Nick Bowman heard all the rumblings. There was no way a No Box racer could win the $10,000-to-win Moser Engineering Saturday prize at the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Summit Sportsman Spectacular race at Keystone Raceway Park. It just made the 31-year-old from Export, Pa., more determined than before to prove them wrong. Bowman drove his 1970 Plymouth Duster, which he’s owned since 2000, to the victory over a dragster with a delay box in the Saturday final. After receiving the $1,000 bonus that goes to the final No Box race, Bowman earned over $11,000 in winnings. Not bad when the pre-entry is just $150 and you get to race all weekend. “I appreciate the IHRA for the event they put on. “They gave us something big to shoot for in a reasonable deal,” Bowman said. “I hope we set a landmark to show the No Box racer can get in the winners circle. When you put yourself in an opportunity to win your class, then you have just a few rounds to go to complete the event.” “I feel like if you get that far, no matter who you meet whether it’s a dragster, delay box, at that point, it’s on. When I get that far, I’m ready. It’s something with the Sportsman Spectacular, that I hope people will support.” Bowman, who works as the head of the disinfectant department at Bayer Healthcare, comes from a family of Mopar racers with his father, Tim, driving a 1964 Plymouth Fury, and his two uncles also racing. Surrounded by first-class facilities, Bowman races at multiple IHRA tracks like Dragway 42, Quaker City Motorsports Park and Beaver Springs Dragway. “I love Keystone because it’s 15 minutes from where I live and there’s nothing like your home track,” Bowman said. “There’s also over 50 years of history at that place. It’s come such a long way. I’ve been going there since I was six weeks old. DRIVER PROFILE Bowman Embraces the Challenge NO BOX RACER as a “People ask me if I ever go on vacation and I tell them I go on vacation every weekend when I go racing.” 6