Michigan’s Doug Nicholl added another milestone to his career-best season in Pro 632 when he laid down a 4.126 at 172.36 to earn his first No. 1 qualifier award in the series at the DeCerbo Construction PDRA American Doorslammer Challenge presented by Callies. Driving the same Musi-powered ’68 Camaro that Wes Distefano drove to two world championships, Nicholl recorded the career-best pass in Friday’s second session. He also made the second-quickest run of the final session.
“I’ve been chipping away at this for years with that Mustang, then buying this car, it’s amazing,” Nicholl said. “I can’t believe I made it here. The last race we went to at Milan [Dragway], we took the win, and then to come here and go No. 1, it’s an amazing feeling. Troy [Russell] is doing a great job tuning. This thing is killing it. Pat Musi Racing Engines has helped us out a ton. I think this is the best engine in 632 or nitrous out there. Thanks for everybody’s help. We’re doing a great job, and hopefully we’ll be in the winner’s circle [Saturday].”
Jeff Melnick and Amber Franklin, who’ve battled back and forth in the first two Pro 632 final rounds of the season, qualified No. 2 and 3, respectively. Melnick, an Ohio-based fabricator, put Alan O’Brien’s AMC-powered Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’20 Camaro in the No. 2 spot with his 4.141 at 163.26 in the final session. Franklin, the defending world champion in her Musi-powered “OG Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro, ran a 4.175 at 170.99 to round out the top three.
This story was originally published on May 27, 2023. 
