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Upward of 30 teams were on the grounds at Bradenton Motorsports Park for pro testing before the 45th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gator Nationals in Gainesville, Fla. We stopped in for day one of this weeks testing to see what’s new and see how the cars are running in what is the first time out this year for many teams.
“Tricky” Rickie Smith as in the house making some laps in his Camaro. An early hit was a very nice 3.88 at just 198 making the team very happy early in the day. He was in Qatar racing the ADRL this winter and learned some things there which are starting to show up here this week. Later in the session he laid down a stellar 5.84 at 247 MPH. IDG is on board again for the 2014 season and Smith is scheduled to run the full ten race NHRA Pro Mod season to defend his 2013 championship and may hit some other races as schedule permits. Crew this weekend is Brandon who helps Ricky’s son Matt most of the time and Chad.
Ricky’s son Matt Smith has a new bike for 2014 and is running well already with a 6.85 at 195 MPH.
Mike Janis put down a 5.91 on his first run of the day clicking it a little early. He is running a new combo for this year with a new block, heads, manifold and blower. The Jan-Cen team is excited about their performance so far and have a better engine in the trailer that will see duty on Tuesday. The New York-based team is scheduled for the NHRA Pro Mod circuit this year and have no place for other races at this time. He made three runs Monday, the second of which drove out of the groove and shut off with the last one being a 5.89, shutting off at 5.4 in the run. Janis said it should have been an .85 or so out the back.
Kenny Delco has some updates to his Jerry Haas built car for 2014 with John Cerbone on the clutch and chassis adjustments with power from Frank Iaconio. This is the first session for the team this year after running four or five races in 2013. Delco plans to run NHRA events on the east coast for 2014 and looks forward to competing with more power from the new engine combo. There were just running short hits to start off and will work on getting to the eighth after things come around on the short times.
Pete Farber has a new car from Dan Page Race Cars for the new season. They tested at PBIR and took the runner up spot to “The Carolina Kid” Travis Harvey in the race there. CRC is still on board as the main sponsor in their third year with the team. They have plans for the NHRA Pro Mod circuit and some North East Pro Mod races with tentative plans from some PDRA events. With just twelve hits on the new car Farber is a little behind some other cars in class running some 4.0’s at 192 MPH with power from an Al Billes built engine.
John Montecalvo had a great test session after not being out since October. They came out to blow the dust off the car and get the team gelling together for the new year. Car builder Rick Jones is here assisting the team and they are learning some new things already with a fresh pair of eyes. They have a new engine from Sonny’s with EFI that they will test before the PDRA in Rockingham with Todd Hoerner assisting the team on the Big Stuff 3 to get them up to speed. Montecalvo is committed to run the full eight race season with the PDRA for 2014.
Chris McGaha purchased the Mike Edwards operation last year after running a Dodge for his first two years in the class. They retained Big Al from the Edwards camp with Chris and Scott Despain doing the engine work back at the shop. The Harlow Sammons team is based out of Texas and made half track passes, running two 4.21’s at 168 MPH for a satisfying session testing some new things. His Dodge operation is sitting at home and for sale. The team plans to run the full NHRA schedule this year and will focus on maintaining the performance of the new set up with crew chief Jim Yates at the helm.
Dan Stevenson is sporting a new 872 cubic inch bullet from Reher Morrison with Switzer Nitrous as well as a new crew chief with Tony Christian on board, seen here pulling Dan into the beams. He made four runs Monday with three going A to B, a pair of 3.96’s and a 3.93. They have tested three times this year with Monday being the best results so far. Stevenson is racing only with NHRA this year to spend more time with his family.
Gray Motorsports has three Pro Stock’s cars in Bradenton with Dave Connolly and Shane Gray here with younger brother Jonathan getting his Pro Stock license wrapped up on Monday in the Gray Motorsports Camaro, pictured at right. Jonathan ran a GTO in B/AA Comp Eliminator in 2012 and will be racing Pro Stock for the first time at this weekend’s Gatornationals.
Connolly drove the car Shane ran at the first two races this year with good results, running a 6.52 at 211.
The Kymco sponsored Camaro is a brand new car out of the Jerry Haas shop for Shane Gray which did not get a pass after shutting off after the burnout. A minor glitch that will be repaired for Tuesday’s session. Kymco is on board for four races this year and is their first time as a primary sponsor for the team.
Clint Satterfield was the sole turbocharged Pro Mod here and they were fighting some electrical issues. The car underwent some major updates in the off season and is basically all new for 2014 with 36 feet of new tubing and new rear housing built in house at Satterfield Racing. The team tested in Palm Beach as well but has only made hits to the 330 so far both there and here. The Brad Anderson Hemi is built and maintained by Bob Gardner and fed by twin Precision turbos with Moran injectors providing the fuel and the team has a spare for this year so they are looking to hurt some feelings in NHRA Pro Mod this year.
NHRA Pro Stock points leader V Gaines is celebrating 12 years with Kendall Motor Oil and working on some new things in Monday’s session. He finished second in the first two races of the 2014 season with his Kendall Motor Oil/Western Motorsports Dodge and is happy with the test results so far. They will be switching to the race set up for Tuesday to get things squared away for qualifying in Gainseville later this week. Photo courtesy Bryan Epps.
Iowa racer Mark Hogan runs the Jerry Hass built Pontiac with an older engine purchased from the Summit Racing team. The car was purchased last year and will be run this year with this body, then fitted with a Camaro body for the 2015 season as the older Pontiac shell will no longer be eligible in Pro Stock.
Shane Tucker grew up around racing as his father was an Australian Pro Stock racer for many years. He came up through the ranks in a Jr. Dragster and graduated to the small block Pro Stock class in his home country and now is here in the states running NHRA Pro Stock this year. The father and son self funded team is here testing a new car from Jerry Bickel which will debut this weekend in Gainesville. Their own engine was run on Monday but they will be leasing an engine from Grey Motorsports for further testing and this weekend’s race with plans to move to their own combination once it’s sorted out. The team has extensive experience with the 400 cubic inch engines run back home. They plan a ten race schedule this year with Shane going back after this weekend and returning in June.
Rapid Ray Schuler is back for 2014 driving for Spyros The Greek with a fresh 864 cubic inch piece from Nelson Competition providing the power for the Jerry Hass built Pro Modified Camaro. The crew this weekend is No Mas Thomas, Spyros and Captian Sam I am with Chris Patrick tuning for this test session.
The Kymco sponsored Camaro is a brand new car out of the Jerry Haas shop for Shane Gray which did not get a pass after shutting off after the burnout. A minor glitch that will be repaired for Tuesday’s session. Kymco is on board for four races this year and is their first time as a primary sponsor for the team.
Kenny Lang built, owns and drives the Summit Racing Pro Modified Camaro from a Tim McCamis Chassis. They switched to a Lenco Drive for this year and use an Al Billes engine. While here I spoke with NHRA Pro Mod Association President John Waldie about what’s new for 2014. The Pro Mod series has garnered several presenting sponsors for this season with J&A Services, OFFWIRE, JEGS Performance Auto Parts, Precision Turbo & Engine, Aeromotive and the recent addition of Powerocks to the growing list of sponsors. The Summit team is happy with their performance so far during testing and looks to be in great shape for this weekend’s event.
