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Final Results
The final day of racing at the WCF started off strong with great racing but ended up hitting a series of delays due to a timing system issue. Jason Miller and the MDIR team worked feverishly to solve the issue and ultimately found the culprit, a single wire failed in a 50-pin connector. After the issue was isolated racing resumed and things got interesting in a hurry as the upsets began to pile up in every class.
Outlaw vs Extreme looked to be Isaias Rojas’ to win since he had the field covered by almost two full tenths, but it wasn’t meant to be. During the second round of eliminations, he was taken down by Edward Burgos due to a .541 reaction time. Burgos marched on to the finals where he met up with another underdog Jorge Juarbe. High drama began in the burnout box as Juarbe waited for Burgos rotary-powered RX8 to start and he even opted to give him extra time so they could race for the $30,000 prize. Ultimately Burgos wasn’t able to get the car started and Juarbe made a single pass to take the win.
Carlos Olivo fought hard during qualifying to put himself in a good position for eliminations and ended up in the fourth spot when the ladders were set. That hard work paid off, plus he was blessed with some good luck and he was able to make it to the finals against Scott Bitzer who himself got lucky with several byes to the finals. When it was time for the finals Bitzer’s luck ran out as he broke during the burnout giving Olivo the win.
The X275 vs Hot Rod class was dominated by the domestic X275 racers all throughout qualifying and that trend continued into eliminations. Craig Walls qualified in the eighth spot and began his march to the final round with a series of solid six-second passes. Walls would face Tony Hobson in the finals who fought hard to make it to the final frame of racing. When the tree dropped Walls spun the tires and Hobson rocketed down the track clean and green for the win.
Street Fighter saw some of the biggest upsets during the first round where the top two cars both fell to lower-seeded racers. Defending class champion George Farkouh had to dispatch a slew of worthy foes, including his future wife Val Clements in the first round on his way to the finals. Jacob Conant started out in the sixth spot and found his way to the finals where he was actually on the clock and nearly didn’t make the call when his Mustang wouldn’t start. Farkouh waited for Contant to get his car started but struck the tires and wasn’t able to repeat as Street Fighter champion as Contant made a clean pass for the win.
The Warriors vs Tres Cuarto class had the biggest variety of cars and combinations at the WCF this year. Jomar Gomex caught a few lucky breaks during eliminations and was able to fight his way to the final round where he faced James Smith in his nitrous-huffing Mustang. In the closest final of the event, Smith ran a 6.75 narrowly beating Gomez’s 6.79 effort.
In Wild Street, Jonathan Atkins ran over the field during qualifying with his record-setting 7.30 pass. Martin Connelley found himself sitting in the second spot thanks to consistent mid-seven-second passes all weekend during qualifying. The top two qualifiers met in the final round where Connelley was able to get around Atkins with his best pass of the weekend at 7.48.
Jason Hunt set the tone for the Super Street class during the very first round of eliminations when he took down the number one qualifier after qualifying in the 17th spot. Hunt marched his way to the final round where he was set to take on Canadian racer Patrick Pelchat in his Toyota Supra. Hunt gave the race away right at the start going -.095 red while Pelchat ripped off an 8.35 pass.
True Street was dominated all weekend by Joe Fisher and his 2JZ-powered Toyota Tacoma truck. Fisher easily dispatched his first three opponents before he met with Raif Fejzo in the finals. In the final round, Fejzo was dead late on the tree and didn’t have enough horsepower to run down Fisher who cruised on for the True Street win.
Aweis Adde made the trip from California to compete in the All Motor class and he showed what the west coast was capable of. During the course of eliminations, Adde was a juggernaut resetting the class record multiple times en route to the final round. In the finals, Adde lined up against Teddy Weaver who went -.155 red and handing the victory to Adde.
