It’s time to crown some champions and hand out some coveted NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl rings here in Joliet. With one round in the books, the fields in all categories have been whittled down to eight cars or less, and we’ll be getting back underway at high noon with the second round of Pro Street and carry on through the order. At the end of the day, the NMRA will attempt to defend its team crown from last year, and we’ll have all the news, notes, and happenings from here at Route 66, plus photo and video highlights.
Mikey Rees created a huge round of applause yesterday when he came out on the winning end of an exciting first round matchup in Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W with Frank Mewshaw. Both racers fought their way to the finish line, and it was Rees who kept it pointed straight longer, scoring a wild, come-from-behind 7.98 to 8.24 win.It's hot here in Joliet. 88 degrees hot, with a forecasted high of 90 degrees and a relentless sun beating down on the crowd and the racing surface. The heat played a role in some interesting stories in the first round of eliminations, and it should once again play a role as round two takes to the Route 66 quarter-mile this afternoon.The warm weather hasn't kept the crowd away, as the car show continues to fill up and eager muscle car fanatics fill the pit area and the vast Manufacturer's Midway.
Image/s missing.
(Left) John Sullivan encountered major breakage in the second round alongside Don Walsh Jr. and left a trail of oil through the shutdown area. Sullivan, however, still had plenty to smile about after an exceptional weekend in which he qualified No. 3 and ran right at the head of the pack all weekend long. At right, Mario Orisini left before the tree was activated, automatically handing the win to Dan Stevenson, who carded a 6.20. Don Walsh Jr. appears poised for a second trip to victory lane in as many weeks after he laid down the quickest lap of the event - a 6.005 at 250.46 mph -- to defeat John Sullivan.Davd DeMarco benefited from Tim Essicks' scant -.003 red light in the second round of Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W, as Essick ran a quicker 6.83 to his slowing 7.36.Relentless is the best term to describe Jason Lee's performance this weekend. In the heat of the day, Lee cracked off another 7.4-second lap -- a 7.47 -- to defeat Dan Kroll. Lee will meet Ronnie Diaz, who advanced when Aaron Stapleton had a small fire at the line, in the final round later this afternoon.The semifinals of Xtreme Street, with three cars remaining, was a battle between "SpongeBob" and "Corndog" -- Bob Curran and Phil Smith (pictured). The veteran Curran got the best of Smith off the starting line, taking an .046 to .092 advantage out of the gate and parlaying it into a holeshot win, 8.14 to 8.12. Curran will meet No. 1 qualifier Bill Trovato in the final round.
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Charlie Booze Jr. got the best of Don Baskin in round two of Hot Street/Pro Stock, defeating the family patriarch on a holeshot, 8.51 to 8.50. Tony Nesbitt had to be pushed off the starting line in the second round of Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W, allowing Steve Summers to cruise into the semis with a 6.93.
Round Two Eliminations
Pro Street
L
Mario Orsimi
1957
0.00
0.000
0.00
R
Dan Stevenson
1351
0.00
-.034
6.203
213.81
L
Chris Rini
1010
0.00
.024
6.048
237.55
R
Steve Matusek
1450
0.00
.064
6.291
241.97
L
Don Walsh Jr
1382
0.00
.029
6.005
250.46
R
John Sullivan
1492
0.00
.013
6.518
170.34
L
Tony Williams
1003
0.00
.078
6.552
216.31
R
CLint Hairston
1000
0.00
.066
6.124
243.59
Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W
L
Tim Essick
1003
0.00
-.003
6.834
207.18
R
David DeMarco
2012
0.00
.263
7.365
156.75
L
Eric LaFerraiere
2001
0.00
.058
6.709
222.99
R
Willard Kinzer
2605
0.00
.264
6.714
220.44
L
Steve Summers
2918
0.00
1.148
6.930
195.96
R
Tony Nesbitt
2999
0.00
0.000
0.00
L
Mike Murillo
1
0.00
.060
6.730
219.40
R
Mikey Rees
2025
0.00
.118
7.007
204.35
Nostalgia Pro Street
L
R
David Beeson
3003
0.00
.526
29.240
0.00
L
Rob White
3240
0.00
-.330
7.705
147.60
R
Joe Bucaro
3
0.00
.082
7.314
186.74
L
Jeff Colletta
2
0.00
.058
7.345
182.85
R
Skip Baskin
4
0.00
.056
7.401
186.87
L
R
Darren Breaud
3807
0.00
.866
8.404
119.90
275 Drag Radial
L
Jason Lee
1
0.00
.104
7.478
189.39
R
Dan Kroll
6116
0.00
.086
12.316
86.59
L
Aaron Stapleton
6102
0.00
0.000
0.00
R
Ronnie Diaz
6
0.00
.688
18.125
53.20
Xtreme Street
L
Phil Smith
4
0.00
.092
8.129
174.26
R
Bob Curran
4005
0.00
.046
8.149
169.78
L
R
Bill Trovato
4177
0.00
7.851
17.297
0.00
Hot Street/Pro Stock
L
Andy Schmidt
5088
0.00
.020
8.624
158.13
R
Greg Delaney
8G
0.00
.065
8.654
161.44
L
Charlie Booze JR.
