It’s going to be a little cooler overall with less wind through the day for eliminations. We start racing with 7.50 index at 10 AM here in Bradenton for the 2012 Outlaw Drag Racing Championships.
Special thanks to our event coverage presenting sponsor Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels. Check out Mickey Thompson for all your high performance racing and street wheel and tire needs!
Chaplin Ron Buuza led the Racers For Christ service this morning with opening remarks by Bill Lee Sr.Jerico Balduff runs a Jan-Cen big block Chevy with a Kobelco Superman blower in his Pro Mod Corvette. During Saturday's warm up session he recorded a 4.33, a new personal best ET. In qualifying he managed a 4.36, in the final session last night they were having trouble putting down enough power and got into some severe tire shake that sent the passenger door off the car and skidding into the next lane. Balduff is paired with the Sir Thomas Racing Corvette driven by Tommy D'April.
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Chris Tedeshi has a new big block 632 from BES under the hood, replacing the small block. They installed the engine just before No Mercy III and they are getting a handle on it this weekend qualifying ninth with a 4.85 @ 156 and will face off with 2011 Limited Street Heads Up Madness Champion Scott Husted.
ROUND ONE RESULTS
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Bobby DeBlasio lost the ring and pinion in his 6,50 index Chevy Vega this morning and twisting the driveshaft up in two pieces causing a short delay for cleanup. Walt Drakeford has struggled recently with some electronics issues but managed a 4.91 this morning earning the win over Al Dito's Pat Musi small block powered Malibu.Troy Fredrickson has his family here this weekend, he qualified fourth in X275 and was paired Mark Mahowski who put a .005 light on the Fast Forward Race Engines powered Camaro. Fredrickson drove around him with a 5.008 @ 143.Tedeschi had a wild ride in a win over Scott Husted getting into tire shake, pedaling then going into a wheel stand. he was able to get the car back under power earning the win with a 5.12 @ 156 MPH."Big Lo" Angelo Graham has been running consistent 4.60's this weekend with his nitrous assisted Malibu. A 4.668 against Billy Driscoll advanced him to round two again Will Stevenson.Robert Briscoe set low ET in Outlaw 632 with a 4.59 @ 158 MPH blast on a single.James Hovarth backfired on the line and was pushed back after a small fire in the scoop sending Jimmy Marino on to round two with a 5.04 @ 147 to face Rodney Campbell who has lane choice.Top Outlaw 10.5 qualifier Rob Wells ripped off a nice 4.16 @ 190 on his earned single this morning. The Ford Speed Racing Mustang has a twin turbo big block Ford providing the muscle.Billy Glidden has run straight down every run this weekend with a 4.22 @ 168 on a single this morning and a .047 reaction.Jon Adams (far lane) managed to squeak by Chris Mendola at the stripe with a 4.33 @ 170 and Mendola slowed to 140 MPH and a 4.36.Frank Cersosimo took a holeshot win and a wild ride over Wayne Smozanek's blown Corvette coming just so close to the center line pedaling the car several times on the run.Tom Wirth put his car on the pole in Open Outlaw and set low ET for round one with a 3.82 @ 192 on his earned single.Kenny Gonyo did his job with a .037 light earning a holeshot victory over Stanley Albritton Jr. in a blower vs. nitrous match up in Open Outlaw.Jason Hamstra got into tire shake on his single clicking it off to a 5.90 @ just 89 MPH.
FINAL RESULTS
7.50 Index winner Mark Mullen was qualified number one but was bumped out by class runner up Lee Neal. Mullen had a single in round one and left firs on his opponents till the final with Neal taking the win in a double break out final. Photo courtesy Bryan Epps.
6.50 Index Winner Ray Reese hails from Coral Springs, Florida running a 1968 Nova. Reese pulled an .011 light to lead start to finish line after five rounds of competition.6.50 Index runner up Troy Pirez Jr. Troy has been doing well in 6.50 lately earning a Wally at the division finals racing for Showtime Dragstrip, and again on Friday night at Showtime for car owner Kurt Sanders. Thanks go out to friends, family and crew member J.T. Performance Torque Converters, Fast Forward Race Engines and Devastation Motorsports.
