Mark McDonald wins Top Sportsman at Midwest Nats

Mark McDonald wins Top Sportsman at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway!

ST. LOUIS – Top Sportsman veteran Mark McDonald drove his ’67 Mustang to the winners circle in St. Louis. The win was his fourth on the NHRA national event tour. McDonald won a close race in the final over multi-time 2019 LODRS winner Allen Firestone.

Mark kicked off eliminations with a -.002 red-light but advanced when his opponent, Troy Finner, turned it red first. McDonald was second off the line against Kyle Dumke in round two but managed to pull out the victory when his .010 above 6.580 outran Dumke’s .038 over 6.648.

Benjamin Board was a no-show in round three which advanced McDonald into the semifinals. There he used a huge holeshot, .018 to .287, over Curt Fredrich to secure a spot in the final round. McDonald ran dead-on five to his 6.640 dial-in to take the win over Fredrich’s 6.751 on his 6.76 dial.

Allen Firestone reached his third national event final on the strength great lights and a consistent hot rod. His closest race of the day came in the semifinals against Dusty Meyer. There Firestone used a .030-pack (.021, dead nine) to force Meyer under his dial. Meyer was .021 and -.005 under his 7.00 dial to advance Firestone.

In a final round between two of the best Top Sportsman racers in the country, McDonald pulled off the victory by just .002-second. McDonald was .002 at the tree and took .002 at the stripe to earn win number four. To get there, McDonald admitted he lifted early and then grabbed the override to stay in front.

The box score shows McDonald with .002 light and a 6.641 (6.61 dial-in) taking the .0024 win over Firestone’s .024 light and 6.611 on his 6.60 dial.

For more NHRA Lucas Oil sportsman results from the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals, click here.