MARK PAWUK EARNS FLEXJET FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN NO. 1 SPOT AT NHRA MIDWEST NATIONALS

September 30, 2023

MADISON, Ill. (Sept. 30, 2023) – For the first time this season, Mark Pawuk and his Empaco Equipment Dodge Drag Pak raced to the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown No. 1 qualifying position Saturday at the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Pawuk picked up his fourth career No. 1 qualifying spot off the efforts of his Friday qualifying pass of 7.712 seconds at 179.40 mph. On Saturday, Pawuk and his Drag Pak struggled to get down the race track for passes at 14.862 and 14.708 seconds as they looked for consistency heading into eliminations.

“We have a really fast hot rod. We just have to make consistent runs and unfortunately, we haven’t this weekend. We have been moving forward as the weekend has gone on. I think I would have had a good run in that last qualifying session if we wouldn’t have done that big wheel stand and I had to shut it off,” Pawuk said. “We are making good progress, and I am very happy with the performance of the car. Anything can happen on race day. I have to thank my sponsors Ohio CAT, Summit Racing, Red Line Oil, E3 and the whole group of them. They are with us at every race and of course, I want to thank Flexjet for being the series sponsor.”

With the No. 1 spot comes a first-round matchup against Conner Statler and his Janac Brothers Racing COPO Camaro for Pawuk, who is looking for his first win of the 2023 season.

Saturday brought around some serious improvement for the Flexjet Factory Showdown class. Stephen Bell and his Stanfield Racing Engines Chevy COPO, the Norwalk, Ohio winners, jumped from No. 13 to No. 2 improving on his 8.156-second pass to a 7.719 run in the second session. Point leader Aaron Stanfield started the day No. 9 then made a move to No. 7 with a 7.781 before laying down a 7.726-second pass to move into No. 3.

“We changed motors and it took a couple runs for that one to wake up. It’s definitely awake now. That was a good run. We were expecting it to run 7.74 or 7.75, so 7.72 surprised us in a good way. That is what we were looking for, what we needed,” Stanfield said. “That run sets us up really well for eliminations and we are trying to hold on to this point lead for these last three races. There are a lot of tough cars out here and we just want to keep the pressure on them. I feel really good about how we ran that last session.”

Stanfield will also be racing with a bullseye on his Camaro as the Flexjet bounty holder following his win at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals two weeks ago at Maple Grove Raceway.

Competition for the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown class in the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway continues with eliminations Saturday at 7:15 p.m. and continue Sunday with round two at 1:00 p.m. Winners are slated to be crowned Sunday at 4:20 p.m.

Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown First Round Matchups

    No. 1 Mark Pawuk vs. No. 22 Conner Statler
    No. 2 Stephen Bell vs. No. 21 Nick Shirley
    No. 3 Aaron Stanfield vs. No. 20 Michael Lloyd
    No. 4 David Janac vs. No. 19 Richard Ingram
    No. 5 AJ Berge vs. No. 18 Kim Shirley
    No. 6 Lenny Lottig vs. No. 17 Del Holbrook

 

    No. 7 Ricky Hord vs. No. 16 Judson Holt
    No. 8 Anthony Troyer vs. No. 15 David Davies
    No. 9 Doug Hamp vs. No. 14 David Barton
    No. 10 Jesse Alexandra vs. No. 13 Chris Hall
    No. 11 Lee Hartman vs. No. 12 Scott Libersher

 

 

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Flexjet, Inc., a global leader in subscription-based private aviation, first entered the fractional jet ownership market in 1995. Flexjet offers fractional jet ownership and leasing and is the first in the world to be recognized as achieving the Air Charter Safety Foundation’s Industry Audit Standard, is the first and only company to be honored with 24 FAA Diamond Awards for Excellence, upholds an ARG/US Platinum Safety Rating, a 4AIR Bronze Sustainable Rating and is IS-BAO compliant at Level 2. Red Label by Flexjet, a market differentiator, which features the most modern fleet in the industry, flight crews dedicated to a single aircraft and the LXi Cabin Collection of interiors. To date there are more than 40 different interior designs across its fleet, which includes the Embraer Phenom 300 and Praetor 500, Bombardier Challenger 350, the Gulfstream G450 and G650. Flexjet’s European fleet includes the Embraer Praetor 600 and the Gulfstream G650. Flexjet’s helicopter division sells fractional, lease, and on-demand charter access to its fleet of owned, operated and maintained Sikorsky S-76 helicopters which boast 55,000 hours of safe flying certified by Wyvern and ARG/US and serving locations throughout the northeastern United States, United Kingdom, and southern Florida. Flexjet is a member of the Directional Aviation family of companies. For more details on innovative programs and flexible offerings, visit www.flexjet.com or follow us on Instagram @FlexjetInc.

Media Contact:

Elon Werner
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