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NEWCOMER MIKE CLARK RUNS TO FLEXJET FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN NO. 1 AT NHRA GATORNATIONALS

MARCH 5, 2024

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 9, 2024) — The season opening Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series event at Gainesville Raceway showed that the competition level will be wide open. Newcomer Mike Clark from Mono, Ontario, Canada ran to the No. 1 spot driving his brand new  Smokies Garage Dodge Drag Pak. On Friday night Clark ran 7.824 seconds at 175.80 mph and that time held up through the final round of qualifying on Saturday at the 55th annual NHRA Gatornationals.

“I’m new to Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown for sure,” said Clark. “I’ve been doing the Hemi Shootout stuff for years. I bought this Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown car about three weeks ago and put it together. I had (2023 Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown world champion) Aaron Stanfield go through the motor and change the blower. I’ve got Jody Hadley tuning with me which has been great.”

After the first qualifying run Friday championship runner-up Stephen Bell was No. 1 with a 7.994 second pass at 169.06 mph followed by Doug Hamp and Anthony Troyer. Under the lights at Gainesville Raceway Clark went to the top with his 7.824 second run at 175.80 mph in his Dodge Challenger after a tough first round pass. Mark Pawuk also stepped up running 7.905 seconds at 176.93 mph. The top five were rounded out by Scott Libersher and Anthony Troyer in COPO Camaros and Jason Dietsch’s Ford Cobra Jet. Clark was excited about his effort and he was looking forward to the first round.

“You want to go as fast as you can and make sure you don’t make any mistakes,” said Clark. “This is like every major series – you just hope that all the mechanics, the weather and the track all work together. It came together this weekend and we’ll see how race day goes. We’re gonna do about four or five Flexjet races. We kind of have to mix and match but I definitely want to do more of these races.”

Sunday, Clark will face Jonathan Allegrucci in the first round. In other marque first round match ups No. 3 qualifier Mark Pawuk will face off against No. 14 qualifier Lee Hartman while Scott Libersher will line his COPO Camaro up against Del Holbrook’s Ford Cobra Jet. Ricky Hord will be the first driver to take a shot at Flexjet Bounty target Stephen Bell in the opening round.

FIRST ROUND MATCH-UPS

  • No. 1 Mike Clark vs. No. 16 Jonathan Allegrucci
  • No. 2 David Janac vs. No. 15 Kevin Skinner
  • No. 3 Mark Pawuk vs. No. 14 Lee Hartman
  • No. 4 Scott Libersher vs. No. 13 Del Holbrook
  • No. 5 Stephen Bell vs. No. 12 Ricky Hord
  • No. 6 Anthony Troyer vs. No. 11 Raymond Nash
  • No. 7 Jason Dietsch vs. No. 10 David Davies III
  • No. 8 Doug Hamp vs. No. 9 Tony Scott Jr.

2024 FLEXJET NHRA FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN SCHEDULE

  • March 7 – 10: 55th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, Gainesville Raceway, Gainesville, Fl.
  • March 21 – 24: 64th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals, In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, Pomona, Calif.
  • April 12 – 14: 24th annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas
  • May 17 – 19: 24th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance, Route 66 Raceway, Chicago
  • June 7 – 9: 23rd annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Bristol Dragway, Bristol, Tenn.
  • June 27 – 30: 18th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, Norwalk, Ohio
  • Aug. 15 – 18: 42nd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Brainerd International Raceway, Brainerd, Minn.
  • Aug. 28 – Sept. 2: 70th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Indianapolis
  • Sept. 12 – 15: 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, Maple Grove Raceway, Reading, Pa.
  • Sept. 27 – 29: 13th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals, World Wide Technology Raceway, St. Louis

About Flexjet
If maintaining performance vehicles is your passion – translate those skills into becoming a Flexjet aircraft maintenance technician (AMT). Explore a career with the world-class Flexjet Maintenance group today.

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 25 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, 214-244-1184, [email protected]