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5.50 Index Winner Dave Marcus is based out of Sarasota, Florida and runs out of the Bill Lee Race Cars shop in Palmetto. 5.50 was another class with five rounds to get finished where Marcus met up with Joe Puleo and cut a .017 light to Puelo's .076 break out run playing the catch up game. Photo courtesy Bryan Epps.5.50 Index runner up "Smokin" Joe Puleo qualified number two and runs out of Royal Palm Beach with an 81 Corvette.
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Sean Ashe, Jason Gatlin and crew put the ATF Musting in the X275 winner circle this weekend after changing to an F1R procharger from the F1X . Bradenton run under the 2013 rules this weekend which allows the F1X only on factory angle inline cast heads only. He set low ET every round and pulled of a 4.80 @ 146.17 MPH in the final against Troy Pirez Sr.'s big block nitrous Camaro. The car and engine is built and maintained in house with machine work by Nelson Competition.X275 runner up Troy Pirez Sr. with Troy Jr. taking the double up runner up this weekend. Troy runs Induction Solutions nitrous, Fast Forward race Engines big block with a PTC converter in the Greg Stevens owned tried and true Camaro out of Dover, Florida.
Josh Klugger ran the table in Limited Street qualifying number one with the Pro Lite Batteries Mustang. He also set low ET in round one with a 4.37 @ 184 then just edged Chris Tedeschi in a pedal fest round two come from behind win. The twin turbo Proline powereplant is getting freshened this week at Fiscus/Klugger Racing in preparation for a shot at the 1/4 mile drag radial record at the MIR World Cup.Limited Street runner up Bill Futch ran a best today of 4.48 @ 176 in round two against Tony Ridenour who red lit. Bill was handling driving duties this weekend for Mel Nelson for the south Florida based team.
Rodney Campbell took the win in Outlaw 632 over number one qualifier Robert Briscoe. Campbell was running consistant low 4.60's beating Jimmy Marino and Mike Schmidt on the way to the final with lane choice over Briscoe. When the tree came down Campbell was out first with a .031 but Briscoe's car hesitated going on the trans brake then backfired before it moved sending the scoop flying in bits and pieces landing in front of the tree. Photo courtesy Bryan Epps.Outlaw 632 runner up Robert Briscoe hails from Stuart, Florida where he owns Atlantic Collision. The number one qualifier also set low ET for the event with a ner personal best 4.59 @ 158 on a first round single running a Nelson Competition 632 ci. big block Chevy.
Back to back wins for Rob Wells in Outlaw 10.5 after his win at Shakedown. Here he was number one qualifier and put up a 4.163 @ 190 on his round one single. Round two was a pedal fest against Mike Pruss' 51 Chevy out of West Palm Beach slowing to a 4.41 @ 184. In the semi final Tony Johnson got out first but lost traction with Wells slipping by with a 4.16. His .037 against Billy Glidden put him out front early and going on to win over Glidden's very game 4.180 @ 171 best run of the day. Wells' crew is Kenny Brengle and Steve Cooks this weekend. Big thanks go out to Precision Turbo, Pro Torque, Ford Motorsports, Micky Thompson Tires, Big Stuff and David Hance's New York Motorsports.Outlaw 10.5 runner up Billy Glidden made the haul from Whiteland, Indiana with the Micky Thompson tire test car. he qualified number two and turned it up when it mattered in the final running a weekend best 4.180 @ 171.52 with his small block nitrous combo. This is the first race with the trusty small block in over two years.
Jason Hamstra took the win in Open Outlaw after driving down from Demotte, Indiana. After round one hamstra was the pictute of consistancy running a 3.77, a 3.76 and a 3.770 in the final over number one qualifier Tom Wirth who slowed to a 4.10 @ 152 after getting out of the groove. Hamstra had high MPH with a 199.20 in round two. Photo courtesy Bryan Epps.Open Outlaw runner up Tom Wirth is based out of Lake Placid, Florida running a blown 1999 altered. He is a regular here for the Heads Up Madness series and qualified number one and set low ET in eliminations as well running a 3.764 @ 194 to take out Eddie Careceia in the semi final.
The Outlaw Pro Mod class split the final after neither competitor was able to make the call for the final round. Fast Frank had the advantage with a 3.954 @ 188 to Stavrinos' 3.980 @ 185. There was definitely some tight racing in Pro Mod this weekend.