3398
0.00
.039
8.516
153.89
R
Don Baskin
3B
0.00
.060
8.504
157.12
Semifinals
Chris Rini and Don Walsh Jr. squared off in the best matchup of the weekend thus far in Pro Street. Rini has been a bracket car with a string of 6.06 runs, and Walsh rolled to a 6.00 in the second round earlier today. Rini was first off the starting line and was ahead at half track, but the top end charge of Walsh's turbocharged machine came around him at the finish line to earn a trip to the final round, 6.02 to 6.09.Jeff Colletta left well ahead of Dave Beeson in the semifinal round of Nostalgia Pro Street, but simply didn't have the power to hold off the hard charging Beeson, who clocked a 7.23 to Colletta's 7.41. Beeson will have lane choice over Joe Bucaro in the final round.
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Mike Murillo had trouble firing the SCT Performance Mustang prior to his semifinal match with David DeMarco, and despite a few extra moments to diagnose the problem from the DeMarco team, the problem was too much to fix on the starting line and Murillo could only stage and hope that DeMarco made a mistake. Eric LaFerriere had his semifinal bout with Steve Summers in the bag after Summers slowed at half track, but the No .6 qualifier ignited a collective gasp from the crowd when his machine took a hard right turn at the 1,000-foot mark. LaFerriere will have lane choice over DeMarco in the final.
Final Round Notes
Don Walsh Jr. and Clint Hairston were the two quickest cars in Pro Street this weekend, and it only seemed fitting the pair of turbocharged cars meet in the final. Walsh got away from the line quicker and was never headed in this matchup, running a 6.01 to Hairston's slowing 6.87.Eric LaFerriere and David DeMarco were virtually dead-even out of the gate in the Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W finale, but LaFerriiere steadily pulled away and took home the class hardware with a nice 6.86 to DeMarco's slowing 7.95.As he's done so many times before, Charlie Booze Jr. drove from the pole to the Hot Street/Pro Stock title, taking more than a tenth of a second advantage at the tree and outrunning Andy Schmidt, 8.53 to 8.56.Jeremy Gillam could've put a dial-in on his Mustang this weekend in Mean Street and saved his best performance for last, posting a 9.87 in the final round alongside Denis Marrow and his 10.13.Jason Lee notched another victory in 275 Drag Radial, this time running an off-pace 7.80 to defeat a slowing Ronnie Diaz.The hot racing surface, with the sun beating down it all day long, wreaked havoc on racers in the final round, including Nostalgia Pro Street frontrunner David Beeson, who struggled to get the power down off the starting line, allowing Joe Bucaro to score a big upset victory, 7.27 to a charging 7.36.Bob Curran did what he needed to do in the final round, nailing a stellar .010 light, but he was no match for Bill Trovato, who cruised to another seven-second lap -- a 7.95 -- for the win.