The Pro Street Bike class was owned by Jeremy Teasley from the very beginning at the WCF. Teasley set the class record during qualifying with a 6.42 to go number one and he never looked back. In the final round, his opponent Frankie Stotz had issues keeping his bike running and wasn’t able to complete a proper burnout. None of that mattered as Teasley laid down another impressive pass to secure his WCF win.
The EKanoo Toyota Returns With Big Boss Racing
When the EKanoo racing team debuted its 2014 Toyota GT86 it showed it’s potential early and eventually became the quickest import race car in the world. Eventually, the car went up for sale and it made its way to the United States. Juan Melendez from Big Boss Racing drives the car now and he explains how it ended up in its stable of cars.
“When EKanoo was selling it the first time we approached them to purchase the car but Titan was able to buy it before we could. After that, Titan had the car for a while and ran it a few times before they decided to sell it. We started the negotiation process and things worked out for us to finally get it.”
Racing a car like the legendary EKanoo Toyota can be a challenge for any team because of the car’s complexity. Big Boss Racing was more than ready for what the car brought to the table and is looking forward to pushing it to new levels of performance here in the United States.
“Since we already have experience with high-caliber cars it wasn’t too difficult to transition into this one and get it to go down the track. We’ve made a few changes to the car but nothing really that major, just small items to make it ours. It’s definitely a lot more car for sure but we are just trying to chip away at it,” Melendez says.
At the WCF Melendez is being realistic about what the car is capable of. The team is looking at the bigger picture and wants to use this event as an opportunity to get more laps in and learn how to get the car to perform well on a regular basis.
“The big goal is to make the car consistent and get the car down the track repeatedly. If we can get it to run in the 5.60s we will be happy for sure,” Melendez explains.
Gidi Chamdi Loves Being The GT-R King
Chasing records in drag racing can be an extremely humbling experience and trying to do it at a high level just amplifies everything. Gidi Chamdi was the first person to crack the six-second barrier in a Nissan GT-R but eventually lost the record. When Chamdi made the decision to come to the WCF his mission was to take the record back and now that he’s done it he’s enjoying every minute of it.
“It sounds just so good to be called the GT-R world record holder, we tried so hard for so long to make it happen so it just feels nice to know we have it now. Leading up to this race we spent a lot of time in Oregon testing and gathering data to help get the car ready. Seeing it all come together here was just amazing since this event is one of the biggest and best in the world,” Chamdi says.
The GT-R is a difficult vehicle to build as a max effort machine due to how complex the driveline is. Chamdi and the team at ETS have put a lot of time into this combination to perfect it and that has taken a lot of passes at the track.
“We actually learned a lot on the first four passes that we made and were able to find something each pass so the next pass would be faster. With this car, data is just priceless and having it is critical to going this fast. We were learning the amount of power the track could take total, how much to give it in the first two gears, and where to bring the power in to get the best performance,” Chamdi explains.
Chamdi has no plans at all to sit back and just leave his new record alone. He wants to keep lowering it and also pick up the MPH side as well. That goal may seem simple, however, a high-powered GT-R is a tricky car to drive and that makes the process interesting for Chamdi.
“This car isn’t easy to drive because it’s angry all the time, but on occasion, it gives you a good pass and that’s what I got on the record run. Most of the passes I’m fighting the car, it’s’ a violent experience because of how powerful the car is, you just never get used to it. The record pass actually wasn’t perfect because the car broke up in fourth and fifth gear so we want to address that. We want to get the second part of the record, we have the ET and now we want to get the MPH side of it as well,” Chamdi says.
Edwin Burgos Retakes The Rotary World Record
The Mazda Rotary engine is one of the most unique internal combustion mills ever created and it’s capable of big horsepower when you start tweaking it. Edwin Burgos has owned the Rotary world record in the past and this year at the WCF he was able to retake the title with a 6.08 at 231 in his 20b three-rotar powered RX8. Getting to this point has taken a lot of hard work for Burgos and he’s happy it finally paid off.
