Drag Illustrated Issue 129, January / February 2018 | Page 115

ELITE TOP SPORTSMAN
DEWAYNE SILANCE
S
u cc e s s s e e m s t o c o m e e a s y t o
Dewayne Silance, but behind the 3,000
hogs at Silance Hog Farm and three Si-
lance Service Centers across Jacksonville,
North Carolina, behind the now nine
divisional and national championships is years
of hard work and dedication.
Silance won two IHRA Top Sportsman world
championships and a couple of divisional cham-
pionships back in the early 2000s, but took a
break from Top Sportsman competition a few
years later to try his hand with a Pro Mod. During
that time, he racked up four championships with
the EOPM. But the workload and price tag of
Pro Mod made the self-supported racer return to
his roots. Top Sportsman called his name again,
and last year Silance made his PDRA debut. Not
wanting to slow down too much, Silance opted
to run the faster of PDRA’s two Top Sportsman
categories, Elite Top Sportsman. “I was a little bit
rusty,” Silance confesses. “I got some practice in
and this year was fantastic.”
After that first event, Silance quickly put
himself in championship chase mode, going to
a semifinal at GALOT Motorsports Park and
then winning at Darlington Dragway, one of his
home stops on the tour. As is often the case in
Top Sportsman, the points battle remained close
all through the year. Silance used another win in
Indy and a second semifinal at GALOT to pull out
front of Randy Perkinson and Henry Underwood
and stay there to hang on to the 2017 PDRA Elite
Top Sportsman world championship.
“First I want to thank my wife, Zonnie, and my
three kids, Chaz, Kenna and Emma. I got two
guys that go with me all the time, Jeremy Evans
and Tommy Doss. They help me and Chaz a lot
at the race. I want to thank Cameron Torque
Converter Specialties, Charlie Buck and Jerry
Bickel Race Cars.”
Silance is keeping his 2010 Jerry Bickel Cama-
ro for next year, but already has a bigger Charlie
Buck power plant in the works. He’s upgrading
from his 762 to an 888 to take on the intense Elite
competition. He’ll be back to defend his title in
2018, with son Chaz racing alongside him in Top
Dragster. They’ll continue to race together as a
family, and, if history repeats itself, continue to
find a lot of success along the way.
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