Final Round Eliminations
Pro Street
L
Don Walsh Jr
1382
0.00
.034
6.011
248.71
R
CLint Hairston
1000
0.00
.067
6.871
158.22
Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W
L
David DeMarco
2012
0.00
.038
7.959
140.81
R
Eric LaFerraiere
2001
0.00
.039
6.865
221.85
Nostalgia Pro Street
L
David Beeson
3003
0.00
.098
7.368
193.82
R
Joe Bucaro
3
0.00
.072
7.277
187.89
Xtreme Street
L
Bill Trovato
4177
0.00
.052
7.959
171.62
R
Bob Curran
4005
0.00
.010
9.072
106.72
275 Drag Radial
L
Ronnie Diaz
6
0.00
.073
11.355
82.20
R
Jason Lee
1
0.00
.104
7.807
147.94
Hot Street/Pro Stock
L
Charlie Booze JR.
3398
0.00
.030
8.537
153.07
R
Andy Schmidt
5088
0.00
.137
8.561
159.25
Mean Street
L
Dennis Marrow
10333
0.00
.069
10.133
134.55
R
Jeremy Gillam
4
0.00
.134
9.877
133.72
Super Bowl Time!
Truck & Lightning winner Johnny Lightning had quite a wait, but chased down the Duster of Nostalgia Muscle Car winner Jerry Stamps, 9.24 to 11.95, to put one on the board for the NMRA team.
The racer known as "Beefcake," Terry Reeves, put a second point on the board for team NMRA by defeating EFI winner John McPartlin, who fouled away his chances with an -.023 red bulb. Reeves cruised on to a 9.69 winning elapsed time.
The two Open Comp representatives, Les Bigelow in his ’73 Camaro and Rodney Ward in his ’65 Mustang, squared off in the third matchup. Bigelow got the advantage out of the gate and ran dead-on his 10.21 dial to turn back Ward. Nostalgia Super Stock champ Joe Ewing and Open Comp winner Donnie Bowles were split a half a second in elapsed time in the fourth match. Ewing got away first and was never headed, running dead-on his 10.50 index while Bowles encountered what appeared to be axle woes near half track and slowed. Ewing adds another point to the NMCA total with his win.
Mean Street winner Jeremy Gillam was wheels-up and charging to his quickest run of the weekend, a 9.86, to chase down Factory Stock champion Matt Amrine to make it 3-2 NMCA.Coyote Stock champ Joe Charles was too early on the tree, and that instantly handed another point to team NMCA, as Bill Trovato cruised to the win to make it 4-2 NMCA.With the Hot Street and Pro Stock categories combined this weekend, the finalists were brought back for a re-match for the team showdown -- Charlie Booze Jr. representing the NMRA and Schmidt the NMCA. Once again, Booze denied Schmidt in an exciting drag race with side-by-side 8.51's to add a point to the NMRA total.Only two tenths separated this pair, with Lee locked in at 7.42 and Kroll at 7.63. Kroll was away first, .078 to .151, and was too much for Lee to chase down, blasting to a 7.54 to Lee's wheels-up and charging 7.47.
Image/s missing.
Brian Mitchell left first in this one and left first by a good margin as Joe Bucaro was dead-late with a .212 reaction time. Mitchell reeled off a great 8.47 and Bucaro's 7.29 wasn't enough to run the Renegade champ down.
Image/s missing.
This race brought down the house here at Route 66! With the NMCA ahead 5-4 and only one more match remaining, this was a decisive race for the NMRA. Hines way away away first and LaFerriere was dead-late, and that was all-she-wrote on this one. Hines knocked out his best run all weekend, a 7.19, to outrun the charging 6.80 of LaFerriere. With this, it was 5-4 NMCA.
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Following a late evening of qualifying that was cut short by the midnight curfew here at Route 66, we’re back for day two of the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing. On the schedule for today is the third and final round of qualifying, followed by the opening round of eliminations in the early afternoon. Last night’s second session for Super Street Outlaw and Pro Street will not be made up.
As reported in our Friday evening coverage, Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W racer Kevin Mitchell had an unfortunate incident during the second session of qualifying last night, causing considerable damage to his Chevrolet Camaro. “It just got out of the groove, made a hard left and hit the wall with the nose, and after that, it was all just a blur. It happened so fast. When I first made contact I thought, ‘okay this is fine, I spun and hit the wall and I’m fine,’ but then it comes back around and gets upside down and catches on fire.”
“Unlike a lot of these guys out here that do this for a hobby, this is my life. We’re definitely done for…a while…and we may be finished altogether. We’ll just have to get home and look at it and see what happens.”
