Whiteley scores two ‘Wally’s in Vegas Wins Regional and National Event

Whiteley scores two ‘Wally’s in Vegas
Wins Regional and National event in the same weekend

LAS VEGAS – Defending four-time NHRA Division 7 Top Alcohol Dragster Champion Jim Whiteley won just about everything he could win on a drag strip during this past weekend’s SummitRacing.com Nationals at ‘The Strip’ at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Whiteley not only won the event, he won the re-run of the final from last weekend’s Western Regional at ‘The Strip,’ set low elapsed time and top speed of the meet.

Whiteley, of Grand Junction, Colo., qualified his Norm Grimes tuned YNot Racing dragster on top of the field with a 5.310 second elapsed time at 266.95 mph. During the third qualifying session of the event Saturday afternoon Whiteley squared off with Chris Demke for the re-run of last weekend’s Regional final. During last weekend’s final, an errant piece of debris tripped the beams after the cars had taken off, nullifying the results. Both cars fell well off their normal pace, but Whiteley was able to hang on for the win with a 5.525 at 263.82 mph. The win gave the Whiteley family a piece of history as his wife, Annie, won the Top Alcohol Funny Car class last weekend, making them the first husband and wife in the history of the Top Alcohol categories to share the winner’s circle.

“It felt good to get the divisional win,” said Whiteley. “We hate that it couldn’t be decided with the original race. It definitely made it more special with my wife Annie winning Top Alcohol Funny Car. At one of the races down the road, we will definitely have to pose the cars side by side with the trophies for a team winner’s circle picture. Hopefully this isn’t the last time we both win at the same race.”

With the Regional victory in hand, Whiteley and the YNot team turned their focus on the national event. Whiteley received a competition bye in the first round, and returned to form with a 5.345 at 246.12 mph. In the second round, Whiteley and Grimes flexed their muscles with a 5.270 at 272.45 mph to defeat Pomona runner-up Larry Miersch. That would set up a semifinal match-up with Demke, who had won both of the previous national events this season. Whiteley dialed up another .20, a 5.284 at 272.28 mph to set up a final with Cody Perkins.

Perkins grabbed a slim advantage off the starting line, but quickly fell behind as Whiteley scored the win with a 5.306 at 269.35 mph.

“The car ran very well this weekend,” stated Whiteley. “Norm and the crew did a great job all weekend. The car didn’t shake at all on Sunday. It was also a plus to stop Demke in the semifinals. They had a lot of momentum on the national side and they have a good running car. With the new points structure this year, getting national wins is very important.”

The next stop for the YNot team will be the O’Reilly Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway just outside of Houston. Whiteley is the defending event champion there.

“It’s really amazing we won that event last year,” commented Whiteley. “That was the second race on the car we have now, and we were still learning what it wanted. Needless to say with a season on the car now, we feel a little more comfortable with it. Hopefully we can keep the roll going down there.”

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The team would also like to thank the continued support of J&A Services and Advanced Oilfield Services.

Contact: Pro Race Communications 979.415.4959
Attached photo courtesy of YNot Racing