BRADENTON, Fla. — Ken Quartuccio proved once again why he considers Bradenton Motorsports Park to be “home,” claiming a $75,000 payday and the Drag Illustrated Winter Series points lead driving the screw-blown ’69 Camaro out of the Scott Tidwell Racing camp.
Quartuccio used a .001 reaction time and 3.586-second pass at 208.62 mph to defeat 2022 NHRA U.S. Nationals Pro Mod winner Lyle Barnett’s 3.608 at 207.62.
Quartuccio is no stranger to success at BMP. Most recently, he won the 2023 U.S. Street Nationals and was the runner-up in 2024 at both the U.S. Street Nationals and Snowbird Outlaw Nationals. He stated on Friday night during qualifying that whenever he runners-up at the Snowbirds, he goes on to win U.S. Street – a prediction that soon became reality.
“It’s just crazy the level of confidence that I have when I come here,” Quartuccio said. “This is a totally different team than when I runnered-up to Mark Micke last year, or the year before that when we won it. It’s a totally different group of guys, different combination, different car, but just something about this place is magic for me. They can bury me in the back here (at BMP). Let them put a house on me. I don’t care. This is where I’m going to rest my final days.”
Quartuccio stayed in the 3.50s in every round but one on Saturday. His slowest pass in eliminations was a 3.607, which he said also would’ve been in the .50s if he hadn’t let off early. That consistency, along with incredible reaction times – he posted .001, .007, .018, and .022 throughout the day – proved to be too much for the rest of the 32-car field to overcome.
“This whole thing is a testament to Steve Petty and Scott Tidwell, Dustin Nesloney, and this whole entire team,” said Quartuccio. “Last night in Q3, it broke a rear gear and believe it or not, ProLine put a gear together, put it in a truck and drove through the night and delivered a rear end to us at the hotel at 6 o’clock this morning. That’s what you get when you get affiliated with ProLine – they go above and beyond. It makes my job easier, so I can just concentrate on doing a great job driving.”
In the first-round chip draw on Saturday night, Quartuccio drew Brazilian native Sidnei Frigo. On Sunday, the two had identical .022 reaction times, but Quartuccio used a 3.572 at 209.65 mph to outrun Frigo’s 3.622 at 207.21. He then drew 2023 NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod champion Ty Tutterow in the second round.
It would’ve been a side-by-side race, but Tutterow went red, throwing away a 3.619; Quartuccio was still slightly quicker, running a 3.607-second pass at 207.56 mph. Quartuccio dipped back into the .50s in the quarterfinals, ripping off a 3.599 at 208.81 to defeat two-time NHRA U.S. Nationals Top Dragster winner Zach Sackman’s 3.751.
In the semifinals, Quartuccio combined a .007 reaction time with yet another 3.50 pass – this time a 3.595 – to take the win over west-coast newcomer Rian Hayward, who ran a career-best 3.609 at 209.04 in a losing effort.
Grantley Schloss was one of three Australians competing in final rounds across several classes at the U.S. Street Nationals, and he represented his country well in the Pro 275 final round when he defeated New Hampshire’s Tim Dutton. Schloss qualified fourth in his ProCharged ’67 Nova, pairing him up with YouTube superstar and track co-owner Garrett “Cleetus McFarland” Mitchell in the opening round of eliminations. Mitchell’s new “Eagle” ’69 Camaro struck the tires early, while Schloss charged to a 3.739 at 201.73 to Mitchell’s 4.025. A wild round win over Chad Opaleski and his Ocala-based ’66 Chevelle followed in round two, with Schloss crossing the finish line first with a 5.47 at 155.17 over Opaleski’s 6.372.
In the semis, Schloss left on drag radial veteran Brad Edwards and followed through with a 3.718 at 203.34 to Edwards’ off-pace 4.173. Schloss and Dutton left together in the final round, but Schloss quickly pulled ahead to a 3.672 at 203.31 win. Dutton, who made his Drag Illustrated Winter Series Pro Mod debut, coasted to a 6.07 at 96.32.Less than two months after winning in Limited Drag Radial (LDR) at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals at Bradenton, Greg Blevins Jr. rolled to another win in his Jamie Miller-tuned, ProCharged ’69 Camaro.
