Karen Stoffer made a triumpant return to the NHRA Mello Yellow Drag Racing Series on Sunday, scoring her first win in four years with a victory in the Pro Stock Motorcycle finals in the 46th annual Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals at Auto-Plus Raceway in Gainesville, Fla.
Spencer Massey (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also went to the Winner's Circle.
Without a sponsor and with only enough funding for the first two races of the season, Stoffer took down three-time World Champion and three-time Gatornationals winner Eddie Krawiec in her first start since the 2012 season finale at Pomona.
Stoffer, who qualified eighth for the event, made it past Steve Johnson, Angie Smith and Shawn Gann before advancing to her first final round since 2012.
In a rematch of the 2011 event, Stoffer and Krawiec met in money round for their three-career final round faceoff.
At the start, Krawiec jumped out to an early lead, but then suddenly pulled up at the halfway mark, allowing Stoffer to flash by for her seventh-career National Event victory, posting a 6.900 at 195.11 mph over Krawiec's 7.884, 122.23.
"We had a lot of heart and a lot of passion," said Stoffer, who last won at Denver in 2011. "We don't have a big budget but we certainly have a big heart. We certainly tried to get some high performance out of it and we were able to do it. The boys worked hard, worked till about midnight each night and gave us a good bike on Sunday."
In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson finally collected his 75th-career victory with a win over four-time Gatornationals winner Jason Line.
Anderson - who was forced to sit out last years event along with the first five races of the 2014 season following off-season heart surgery
Thursday
June 26th, 2025
12:32AM