Mitchell indicated that the chassis appeared mostly intact and straight from the firewall back, but the body, wheel tubs, and much of the rest of the car is unsalvageable. “It’s really hard to tell at this point, until we can get it apart and really check it all out to see what we can do with it,” said Mitchell.
With two rounds in the books and qualifying complete, it would seem the Pro Street tile this weekend goes through Clint Hairston, who qualified atop the field with his stout 6.03 yesterday afternoon off the trailer, followed up this morning with a 6.06 in the heat -- the quickest run of the day in the category.
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Pro Street was one of two categories to lose it's prime-time qualifying session last night to curfew, and the blistering sun beating down on the racing surface proved tough to handle this morning, as several racers struggled to get down the race track and improve their position on the ladder. Jeff Lutz finessed his way to a 6.34, while Don Walsh Jr. bobbled and pedaled to a 6.40 at a booming 250.97 mph to move himself all the way up to No. 6 in the order. Tim Pelech watches on as brother Ted makes his final qualifying attempt this morning. Pelech clocked a 7.09 best to position himself at No. 10 in the qualifying order and a first round date with Steve Summers.After struggling early last night in his lone shot at the race track, Tim Essick laid down a 6.73 at 216.10 mph to jump right up to the No. 5 spot in Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W. Essick will square off with Bill Houghton in his '69 Cuda in round one.Frank Mewshaw again made certain that mosquitoes weren't an issue here at Route 66, with smoke billowing from the exhaust. It didn't matter however, as Mewshaw made his best run of the weekend at 7.02 to qualify No. 9.Illinois native Brian Hicks' twin-turbocharged, Hemi-powered '74 Challenger is without a doubt one of the baddest rides on the property. Hicks has struggled thus far with only a 7.49 best, which will give him a date with No. 2 qualifier Tony Nesbitt in round one.
Final Qualifying Order
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Image/s missing.
Hot Rod Drag Week star Larry Larson is in the house with his unspeakably wicked Chevrolet Nova and came to the starting line alongside his buddy Joe Barry for a little exhibition match, but had troubles at the hit, backed off the starting line, and drove away. Larson and Barry both traveled out a week ahead of the big street car cruise-in at Gus's Drive-In next weekend, and the big talk around the pits is the pair is headed out on the town tonight with their six and seven-second street machines.The slight chance of rain in the forecast never materialized, but the ominous clouds rolled in during the first round of heads-up eliminations and brought some instant heat-relief to everyone here at Route 66.
Round One Eliminations
Pro Street
Image/s missing.
Bill Lutz, who qualified No. 2, reportedly dropped a valve in the final qualifying session and was unable to make the call for the first round of eliminations. Lutz was to face Steve Matusek, who cruised right down Broadway to his quickest run of the weekend at 6.18 at 248 mph. Local boy Dan Stevenson made the home crowd happy when he laid down his best run of the event - a 6.12 - to turn back the quicker-qualified Jeff Lutz in a great first round matchup.
L
Tony Williams
1003
0.00
.092
6.484
217.21
R
Randy Adler
1958
0.00
.054
6.573
230.53
L
Chris Rini
1010
0.00
.033
6.082
235.68
R
Dan Bills
1017
0.00
.025
6.651
205.98
L
Joshua Green
1020
0.00
.039
6.567
213.50
R
Don Walsh Jr
1382
0.00
.115
6.128
224.21
L
Jeff Lutz
5
0.00
.027
6.270
233.84
R
Dan Stevenson
1351
0.00
.089
6.129
232.15
L
Clint Satterfield
1720
0.00
0.000
0.00
R
Mario Orsimi
1957
0.00
4.977
9.893
87.16
L
Hector Laracuent
1034
0.00
.232
9.354
163.22
R
John Sullivan
1492
0.00
.073
6.069
236.34
L
Steve Matusek
1450
0.00
.275
6.188
248.07
R
Bill Lutz
1969
0.00
0.000
0.00
L
Scott Christoffel
1376
0.00
0.000
0.00
R
CLint Hairston
1000
0.00
.095
6.069
244.52
Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W
Mike Murillo popped off the quickest lap of the opening round - a 6.64 - to defeat one-time Xtreme Street racer Enzo Pecchini.
Image/s missing.
