delivered his 14th career victory
when he rode past Lucas Oil
Buell's Hector Arana Jr. in the
final round, 6.835 to 6.878. Ton-
glet is now an impressive 14-4 in
NHRA finals during his career.
"This is unbelievable; I never
thought we'd be in this spot,"
said Tonglet. "When we did this
deal with Jerry [Savoie, team-
mate] I figured we'd be good but
I didn't think we'd be this good.
Not now. Not ever."
Tonglet was referring to the
off-season deal that allowed him
to race as a teammate to White
Alligator Suzuki's Jerry Savoie.
For years, Tonglet raced as an
independent with just his fa-
ther, Gary, and brother, GT, for
support. Working with Savoie,
Tonglet now has the resources
to compete with the other multi-
bike teams in the class and his
results have been nothing short
of spectacular. So far this sea-
son, Tonglet has a 17-2 record
in elimination rounds and he has
opened up a massive 141-point
lead in the championship stand-
ings.
"I'm not even thinking about
points right now," Tonglet said.
"We're just thinking about trying
to win each race, one at a time.
Everything has gone so smooth-
ly this year I almost don't know
what to make of it. I definitely
have to thank [crew chief] Tim
Kulungian and the rest of our
team. They are the ones who
have made this possible.
"We're doing great right now
but that could change at any
N
itro Fish Suzuki's LE Ton-
glet is the hottest driver
in drag racing on two or
four wheels following his most
recent win at Route 66 Race-
way. Tonglet, already a winner in
Charlotte, Atlanta and Norwalk,
VOL. 54 ISSUE 27 JULY 11, 2017 P115
with fourth NHRA win
LE Tonglet has even
surprised himself with
this fourth win of the
year, his latest coming
in Illinois.
HOTTER
