He fell just a little short as Wesley Lockhart got the jump at the start and held on for the win, but it was nevertheless a weekend to remember for Zimmerman. A day earlier, he also reached the finals of the Race of Champions and made it to the semifinals of the Top (Box) eliminations.
“It was definitely a great weekend. You always want to turn on those last couple of win lights, but I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend,” Zimmerman said. “If you told me that was how it was going to go when I showed up, I would have been plenty happy with that.”
But, the racer’s mentality is always to win more. Zimmerman and Lockhart both had .001 starts in their semifinal wins. Zimmerman paired that with a 6.270-second pass at 105.56 mph against a 6.26 dial-in to beat R Shofner, the IHRA Sportsman Spectacular winner from Central Illinois, in the semifinals. He posted a 6.261-second run a 103.14 mph to eliminate Jake Howard, the IHRA Sportsman Spectacular winner from Xtreme Raceway Park, in the quarterfinals.
While Zimmerman was happy to take home the $7,000 prize as the IHRA Mod runner-up, he was disappointed to miss out on the grand prize of a 28-foot InTech enclosed trailer made of an all-aluminum frame supplied by Flying A Motorsports and valued at $35,000.
“I love the opportunity with IHRA to race for some money and now with the prizes into it,” he said. “That stings a little not to win the trailer, but you can’t win them all.”
Zimmerman remains a contender at any race he shows up. His 1979 Ford Mustang has a 377-inch, small-block Chevy motor under the hood. He shows remarkable consistency in the car as evident by both his main event and Race of Champions performance where he fell to Seth Lancaster from Baileyton “Good Time” Drag Strip in the championship round.
“It’s about the only car I’ve ever owned, although I’ve driven other people’s cars some,” he said. “I just feel so comfortable in it. I’ve made a ton of laps in it.”
With another great time at the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals, look for the 2022 World Champion to return to Mississippi for more fun next year.