Willard Kinzer and David DeMarco were both among the eight racers in the full field of 16 that advanced on to tomorrow's second round.
L
Ted Pelech
2091
0.00
.013
11.869
135.71
R
Steve Summers
2918
0.00
.424
6.772
211.76
L
Frank Mewshaw
2840
0.00
.078
8.249
155.08
R
Mikey Rees
2025
0.00
.113
7.984
189.55
L
Eric LaFerraiere
2001
0.00
.024
6.777
221.60
R
Tommy Mauro
2810
0.00
.098
7.376
191.02
L
Tim Essick
1003
0.00
.033
7.250
201.94
R
Bill Houghton
2008
0.00
0.000
0.00
L
David DeMarco
2012
0.00
.322
9.678
96.19
R
David Laurer
2009
0.00
0.000
0.00
L
Brian Hicks
2930
0.00
.043
7.008
212.13
R
Tony Nesbitt
2999
0.00
.132
6.758
210.11
L
Joe Priola
2015
0.00
0.000
0.00
R
Willard Kinzer
2605
0.00
.231
7.459
188.23
L
Mike Murillo
1
0.00
.085
6.646
221.38
R
Enzo Pecchini
2521
0.00
.137
12.353
71.56
Nostalgia Pro Street
Image/s missing.
David Beesons' crew was mighty happy as the Baton Rouge, La. racer advanced to round two with an impressive 7.20 to back up his earlier 7.17 from qualifying for the quickest run of the round by a good margin. Shawn Baker launched with the wheels up, shook, pedaled, stood back up and rattled the tires some more before he finally reigned it in and watched Darren Breaud sail to victory at 7.31-seconds in the opening round.
L
David Beeson
3003
0.00
.102
7.202
192.36
R
Mitch Mika
3005
0.00
.038
7.715
180.36
L
Keith Mccoy
3074
0.00
.121
11.015
97.61
R
Joe Bucaro
3
0.00
.091
7.323
170.64
L
Brian Ambrosini
3025
0.00
.163
8.240
120.79
R
Skip Baskin
4
0.00
.068
7.353
187.18
L
Shawn Baker
3059
0.00
.079
7.801
181.69
R
Darren Breaud
3807
0.00
.145
7.314
187.63
L
Len Kennetz
3031
0.00
.393
17.440
104.57
R
Jeff Colletta
2
0.00
.041
7.355
189.34
L
Jill Hicks
3413
0.00
0.000
0.00
R
Rob White
3240
0.00
.062
7.442
186.51
275 Drag Radial
Image/s missing.
Aaron Stapleton (left) advanced to round two in the debut of Fast Forward Race Cars' brand new 275 Radial machine, carding a very competitive 7.68 to down Mike Alwardt. Jason Lee, meanwhile, did what he does best, crushing the hopes and dreams of everyone else in the category with a best-of-the-event 7.42 on his first round solo.
L
Mike Alwardt
10097
0.00
.061
8.221
180.94
R
Aaron Stapleton
6102
0.00
.039
7.682
182.97
L
Andrew Burian
10143
0.00
1.981
9.484
151.31
R
Dan Kroll
6116
0.00
.106
7.634
184.67
L
R
Jason Lee
1
0.00
.040
7.428
190.70
L
Georgina Buckley
6015
0.00
0.000
0.00
R
Ronnie Diaz
6
0.00
1.112
33.371
0.00
Xtreme Street
Bob Curran will have his hands full when Xtreme Street eliminations continues tomorrow, as the other two racers in the category to advance, Bill Trovato and Phil Smith, both outran his 8.15 with laps of 7.98 and 8.01 respectively.
L
David Hutrick
4827
0.00
.275
10.208
107.03
R
Bill Trovato
4177
0.00
.081
7.989
171.90
L
Danny Shemwell
4999
0.00
.126
8.420
147.84
R
Bob Curran
4005
0.00
.065
8.153
170.58
L
Phil Smith
4
0.00
.120
8.012
171.34
R
Dave Boemer
4333
0.00
.143
8.861
162.49
Hot Street/Pro Stock
Charlie Booze Jr., who shot to the head of the combined Hot Street/Pro Stock class in the final qualifying session, recorded low elapsed time of the opening round -- his 8.53 besting Shane Long's 9.08. Based on the round one numbers, the remaining two rounds should be interesting, with the slowest winning elapsed time belonging to Greg Delaney at 8.67.
