Mark Reese Clinches First PDRA Top Sportsman World Championship
The MagnaFuel Top Sportsman presented by Corbin’s RV world championship typically comes down to the wire in the Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series, but this season, newly crowned world champion Mark Reese simply had to qualify at the season finale to secure his title. Facing tough competition with razor-thin margins of victory all season, Reese won two events in three final-round appearances to claim his first world championship in the series.
Reese’s championship hopes began in late May when he drove his nitrous-assisted, PAR Racing Engines-powered ’08 Mustang to a runner-up finish at the American Doorslammer Challenge at Summit Motorsports Park. Two races later, he won the Northern Nationals at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park. He backed that up with a second consecutive win at the inaugural Thunder Valley Throwdown at Bristol Dragway. Those performances gave Reese enough of a lead that he merely had to qualify at the Brian Olson Memorial World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park to clinch the championship. Reese, who doesn’t live far from VMP in North Dinwiddie, Virginia, qualified No. 22 in the Top Sportsman 48 field.
Gary Rowe photo
“This is probably the biggest accomplishment I’ve ever done in my racing career,” said Reese, who thanked his wife, as well as tuner Buddy Perkinson. “I’ve won four championships at VMP before with index racing driving for Keith Cox. It just all came together towards the end of the season. Winning Michigan and Bristol and runner-up at Ohio gave me enough confidence thinking I could compete with these guys out here.”
Reese’s closest challengers were fellow Virginian Mike Alexander Jr. and New York’s Daniel Germano. Alexander defeated Reese in the final round at Norwalk in his ProCharged ’63 Corvette to finish second in points. Germano notched numerous late-round finishes in his nitrous-fed ’68 Camaro to round out the top three.
“These drivers are as tough as you can get out here in this class because most all of these guys have been bracket racing a long time,” said Reese, who finished No. 8 in 2023. “It’s pretty tight competition. Last year, I thought I was going to do better than I did, but the competition is the best I’ve been against. To win at this level has really meant a lot.”
The Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series will celebrate its 2024 world champions at the annual PDRA Championship Awards Banquet on Friday, Dec. 13 in downtown Indianapolis.
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