‘King Tutt’ Reigns in National Guard ADRL Speedtech
Battle for the Belts
Todd Tutterow
ENNIS, TX (Oct. 24, 2009) —
Todd Tutterow turned on the win light three times over two days at the Texas
Motorplex to secure his first National Guard American Drag Racing League’s
(ADRL) Pro Extreme world championship.
The Yadkinville, North Carolina-based driver
entered the championship-deciding Speedtech Battle for the Belts—a
unique eight-car playoff for the top points earners in the class—in
fifth place and raced through Mike Janis, two-time defending series champ Jason
Scruggs and Joshua Hernandez to take the Belt.
“This is awesome,” the new reigning champ
declared as he hoisted the Belt high. “Where else can you race for $50,000
against the very best door cars and drivers in the world? What the ADRL has
created here is something really special and something I feel truly honored to
win.”
Khalid Al-Balooshi
Joining Tutterow as new National Guard ADRL
World Champions are Khalid Al-Balooshi, who made 28-hour, round-trip flights
from Qatar in the Middle East to compete in each of 10 Pro Nitrous events;
Chicago racer Spiro Pappas who prevailed from an eighth-place start in
Flowmaster Extreme 10.5; Ocala, Florida’s Scott Gray with a championship run in
Pro Extreme Motorcycle from the number-one position; and Matt Hartford from
Phoenix, Arizona, who scored the Extreme Pro Stock title in his final
appearance in the class.
Al-Balooshi beat his Al-Anabi Racing
teammate, Burton Auxier of Dixie, West Virginia, in the final round when Auxier
left four-thousandths of a second too soon. He previously beat Stan Allen in
the opening round and another Al-Anabi teammate, Mike Castellana, whose car
would not start with a faulty battery in the semi-finals.
Spiro Pappas
As the eighth-place starter, Pappas actually
had to win four times for his Speedtech Battle for the Belts triumph, since
numbers seven and eight initially raced to earn a berth against the
second-place qualifier while number one in each class received a first-round
bye.
So, Pappas opened with a win over Jake
Carlton to reach Gary White, then got past Jeff Naiser before leading
stripe-to-stripe over Chuck Ulsch, the quickest and fastest record holder for
the class.
“It’s been a long, tough road to get here,
but my guys never gave up and it was all worth it,” Pappas said. “This took a
real team effort.”
Scott Gray
As the top points earner in Pro Extreme
Motorcycle, Gray had the free pass from round one to the semis where he edged
Travis Davis thanks to taking a starting-line advantage. Gray won the final
with another holeshot performance, leaving .022 ahead of Ashley Owens and
finishing just eight thousandths ahead.
“Wow, that was a close one, but we’ll take
it. Without a doubt, this is a huge, huge win for us,” Gray said.
Matt Hartford
Hartford, who is leaving the Billy Dingman crew for
other racing opportunities next year, started third and took out Dean Goforth
in round one before he and Doug Kirk both ran exactly the same times in the
semis, but Kirk left a single thousandth too soon to turn on the read light off
the start.
Hartford
narrowly outran number-one Belts qualifier Brian Gahm in the final round.
“What a way to go out,”
Hartford said. “I want to thank Billy Dingman
and all my crew for giving me a great car all year and hope they get to repeat
again next season.”
ENNIS,
Texas
-- Saturday's final results from the Speedtech Battle for the Belts at Texas
Motorplex. The race is the Final of 10 in the National Guard American Drag
Racing League:
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