L
Charlie Booze JR.
3398
0.00
.077
8.536
152.57
R
Shane Long
8
0.00
.022
9.087
145.64
L
Andy Schmidt
5088
0.00
.151
8.608
157.21
R
David Purlee
3116
0.00
.105
9.539
141.50
L
Don Bowles
3
0.00
.178
10.353
119.00
R
Greg Delaney
8G
0.00
.088
8.677
152.14
L
Don Baskin
3B
0.00
.063
8.562
154.88
R
Michael DeMayo
5117
0.00
.048
8.581
154.49
Mean Street
Jeremy Gillam was the pacesetter once again, parlaying a wheels-up charge into a 9.89 defeat of Shawn Johnson and his 10.16 in the first round. Brandon Alsept was the next closest challenger to Gillam with his opening round 10.06.
L
Shawn Johnson
10002
0.00
.067
10.162
132.82
R
Jeremy Gillan
4
0.00
.085
9.890
132.41
L
Doug Johnson
8
0.00
.073
10.553
127.63
R
Brandon Alsept
6
0.00
.166
10.066
133.72
L
Dennis Marrow
10333
0.00
.159
10.125
121.97
R
Michael Gocciardo
10150
0.00
.317
11.317
123.34
L
Derek Downs
10075
0.00
.449
10.723
125.59
R
Tommy Godfrey
10699
0.00
.132
10.189
132.76
We’re back in Joliet — the town made famous by the mischievous Blues Brothers — for the biggest and baddest street legal drag race all season long, the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing at the Route 66 Raceway. One of two combined events on the calendar, the stars of the NMRA Muscle Car Nationals Series and the NMRA All-Ford Drag Racing Series will join forces in combined categories and then battle it out for muscle car supremacy on Sunday afternoon, with the NMRA attempting to defend its title from last year. Dragzine and its sister site, StangTV, will be in the house all weekend long bringing you the news, notes, and photos from the street car extravaganza here in Chicagoland!
Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels. For all your high performance wheel and tire needs, look no further than Mickey Thompson.
For coverage from the NMRA side of the 7th annual Super Bowl, click HERE to launch StangTV.
As it usually is here in the middle of July, it's hot and muggy at the Route 66 Raceway, and that should play a pivotal role this weekend as tuners work to get a handle on the warm racing surface.This morning's testing session, which runs up until the first qualifying session at 3 p.m., is already underway with competitors in each and every category using the opportunity to get some tuning data in the heat before it counts later this afternoon. We'll have two rounds of qualifying today, at 3 and 7 p.m.
Former NMRA Pro 5.0 champion Don Walsh Jr. is in attendance here at Route 66, fresh off his first NHRA Pro Modified win just a week ago in Norwalk, Ohio over Troy Coughlin. “We had a really good weekend in Norwalk and made some consistent runs. We really got a handle on the car at Bristol when we got to the final round, and we were able to put it all together last weekend,” he said. Walsh, who last competed with the NMRA in 2006 before the Pro 5.0 category disbanded, took advantage of a lengthy break between Norwalk and the next NHRA event in Indianapolis to “see some old friends and make a few new ones” in his old stomping grounds. The Walsh Motorsports/Precision Turbo machine is the same Mustang campaigned by Jay Payne last season, and Walsh and Payne operated as a pseudo team operation earlier this season, but logistics between their team and Payne’s in California have limited their partnership. The twin turbo combination in the Walsh mount is similar to that of Payne’s a year ago. “This turbo combination is really about controlling the power, and in this heat, it’s as much about making the power as it is getting it to the race track,” said Walsh.
Chuck Samuel, who was here a year ago with Alex Viscardi, joined Steve Matusek's Aeromotive team in the off season and his addition has already paid dividends for the team in the NHRA Pro Modified ranks. Matusek made a test hit earlier this morning and overpowered the race track about 200-feet out, but his new BOSS-themed Mustang is s surefire contender this weekend.
