Drag Illustrated Issue 151, December 2019 | Page 6

DI151
FEATURES
33 Best in Class
Kimberly Messer didn’t have a champi-
onship in mind when she jumped from
PDRA Pro Jr. Dragster to Top Dragster
this year, but the 19-year-old’s rookie
season quickly turned into a world
championship season after a win and
two runner-up finishes.
By Nate Van Wagnen
“All the Track
Will Hold”
80
51 Persistence Pays Off
After the first race Tony Saraceni
promoted turned into a disaster, he
questioned his desire to ever return to
the drag strip. With his fiancé’s urging,
Saraceni returned to the promoting
game at Rockingham, where he now
holds several popular events.
By Van Abernethy
SPECIAL SECTION
30 UNDER 30
From Top Fuel race winners to track
owners and engineers to media
relations coordinators, our fifth annual
30 Under 30 list highlights the young
people who are carrying the sport
forward in a wide range of capacities.
80 AUSTIN PROCK
91 DJ & RYAN McCAIN
94 ‘PEEPS’ PENNINGTON
98 VICTOR ALVAREZ
109 TRICIA MUSI
33
64
DEPARTMENTS
Bracket racers across the country collected a record amount
of prize money this season. That trend will continue in 2020,
as numerous races are set to pay six figures or more to racers
in the money rounds. By Allyson Johnson
T E CH
64 Frankentein’s P-48 Heads
Frankenstein Engine Dynamics went all-out when they decided to
remake the Hemi cylinder head for blown alcohol combinations.
The result is the new P-48 Hemi Head, now available for outlaw and
NHRA-legal applications. By John Carollo
ON THE COVER SFG 500 winner Gage Burch and Fall Fling 500K runner-up Matt Dadas
as photographed by Cole Rokosky at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.
6 | Drag
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 151
D I RT
24 Big Money on the Line