The Bongiovanni Racing team headed to Norwalk, Ohio for a triple header including a double points race in the Lucas Oil Series along with the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals that followed. Racing was held at the popular Summit Motorsports Park and the team competed with four cars and team drivers Anthony Bongiovanni, Dan Fletcher and Tim Fletcher.
Owned and operated by the Bader family, the Norwalk facility is known as “America’s Racetrack,” and there’s hardly a racing facility better suited celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the USA.
Action got underway with the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series that featured sportsman racing and the Micro Strategies drivers were prepared to win. Anthony and Dan went a few rounds during the first weekend of racing, but Tim was the star of the show, capturing a win in Stock Eliminator.
Tim was focused, delivering amazing reaction times (.003; .003; .010; 005; .063 and .013) as he drove his way to victory. In fact, he beat drivers like Katie Sepanik, Mike Brand and Cody Herron, before defeating Dave Pazak in the final. There, Tim was .013 and he ran 11.04 to earn his Wally Trophy.
“This has been a fantastic season for both me and my dad,” said Tim Fletcher. “Norwalk is a great track, and I was feeling good on the tree. My Micro Strategies Camaro was running consistent, so I was able to dial-in and out-perform the competition and score a win,” he told us. “It’s great to represent Bongiovanni Racing and Micro Strategies out here.”
One weekend later, the team returned for the Summit Racing Equipment nationals. Qualifying for the National event went as expected with Anthony landing his Micro Strategies Stocker Cobra Jet Mustang in the 6th position and his Super Stocker in the 22nd position. Along with Anthony, Tim qualified 13th in Stock and Dan was locked into the 46th position in Super Stock.
The team got off to a great start, winning first round in all four of the Micro Strategies cars. Round two was solid as well, with Anthony taking on the 3rd ranked driver in the world, John Gray. Anthony delivered a .005 reaction time (Gray was .085) and the Cobra Jet Ford screamed to an 8.76 on an 8.72 dial in for the win. Tim also scored a Stock win after going .004 on the tree. In Super Stock, both Anthony and Dan took it to the Third round before being defeated, but they earned points in the process.
Round 3 of Stock saw Anthony face teammate Tim Fletcher, which was good and bad; one driver would be loading up, and one would be moving on. Unfortunately, Anthony left too soon, handing Tim the easy victory. Tim made the most of it, winning his semi-final match to make the event final where he faced Matt Antrobious. Both drivers were good on the tree (.020 to .036) in favor of Antrobious, but at the stripe it was a double-breakout finish, with Antrobious getting closer to his dial for the win.
“It’s hard to be so close and not get the win,” said Tim Fletcher, “but a win and runner-up showed that we’re a strong team we gained a lot of points in the process. All four of the cars were, quick, predictable and that’s what you want. That’s what it takes week in and week out to win races. My dad and I have had success so far this season and it was great to have Anthony out here with his Mustangs. We couldn’t do it without Micro Strategies and everything that they bring to the table,” he added.
With the win and runner-up, Tim Fletcher sits 6th in his division and in national points for Stock Eliminator.
Anthony added, “We got off to a late start this year with drag racing, because I had a host of obligations around family and work. There’s not much that compares to racing these cars; I love the competition and the challenge of making the cars run well. NHRA drag racing is ultra-competitive, it requires that you arrive at the track and be ready to go. Every qualifying round counts and once eliminations begin you must be prepared to cut a light and run the number. It’s the preparation that ensures you’ll have the best opportunity to win,” said Anthony Bongiovanni.
He continued, “Dan and Tim have been producing excellent results this season, and I wanted to jump right in and compete at their level. We turned in a good performance, so this was a good weekend for all of us. We encountered big changes in weather, and that affects performance. That was the biggest challenge of the weekend. We were able to stay on top the tune up and go to the line with race cars that can win. Tim came away with a win and runner-up and he kept the Micro Strategies machines in the spotlight.”
