Wallace, Minton, Johnson, Powell, Hildebrandt New IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Champions
Scott Wallace (Top), Justin Minton (Mod), Jordan Johnson (Sportsman), Grady Powell (Motorcycle) and Tate Hildebrandt (Junior Dragster) were crowned champions at the 2024 IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals presented by Strange Engineering at Holly Springs Motorsports.
All the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Champions receive an IHRA Ironman trophy, a champion’s ring and a gold card.
Wallace gave Xtreme Raceway Park its second straight championship in the Top (Box) class with a win over Joe Soucek Jr. in the $20,000-to-win final. It was the second straight year of full-bodied cars matching up in the final round as Wallace drove his Chevy Malibu to close win over Soucek.
The Texas racer followed Jeromy Hefler as a Top World Champion from Xtreme. Wallace had the tremendous .005 start and backed it up with a 6.417-second run at 105.29 mph against a 6.41 dial-in. Soucek, who qualified by winning the IHRA Sportsman Spectacular at Dragway 42, was dead-on his 6.11 dial time at 114.65 mph. He had a solid .014 start, but came up just a fraction short of the win.
Minton, a Kentucky racer who made it to Holly Springs by winning the IHRA Sportsman Spectacular at Beacon Dragway, earned the $20,000 Mod (No Box) winner’s purse. Minton, who calls Beacon and US 60 his home tracks, denied another Xtreme racer, Jake Howard, a sweep of Friday and Saturday races.
Howard, who won both the track and IHRA Division 4 Summit Team Finals at Xtreme, was just a tad anxious, triggering the red light by -.003 at the tree. With the race in hand after a .069 reaction time, Minton cruised down the strip with a 7.642-second run at 61.58 mph.
Johnson, a racer from Music City Raceway, doubled up in the Sportsman class after winning the Race of Champions the night before. He wasn’t the quickest on the tree at .058, but was right on his 7.73 dial-in with a 7.733-second pass at 87.53 mph to win the $7,000 champion’s prize. It was the second straight year that Music City had a World Champion following 2023 Motorcycle titleist Kane Austin.
His final-round opponent Wesley Buchanan, the track champion at Skelton Raceway, broke out from his 8.32 dial-in time with an 8.313-second run at 79.13 mph after a solid .024 reaction time.
Powell became the fourth Knoxville Dragway world champion in the last six years with his Motorcycle championship. He was incredible at the tree with a .001 reaction time and a 5.718-second pass at 121.79 mph on a 5.70 dial-in for the $3,000 victory.
Baley Miles was runner-up a second straight night. Miles, a Music City racer who qualified by winning the Sportsman Spectacular at Ethridge Motorsports Park, posted a 5.838-second pass at 122.12 mph against a 5.81 dial-in to go along with a .037 reaction time.
Hildebrandt, who made it to Holly Springs by winning the IHRA Division 4 championship at Xtreme, took advantage of final-round opponent Will Willard fouling by a mere -.004 second. Hildebrandt cruised to the Junior Dragster crown and a $10,000 check with a 9.925-second pass against his 8.04 dial-in time.
Willard, from Elk Creek Dragway, qualified by winning the IHRA Division 1 championship at Roxboro Motorsports Park. After fouling at the start, he shut down his car early and coasted across the finish line.
Congratulations to all the 2024 IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Champions, and IHRA thanks all for a great weekend at Holly Springs Motorsports.
Justin Minton, Mod champion
Jordan Johnson, Sportsman champion
Grady Powell, Motorcycle champion
Tate Hildebrandt, Junior champion
This story was originally published on October 14, 2024.
The post Wallace, Minton, Johnson, Powell, Hildebrandt New IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Champions first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