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Californian Clint Hairston is making his second NMCA start this season here in Chicago with a completely re-worked race car. The Hairston team, with driver Clint and crew chief Jake (who builds the engines for Jeg Coughlin Jr.'s Mopar Pro Stock effort in Charlotte, N.C.), picked up their GTO from Jerry Bickel Race Cars this week following what team owner Jim Hairston described as a 'long list of changes.' Among those changes is a brand new nose with a cowl hood sans the former hood scoop and decals in place of the once-required factory headlight lamps. In all, the car has lost in the neighborhood of 30-pounds. Frank Mewshaw won't be winning any "best appearing" awards, but following a seven week repair job to replace the roof and repair the quarter panels and pillars following his crash in Atlanta, the former Super Street 10.5W champion was back in Maryland and is here in Chicago.
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The ageless Willard Kinzer, now 84 years of age, isn't slowing down any, but rather, is just finding ways to get quicker and faster. Kinzer has a brand new (to him) Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W machine here. David Wolfe, whom Kinzer purchased his familiar Super Street Fox body two years ago, did some work to this car before the Kentucky businessman purchased it last fall. Kinzer made a lap in the car last season, clocking a 6.74 in his very first pass down the race track. 'So far, I'm really enjoying the way this new car drives, but we're working to get me more comfortable with it, and that's our goal this weekend,' said Kinzer. Joe Barry, best known for his exploits on Drag Week with his good friend Larry Larson, towed all the way from Colorado to compete here this weekend with his absolutely stunning Tri-Five.The legendary A-Team Speed Shop from nearby Tinley Park, with driver Randy Adler, just missed making history here last year, when they clocked an oh-so-close 6.001 in qualifying, nearly becoming the first Pro Street car into the five-second zone. Adler went on to win Pro Street in convincing fashion and is back to defend his title this year.Bill Houghton, from "just ten minutes down the road," is debuting his brand new 1969 Plymouth Barracuda this weekend in Super Street 10.5W, with power from a 540-inch Donovan with a pair of 88mm turbos. Said Houghton, 'we competed with the Outlaw Super Stocks for years and I've wanted to build one of these Barracudas for years. I've really been wanting to do this. We spent two years building the car for Super Street, and after years of running nitrous, we made the switch over to the turbo combination. It's essentially the same engine we ran with nitrous, but we've done some work internally and got some help from Don Bailey to get the combination figured out.' Houghton finished the car recently and made one 1/4-mile test hit before arriving here at Route 66.John Sullivan, who was here two years ago at the Super Bowl with his centrifugally supercharged Dodge Stratus, is back with a new (to him) Camaro sporting a "huffer' protruding from the hood.
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The Pelech brothers -- Ted and Tim -- are out with their trick, nitrous-fed Third-Gen Camaro after several years away from the street legal drag racing world. 'We haven't been racing much of late, but we're out here trying to change that,' said Ted. Don Walsh Jr. was one of several heads-up racers to take a crack at the blisteringly hot race track this afternoon prior to the lanes closing for test 'n tune. Walsh, like so many others today, danced around early in the run and wisely lifted, coasting to an 8.10 following a nice 1.01 short time.In the Midwest, heat and humidity often equates to rain and thunderstorms, and the forecast for this weekend certainly contains some of that. We've managed to avoid showers in the Chicago areas thus far, but the ominous clouds have overtaken the sunlight as the first round of qualifying for Truck/Lightning and EFI await in the staging lanes.Joe Barry rolled to a nice and smooth 7.82 at a slowing 140 mph to close out the long morning and afternoon of testing.Jeremy Gillam went right to the top of the pack in Mean Street, carding a 9.934 at 132.96 mph.Tommy Godfrey was one of only three Mean Street racers to record a presentable run, carding a 10.10 to trail Gillam and Brandon Alsept.
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Don Bowles cruised right into the No. 2 slot with an 8.56, just a hundredth behind class leader Andy Schmidt at 8.55. Perennial favorite Charlie Booze Jr. was quicker than Schmidt to each of the early intervals before slowing to just a 9.74. Danny Shemwell carded an 8.11 in the opening round of Xtreme Street qualifying to earn the provisional No. 2 slot, just behind Phil "Corndog" Smith and his 8.07.Jill Hicks, wife of Super Street 10.5W racer Brian Hicks, competes in the Nostalgia Pro Street division behind the wheel of a Dodge Avenger. Hicks struggled in the first session and carded a coasting 15-second elapsed time.