“It has taken four years of work to make this happen, it akes the right turbo combination to work with the rotary engine to go this fast. We’ve tried a lot of different things to get the most out of the car and get it to this point. There’s some power left in the car I think and we’re going to try and dip into the five-second zone this weekend,” Burgos says.
Making fast passes in a Rotary-powered car takes a different approach than an engine filled with pistons. Burgos lifts the curtain a bit and talks about what goes into laying down low six-second passes without pistons.
“It takes some different suspension tweaks to get the power down with a rotary and we’ve got that figured out now. With power management the rotary is different than a piston engine because it doesn’t make torque, it’s all in the RPM and horsepower it makes. You really have to rev these engines high and hard to make power while running out the back,” Burgos explains.
Carlos Daud Smashes The Four-Cylinder World Record
Brazilian racer Carlos Daud is having a picture-perfect WCF that has been filled with personal bests and world records. Daud was able to lock down the number one qualifying spot in Radial vs Modified when he reset the four-cylinder world record on a blistering 6.16 pass at 225 MPH. Daud’s Jerry Bickel Race Cars-built Cobalt is powered by a unique engine that isn’t even available in the United States.
“We use an Opel C20XE that was developed by Cogsworth for GM back in the 1990s. The engine uses a billet block with a cast head and the internals are all custom so it can handle 75-80 pounds of boost. I’ve never dynoed it but based on the data we’ve collected it makes around 1,700 horsepower and the car ways 2,400 pounds. Before this weekend the quickest I’ve ever been 6.31 so setting the record is just truly amazing,” Daud says.
In Brazil, the closest track Daud has to really run his car all-out is over 800 miles away so anytime he can make a lot of laps racing he takes advantage of the situation. When the opportunity came up to make the trip to the United States to race Daud jumped on it and he’s glad he did.
“We have a ranking of the fastest four-cylinder cars in the world and I’m currently sitting in fifth. Ozzy from Orlando Speedworld invites international teams to the FuelTech World Sport Compact Challenge and he asked me to come up to the race at the beginning of the year. It takes about 60 days and a bunch of paperwork to get the car to the United States so I decided that I would l just leave the car in the U.S. so I could go to some other races. We went to Orlando and raced it for the first time on big tires and it ran well. I’ve never been to this race so It was an easy choice to come,” Daud explains.
Final Qualifying
The final session of qualifying were action-packed as racers were trying to improve their position or just punch their way into any of the competitive classes here at the WCF. Outlaw vs Extreme saw Isaias Rojas remain on top with a 5.68 followed by Juan Gomez and his 5.80 pass. Mark Benson still held down the third spot, but after snapping a crankshaft in half the team wasn’t able to repair the engine and were forced to withdraw from the event.
Carlos Edwardo shot to the top of Radial vs Modified after he reset the four-cylinder world record on an insane 6.16 pass at 225 MPH. What made this pass even more impressive is Edwrdo’s previous best was a 6.31 and this is only his second race on big slicks. Eric Laferriere remained in second with his 6.21 pass and Andy Manson followed closely with a 6.26 qualifying effort in the class.
Vinny Palazzolo kept the number one qualifying position in X275 vs Hot Rod with a 6.63 and continued to look like the car to beat this weekend. Carlos Olivio wasn’t able to improve much in the final qualifying sessions with his 6.66 but still recorded the top MPH of the weekend in the class at 220 MPH. Mike Cerminaro moved into the top three of qualifying after his much improved 6.73 effort.
In Warriors vs Tres Cuarto Gidi Chamdi remained on top with his world-record 6.56 after his GT-R couldn’t stay planted on the MDIR surface enough during the final two sessions on Saturday. Ramon Matos is the only racer close to Chamdi on the qualifying sheets with a 6.64 in the second spot. Keith Rhea rounded out the top three in Warriors vs Tres Cuarto after his 6.66 qualifying effort.
