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We’ve been met with blue skies and sunshine on this, the final day of the NMCA Muscle Car Nationals in Bowling Green, after yesterday’s complete washout of qualifying. There are showers in the forecast later this afternoon, however, and series officials are set to fire though today’s eliminations rounds in hopes of crowning some champions in the Aerospace Components Winners Circle before the weather arrives.
As always, a big thanks to the team at Comp Cams, the presenting sponsor of our same day coverage!
This is about as relaxed as Ed Rice has been all weekend long. After Jennifer Brooke Rice broke a rod on Thursday in testing, Rice headed back hone to Tennessee and built a fresh engine from top to bottom on Friday and through the night, returning on Saturday afternoon in time to drop the motor into Jennifer’s Mustang. Rice shared that the engine that broke was his old turbo motor, being run on nitrous with turbo pistons in it. The engine he rebuilt and brought back is a nitrous-specific motor, albeit wit a single turbo-intended piston in the No. 5 cylinder. Rice got the motor fired up last night and with no signs of oil leakage or other issues, is set to run the car today in the first round of Nitrous Pro Street eliminations.
Cars in the lanes is a positive sign. Track officials worked hard this morning to get the remainder of the puddles and damp pavement dry, and we're about set to get underway with index eliminations and bracket time trials.
With the help of Chris Nelson, Eric Gustafson, and Patrick Barnhill, Leroy Nabors Jr. got his Street Outlaw Mustang back together yesterday and is set to face Gustafson in round one this morning.
A huge field of more than 50 Nostalgia Super Stockers are paired up and set to kick off the first round of the Dave Duell Classic this morning.
Eliminations Round One Ladders
After all of their woes this weekend, the Rice family seemed due for a little luck on race day, and Jennifer Brooke Rice got just that in the first round of Nitrous Pro Street when Don Baskin uncharacteristically rolled the beams, lighting the red bulb and handing the free pass to Rice.
Michael Biehle put together a stellar 5.95 at 248 mph to oust an out-of-shape Clint Hairston in the first round of Pro Mod to advance into the final round.
As the No. 1 qualifier, Scott Oksas got the honor of a bye run in the first round into the final. Oksas was on another stellar pass when he visibly slowed around 1,000 feet with a cloud of smoke trailing the car through the lights as he clocked a 6.22 at just 235 mph.
Keith Berry survived a bit of a first round scare, as his Corvette was lazy at the hit, forcing him to chase down Brian Green in the lights. Berry won it with a 4.61 to Greens’ 5.02.
Phil Hines (left) arrived late here in Bowling Green and never got so much as a time trial run before rolling to the starting line for eliminations. Hines had no trouble setting his car up for the track, however, as he rolled to a 6.93 at 202.27 mph to dispatch a slowing Phil Smith. Eric Gustafson laid down another killer run in the first round opposite of Leroy Nabors Jr., carding a 6.844 at 203.28 for lane choice in the final.
Like Hines, David Hutnick didn’t make a single qualifying run this weekend and was by default paired with No. 1 qualifier Paul Smith. Hutnick didn’t miss a beat, though, running low ET of the round at 7.74 for the win. Hutnick will take on John Warren in the semis, while Dan Baumann and Tony Alm will square off on the other side of the ladder.
Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, and even an AMC...there's something for everyone in the Nostalgia Super Stock category here this weekend.
Glenn Pushis (left) had low ET of the opening round of Chevrolet Performance Stock in his COPO Camaro at 10.60 to oust Keith Vaugh. Robbie Blankenship (right) made the quickest run of the opening round in N/A 10.5 at 7.920. Blankenship will face Dwight Ausmus in the second round a little later today.
Round One Results
Well folks, it’s a wrap from here in Bowling Green. As we worked our way through the index categories and toward the second round of eliminations in the heads-up classes, the skies opened up once again and soaked the Beech Bend Raceway. Although the skies have since cleared, after calculating the time needed to dry the track and the impending rain that’s headed this way later this afternoon, the decision was made to pull the plug and conclude this event in Indianapolis next month. From all of us here at Dragzine, thanks for tuning in to our coverage, and be sure to check out out photo gallery below, with a look back at the weekend’s activities!
