Winners Emerge from 8th Annual Mutt & Jeff Promotions Race

June 23, 2022June 23, 2022

Engleman, Poust, Maroun, Flick, Alberts, Flegal, and Chronister captured wins at the 8th Annual Mutt & Jeff Promotions Race at Numidia Dragway.

Photos and below recap provided by Mutt & Jeff Promotions/ Blase Raia

CATAWISSA, PA- Mutt & Jeff Promotions started out in 2015 with a couple racing friends wanting to try their hand at putting on a race of their own. That year at South Mountain they had 30 entries show up. It’s safe to say that since that year Mutt & Jeff Promotions has aged like fine wine, this year their June date at Numidia Dragway sold out all 250 entries in mere minutes. Numidia, a beautiful setting located in Catawissa Pennsylvania, offered a great racing surface along with the support of the local racers. The Mutt & Jeff crew along with the Numidia crew did not disappoint.

Thursday $10K

The 8^th iteration of the Mutt & Jeff race kicked off on Thursday with a $10,000 to win big check on the line. After 6 rounds of racing, we were left with No Box winner Marty Flegal who used a .020 initiated 1 above 1 run to dispatch Shawn Nichols and move into the main field, Bob Kolibsky, Mike Barber, Robert Bennett, Bob Engleman, and Butch Bucher. Rains moved in before the round of 6 so it was decided they would finish first thing Friday morning

Round 7 quarterfinal action Friday morning saw Mike Barber come from behind a .009 to .006 starting line disadvantage to take out Bennett, Engleman used his .025 initiatetd 44 pack to send Bucher to the trailer, and Flegal took a .014 starting line advantage with a .008 reaction time to the semi finals and the bye run.

In the semi’s Barber picked a bad time to miss the tree and Engleman took full advantage using his .008 dead on with a 2 run to move to the first final of the weekend. Marty Flegal on his bye run managed an .021 to give Bob the lane choice in the final.

The 10k final between Bob Engleman in his 2013 Miller dragster and Flegal in his 67 Nova delivered a classic door car versus dragster matchup. Marty took the lead early .016 to the .021 of Engleman but it was Bob who was able to sneak past and run a 4.580 dead on his 4.58 dial to dispatch Flegal’s dead on with a 9 lap to take home the trophy and happy Gilmore check.

Bob Engleman, Thursday $10K Winner Mutt & Jeff — Bob Engleman, Thursday $10K Winner

Marty Flegal, Thursday No Box Winner & Thursday $10K Runner-up Mutt & Jeff — Marty Flegal, Thursday No Box Winner & Thursday $10K Runner-up

Friday $20K

Friday’s weather was particularly warmer seeing a high of 86 and with no time trials it threw some of the drivers a curveball. When the smoke cleared Bottom Bulbers Evan Poust and Jesse Alberts would square off in the no-box final. Poust used his .015 to .026 reaction time advantage to put the Vega wagon dead on 8 for .023 total to lock out Alberts in his Firebird.

Evan Poust, Friday No Box Winner Mutt & Jeff — Evan Poust, Friday No Box Winner

Quarterfinal action had David Wastler in his 2007 undercover taking on Eugene Nichols in his 2001 C+F, Bill Maroun against Nick Reginella both in dragsters, Tim Markoglu facing the no box winner Poust, and Pete D’Agnolo in his Malibu with the bye. Nichols had 18 thou to work with against Wastler but took too much stripe to break out .002 to send David’s 4.794 on a 4.79 to the semi-final. Maroun used his .012 dead on 7 to dispatch Reginella’s .022 dead on 4. Markoglu punched his ticket with a .015 dead on 1 (seems to be a pattern here) to Poust’s mathematically ineligible .023 bulb and 1 above lap. D’agnolo staged and limped down the track for his solo shot.

