Elite Motorsports standout Aaron Stanfield raced to victory today at the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at the iconic In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. The skilled Pro Stock pilot powered his Janac Brothers / Melling Engine Parts Camaro to the winners circle by defeating Matt Hartford in the finals.
“This is really incredible,” said Stanfield. “Thank you to my wife. She’s ready to pop at home and it’s very special to get this done at the last race. I’ve got to thank all my guys who work on my hot rod. They give me the best thing they can give me. To Janac Brothers, JC3 Energy, Elite Motorsports, and Melling, I couldn’t do it without these guys. I’m just very thankful.”
After earning their sixth NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Pro Stock world championship thanks to Erica Enders, Elite Motorsports, the largest professional team in drag racing went on to make a phenomenal showing at the final event of the season. The Pro Stock field was packed with 23 cars on the property. All nine of the Elite Motorsports Pro Stock machines made it onto the ladder to face off in eliminations.
The first round of eliminations began with Bo Butner’s powerful Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Camaro defeating Camrie Caruso on a holeshot thanks to Butner’s outstanding reaction time of .006 seconds. Stanfield got the win over Deric Kramer by taking his starting line advantage to the stripe behind the wheel of his Janac Brothers / Melling Engine Parts Camaro. In the first of three all-Elite first-round matchups, Jerry Tucker hit the gas just a tick too early giving his teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. an easy win. Troy Coughlin Jr. beat his teammate Fernando Cuadra Jr. and Enders took down Fernando Cuadra Sr. Cristian Cuadra had a fantastic reaction time of .006 seconds against Kyle Koretsky but he squared the tires after the hit and ceded the round win.
In the quarterfinals, Stanfield lined up across from his Elite Motorsports teammate Troy Jr. They had similar reaction times but Coughlin experienced tire shake upon launch and gave the win to Stanfield. In the next pair, Jeg Jr. got the starting line advantage over Enders but it was not enough to stop the newly crowned six-time world champion as Enders powered her way into the semifinals. Butner’s day ended in the second session when Greg Anderson outpaced him despite Butner getting a solid starting line advantage.
Enders shook the tires in the semifinals against Matt Hartford, ending the race day earlier than she wanted. However, her teammate Stanfield kept the competition alive for Elite Motorsports when he advanced to the finals after Anderson went red beside him. He went on to defeat Hartford on a holeshot to earn the eighth Pro Stock win of his career.
In his NHRA Top Fuel debut, Spencer Hyde’s goal was to go more than 300 mph and make a pass in the 3.70s. He demonstrated that he has what it takes to accomplish his goals when he qualified No. 15 in the field with a pass of 3.778 at 323.27 in his Elite Motorsports dragster.
The Elite Motorsports team will immediately begin preparing for the 2024 season right away as they continue to pursue excellence.
This story was originally published on November 13, 2023.