Slate Cummings Doubles Up at IHRA Mardi Gras Nationals

Baton Rouge, LA: It’s always special for competitors, regardless of their sport, to put on a good show and emerge victorious in their home town event. When IHRA came to an agreement with State Capital Dragway in Baton Rouge, LA to hold the 2009 Mardi Gras Nationals at the fabled facility, it brought IHRA racing into the proverbial backyard of one of the most successful sportsman racing families in the sanctioning bodies history: The Cummings family . Cummings Motorsports, which fields a 9-car team backed by Moser Engineering, has long been a staple on the IHRA tour. Slate Cummings has a pair of IHRA World Championships in the Top Dragster and Super Stock categories to go along with his brother Britt Cummings’ Quick Rod crown. But, in nearly two decades of chasing the IHRA tour, the team had never had the opportunity to enjoy national event competition within an hour of their Hammond, LA home until last weekend’s event.

There, in Baton Rouge, Slate Cummings made the most of his opportunity in front of the home town fans, family, and friends. Driving his familiar Eastex Race Cars built, Moser Engineering backed Cavalier, he conquered the Super Stock category with a final round victory over touring professional competitor Mark Faul. Cummings was not done, however, as he saved his most impressive performance for last. At the wheel of his brand new Moser Engineering backed Pontiac Firebird, Cummings advanced to the final round of Stock Eliminator as well, where he faced Division 4 standout Jarrod Granier in his second final round of the day. There, Granier was spectacular, posting a .013 reaction time, and dead-on 11.143 for a great .016 package. While that run would be good enough to win most any Stock (or any other category for that matter) final round throughout the season, it was not enough to deny Cummings’ bid for a double victory. Slate trumped the great run of Granier, posting a .005 reaction time of his own, and running dead-on his 10.29 target with a 10.298, stealing the victory by a mere .003 of a second!

“This is a great feeling,” expressed Cummings. “I’ve won several national events, I even was able to double up once before… But to win both classes here, in Baton Rouge, with our family and friends here; this is something I won’t forget.”

Cummings’ road to victory did not come easily. The Stock eliminator car that he drove to the win had never been down the race track prior to testing on Wednesday--just two days before the event.

“Special thanks to the crew at Wegner Racing Engines, who builds the motors for our Stock Eliminator entries, and to Nick Folk and Folk Race Cars. Nick turned us on to Wegner‘s and he flew down for the event, drove one of our dragsters, and helped us get the bugs ironed out on the new stocker,” said Cummings. “We came out with a whole new combination on Wednesday. We fought a few gremlins, like you will in any new car, but it’s real fast and it’s real consistent. Our learning curve would‘ve been a lot steeper without Nick‘s assistance.”

Cummings’ Moser Engineering backed Super Stock entry actually had an engine failure in testing on Wednesday, forcing the team to install a backup motor prior to the Baton Rouge event.

“That made things a little tense,” admitted Cummings. “But we put our H&F Performance motor back in that I ran most of last season, so it wasn’t like we were coming in blind. All our guys did a great job of putting the motor in and getting the car running, and it ran real well all weekend.”

The Stock final round was nearly an all-Moser Engineering affair, as Cummings teammate Jody “Cool” Simoneaux advanced to the semi-final round of the category before falling to Granier. Family patriarch Larry Cummings also had a successful debut in his gorgeous new Moser Engineering Super Stock Cavalier, advancing to the quarterfinal round himself.

While the weekend ended on a high note for Slate Cummings and the Moser Engineering team, they were racing with heavy hearts and concern for some close racing friends.
“Mark Jones’ mother passed away on Friday. Mark was at the track, racing Top Dragster, and of course he left to be with his family. We’ve raced with him forever and our thoughts were with him and his family all weekend. Then Saturday night, Thomas and Matt Levatino’s father had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. The Levatino’s are like family to us, we’ve been great friends for a long time. As it turns out, ‘Pops’ is going to be fine, he had congestive heart failure and they released him on Tuesday. But we were definitely racing with heavy hearts for the Jones’ family and a lot of concern for the Levatino’s. When you see your friends going thru things like that, the significance of winning races definitely gets put into perspective.”

The Cummings Motorsports team is backed by Moser Engineering, the quality axle and rear end component manufacturer from Portland, IN. In addition to Moser, the Cummings team also credited the following manufacturers for their role in the teams continued success: Reher & Morrison, River Parrish RV, Meguiars, Trick Switch Panels, CSR Performance Products, B&M Performance, Borla, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Mickey Thompson Tires, K&N, Holley Performance, Amalie Oil, Weld Wheels, Richmond Gear, Altronics, Harwood, Nitroplate, Edelbrock, Mr. Gasket, Wegner Racing Engines, Biondo Racing Products, Auto Meter, Mullis Race Cars, Simpson Safety Equipment, Sullivan Transmissions, The Race Shop, H&F Performance, Folk Race Cars, and Milodon.