We are under way in Bradenton with everyone who wants getting one shakedown run this morning before we get into qualifying at noon. The weather is partly cloudy and windy today from Hurricane Sandy off the coast with the forecast predicting the wind will calm down towards tonight.
Special thanks to our event coverage presenting sponsor Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels. Check out Mickey Thompson for all your high performance racing and street wheel and tire needs!
Tony Jarvis hails from Massachusetts run this 66 Mustang in 6.50 Index with a stroked 331 ci SBF built by Ray Knight pushing right around 600 horsepower. Tony winters here in Florida to get some southern style relaxation and racing away from the snow and ice.Local racer Jimmy Stoupas recently replaced the Sonny's 740 with a 785 ci bullet from Buck Racing Engines into the Nikos Racing Pro Mod Firebird. The first hits on the new setup were yesterday so they are working things out with the more powerful engine.Bill Futch here pictured with his wife Kathy in front of his former OL 10.5 Camaro now owned and driven by Candido Sanchez. The south Florida based team includes Limited Street/Drag Radial racer Mel Nelson, who Bill is driving for this weekend after Mel broke his wrist.
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I stopped by the Stavrinos pit this morning to grab a couple of shots on Kris Nelson's Halo nitrous system. It feeds nitrous and fuel directly down the runners from the outside.
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There is some friendly wagering going on today with Chris Mendola set to race Doug Horween during qualifying for $500 a hit. Mendola is ready with cash in hand, word is Horween is on his way up from south Florida.
ROUND ONE QUALIFYING RESULTS
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Sean Ashe leads X275 qualifying with a 4.85 @ 144. Walt Drakeford, Troy Pirez Sr., Eric Kenward and Justin Swanstrom (aka Lil Country) round out the top five. Combos in order are F1R, SB nitrous, BB nitrous with Kenward and Swanstrom also running small block nitrous combos.Josh Klugger leads off with a 4.43 @ 181 for number one spot in Limited Street so far. Will Stevenson's 4.51@ 168 is the next quickest in class after one round.Brian Marrow brought his leaf spring equipped Procharged Camaro up from Ft. Lauderdale for some Limited Street action qualifying fifth running a 4.79 @ 160 MPH.
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Rob Briscoe's 4.63 @ 156 was good enough for bragging rights on Outlaw 632 after round one qualifying is in the books. Rodney Campbell is next up with a 4.70 @ 154, thwo of the quicker cars in class here recently at Bradenton. Shakedown at E Town OL 10.5 winner Rob Wells' Ford Speed Racing twin turbo Mustang is based in Pinellas Pak, Florida. he ripped off a nice 4.18 @ 188 for number one in Outlaw 10.5 so far. Candido Sanchez is next with a 4.25 @ 177.Number three of twelve cars is Billy Glidden running clean 4.27 @ 166 with his 396 cubic inch small block Ford.Robert Mathis has been running consistent three second runs so far this weekend. He leads the Pro Mod field with a 3.96 @ 192.Adam Flamholc sits in third with a straight 4.12 @ 182, a tenth behind Mike Stavrinos' 4.02 @ 182.Tom Wirth is on point in Open Outlaw with a 3.79 @ 186 MPH. Hamstra's 197 MPH blast was high for the round.Mark McElwee was one of several racers having trouble getting tire speed up in the first session. he pedaled his way to third spot with a 3.85 @ 190 MPH.
ROUND TWO QUALIFYING RESULTS
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Troy Pirez Sr. jumped up to number one in X275 with a 4.81 @ 149. Swanstrom got bumped one down after Eugene Rodriguez put up a 5.11 @ 136.Mike Schmidt improved his position to second with a 4.66 @ 156 while matched up with number one Briscoe who did not improve.Flamholc improved by a good margin into second spot in Outlaw Pro Mod with a fine 3.96 @ 189 in his blown Camaro.Doug Horween made a big jump on his second qualifier to fifth with a 4.14 @ 181 driving through a bit of shake going past the 60' clocks. Horween has a screw blown Olds under and over the hood of his 63 Vette.
