Gary Stinnett Earns 25th Wally at Lucas Oil Nationals

Gary Stinnett achieved a huge milestone in winning his 25th NHRA national event at the Lucas Oil Nationals hosted at Brainerd International Raceway.

BRAINERD, MINN. – Four-time NHRA Super Comp world champion Gary Stinnett won the Lucas Oil Nationals on Sunday to claim his 25th NHRA national event victory.

Stinnett, one of the legends of the sport, defeated Tyler Bohannon in his 41st national event final. The win was also Stinnett’s 15th in Super Comp and fifth win at the Brainerd facility.

Gary’s path to the winners circle began with a rare first round bye. There he posted a dead-on 8.905 to grab the #2 qualifying spot. Stinnett then used a string of great reactions combined with excellent top-end driving to make his was through the field.

In round two, he left first against Tony Leonard and hung a wheel on him at the finish line to advance. There he capitalized when Mike Ricke couldn’t run the index.

Opponent Tevin Zavadil missed the tree in round four sending Stinnett to the semifinals for an epic showdown with Luke Bogacki. Bogacki was chasing the double as he was in the Top Dragster final as well.

Luke was .012 take .020 to lose the double breakout race, 8.867 to Stinnett’s 8.882. The win sent Stinnett to his 41st final round with a chance at hitting a career milestone.

Talented young racer Tyler Bohannon joined Stinnett in the final round. Bohannon had been wired to the tree throughout eliminations. He kicked off eliminations with four-straight .00x reactions including a perfect .000 in round three.

The final was a great race with Stinnett taking a .007 to .012 advantage off the line. As they approached the top-end, Bohannon took .011 stripe to go -.006 under the index while Stinnett dumped to a .010 over 8.910 for the win.

For more NHRA Sportsman coverage from the Lucas Oil Nationals, click here.