After qualifying sixth, Blevins kicked off eliminations with a 3.916 at 186.77 on a bye run. The reigning FuelTech Radial Outlaws Series LDR champion followed that with a holeshot win over Tommy Youmans, running a 3.952 at 186.69 to Youmans’ 3.931. He improved to a 3.947 at 186.95 in the third round to move past Josh Nierman, then threw down a 3.888 at 193.63 in the semifinals to defeat Rob Goss, who lost traction early and coasted to a 9.194.
The Michigan-based driver stepped up again in the final round, charging to a 3.878 at 187.83 for a decisive win over Alabama’s Jamie Hancock, who slowed to a 6.793 at 90.75.Texan Marty Pearcy proved that anyone who qualifies in X275 has a shot at victory, as the No. 13 qualifier took down quicker qualified cars in all four rounds to take the $10,000 win.
In an all-Mopar first-round match, Pearcy posted a 5.725 at 168.70 in his turbocharged ’10 Challenger to hold off No. 4 qualifier Jeff Miller in the Paramount ’10 Jeep SRT and his 5.904. He found more performance in the second round, where he ran a 4.25 at 172.70 to beat No. 5 qualifier Chris Taylor’s 4.306.
Semifinal opponent Alton Clements struggled off the starting line, coasting to a 7.708, while Pearcy stepped up again to a 4.212 at 174.01. Pearcy didn’t have lane choice over DJ McCain in the final round, but when McCain’s nitrous-fed “Vecna” C6 Corvette had issues shortly after launching, Pearcy took the opportunity to cruise to a winning 4.528 at 163.65.Jessie Coulter’s turbocharged ‘03 Mustang was strong in Ultra Street qualifying, but the Bowling Green, Kentucky-based driver was even stronger on race day.
He tested the limits on a first-round bye run, coasting to a 6.53, then got back on track with a 4.413 at 163.93 to defeat Mark Browne and his 4.597 in the second round. He set low E.T. of the round again in the third round with his 4.422 at 164.39 to get around Kieffer Simpson’s 4.448.
Coulter kept it rolling in the semifinals, where he fired off a 4.388 at 164.69 to hold off Davey Hull’s quicker 4.386 on a holeshot. It was all Coulter in the final round versus Terry Wilson, with the green Mustang setting low E.T. of eliminations, a 4.378 at 164.97, to get the win over Wilson’s nitrous-fed ’95 Mustang, which ran a 4.489 at 157.37.
Drivers made the trip to Bradenton from as far away as Texas, Ohio, and even Australia to compete in Limited 235, but Eddie Ramirez kept the class win in Florida. He caught a break in the first round, then ran a 4.958 at 140.07 to get past fellow Floridian Troy Pirez Sr. and his 7.996 in the second round. The Sanford resident cut a .005 reaction time and posted a 4.936 at 140.53 for a third-round win over Brandon Simmons and his 5.101.
Ramirez in his ’88 Mustang then laid down his best performance of eliminations, a 4.904 at 140.65, for the semifinal win over Bryan Wright’s 4.982. That put Ramirez in an international final round against Australian Michael Konstandinou in his right-hand-drive ’88 Holden Commodore. Ramirez led wire to wire, turning on the win light with a 4.931 at 140.53 to Konstandinou’s 5.155 at 117.68.
Mike Fiorelli’s long-awaited first victory in Outlaw 632 came Sunday evening when he knocked out class favorite Walter Lannigan in the final round. Lannigan edged out Fiorelli for the No. 1 spot in qualifying, but Fiorelli’s Clayton Murphy-tuned ’68 Camaro was the car to beat throughout eliminations.
The Hollywood, Florida-based driver opened eliminations with a .012 reaction time and a 4.157 at 169.89 to beat Phil Swales and his 4.481. He was even better on both ends of the track in the semifinals when he left with a .005 light and finished with a 4.135 at 170.23 to defeat Lenny Grawburg, who slowed to a 5.799. In the final round, Lannigan in Chris Holdorf’s Jamie Miller-tuned Freedom Grow ’10 GTO left on Fiorelli, but Fiorelli posted a career-best 4.106 at 171.36 to get past Lannigan’s 4.192 at 168.22.