FINAL QUALIFYING RESULTS
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Troy Fredrickson made a big improvement in the final session from a 5.22 to a 4.95 @ 142 to take over fourth position in X275. Justin Swanstrom and Eugene Rodriguez also improved getting into the 5.0's and pushing Eric Kenward down to down to seventh.This is the race debut for Shaun Stoger's 73 Maverick in X275. It's powered by a small block Ford on bottle.Seminole, Florida racer Mark Mahowski rode out a wheelstand to a 5.48 @ 128 landing 14th in the field.Heads up Madness points leader Josh Klugger bested the Limited Street field with a 4.369 @ 185. Several cars improved position in the final session tonight with Bill Futch running 4.52, good for third on the ladder. Another stellar run goes to Bryan Marrow who laid down a 4.565 @ 166 in his Procharged 79 Camaro.Will Stevenson got a new personal best today with a 4.462 @ 168 MPH keeping his number two spot in the Limited Street field.Rob Wells improved every run today in Outlaw 10.5 laying down a 4.154 on his last run, bettering the 4.164 from the previous session.Candido Sanchez was also running well today with a best run of 4.239 @ 178, good for third, just behind Billy Glidden in Outlaw 10.5.Robert Mathis (far lane) is a good margin ahead of the field in Outlaw Pro Mod with a 3.866 @ 186. Stavrinos (near lane) nudged in to three second zone today running a 3.988 @ 185 in the final session with his Nelson Competition powered Camaro.John Vergotz jumped in the thick of things on his final run with a 4.08 @ 172 putting his nitrous assisted Camaro into fourth position just ahead of "Fast Frank" Cersosimo's improved 4.11.
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Chris Mendola struggled a bit today with his Bob Newberry tuned Camaro but they got is right for the final session with a 4.19 @180 landing eighth in the Pro Mod field. Laxahatchee, Florida racer Doug Horween got down with a 4.14 in the second session with his 63 Corvette but fell to sixth due to Vergotz' improvement in the final session. Mark McElwee moved to second in in final qualifying round with a 3.79 flat @ 196 bumping Hamstra to third. Tom Wirth improved his ET to a 3.75 @ 191 keeping his top qualified position in Open Outlaw.
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After qualifying was done many of the racers joined in for the Micky Thompson sponsored racer appreciation BBQ cooked up by Nirtous Mike with a helping hand from friends and family serving it all up.
The Outlaw Drag Racing Championship returns to the Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida this weekend, with Pro Modified and Open Outlaw headlining a class lineup that includes Outlaw 10.5, Outlaw 632, Limited Street/Outlaw Radial, X275, and 5.50, 6.50, and 7.50 Index.
Special thanks to our event coverage presenting sponsor Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels. Check out Mickey Thompson for all your high performance racing and street wheel and tire needs!
Friday here in Bradenton tech is open for early racers coming in as well as an open test session from 4 to 9 PM. The track has some fresh orange paint in the burnout and tree area just prior to the Outlaw Drag Radial Championship event this weekend and is looking spiffy.John Adams is on the premises for his first event back since a crash at PBIR earlier this year. There was minor chassis damage but the car skidded on it's roof and required a new body for the Shelby GT500 Mustang Pro Mod. The CMF Racing crew will be testing today making the first hits on the car since the crash running a fresh engine from Scotty's Racing Technology.Mike Stavrinos is running in Pro Modified this weekend and testing a new Halo nitrous system from Nelson Competition on the 800cubic inch big block Chevy. The Speed and Truck World team is based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida with their 1968 Camaro. We will have more on the new Halo system later this weekend.
Josh Smith (left) and Haskel Mackowski are pictured here with Smith's 1978 Chevy stepside to run Outlaw 632. This is the first race for the truck which has had only a couple of N/A shakedown runs so far. He runs a 632 ci. BBC from Progressive Racing Engines. we have a couple of other new faces here for OL 632 this weekend and look forward to some good racing and fun times.Terry Duffy is here this weekend to honor his father John who passed just a few weeks ago after a battle with colon cancer. His father had raced for 50 years and was a Chicago police officer for 33 years.Terry is running his 2000 Dodge Avenger Pro Mod this weekend. The engine is a 622 ci. big block Chevy on two kits.