Asier Torres dominated Street Fighter qualifying and was the only racer to crack into the six-second zone with his 6.87 qualifying effort. Jack Couto finished qualifying in the second spot and was the quickest of the seven-second cars with a 7.12 effort. Michael Hurley stayed right on Couto’s heels during qualifying with a best pass of 7.14 after the final session.
Wild Street saw Jonathan Atkins stay on top with his world-record 7.30 pass at 196 MPH. Martin Connelley was able to pick up a little bit on the final day of qualifying and finished in second with a 7.48 effort. Yandro Ulloa recorded a personal best 7.51 to make a push into the third spot on the Wild Street qualifying sheets.
Pro Street Bike saw records broken all weekend long in the near-perfect conditions. Jeremy Teasley locked down the top spot with his 6.42 effort at over 226 MPH. Rodney Willford found his way into the second spot after a 6.50 pass at 219 MPH. After the final session was complete Frankie Stotz locked down third with a 6.58 run at 211 MPH.
Jason Ostrem narrowly locked down the top qualifying spot in Super Street with a 7.99 over Bradley Dillion who ran an 8.00 followed by Jonathan Colon’s 8.04 qualifying effort. True Street final qualifying was cut short due to a pair of crashes but Joe Fisher remained on top with an 8.10 effort. Robert Reinen took the second qualifying spot with his 8.22 and Stuart Lieby in third with an 8.23 pass. In All Motor Ronnie Hackelton stood on his 9.11 record-setting pass to remain number one while Teddy Wever’s 9.22 kept him in second and Maros Olivia stayed in third with a 9.25.
Mike Cerminaro Goes X275 Quarter Mile Racing
Mike Cerminaro picked up the biggest win of his career at No Mercy 10 winning X275 driving Bruce Meichle’s Firebird. Being able to win at one of the premiere X275 races in the country against the toughest competition was huge and he’s ready to keep the good times rolling at the WCF.
“We came up to the World Cup with the car to have some fun. This car has never been run in the quarter-mile before so we’re sneaking up on the tune-up right now. We are running if further each time down the track to make sure it’s clean and happy,” Cerminaro says.
The work for Cerminaro and the team to get the car WCF ready was actually fairly light. They had to change the gear ratio so it could be ready for quarter-mile combat. The mechanical adjustments are one thing, but Cerminaro has also needed to adjust to running the second half of the track.
“Running quarter-mile is different, it feels a whole lot longer for sure and I can’t wait to pull the chutes. I’m having a lot of fun at this event for sure, it can be a little trying at times, but we are going to get it figured out. The competition is tough and we’re trying to do our best to keep the car fast and together the whole weekend to hopefully bring home the win,” Cerminaro explains.
Bill Lutz Is Here Set Records In Outlaw vs Extreme
Ohio racer Bill Lutz knows Maryland International Raceway very well, he still owns the doorcar speed record at the facility with a booming 262 MPH hit in is old Pro Mod. Lutz has returned to MDIR to chase history and become the quickest and fasted man on a 275 drag radial in the quarter-mile.
“This is one of the top events in the country because Jason and the entire staff put on such a great event. You don’t get these kinds of conditions often where you’re below sea level at such a great track so we wanted to come here and break the 275 record for ET and MPH in the quarter-mile. We are going to keep lowering it throughout the weekend,” Lutz says.
Lutz showed he’s a man of his word by running a 6.00 during qualifying on Friday and then backed it up Saturday during the first Outlaw vs Extreme qualifying session with another 6.00. Taking the Camaro from big tire to small tire trim was no easy feat for Lutz and his team to get ready for the WCF.
“To get the car ready for the small tires we had to change the car front to rear, the transmission ratios, rearend gear ratio, the shocks, literally everything. On the power management side of things we really only have to control it for the first second or so, after that, the car is moving fast enough and is far enough out we can pour in all the power. As long as it’s not trying to wheelie big with a surface like this we can throw a ton of power at it in a hurry,” Lutz explains.
