class,” said Davies.
For Wes Buck, he saw how the Factory Stock class would enhance the excitement and competition at his event. “Our goal with the World Series of Pro Mod is to make it a destination event as well as a unique racing experience for everyone involved,” said Buck, publisher of Drag Illustrated. “Adding the Factory Stock class with David Davies’ support was a great opportunity. We loved everything about the Factory Stock cars and drivers. They look great, launch hard and the personalities in that class are super cool. The weekend was a feast for the many racing fans who came out and witnessed quick runs from cool cars.”
Seven Challenger Drag Paks from all over the country descended into Bradenton’s massive pits for a heads-up, winner take all showdown. There were some new and familiar faces as they rolled into the staging lanes for the first of four qualifying sessions. These drivers ranged in age and gender to include former Pro Stock veteran Mark Pawuk, to sophomore Drag Pak competitor Lindsey Wheelock. Completing the field of Drag Pak racers was Alan Scruggs, Warren Walcher, Marc Heidings, David H Davies and AJ Berge. All were chomping at the bit to get the season going and were using this event to get their driving skills back in the groove, and their cars dialed-in for the upcoming race season that was already here.
Leading the charge in the D H Davies Racing Factory Stock Classic was AJ Berge in his newly wrapped Ramchargers livery Challenger Drag Pak. The Long Island resident rolled into the Bradenton pits with a machine that had some serious suspension updates done over the winter months. Berge was ready to make his first hit of the new season on the freshly manicured starting line. After four qualifying sessions, Berge’s HEMI® engine-powered Mopar® vehicle was the number one qualifier with a stout and “in-your-face” 7.74-second ET at over 178 mph. “Truth be told, this is a brand-new program and it’s our first season on our own. We teamed up with David Barton at Ray Barton Racing Engines and their crew. We have new power. I just got my Drag Pak back and last night was my first run on the car since September. We have a great brain trust here. That’s really what deserves the credit, the guys in the brain trust. That’s what was instrumental in getting us to where we are right now,” stated Berge. “We tried to hit it a little bit harder on that last run. We said let’s find the limit. David is really good at pushing me out of my comfort zone and I was willing to go there. We’re fortunate we kept the number one spot, but I mean, it’s really the team. It’s not one person. It’s everybody involved with this car since it went under the knife. I never count my chickens before they hatch. My approach is very humble. On these nine-inch tires, all this power to track and the weather means that anything can bite you at any time. And it’s a unique format with a chip draw. You really don’t have to worry about it, it’s just going to be whoever it is. Everybody wants a first round bye, but I came to race. I’d rather run somebody every round. We’re going to make some changes and back it up a little bit to where we were before. We’ll see if we can take home a win on race day.” Unfortunately for Berge, he suffered the number-one qualifier curse as a tricky track surface and a tardy reaction time had him packing up early after his first-round loss to Lenny Lottig’s COPO Camaro.
For Mopar racer Lindsey Wheelock, she advanced the furthest among the Drag Pak clan during eliminations, but unfortunately, she had to take out two fellow Dodge racers in rounds one and two. Regardless, Wheelock stayed focused and drove like a champ and made it to the semi-finals where she squared off with Lottig’s COPO, the same competitor that beat AJ Berge in round one. As the Christmas Tree flickered green, Wheelock was off first and put a sizeable holeshot on Lottig’s Camaro. Unfortunately, Wheelock’s stellar .014 reaction time was not enough to hold off the Chevy in high gear. “Eliminations went so smoothly, you see everybody else having all that success and you just wonder like, is that ever going to happen to me,” said Wheelock. “We have been racing for years and we’ve never had one round win ever. It just felt like my luck was finally clicking and everyone kept saying, ‘Oh, this is a fairy tale story’ and I started to believe them. We might actually be able to pull this off, but either way I’m just so blessed. My kids are all bummed but we’re still celebrating on being the last Drag Pak standing. I love how competitive the class is. It is so hard to keep up and we were doing it on our own, but now with the help of Geoff Turk, I’m really confident that we’re going to be a major contender all season long. For now, it’s on to the Gatornats and we’re going to keep this momentum going!”
The next battleground for the Factory Stock Showdown racers will be next weekend’s iconic NHRA Gatornationals at the historic Gainesville Raceway. Between now and then, the teams will service their machines, download and analyze the run data, and get ready to do it all over again. So welcome to the 2023 drag racing season, we’re off to a blazing start!