2011 Pro Extreme ADRL champion Jason Hamstra has switched up to a top dragster and is here in Florida for the first time running Open Outlaw. The Spitzer chassis is powered by an AJE 481X. The team has been running various top dragster and outlaw events through the midwest for 2012.Todays long haul spectator award goes to Kevin and John and Schweigel from Minnesota. Kevin's wife is expecting a child and the baby shower is this weekend so the boys got the boot and made the trip down here for some nice weather and great racing.
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Drag Radial racer Chad Opaleski hails from Ocala, Florida with his Procharged 66 Chevelle. Dan Neumann Race Cars updated the intake piping to 5 inch tubing from the throttle body to the intercooler just finishing up about a week ago. Will Stevenson also runs out of Dan's shop and he just installed a 5 inch pipe inter-cooler but is waiting on a new throttle body before the rest of the pipe is fitting to the car. On Steve Morris. dyno the increase from 4 to 5 inch yielded well over 100 horsepower.
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Sean Ashe has been running the F1X Procharger but had to switch to the F1R due to the rules here this weekend. The ATF team has not run the blower but a couple of times this year so they will be creeping up on the tune. Lil Pup Racing runs this altered in Open Outlaw into the high 3 second zone. They run the Heads Up Madness series here in Bradenton on a regular basis. The class has some heavy hitters here this weekend from out of town and should make for some exciting racing with several cars capable of dipping well into the three second zone.Chad Opaleski made a good run on his second attempt with a 4.65 in a pairing with X275 racer Brain Keep's 5.09 nitrous sniffing fuel injected S-10 Chevy.OL 10.5 racer Dave French put up a nice 4.55 this afternoon. he runs a Nelson Competition BBC with Induction Solutions nitrous and hails from south Florida.
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Jack Lumsden had a nitrous backfire late in his run while paired with Dave French. He was out of the car quickly after he got the car stopped and the safety crew was right there but the fire grew and took a bit of time to be quenched. The pro Mod Camaro is burnt pretty bad but Jack is ok
James Thompson from Jack's crew took this photo after the fire on the top end of the track. Scary without a doubt.Gabby Labiosa formerly with Wilson Manifolds is now working on his own with EIC Motorsports and here this weekend with Zapato Grande Racing based out of Miami, Florida. The two car team runs a sister car in the Caribbean and Venezuela. Dinilo Nammour drives this Rick Jones built Mustang Pro Mod/Pro Street with a 5.3 bore space 864 big block Chevy from EIC Motorsports.
Mike Stavrinos laid down a nice clean 4.04 with his ultra Clean Pro Mod Camaro.Sean Ashe had the quickest run in X275 that I saw with a 4.90 @ 144 MPH.Adam Vetter is sporting a new nose after an incident making the turn off at Lakeland/Stingray Chevrolet Dragstrip last month. He got a nice wheels up launch to a 5.0X.
Hamstra managed a clean 4.79 towards the end of the test session this evening.2011 Heads Up Madness Pro Mod champion Chris Mendola got down to a 4.20 so far in a tough Pro Mod field. Robert Mathis had low ET with a 3.92 after backing off on a previous attempt due to a push rod popping out of the rocker.
Friday Night Pit Notes
Lil' Country was pulling double duty swapping on a new set of Mickey Thompson Pro 275's for the two car FatBoy Racing team.After running 5.07 off the trailer and a 5.02, later Adam Vetter made another pass and stood it up coming down hard about 150 feet out putting a little crush to the oil pan. Adam and Joe Irwin from Fast Forward Race Engines were assessing the damage when I dropped by.The Zapato grande Racing team did well in the session with two good runs including a 4.13. They are loading up tonight to prep the car for shipment to the Caribbean for some match racing, they expect to be back here in 2013 for the US Street nationals.
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Jason Gatlin (left) and Sean Ashe are swapping gears in the Mustang to get the engine speed more to their liking after swapping blowers. His 4,88 was the best X275 run of the session.
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Eugene Rodriguez had an issue with the valve body sticking and enlisted the help of fellow X275 racer Larry Hart to get it fixed back up.
Chad Opaleski was on the phone to Joe from Pro Torque after a couple of runs testing last night. They are swapping this one in tonight after receiving it this afternoon.Special thanks to big Al Dito and crew for the chow and hospitality. I'll be dropping in on them tomorrow around lunchtime for some shots of the car and skinny on the new combo.
