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.”
This story was originally published on March 7, 2023. 