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David Beeson, record holder in Nostalgia Pro Street many times over, bettered the current 7.24 national record with a killer 7.17 on his opening shot to easily pace the class. Darren Breaud meanwhile was one of several racers in the 7.3-7.4-second range, carding a 7.44. Mike Murillo encountered mechanical woes at the drop of the green and was towed off. The current national record holder at 6.49-seconds, Murillo will no doubt be back in tonight's improved conditions for another shot at it.Team owner Billy Midnight was fired up after his driver, Tony Nesbitt, sailed to the top of the Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5 order with a nice 6.65 in the opening qualifying session.Frank Mewshaw showed the crowd his best diesel tractor pulling impression with smoke pouring from the exhaust on the left side of the car, but once he released the transbrake and poured the coals to it, the Firebird was clean as a whistle on its way to a 7.11 at 192 mph.David DeMarco was the only other driver in the 6.60's during the opening round of 10.5W qualifying, rocketing to a 6.69 for the second spot.Clint Hairston reeled off a stellar 6.03, 245.94 mph blast to pace the 16-car Pro Street field after one round of qualifying.
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John Sullivan slid right into the No. 3 spot in his Camaro with a great 6.09, trailing only Hairston and Bull Lutz at 6.07. Randy Adler, meanwhile, slowed to just a 7.77. Don Walsh Jr. was all over the race track early on and pedaled his way to a 6.88 at 199 mph.Steve Matusek made a hard move toward the center line and made an impressive evasive move to keep from collecting the foam 330-foot timing block.John Leslie Jr. created some fireworks during the second session of NMRA Factory Stock qualifying.Jason Lee cruised to the top of the Drag Radial qualifying order with a 7.56 in the second session under the Route 66 lights.Charlie Booze Jr. put together a full run this time around to the tune of an 8.54, but unfortunately, Andy Schmidt in the other lane put together a little bit better one, carding an 8.53 to lead the Hot Street/Pro Stock field into Saturday's final session.Tim Essick has arrived! After a several week scramble following his crash in Maryland, the Essick team made the long haul to Chicago today and made it here in time to tech in and make a pass in the second session of Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W. Essick hopped and skated just of the starting line and slowed.Kevin Mitchell went for a wild ride in the second session of Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W qualifying. Mitchell was out of the groove near the center line for much of the length of the race track and finally lost it around the 100-foot mark, turning 180-degrees and making hard contact won the passenger side of the car. The Camaro burst into flames as it rolled to a stop. Mitchell quickly climbed from the battered car without injury, but the cleanup time effectively ran us into the midnight curfew. We'll have a sequence of photos of the crash added to the coverage in the morning.
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With David Beeson sitting out the second session, as he often does, Darren Breaud gathered all of the attention in Nostalgia Pro Street with a nice 7.30 to move himself up into the No. 2 slot. Jeff Colleta, meanwhile, slowed to a 12-second lap and will carry his earlier 7.50 into the final session tomorrow.
qualifying last night, causing considerable damage to his Chevrolet Camaro. “It just got out of the groove, made a hard left and hit the wall with the nose, and after that, it was all just a blur. It happened so fast. When I first made contact I thought, ‘okay this is fine, I spun and hit the wall and I’m fine,’ but then it comes back around and gets upside down and catches on fire.”
over Troy Coughlin. “We had a really good weekend in Norwalk and made some consistent runs. We really got a handle on the car at Bristol when we got to the final round, and we were able to put it all together last weekend,” he said. Walsh, who last competed with the NMRA in 2006 before the Pro 5.0 category disbanded, took advantage of a lengthy break between Norwalk and the next NHRA event in Indianapolis to “see some old friends and make a few new ones” in his old stomping grounds. The Walsh Motorsports/Precision Turbo machine is the same Mustang campaigned by Jay Payne last season, and Walsh and Payne operated as a pseudo team operation earlier this season, but logistics between their team and Payne’s in California have limited their partnership. The twin turbo combination in the Walsh mount is similar to that of Payne’s a year ago. “This turbo combination is really about controlling the power, and in this heat, it’s as much about making the power as it is getting it to the race track,” said Walsh.