So far running the Camaro to these crazy speeds on a 275 tire hasn’t been that bad for Lutz.
“This is the first time running this tire on the quarter-mile and the car really does well to be honest. It doesn’t move around much and it really feels like a Sunday drive while being pretty uneventful. Now that’s at 242 MPH, it might be a different story when we start running over 255 MPH when the car is turned way up,” Lutz says.
Jonathan Adkins Bangs Gears Into The Record Books
During his Friday night qualifying session, Jonathan Adkins absolutely dropped the hammer on the Wild Street class with a 7.30 pass at over 196 MPH. With that pass, Adkins dropped his own six-speed record by over two-tenths of a second and put over a tenth on the field.
“The weather getting better had a lot to do with the big improvement plus we added more launch RPM and increased the boost ramp. We already had a good qualifying number so we decided to get more aggressive and try some stuff that ended up working out. This is the most aggressive we’ve ever been with the tuneup in the car and the track held it so the car ran the number,” Adkins says.
Adkins had no idea what the car ran until a fellow competitor told him at the top end while he was waiting for his team to pick him up. The performance actually surprised Adkins since they really hadn’t turned up the car that much, but he does know that the changes they have made to the car overall are paying off.
“The biggest thing that helps this car do so well is the eight-inch clutch setup from Advanced Clutch we use. That’s really what it takes besides horsepower to make one of these stick cars run so well. We also switched to a radial tire after seeing some other stick shift racers doing so well on the tire. Between the tire, clutch, and working on the suspension we’ve figured out a good formula for the car,” Adkins explains.
What’s really scary is that Adkins still has more room to turn his LT1-powered Camaro up. While that might seem like a lot of fun Adkins isn’t planning on doing it yet since the car is working so well this weekend.
“There’s a little bet still left in the car for sure when it comes to power but I don’t think we’re going to use it this weekend. The car is working great and we have plenty of ET over the field so there’s no need to push our luck. If I need a little extra during a pass I’ve got the scramble button on standby but I don’t think we’re going to need it,” Adkins says.
James Castellano’s Scary Crash
Pushing heads-up cars to their limit in quarter-mile racing has an element of danger and that’s why safety gear is so important. Unfortunately, True Street James Castellano needed all of his safety gear during qualifying on Friday.
At about 1000 feet Castelio’s Volkswagen made a huge move towards the wall after an apparent engine failure caused him to lose control. Castellano made a valiant effort to save the car but it was too far gone even after he deployed the parachutes.
The car made contact with the wall twice, with the second impact being the most violent before it came to a stop. Castellano was able to get out of the car but was in obvious pain after the crash and did go to the hospital to get checked out. It appears the car is going to be a total loss but the chassis did its job keeping Castellano safe.
Day Two Of Qualifying
The weather conditions on Friday were much improved over the previous day and the ETs reflected this. In Outlaw vs Extreme Isaias Rojas took over the top spot in the third session with a booming 5.813 at 245.99. Mark Benson also ran a 5.813 but his slower 245.40 pushed him to second. Victor Flores rounded out the top three with a 5.82 pass.
Radial vs Modified saw it’s class record fall at the hands of Eric Laferriere when he lit the boards with a 6.21 pass at 232 MPH, that pass also put him in the top spot for the day. Andy Manson moved up to the second spot after the third session with a 6.34 run. Carlos Olivo fell to the third spot after the final session was completed with a 6.39.
X275 vs Hot Rod continued to be dominated by the same drivers as day two of qualifying wrapped up for the class. Vinny Palazzolo remained in the number one spot with a 6.63 run. Adam Bastarache picked up two numbers from day one and held the second spot down with his 6.77 ET. Brian Devilbiss picked up the most out of the top three by cracking the six-second barrier on a 6.80 pass at 204 MPH.
