22nd Annual Heartland Nationals - Day 3

Sunday May 24th, 2020

Day 3 of the 22nd Annual would begin with a meeting amongst the Top Eliminator competitors as Mark Punos & Jim Naffziger were paired for round one and they wanted to discuss the possibility of switching opponents with Jeremy Click & Russ Payne. Both pairs were competitors from the same area and wished to make the long drivve a little more worth it.

A vote was held amongst the drivers and they voted to allow those two races to shuffle around. Click would now race Naffziger and Punos would race Payne.

Action would start off with second and final time trial pass for Pro 1 Cars/ATVs and Pro 2 Cars.
As those driver would turn in their dial ins, it was time for the first round of the 16 car field of Top Eliminator.

First round results were as follows:
Sieg over Ross (RL)
Naffziger over Click (RL)
W. Schulz over Bailey
Punos over Payne
Glasscock over P. Schulz
Burrows over Kimbley (RL)
Pate over Kapple (broke)
Acker over Kabrick

We had a very impressive field of 28 Pro 1 Cars to follow first round of TE.
This class was sponsored by Circle Bar Ranch Improvements as they put in a $1000 bonus for 1st Place to win.
They were followed up by the first round of Pro 1 ATVs, with 17 Entrants and Pro 2 Cars, also, with 17 Entrants.
TE Round 2 was next to come afterward.

Second round results were as follows:
Sieg over Naffziger (RL)
W. Schulz over Punos
Glasscock over Burrows
Pate over Acker (RL)

Second round came for Pro 1 Cars/ATVs & Pro 2 Cars.

The semi-finals saw #16 Qualifier, Jeff Sieg against the #4 Qualifier, Wade Schulz. This was Wade’s first outing in this new dragster for him.
Sieg would be way behind on the tree as Schulz powered down the track with a 2.99 to Sieg’s 3.06.
This would put Wade in his forst ever TE final round.
#2 Qualifier, Terry Glasscock would be up next to take on #3 Qualifier, John Pate. Both drivers are veterans in the MASDS so this was not a foreign matchup for either one.
John would get off the line first but Terry would drive around him, running a 2.958 to Pate’s 3.01. Margin of victory was, reportedly, .016 at the finish.
This would set up a final round between Wade Schulz and Terry Glasscock. Unfortunately, Schulz was not able to make the call which handed the victory over to Terry Glasscock to start off the MASDS TE Season. You can expect to see both drivers, as well as most of the field at Thunder Valley Sand Drags next month.

The day would finish out with the three remaining MASDS Points Classes. Pro 1 Cars/ATVs and Pro 2 Cars.
Pro 2 Cars would see two ladies in the finals as Zella Kincaid would take on Laura Feuerhelm, both in mini dragsters. Laura is a veteran in the MASDS and this was Zella’s first race.
Zella would take the win and the Pro 2 Cars points lead as Feuerhelm would break out, running a 4.86 on a 4.87 dial in.
We can expect Laura at Thunder Valley next month, if Zella takes here machine up north this could be a fun one to watch all season.

Pro 1 ATV would see Tennessee’s Tommy Springer take on Missouri’s Joe Hibdon.
Tommy would triple down on the weekend, taking the win over Joe. Springer also won the 3.60 & 3.80 Index classes the night before.
Springer told WSDN that he plans to make the trip to Thunder Valley next month. He was the 2018 MASDS Points Champion in Pro 1 ATV and we could be seeing him make a run for another Championship.

The last pair of the weekend would be seen in Pro 1 Cars as Pat Ross out of Texas would take on sand drag legend, Keith Ahart out of Arizona.
Pat Ross would get the win and he told WSDN that he plans to have both cars at Thunder Valley next month to defend his Pro 1 Cars points lead.

We would like to say congratulations to all the winners this weekend and we’d like to take a moment to say thank you to Keith Ahart. As fans of the sport, all of us here at WSDN grew up watching him race the Sudden Urge dragster as he traveled the country for many decades.
Keith told WSDN that this was his last year of racing.

To wrap things up, it was a great weekend of sand drag racing! After almost four months of being unable to attend races, it was great to attend this one on Memorial Day weekend.
The weather stayed away just long enough to get the entire show in.
We’d like to thank the staff at Atoka Motorsports Park for always treating us well on our visits, the fans for supporting WSDN, and the racers for making it an awesome show to enjoy.

Here’s all of Sunday’s winners: