Division 1 Top Alcohol legends Mike Kosky and Frank Manzo ended up on top after a rain-delayed final round at Maple Grove Raceway. Kosky's win was his first at the Pennsylvania track since 1999, while Manzo has won this event every year since 1999, aside from John Bojec winning it last year.
Mike Kosky's path to the Winner's Circle was rather unusual. His first round opponent, Tom Pickett, couldn't get the car into reverse, letting Kosky motor down the 1320 for the round win. Second round opponent Robin Samsel had to get back to Indiana for work before the delayed second round, so Mike got a bye run into the semi finals. Kosky ran 5.33 in the semifinals, against a tire-smoking Duane Shields. In the finals, Kosky would meet up with west coast competitor Joey Severance, who defeated Jared Dreher, John Finke, and Bill Reichert on his way to the money round. Severance's .017 light was enough to give him the holeshot over Kosky's .052, but Mike ran him down, 5.28 to Joey's 5.32.
Frank Manzo is perhaps the most storied racer at the Auto Plus Nationals (formerly Keystone Nationals), having competed at all 27. He continued his winning ways at the cool eastern Pennsylvania track, starting off with a tire smoking battle against Wayne Morris, which "Uncle Frank" won. He then moved on to Round 2, where he got the win when Lou Sgro left the starting line too early. Todd Veney was the next driver to fall victim to The Ace, with Frank's stellar 5.411 topping Veney's tire shaking 11.53. Division 3 standout Andy Bohl would run for the money against Frank, after previous round wins over Dan Roman, D.J. Cox, and John Anderika. Andy would be denied his first national event win, as Manzo backed up his world record pass with another 5.41 rip down the track, over Bohl's still competitve 5.52.
When he defeated Todd Veney in the semi-finals, Frank Manzo locked up the 2011 TAFC National championship. This is the 15th time that Frank will finish in the #1 spot, meaning he'll be tied with John Force for the most NHRA championships. So when The Ace pulls through the waterbox for the first time in 2012, you can bet that (#1 TAFC) will be on the side of his Al-Anabi flopper.
TAD pilot Brandon Booher continued his record-breaking season with his family-owned blown alcohol dragster. His 5.39 pass against Duane Shields in the quarterfinals made him the first driver with a converter-driven race car to break the 5.3x range. Booher's pass reset the record that he already had from Indy, a run where Duane was also in the other lane. Running in the 5.3x range has been a goal of Brandon's since the beginning of last season. Congratulations to Brandon and his dad Aaron on their record-breaking performance!
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