The Warriors vs Tres Cuarto class saw history made by its top qualifier Gidi Chamadi during the third session. Chamadi resent the GT-R world record during the final pass of the day when he lit the boards with a 6.567 at 225 MPH. Keith Rhea’s 6.66 pass puts him in the second spot while Jose Garcia is in third with a 6.95.
In Street Fighter the field is fairly tight and Jack Couto took the number one spot with a 7.12 followed by Michael Hurley at 7.14, and George Farkouh in third with a 7.20. Wild Street lived up to its class name based on the huge performances of several racers during qualifying. Jonathan Atkins shocked the world by lowering the U.S. six-speed transmission record with a 7.30 pass. Martin Connelley is holding down the second spot with a 7.49 just ahead of Yandro Ulloa’s 7.51 ET.
Chris Dutkewycz’s 8.05 narrowly puts him on the top of the Super Street class over Adnel Cortes who recorded a stout 8.06 and Ricardo Silva’s 8.07 run in the third qualifier. Joe Fisher and his Toyota Tacoma are still leading True Street with an 8.10 followed by Robert Reinen’s 8.22 and Mike Ciborowski’s 8.35. All Motor only got one qualifying session during the second day and Ronnie Hackleton took the top spot with a 9.11 followed by Marcos Oliva with a 9.25 and Aweis Adde with a 9.27.
Day One
The first official day of the World Cup Finals: Import vs Domestic (WCF) was delayed due to rains that moved in during the morning and that caused the final test session to be canceled. The Maryland International Raceway staff worked hard at getting the track into shape for the first round of qualifying and that work paid off as the track was in stellar shape when racing began.
Glen Hunter’s Big Bad Chevy
The WCF draws the most unique mixture of race cars to any drag racing event ever put on and Glen Hunter’s 1956 Chevy Belair stands out in the crowd. This heavy Chevy is packing 540 cubic-inches of big block power along with a pair of 88mm BorgWarner turbos backed by a TH400 Transmission. The kicker, Hunter’s Belair is a legit streetcar and has been on Drag Week for more than 10 years straight.
“It’s always been a streetcar every since I’ve owned it. I got the car when I was in junior high and it’s been through many changes and combinations. For the longest time, it had a supercharger as a power-adder but I wanted to be more competitive at Drag Week so I went to the twin-turbo setup. I can’t leave anything alone, it’s just in my nature with cars. The speed is what makes it fun for me and being competitive” Hunter explains.
Hunter really treats the Belair like a true street car and drives it to local car hangout spots whenever he can. Besides the week-long Drag Week torture test, Hunter takes his shoebox to Super Chevy Shows to get some laps in. In the first round of qualifying at the WCF Hunter wowed the crowd with a 7.08 at 200 MPH.
You would think that such a big car would be a handful blasting down the track at 200 MPH, but according to Hunter, the car is actually easy to drive. “The car drives really nice going down the track, it feels like a big luxury car going down the freeway. The radials really make it even better so it doesn’t feel like you’re driving something this big at all.”
Dan Rensch Ready To Overcome Adversity
Ohio native Dan Rensch had the WCF circled on his calendar as a must-attend event so he could reach his goal of a six-second pass at 200 MPH. The problem is that his 1972 Nova and lady luck decided to fight him for the entire 2019 season to make that happen.
“I changed a bunch of stuff with the car this year by taking a lot of weight out and making some tweaks to the 416 cubic-inch LS engine along with the transmission. During the summer I wrecked the car at Streetcar Takeover so it needed to be fixed to make it track-worthy again. We made some other changes at this time and just have been fighting the car all year,” Rensch says.
When Rensch unloaded the Nova and made his first pass it appeared his goal was within reach when the boards were lit up with a 7.03 at 204 MPH. However, on the next pass disaster struck and has made Rensch’s WCF weekend a little more difficult.
