Massey reaches final round of 4-Wide Nationals

April 17

Piloting his FRAM/Prestone Top Fuel dragster, Spencer Massey reached the final round of the 2^nd annual VisitMyrtleBeach.com NHRA 4-Wide Nationals here today at zMAX Dragway.

Lining up alongside eventual race winner, Del Worsham, Larry Dixon and Shawn Langdon, the first-year Don Schumacher Racing driver got off the starting line first but his car started spinning the tires around half track and that spelled defeat.

“The car ran well all day long with a couple of 3.84s in the opening two rounds,” said the 28-year-old. “We tried to step things up for the final round, but it just started spinning the tires 

“That’s just the way it goes sometimes when you’re racing against the best of the best like those Al-Anabi cars (of Worsham and Dixon).

“I was happy that we ran consistently today. That lets us be even more confident in this FRAM/Preston dragster. We’re continuing to show improvement, which is critical.”

With his first final-round appearance of the season, Massey maintained his hold on fifth-place in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel standings. Just ahead of him in the points are Worsham, Dixon and his DSR teammates, Antron Brown and Tony Schumacher.

“We have a long way to go before the Countdown to 1 arrives,” said Massey about the six-race playoff system which follows the 16-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series “regular” season. “We want to be a very serious player by the time the playoffs start.”

Massey, a Texas native, will now take a weekend off before traveling to Royal Purple Raceway outside of Houston, April 29-May 1, for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Spring Nationals.

“It’s going to be nice racing in my home state,” he said. “I’m sure I will have a lot of family and friends rooting us on.”