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“The Cuadras” Take the Pro Stock Class by Surprise at the World Doorslammer Nationals @ Orlando Speed World Dragway !!!

By wljphotography | March 18, 2021
From Leon Mexico, The Cuadras!
What a weekend it was for this family. The 2021 CTech World Doorslammer Nationals won’t soon be forgotten by this team. After the weekend’s events, who ever would have told me, “Oh I knew they where going to get to the finals” they would have been called a liar. The Cuadra family and mostly Fernando Sr. are no strangers to Pro Stock. Fernando Sr. has been campaigning a Pro Stock entry for some time and has 2 final rounds under his belt, but for brothers Christian and Fernando jr. it hasn’t been easy for them, but that changed this weekend when the two took it all the way to the finals.
Eliminations began with all 3 cars qualified in the lower half of the field, but as you already know and if you don’t, you will find out now. The 1st round ladder is not based on qualifying order, the pairings are made via chip draw. Each driver pulls out a chip with a number and who ever your matching number will be your opponent, and lane choice goes to the quickest car based on qualifying.
Fernando Sr. pictured above lined up against rookie Dallas Glenn from the K.B Racing stable in the 1st round, but fell short with a 6.61 against Glenn’s 6.52 @ 210.
Right behind them where Kenny Delco & Christian Cuadra. With pops already out, the pressure was on and Christian rose to the occasion from the very start with a .026 light against Delco’s .096 and following that with a 6.57 @ 205. On to round two it was for Christian but for Fernando jr. that was still to be decided.
But it quickly was and in Fernando’s favor with his 6.59 againts Mike’s 7.29.
 Round two opened up with a battle of the young guns, Troy Coughlin jr. and Christian Cuadra. This one was exciting, but not because it was a record ET or speed, nor a close side by side.
Both drivers had traction issues everything went silent and coasted some until Christian finally recovered leaving Troy behind and scoring a spot on the semis. Christian also did his job on the tree with a .023 light.
 Following in his brothers’ footsteps Fernando jr came out on top against Aaron Stanfield. Leaving almost with almost identical reaction times, .025 for Stanfield & .024 for Cuadra. At the other end a 6.53 from the Leon Mexico native was enough to overcome Stanfield’s 6.55.With 4 cars left, there where 2 favorites for what I would think a vast majority of the people in attendance. And that was Greg Anderson, and Erica Enders. Greg with a 6.49 in round one, and Erica with a 6.50 really made them no easy targets. But as we came to find out, the Cuadra duo wasn’t either.
What was shaping up to be a great battle ended early for Greg Anderson when he was confronted with tire shake which forced him to abort the run. That had to be specially tough when you consider how well the car had performed the last 2 rounds. But when Fernando lit up the boards with a 6.50, proving to everyone that he deserved to be in that final.
Pressure was on for Christian, having his brother already locked in to the final, but not only that. He had none other than defending Pro Stock Champion Erica Enders who was very hungry for a better outcome in this race. Last year, after a devastating first round hole shot loss, the champ was on a mission. But that would come to an end at the stripe.
A hole shot win granted the Christian a spot in the finals against his brother, and the whole Cuadra family racing team, a victory in the CTech World Doorslammer nationals. No matter what brother turned on the win light, the Cuadra’s had already won.
Under the lights the brothers squared off, for the 75K and also and to them maybe more important, bragging rights! We did not have to wait for the cars to get to the other end to decide a winner, since a red light on Christian’s part declared Fernando the winner.
At the end I feel that even though the final was not what we had hoped in terms of two drivers battling it out down the track in a close race, we still had something that I feel drag racing lacks some specially in the pro ranks. And that is unpredictability, we had 2 drivers that where not the favorites to win coming in to this race. That Iaconio horsepower really has put the team at a top level, and I can not wait to see what this team will be capable of in the NHRA season.
Along with that unpredictability came diversity. We saw two Ford bodied cars in the final, which changed things a little from the so common Camaro, and also like mentioned before, the Cuadra family comes from Leon Mexico, so we also have some cultural diversity in the mix, which is great.
That’s it for Pro Stock, but that wasn’t it for the Cuadras. We have a 4th one! And that is David Cuadra who also reached the final round in Top Sportsman.
That’s it for Pro Stock, but that wasn’t it for the Cuadras. We have a 4th one! And that is David Cuadra who also reached the final round in Top Sportsman.
I bet this weekend will not soon be forgotten by the Cuadra camp, other than having David win the final against heavy hitter Derrick Brown in his pro charged Camaro, they couldn’t have asked for much more from this almost perfect weekend.
Congratulations to Derrick Brown on the Win in Top Sportman at the World Doorslammer Nationals @ Orlando Speed World Dragway !!!
Cheyenne Stanley 6.15 #1 Qualifier in Top Sportman
Greg Anderson 6.531 @ 210 MPH Qualified #1
Erica Enders 6.534 @ 209 MPH Qualified #2
In the Comp Eliminator Joe Carnasciale got the #1 Qualifier with 8.75 9.58 -0.824
Congratulations to Erica Enders 7.894 at 176.42 on an 8.15 index got the Win over Joseph Arrowsmith, who went 9.961 on an 8.21 index !!!
For the Full Album of Pictures of this Great Event
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Special Thanks to: Willie’s Monster Shirts
Posted in Event Coverage