Last weekend, the IHRA season came to a head with the Summit World Finals presented by RacingJunk.com at Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie, Virginia.

All said, nine drivers had taken different world championships by Sunday night. Glenn Wright (Top Sportsman), J.B. Donati (Top Dragster), Gianni Cantusci (Super Stock), Phil Combs (Stock), Barry Ryan (Quick Rod), Steve Furr (Super Rod) and Chip Johnson (Hot Rod) all walked away winners in the Summit Tournament of Champions and J.P. Schuster (Box) and Matt Hawk (No Box) each took wins in the Summit SuperSeries, to earn the title of world champion. For all but two of the winners, this was their first championship.

“This is my first Ironman. I’ve been runner-up several times, been to all these Ironman Classic races, but I always choke. Not today. Nobody gave me a shot to win this thing in Stock and I felt that they overlooked me. That really helped me rise to the occasion,” said Phil Combs, Stock Champion.

200 racers started the weekend in Virginia, from a total of 26 states and provinces across North America. The weekend included qualifying rounds, and eventually, the highly competitive championship runoffs.

The rise of all the new champions this season brought many fresh faces into the spotlight. After losing to Barry Ryan, final round competitor Nick Folk laughed about having to do an online search on the new champion before the race.

Ryan took the championship with a .007 light and a near-perfect 8.901 at 161.69 in the 8.90 index class to take the Quick Rod crown, a career first for him.

“As a racer, the name Folk scares you. So I was surprised when Nick’s dad Ron come up to us after the race and made the comment that Nick had never heard of us and he had to look us up on the internet. He then said that when he saw what we were cutting for lights he said ‘I think we have a problem. I don’t know who this guy is, but he is mowing people down,’” Ryan said. “That is quite the complement coming from that bunch.”

Photos Courtesy of IHRA.com

From a payout standpoint, one of the biggest winners of the weekend was Steve Furr of North Carolina. Furr took the Summit Sportsman Spectacular $5,000 race on Saturday, then went on to sweep the Super Rod category again on Sunday, behind the wheel of his 1968 Camaro, to take the championship over Donald Webb, thus adding another $10,000 to his weekend’s winnings.

Furr took his fourth career IHRA championship by hitting an .017 light and running a perfect 9.90 at 159.38 in the 9.90 class to defeat Webb, who was perfect on the tree, but broke out. Despite the loss, Webb was the only driver to make two final rounds, claiming the runner-up spot in both Hot Rod and the Sportsman Spectacular.

Furr also bested defending champion Cameron Manuel, Charlie Stewart, Rick Bayus, and Chris Yates on his way to Sunday’s championship. Furr found his was into the tournament of champions with a second-place finish in Division 9.

“I wasn’t expecting to win today because I won yesterday. I thought maybe I had used my luck up then,” Furr said. “This is a good deal. I am super excited to win, I can’t lie about that. And to have it come down to us, Cameron (Manuel) and Donald is fitting. It was the three of us all season long and to have all three of us do well is a perfect way to end this deal.”

The only repeat champion of the weekend was Chip Johnson who earned the coveted No. 1 in the Summit SuperSeries last year. This year he will move that number over to his ’68 Camaro in Hot Rod after overtaking Donald Webb in the final round.

“Winning never gets old. What gets old is not turning the win light on,” Johnson said. “We have had a really bad year this year. We made a couple finals, but we were not up to what we are used to doing and this really means a lot and helps make up for what we have been through.”

Johnson earned an invite to the Tournament of Champions by winning at the same track last season, and won in a double-breakout race with a .002 reaction time and a 10.891 at 130.13, over Donald Webb’s 10.887 at 124.19 in the 10.90 class.

J.B. Donati defeated Austin Cowan to take the win in Top Dragster, while Glenn Wright won in Top Sportsman over Al Burkett.
Wright broke his car in semifinals, and said he had planned to simply stage the car and hope for a miracle. He lucked out when Burkett broke out by four thousandths of a second.

Top Dragster’s Donati had to fight his way through a tough field with wins over Scott Richardson, Stacy Hall, and David Barr, all before meeting Cowan in the final. Donati cut a .003 light in the final and ran a dead-on 7.306 at 180.14 on a 7.30 dial, edging Cowan out by just inches at the line.

Finally, Gianni Cantusci took home the only foreign championship. The Stittsville, Ontario native claimed the championship in Super Stock behind the wheel of his 2000 Firebird. Cantusci just squeaked by, gaining entry into the Tournament of Champions via a third-place finish in Division 1.  It mattered little on race day, as Cantusci defeated Gil Carty Jr., Jared Erichsen, multi-time world champ Anthony Bertozzi, and eventually Gilbert Johnson Jr. en route to the winner’s circle.

Cantusci cut a .016 light and ran a 10.273 at 125.88 on a 10.26 dial to win by approximately two feet at the line over Johnson.

All World Champions receive a $10,000 payout, and a special championship Ironman trophy as the IHRA closes the book on the 2011 drag racing season.

Summit SuperSeries trophies were taken by Matt Hawk and J.P. Schuster. Both drivers earned their way through a tough season and a tougher weekend at Virginia Motorsports Park. Hawk took home the No Box title, and Schuster claimed the Box

title.

Along with the trophy, Hawk took home a $10,000 prize, a brand new race trailer, a custom golf cart, a championship ring, and more. Hawk earned his way to the World Finals via random draw, joining last year’s champion from Salt Lake City as repeat Wild Card champions.

Schuster’s prize package included a brand new dragster, courtesy of Miller Race Cars.

Schuster humbly claimed his win, saying, “We were in the right place at the right time. Things just went our way this year.  These were the 16 best drivers in the world and it was definitely an honor to be among this group here this weekend.”

Sunday’s Final Results:

TOP SPORTSMAN Glenn Wright, Odessa, Texas, ’09 GXP, 26.650, 39.02 def. Al Burkett, Sandston, Va., ’95 Probe, foul.

TOP DRAGSTER J.B. Donati, Henrico, Va., dragster, 7.306, 180.14 def. Austin Cowan, San Antonio, Texas, dragster, 7.237, 182.60.

QUICK ROD Barry Ryan, Howell, Mich., dragster, 8.901, 161.69 def. Nick Folk, Durand, Ill., dragster, 8.938, 160.92.

SUPER ROD Steve Furr, Harrisburg, N.C., ’68 Camaro, 9.900, 159.38 def. Donald Webb, Four Oaks, N.C., ’69 Camaro, 9.884, 141.43.

HOT ROD Chip Johnson, Fayetteville, N.C., ’68 Camaro, 10.891, 130.13 def. Donald Webb, Four Oaks, N.C., ’70 Nova, 10.887, 124.19.

SUPER STOCK Gianni Cantusci, Stittsville, Ont., ’00 Firebird, 10.273, 125.88 def. Gilbert Johnson Jr, LeCompte, La., ’91 Calais, 10.445, 125.24.

STOCK ELIMINATOR Phil Combs, Demossville, Ky., ’66 Nova, 12.728, 97.11 def. Brent Darroch, Monaca, Pa., ’94 Camaro, 9.831, 131.90.

SUMMIT SUPERSERIES BOX J.P. Schuster, Damascus, Ohio, dragster, 7.834, 170.04 def. Sammy Hollingsworth, Greenwood, S.C., dragster, 7.408, 175.96.

SUMMIT SUPERSERIES NO BOX Matt Hawk, Tucson, Ariz., ’70 Maverick, 11.761, 111.53 def. Scott Vaughn, Stephens City, Va., ’64 Chevelle, 9.226, 143.54.