“I changed the tune-up to give it some more power and looking at the slip it improved the short times, but at about 1,000 feet it chucked the driveshaft out of the car. I heard a lot of metal clanging noises but thankfully it wasn’t coming from the front of the car, it was coming from the rear of the car. It turns out the gear failed and it took the third member with it,” Rensch explains.
Rensch isn’t going to denied his goal of a six-second pass so he reached out on social media for parts and his fellow racers came through. “I’ve got a new third member and driveshaft coming, so provided there aren’t any other issues the car should be ready for the Friday night qualifier. I’ve been looking forward to this event all year so I’m going to do everything I can to make the show.”
Jay Meagher And Real Street Are Here To Go Fast
Jay Meagher and the Real Street team have put a lot of miles on their Supra over the years on the street and the track. The team has conquered Drag Week and run at the WCF before but this year they have changed classes with the goal of going faster than ever in their streetcar.
“In the past, we’ve raced Street Fighter but this year we made the jump to X275 vs Hot Rod, this is our first time competing in such a serious class. Running against this level of cars we just want to go faster than we ever have. The car is still pretty much in street trim the only change is to a mechanical fuel pump since the electrical pump had issues on Drag Week,” Meagher says.
Getting ready for WCF took some work since the Supra was fairly heavy. Meagher and the Real Street team all have different roles so it was easy for them to do what it took to give driver Geo Castillo a killer ride. “To try and drop some weight we cut the stock floor out since it’s a double-thick and that’s what bumped us up to X275 vs Hot Rod. We don’t have a car that’s going to run in the front of the pack but we’re here at one of the best races of the year to have a good time.”
Team Vixen Goes From No Prep To Full Prep
Going from no prep racing to the WCF could be the biggest swing in types of drag racing you would ever see and that’s exactly what Jack French and the Bruder brothers have done. After the last No Prep Kings race in Texas French and the team decided to load up and drive straight to Maryland to compete in the WCF.
“We’ve never really run Vixen in the quarter-mile before so we’re excited to see what it will do up top. We’re actually leaving the big tire setup from NPK on the car and only made a gear change for quarter-mile racing. Nick Bruder is taking care of the tune-up and he plans on taking some timing out and adding some fuel up top to keep things safe for the engine. We’re hoping to see 3.80s in the eighth and 5.70s in the quarter-mile,” French says.
The WCF isn’t totally uncharged territory for French and the Vixen team.
“We raced here a few years ago with the car when it was new and on radials, but it really wasn’t ready at that time to run all out. During that event, we only ran to maybe 700 feet but that let us get a lot of data and that was huge. This time we’re going to turn it up and run it the full length of the track with all 5,000 horsepower pumped in. It’s going to be interesting to see what it does on a prepared surface turned all the way up, it should be fun” French explains.
Day One Of Qualifying
With the staging lanes packed with cars, the first round of qualifying began at the WCF and racers were greeted with an outstanding racing surface. In Outlaw vs Extreme Jomar Gomez was able to get a clean pass off with a 5.86 at 249 MPH in his Toyota Avalon-bodied machine. Victor Flores landed in the second spot with the only other five-second pass at 5.94 in his Toyota Camry. Paul Major was the first domestic on the board in the third spot behind the wheel of his twin-turbo Corvette with a 6.11 pass.
Radial vs Modified has a slew of cars that all ran close together during the first session of qualifying. Carlos Olivo sequired the top spot with a 6.39 pass in his rotoary-powered RX8. Eric Laferriere followed Olivo closely in the second spot with his 1997 Supra that’s powered by a BAE HEMI by running a 6.43. Limited Drag Radial star Andy Manson rounded out the top three with a 6.53 pass in his ProCharged Mustang.
X275 vs Hot Rod was dominated first round by the domestic cars of X275. Former WCF winner Vinny Palazollo led the first round of qualifying with a 6.72 blast at 205 MPH. Adam Bastarache was able to secure the second spot with a 6.92 run while Brian Devilbiss landed in third with a 7.05 hit at 193 MPH.
