The Rick’s Jewelers Ring for the Queen program in the Speed Unlimited ET Series rewards the drivers across the series in its 4 classes for perfection. A perfect reaction time or running dead on your dial in any bogie or elimination round, qualifies you for a diamond point. The time slip from the run where the diamond point was earned, must be verified and initialed by a tower official before the end of racing that day. In previous seasons, the first ET Series racer to accumulate 5 diamond points was declared the winner, and received a diamond solitaire ring valued at $9,600. However, for the 2014 season, the magic number was raised to 6 diamond points.
Previous winners include 8 time Mod ET track champion John Mattera, 4 time junior dragster champion Nick Chiles, Tony Mattera and Rickey Nelson. Winning the ring has also been doubled with winning championships, as 4 of the previous 9 winners have won the championship in their class the same season as winning the ring. Robert Jones, 2 time Top ET champion and 2012 Rick’s Jewelers Ring for the Queen winner, was the first driver to get to the 5th diamond point this season. With the pressure mounting and many other drivers, including Jeffrey Jones, former track champion Dale Smith and other closing the cap, Jones knew what he had to do, go rounds and run dead on. During Saturday eliminations at the first Autofab Racecars Raider ET Challenge event at MIR, Jones came to the line dialing a 4.94. He didn’t get it done on reaction time, but as he picked up the round win crossing the finish line, the scoreboards read 4.94, with the thousandth digit on the time slip reading 0. Once he picked up his time slip, he headed straight for the tower, not even stopping by his trailer. He ran into the back of the tower with a smile as wide as can be, as he had just made MIR history by becoming the first driver to win the Rick’s Jewelers Ring for the Queen twice. When asked what he would do with the second ring, Jones said that it’s going to his baby girl.
Congratulations to Robert Jones, the 2014 Rick’s Jewelers Ring for the Queen winner. A big thank you also goes to Rick Norris and everyone at Rick’s Jewelers for their continued support in the Speed Unlimited ET Series and Maryland International Raceway. You can visit Rick’s Jewelers at 308 San Souci Plaza in California, MD, give them a call at 301-737-4241 or visit them on the web at www.rickjewelers.com