Each September racers from across the country roll into scenic Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, PA for the NHRA Keystone Nationals. And following a strong showing at the U.S. Nationals, where the team scored a Class win and event Runner-up, the Bongiovanni/Micro Strategies drivers produced excellent results.
At Maple Grove the Micro Strategies team included a quartet of drivers included Anthony and daughter Michelle Bongiovanni, along with Dan Fletcher and Nick Scardelli. All four drivers qualified well in the tough fields of Stock and Super Stock Eliminator.
Driving his Micro Strategies Cobra Jet Mustang Stocker, Anthony powered to an 8.62 at nearly 160 mph to earn the number 2 spot in Stock. Along with Anthony, Dan Fletcher also competed in Stock, while all four drivers competed in Super Stock.
Anthony, Michelle and Nick racked up wins in the opening round of Super Stock, with Anthony scoring a close race against NHRA standout Anthony Bertozzi. Bongiovanni used a .035 light and dead-on 8.83 to best Bertozzi’s .027 light and .04-over 8.91 effort. Meanwhile, Dan lost a close race in Super Stock, but was the sole survivor in Stock.
Second round wasn’t kind to Michelle, but Anthony, Nick and Dan moved on. Anthony was solid in the third frame, defeating former NHRA champion Michael Iacono. Anthony used a .004-to-.034 starting-line advantage and 8.84 (on an 8.83) run to beat Iacono’s dead-on 9.81 elapsed time. Nick bowed out to eventual runner-up Joe Santangelo, while Dan kept the streak going when he topped a redlighting David Ficacci.
Dan was up next in round five and he used a .011 light to defeat the stick-shift Camaro of Todd Bednaz. The semi-final win moved Dan into his second NHRA national event final round in a row. The semi-finals is where it unfortunately ended for Anthony, when he reacted too quickly by just .004 on the tree. Sadly, Dan was unable to capitalize in the final, losing a close race to Russ “Bubba” Linke, a solid runner in Division 1 Stock.
“The Keystone Nationals is our home race so it’s always nice to go rounds,” said Anthony Bongiovanni. “It was great to have Michelle, Dan and Nick all driving, too. We did well as a team, Dan made the final with his Micro Strategies Camaro and even though he didn’t win, he put up a good fight. I faced some of the sports toughest competitors and won some critical rounds. The cars were performing well, and we, put together 12 round wins collectively. It was also nice hosting family, our employees and business partners who came to cheer us on. Maple Grove is a beautiful facility and we’ll be back for the Micro Strategies Open Series Pennsylvania Dutch Classic October 25-27.”