Semi’s saw 3 dragsters and a door left to decide a main event champion. First pair up had Tim Markoglu and David Wastler put everyone on the edge of their seats with a .004 margin of victory going to Timmy’s .006 initiated 4.552 on a 4.54 dial. Wastler was a solid .010 4.792 on a 4.78 in a losing effort. With one side of the final settled, it came down to a dragster against door car match up to settle the other side. Bill Maroun had a solid starting line advantage .006 to Pete’s .022 and used the be double 0 take double 0 method, taking .002 at the stripe to turn on his win light.

Final round for the biggest pay day of the weekend had the two dragsters of Maroun and Markoglu squaring off. Timmy ended the suspense right off the line as he was red -.009. Bill Maroun put an exclamation on point on though showing he would have been tough to get around regardless with a .005 and .002 under lap to earn his big pay day.

Bill Maroun, Friday $20K Winner Mutt & Jeff — Bill Maroun, Friday $20K Winner

Friday $20K Runner-up, Tim Markoglu Mutt & Jeff — Bill Maroun & Friday $20K Runner-up, Tim Markoglu

Doorcar & Dragster Shootouts

The Mutt & Jeff crew like to provide a full weekend of racing for big pay days, so a door car and dragster shootout were also contested.

In the door car shootout, Rob Leipzigg in his 80 corvette and Jeff Flick in his first gen Camaro found their way to the finals. Like all the racing this weekend this was a super tight match up, but the electricity was lit up on Flicks side of the boards. Jeff used a .003 5.888 on a 5.86 run to get there by .001 to Rob’s .006 5.486 on a 5.46 dial.

Jeff Flick, Doorcar Shootout Winner Mutt & Jeff — Jeff Flick, Doorcar Shootout Winner

The dragster side saw local hitter Jesse Alberts who has been on an absolute tear take on the new S&W flagship ride of Kaitlyn Krause. In an anticlimactic final Krause has issues and the trans brake solenoid failed causing her to hand the automatic win over to Alberts.

Saturday $10K

In a week that brought all 4 seasons of Pennsylvania weather, the final day brought cool temperatures and windy conditions to throw yet another curveball in the drivers’ predictions.

The final No-box race of the weekend brought back Marty Flegal in his Nova to face off with Kyle Kohr in the 68 Dodge stocker. Flegal left with a big starting line advantage and parlayed that into his second no box victory of the weekend.

Saturday’s Quarter-finals showed that the door cars can still be the weapon of choice as 5 of the last 6 remaining drivers couldn’t see their front wheels from the seat. The Shank Vince Shrawder in his s-10 set up against Bad Chad Keys in his fox body Mustang. Shank was out first with an .021 reaction time only for Chad to light the red bulb behind him .007. Shrawder ran it out the back door to a dead on 4 lap. Bob Maclosky in the lone long skinny car was tasked with the last no box car in Flegal. Both drivers with stellar reaction times, .001 to a .003 but it was Maclosky laying down a dead 1 lap for 2 total to lock out Flegal’s 3 at the hit. Final pair of the round had Lee Chronister in his Comet giving chase to Jon Northrop in his third gen Camaro. Jon had the advantage at the tree .003 to an .018 but takes .019 at the stripe to break out by .004 more than Lee in the double breakout.

With three cars remaining it was the dragster of Maclosky on the bye after his 2 pack in the round of 6 and Shrawder versus Chronister to settle the other half of the final. Shank left first with a .009 and had the huge advantage as Lee flat missed with a .073 light, but that’s why there are two ends of the racetrack. Lee drove Vince hard to the stripe forcing him out by more and moving him to the 10K final. On the solo shot Bob showed he was not going to be an easy out letting go triple zero perfect and running it out to a 4.629 on the 4.64.

Final round of the final race of the weekend gave us another dragster against door car match up. Bob has been all over the tree being .001 and perfect his last two hits, while Lee is coming off a miss. In a classic final both drivers were on top of their game with Maclosky leaving with a .006 and being behind .002. When the final win light of the weekend lit up that proved to be the difference as both drivers put it right on the dial with an 8. Lee Chronister picks up his first big check and wraps up the 8^th annual Mutt & jeff Promotions June race.