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It’s the sort-of final day for the 2017 Yellowbullet Nationals. After yesterday’s washout, the track surface is wrecked. The Cecil County Dragway staff is out on the track now scraping all the way to the eighth-mile, which is expected to take a few hours at this point. Following that, the run order will be as follows: Pro Q2 starting with 8.50 Index, Pro E1, followed by Sportsman classes E1. Qualifying is complete for the Sportsman classes. If necessary–which is what it looks like from this vantage point–we will be back here tomorrow to finish eliminations.
Once eliminations begin, the pace will be hectic, so I’ll do my best to get information up as quickly as possible.
This was the scene around noon. The Cecil County staff scraped the entire track to the eighth-mile to prepare the surface for today.
On Friday night, Paul Major got out of the groove, and from my vantage point, it looked like he pancaked the right rear quarter panel. But this damage to the bullhorn and a scrape on the wheel, are the only bits of damage I could see when I stopped by his pits. Paul’s got an all-new suspension, a 526-cubic-inch Hemi from J&E Performance, an all-new suspension setup from DMC Racing, and the complete Fuel Tech 600 engine management system. The car usually runs in Radial Vs. The World with 98mm turbos, but rules have Paul with a pair of 88mm turbos here. They are still working to line the car out and will get one more shot to turn it up in qualifying this afternoon.
Jeff Kinsler was swapping transmission fluid this morning to prepare the car for today. He did say the car spun at one second out on Friday night so if the track is there today he should be much more successful with his cheated-up Ultra Street Pontiac.
It’s all about the kids here on Sunday at the Yellowbullet Nationals.
Monty Mikho, his wife Maria, and the entire YB staff put together a huge trailer full of goodies for the kids, and they all get to compete and earn a prize for their efforts.
Tommy Mauro and Shannon Davis of Davis Traction Control discussing Bump Box settings. Mauro had an electrical panel failure on Friday night which affected how the car is staging. With Shannon’s help he says he’s got the problem fixed.
Nick Agostino and his crew were swapping transmissions this morning to change up the gear ratios in his Outlaw 10.5 car.
Chris Rini is qualified in the number-two spot in Pro Mod, and the team is still working on the tuneup on the familiar ATI Performance Products-backed machine. Rini runs a Buck Racing Engines 941ci engine with five stages of Switzer Dynamics five-stage dry nitrous system. The car has been 3.69 previously.
You may remember Tyler Hard’s mcAmis Camaro from the five-part build series we did with him back in 2014. Hard normally runs quarter-mile in the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod series, so the car is still set up for that and he’s leaving a bit of performance on the table with the gear ratio. But the car is incredibly-consistent, and he’s looking forward to racing against the tough competition here at the YB Nats.
It’s time to go back to racing, so I’m headed out to the track. Be back later!
Nick Agostino went for a wild, wild ride in his $20,000 match race with Jerry Morgano during the Outlaw 10.5 qualifying round today. He got loose right at the stripe, hooked left and hard into the wall before going up and into the air and crashing back to earth hard, ultimately ending up on the lid and spinning to a stop.
The car is not in the best shape, and according to one of his crew guys, Nick appeared to be OK but took a precautionary trip to the hospital. Nick is one of the nicest guys we know and we wish him the best.
FINAL QUALIFYING RESULTS AND LADDERS
8.50 Index
X275/Pro Mod
Top Sportsman
Ultra 275
John Kolivas is doing multi-duty with all of his KBX customers this weekend. It seems like he and partner Justin McChesney are out on the starting line during the entire X275 and Ultra competition sessions.
In the second round of Outlaw 10.5, Shawn Ayers was on a pass and then got way out of shape, spinning the Golddust machine multiple times in the center of the track, ultimately coming to rest none the worse for wear. Ayers took the loss against Mike Decker, Jr.
Mo Hall is on a tear this weekend and appears to be the man to beat. He qualified at the top of the field, turned in a 4.03 on his first-round bye run, then ran a bracket-like 4.04 to put Ron Green on the trailer in round two, In round three it will be a Fulton-on-Fulton matchup when Hall faces off against John Bartunek.
Round two of Outlaw 10.5 saw Joe Albrecht (seen here in round one) as a no-show. Last year’s YB winner is out, with Joel Wensley advancing on a single. Wensley has had some issues of his own, as he ran into a barrel turning off at the top end of the track and had to perform duct tape surgery to get the car ready for eliminations.
White Girl Wasted – Andrew Demarco’s DMC-built ’86 Mustang – is on a roll tonight. DeMarco put out Jeff Helsinger in round one with a 4.49 from the Vortech-boosted SBF. DeMarco had a single in round two when Mike Cerminaro didn’t make the call and ran a career-best 4.48 in X trim.
Lou Sciortino won over John Carinci – 4.095 to 4.055 – with a holeshot on what is likely the worst pair of reaction times of the weekend, Sciortino’s .216 light knocking out Carinci’s .257 in a super-close race.
Mean Dean knocked out the Blue Goose of Mark Dykeman in round two of X275 with a monster 164 mph pass.
Results To Current Position
X275/Top Sportsman
Ultra Street/Outlaw 10.5
