PETERSBURG, Va. (October 19, 2010) – After four full days of championship drag racing, the IHRA World Finals Nitro Jam finally came to a close with the crowning of the first winners of the 2011 Nitro Jam season Monday afternoon at Virginia Motorsports Park in Petersburg.
In addition to deciding the first winners of next year, the World Finals Nitro Jam also crowned champions in both sportsman and professional classes highlighted by a huge Nitro Jam show Saturday night and an awards ceremony honoring all champions Sunday evening. It was huge blowout and a fitting end to a hugely successful season of Nitro Jam competition.
While Monday provided a great day of racing with near perfect conditions, rain and cooler temperatures wreaked havoc on the first two days of racing forcing the finish of the World Finals Nitro Jam on Monday. Despite the weather, over 400 cars were on hand to take their shot at one or more of the dozens of different special programs going on over the course of the weekend. And when all was said and done, over two dozen drivers walked away with Ironman hardware by Monday afternoon.
Beginning with the champions, from Top Fuel to No Box a dozen different champions were decided in both the professional and sportsman categories over the weekend. And those champions were Bobby Lagana Jr. (Top Fuel), Bill Evans (Pro Fuel), Steve Nichols (Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car), Steve Corker (Top Sportsman), Scott Ball (Top Dragster), Michael Volkman (Super Stock), Richard Alford Jr. (Stock), Matt Weston (Quick Rod), Cameron Manuel (Super Rod), Kenny Underwood (Hot Rod), Chris Hall (No Box) and Chip Johnson (Box).
For the professional classes, championships were decided Saturday night during the only round of professional competition, while sportsman champions were decided during the running of the second-ever Tournament of Champions on Sunday. Finally, the Box and No Box World Champions were decided via the Summit SuperSeries runoff Saturday night.
Also running on Sunday was the annual Summit Allstars race pitting the champions of each Summit Pro-Am division against one another for the Allstars crown. Sunday's winners included Steve Corker (Top Sportsman) and Cameron Manuel (Super Rod), who also won World Championships earlier in the day, Jason Hoff, who doubled up in Top Dragster and Quick Rod, and Clay Bullard (Super Stock), Michael Beard (Stock) and Donald Webb (Hot Rod).
Finally, national event winners from Monday's World Finals Nitro Jam finale were Robert Jones (Top Sportsman), Brett Nesbitt (Top Dragster), Brien Radley (Super Stock), Mike Moyer (Stock), Tony Elrod (Quick Rod), Donald Webb (Super Rod) and Chip Johnson (Hot Rod).
Monday's winners joined the winners of the Summit Allstars race as the first drivers qualified for the 2011 Tournament of Champions runoff at the World Finals. For more information on all the action from this weekend, please visit www.ihra.com.
