NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Reigning NHRA Mello Yello series Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Jerry Savoie is a last-minute scratch from this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Naitonals in Norwalk. On Thursday afternoon, Savoie announced that he was skipping the event due to the impending arrival of Tropical Storm Cindy in his home state of Louisiana. Savoie operates a large alligator farm in Cut Off, La., South of New Orleans.

"This is a big storm that goes from Mississippi to Texas and it's already cost us about 80-percent of our egg production," said Savoie. "Once the eggs are underwater for four hours, they're no good. We've been working around the clock for the last three days trying to get things stabilized but there's still a lot of work to do. I hate to miss Norwalk but we'll be back in Chicago."

“This is unfortunate, but Jerry is going to miss this race,”  added crew chief Tim Kulungian. “Anytime you have a weather event in Louisiana, you have to take it seriously and Jerry’s first priority, as it should be, is his family, and his business. Hopefully, the storm passes quickly and it doesn’t do much damage, but he’s got to be cautious.”

Savoie is the winner of the most recent Pro Stock Motorcycle event in Englishtown, and is currently ranked No. 3 in the Mello Yello standings, 36-points behind leader Eddie Krawiec. Savoie’s White Alligator team will still compete in Norwalk with second-place rider and former champ LE Tonglet riding his Nitro Fish-backed Suzuki. Earlier this season, Tonglet won back-to-back events in Charlotte and Atlanta.

“The good news is that we still have LE and we can now focus all our efforts on putting his bike into the winner’s circle again. I’d love nothing more than to be able to call Jerry on Sunday afternoon and tell him that we won another Wally.”

"I told Tim to put our best stuff in LE's bike and go out there and kick everyone's ass," Savoie noted. "We've got a good thing going right now and I want it to continue."

Ironically, the Pro Stock Motorcycle class is already missing one former world champ this weekend after Hector Arana Sr. announced that he was going to miss the next three months after undergoing surgery for a torn rotator cuff. Despite the loss of Savoie and Arana Sr., the Pro Stock Motorcycle class remains healthy with 18 bikes on the grounds in Norwalk. The field include past world champions Krawiec and Andrew Hines, Matt Smith, and Angelle Sampey.