The NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing series rolled into Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pennsylvania this past weekend for the 40th Annual Reading Nationals. The Bongiovanni Racing team was well prepared, with drivers Dan Fletcher and Anthony Bongiovanni competing in Stock Eliminator and Super Stock.
Maple Grove Raceway is located just over two hours from Micro Strategies headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey. The team knows the track well and our drivers were anticipating a successful weekend.
“We’re coming off a great weekend in Virginia, so me and Dan [Fletcher] were excited to get going. Maple Grove Raceway is close to home, and a great facility,” said Anthony Bongiovanni. “The Grove is our adopted home track, so it’s fun hosting friends, family and business partners who came out to watch us compete.”
Bongiovanni got off to a great start by qualifying fourth in Stock and second in Super Stock. His Micro Strategies Cobra Jet Ford Mustangs were running solidly in the 8-second zone at over 155 mph. Dan Fletcher was not far behind with his winning Micro Strategies Camaros. Fletcher got off to a great start in Stock with a critical heads-up win over Jeff Eastburn, while Anthony lost a tight race to long-time competitor Matt Rover. Rover was .019 on the tree to Bongiovanni’s .020; he then ran dead on his 10.26 predicted dial, while Bongiovanni broke out, running 8.706, which was slightly under his 8.72 dial in. Unfortunately, Fletcher lost a second-round battle in a close race with Dean Ribeiro.
In Super Stock, it was Fletcher losing early due to a mechanical issue, while Bongiovanni faced former world champion Bryan Worner in round one. Looking for that perfect light, Worner launched too soon by -.001, handing Bongiovanni the win. Bongiovanni was .032 in reaction time, and he ran 8.700 at 155 mph for the victory. Bongiovanni’s number two qualifying spot earned him a second-round bye run, so he was guaranteed a spot in the third round of competition.
Moving to round three, Bongiovanni faced Bob Cupp and his reliable 1965 Chevelle. Cupp was prepared for the race, going .016 on the tree and running 10.40 on his 10.37 dial-in. Meanwhile, Bongiovanni launched with a respectable .022 and chased down the classic Chevy, going 8.730 on his 8.71 dial. In was a tight Super Stock showdown, but Bongiovanni passed Cupp right at the finish line, winning by a thin margin of .0092 of a second! In distance, that equates to just 20 inches separating the cars.
Fourth round saw Bongiovanni take on the Ford Maverick of local racer Jamie Schoenly. Schoenly cut a .030 light, but Bongiovanni was quicker on the tree with an .021, and his 8.76 at 148 mph forced the Maverick driver to break out (10.924 on his 10.93 dial in), giving Bongiovanni yet another win.
With five cars remaining in the eliminator, Bongiovanni defeated yet another classic Chevrolet when he faced Roger Reese, who fouled by a mere -.003. Bongiovanni was .035 and ran 8.709 at 155 mph for the win.
There were three cars in the semi-finals. Bongiovanni faced the COPO Camaro of Alex Anderson, who had been running well all weekend. Anderson was quicker on the tree (.019 to .043), but the top-end charge of Bongiovanni’s Micro Strategies Mustang was too strong. Bongiovanni ran a dead-on 8.76 at 150 mph, while Anderson ran under his 9.52 prediction with a 9.48 to break out.
Bongiovanni’s win set up the final with Canadian, Louis Gill, who hails from Quebec. With a slower 9.52 dial-in, Gill left first and he was .018 green. Bongiovanni then launched with a quicker .007 reaction time and the chase was on. The Micro Strategies CJ supercharged 5.0 engine used all its 1,000-plus horsepower to accelerate Bongiovanni down the Maple Grove quarter mile. Bongiovanni was looking to make the race as tight as possible at the stripe, and with only a millisecond to make a decision, he backed out of the throttle thinking momentum would carry him past the red Chevy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough; Gill crossed the finish line first by the almost incomprehensible margin of .0064 of a second—about 17 inches. With the runner-up finish, Anthony Bongiovanni moves up to 24 in NHRA Super Stock national point series against 636 individual drivers.
“That was about as exciting a final as you can have in Super Stock,” said Bongiovanni. “It’s tough to come this far and be so close to a win, only to lose by .006 of a second, especially knowing if I stayed in the throttle I would have likely passed him and taken the win. But we’re not here to make excuses. Louis drove a great race, he’s a genuinely nice guy and I was happy for him to score his first NHRA national win. His emotion was incredible, he was humble in victory and that’s what makes this sport so great,” Bongiovanni added.
He continued, “There’s no shame in our performance this weekend. Maple Grove and the NHRA provided a wonderful racetrack, and we delivered two great weekends in a row. The Virginia race was cut short, but we’ll finish that later. What’s important is we’re proving we can consistently compete for wins. We raced against the toughest racers in Division 1, and after four days of racing we came up just .006 of a second short of a win. I’m not going to lie, it hurts,” exclaimed Bongiovanni. “I wanted that one badly for myself, for my kids, for those who came to the track, and for everyone who watched on NHRA.com. But there’s no sour feeling. Going rounds builds confidence. The cars are performing very well, and I know we’ll have more opportunities to win before the season is over. That’s what keeps it challenging and keeps us coming back.” With a small break coming, the Bongiovanni Racing team will be back in action October 17-19 at Cecil County Dragway for the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event.
