From the northern corner of British Columbia to the southern tip of Florida, the International Hot Rod Association saw its most diverse lineup of world champions ever as the IHRA wrapped up its 2013 season Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment World Finals at Memphis International Raceway.

Tournament of Champions

Graham Foster

After a weather-filled Saturday, Sunday’s championship finale went off without a hitch as beautiful weather greeted the 10 world champions left standing in the Summit Racing Equipment Tournament of Champions and Summit SuperSeries races held over three days at the Millington, TN track.

And from the nearly 200 cars that qualified for this year’s championship tournaments, those champions were Graham Foster (Top Sportsman), Austin Cowan (Top Dragster), Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. (Super Stock), Wes Neely (Stock), John Dustin (Quick Rod), Dave Marcus Jr. (Super Rod), Daryl Griffin (Hot Rod), Tim Lucas (Top ET), Kevin Pollard (Mod ET) and Justin Poindexter (Junior Dragster).

All six of IHRA’s Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour divisions were represented in Sunday’s Tournament of Champions finale, with Division 4 taking home bragging rights to Texas and Louisiana.

“It took us a while to get here, but boy was it worth it. We got here last Friday and have just been waiting for our opportunity to shine,” Top Sportsman World Champion Graham Foster said. “We came down here for the incredible competition and to try our hand against the best and to come away from this thing with a win is just awesome. I can guarantee you it will make the trip back home a little less stressful!”

All the way from Fort St. John, British Columbia, Foster traveled more than 2,000 miles to try his hand in IHRA’s premier doorslammer class. With one win under his belt in 2013 and a runner-up finish in Division 6, Foster eliminated Kamron Wright, defending world champion Mike Thompson, Jim Cairnes and finally Mike Koontz to take the championship home with him to Canada.

In the final Foster nailed the tree with a .005 light and ran a 7.618 on a 7.58 dial at 176.42 miles-per-hour in his ’68 Camaro to take home the win. Koontz ran a 7.619 on a 7.61 with a .092 reaction time in the runner-up effort.

You can read the complete wrap-up at Summit Racing’s Drag Race Central.

SuperSeries

Tim Lucas

The real excitement behind the Summit SuperSeries program is that anyone, anywhere can win it.

Drivers from the United States, Canada and even as far away as Aruba, Alaska, and Hawaii have the opportunity to race for a track championship and, with a little luck and a lot of skill, make it all the way from their local track to the big stage at the IHRA Summit Racing Equipment World Finals at Memphis International Raceway to compete for a world championship.

And that is exactly the tale told by Tim Lucas, Kevin Pollard and Justin Poindexter.

All three drivers won at their local tracks, advanced further at the Team Finals level and eventually found themselves walking in Memphis along with 48 other drivers going after a championship. With drivers from all across North America on hand to compete in Memphis, at the end of the day, those three drivers were left standing as the 2013 class of the IHRA Summit SuperSeries presented by AMSOIL.

“I told everyone that it would be a dream come true to come here and win this thing and to actually be standing here today, holding this trophy, I am at a loss for words,” Lucas said. “There are a lot of bracket guys out there that would probably love to run the circuit, but the IHRA and Summit Racing give those guys an awesome place to race. Summit has made a dream come true for a guy like me and I just want to thank them, IHRA, and everyone that is involved with this program. It is unbelievable, it really is.”

After tearing up his primary car one week ago, Lucas traveled to Memphis in a car familiar to most that follow the IHRA circuit–Donald Webb’s gorgeous Camaro. In that borrowed ride, Lucas went four huge rounds on Sunday culminating with a victory over another longtime bracket –Don Boulware. In a final with decades of experience between the two, it was actually Boulware who had the advantage on the tree with a perfect .000 reaction time to Lucas’ .016, but Lucas battled back on the top end with a 10.132 on a 10.12 dial at 128.27 miles-per-hour while Boulware, in a very quick dragster, ran a 7.442 on a 7.41 dial at 175.82 miles-per-hour in the runner-up effort.

Lucas also had wins over Chris Butcher, Eric Boyd, and Brad Perkins to reach the finals.

“I was a lot more calm than I thought I would be going into the final,” Lucas said. “I knew there was a lot on the line, but I tried to put that behind me and just focus on running my race which really helped me turn on that win light.”

Representing Fayetteville Motorsports Park, Lucas reached the Summit SuperSeries championships via a win at the Division 9 Summit Team Finals, while Boulware used a runner-up finish in Division 4 representing Dallas Raceway to reach the big show.

With the win Lucas claims a $10,000 prize courtesy of Summit Racing Equipment, a brand new dragster built by Maddox Race Cars with a Trick Flow engine, a custom paint job by Imagine That Custom Paint. and major components from Moser Engineering, Abruzzi Transmissions and Converters and many more. Plus, he gets a championship trophy, diamond ring, a trip to Aruba, and more.

You can read the complete wrap-up at Summit Racing’s Drag Race Central.

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