A wild weekend in the XFWD Challenge at the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod presented by J&A Service ended in an anticlimactic final round, as No. 2 qualifier Rafa Famania got timed out. In the other lane, No. 7 qualifier David Ngo in his ’89 Civic left the starting line and coasted to a 33.668 at 23.75. It was the Lebanon, Pennsylvania-based driver’s only rough spot in eliminations, but he still turned on the win light and pocketed the $20,000 payday at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
Earlier in eliminations, Ngo used an 8.089 at 182.28 to take out No. 1 qualifier Nichole Elff. He then made his best run of race day, a 7.939 at 186.30, to move on past Rey Rios. A 7.979 at 175.94 secured Ngo’s ticket to the final round.
“I was honestly honored when Vic [Alvarez, track owner] and Wes [Buck, DI founder and WSOPM promoter] reached out to me and asked if I wanted to be one of the 25 [invitees]. That was already huge,” said Ngo. “They’re trying to put XFWD on the map, on the grand stage. To be one of the drivers was already a win in my book. To come out here and actually win the whole thing, I don’t even have words to describe it. It’s just crazy. I do this for fun. I don’t have a shop or anything that benefits from this. I do it for fun because I love it. This just shows that if you love doing something, you can do it and you can be good at it if you put in the time.”