Sunday morning brought the fog to Bradenton as we pushed the clocks ahead an hour and we move into eliminations at the 17th annual NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem.Edelbrock Xtreme Street racer Ray Cox got loose on the gear change in the final qualifying session last night. He worked the steering wheel hard in collision avoidance maneuvers but wound up nosing into the wall near the 1/4-mile.
Cox walked away unhurt and the car escaped with major damage but will need a new nose section and tree to mount the front end as well as some repairs to one quarter panel and at least one wheel. He was still searching for a cause that initiated the incident but it may have just lost traction at the gear change as he was having trouble with that on earlier runs. He had thoroughly checked over and inspected the car and found zero leaks. We're just glad Ray is unhurt in what could have easily been a serious wreck.
James Lawrence leads Mickey Thompson Street Outlaw with a 4.389 at 166 mph in his NMCA debut with his new SO/X275 spec Mustang.Leonard Long has made some consistent runs this weekend to lead the FST Carbs NA 10.5 class.Dwight Ausmus has a fresh bullet for 2019 with some updates to the Tiger heads and a new All Pontiac Tiger intake manifold for increased airflow. The engine was on the pump at BES last week and Dwight installed the engine here in Bradenton. We asked about the number but Dwight was evasive, telling us “everything went a little higher RPM-wise.” He qualified fifth with a 7.96.Real Speed Racing’s Walter Drakeford is one of the latest racers to make the switch to Procharger. The engine was unchanged internally and Patrick Barnhill offered his help to get the tune updated for the new power adder and then Walter, Patrick and Marty Chance had a conference call to select a new converter which is working very well. This is his third race with the new combo with a best so far at Orlando last weekend of 4.73 at 151. He wound up fifth on the sheet with a 4.75 with the F1A91 head unit at 3,075 pounds.Leah Pritchett earned tenth spot in Holly EFI Factory Super Car with a 7.93 at 172 mph in the DSR backed 2015 Dodge Challenger. Did I mention we totally love the graphics on this car?? Old school to the front please.Patricia Musi landed second in ARP Nitrous Pro Street with a 4.48 running out of the Bankston Racing camp.Jeff Ensslin earned top spot in ARP NPS driving the Patrick Patterson-owned ’68 Camaro. His son Jeff is qualified in the teams Trans Am but lost the crankshaft and thrust bearing in the second session. The team has a spare engine at the shop and may be able to make the call for round one later today.Team MMR’s Greg Seth Hunter landed seventh in Xtreme Pro Mod with a 3.81. The team is looking for a 3.70 this weekend and is getting getting close. Mark Luton’s car was suffering some electrical issues and did not qualify this weekend.Mark Hoadland has a new engine based around an aluminum block from HRE. The team worked hard to finish it up and replace the jet boat engine he was using before. They finished the car here after dynoing late Friday night. He went number two off the trailer and wound up in third with a 4.500. The team from left to right is, Steve Constantine,Mark Hoagland, Jordan Hoagland, John Sloan, Harry Ridenour and engine builder Daryl Hameetman.
Xtreme Pro Mod had an interesting round one today with John Stanley facing off with Greg Seth Hunter. Stanley left before the tree activated and Hunter left on time but the car made a move to the center and he struggled keeping the car in his lane. Ultimately, he crossed and hit the 1/8-mile markers but the rules are worst-or-first and Stanley’s early launch effectively gave Hunter a single run and the round win.Xtreme Pro Mod Top Qualifier Joe Baker advanced with a 3.74 at 199 over Kyle Megginson running out of Jackson, Mississippi.Jim Widener put his BES Corvette into round two of Xtreme Pro Mod with a win over Shane Novak, a 3.79 at 196 over Novak’s 3.92 at 192.Steve Summers wound up in a single after Feeney’s Camaro would not engage reverse. He ran a 3.94 at 168.Paul Roderick Jr. was paired up with Terry Monroe in Holley EFI Factory Super Car, earning the round win with a 7.96 to Monroe’s 8.02.Leah Pritchett had a nice wheels-up launch and earned her way to round two with an 8.01 at 170 to get by Kevin Lumsden’s COPO.Mark Pawuk would do his job on the tree taking a hole-shot win over Scott Libersher with an 8.03 to Libersher’s 7.97.John Langer scored a round win in FST Carbs NA 10.5 over Don Baskin, running an 8.03 to Baskin’s 8.10. He faced some trouble in the shut down as his chute failed to deploy and wound up in the field trying to stop. He and the car are OK and will make round two. Langer had some extensive upgrades done in the offseason, including a front half, back half and double frame rail upgrade. He told us this will probably be his last year running an NA combination, “It’s set up for multiple classes now with multiple rear suspension set ups. We made it versatile so that we could do anything we want with it. It’s pretty light so we can move ballast around where we need to for any classes we want to run.” We asked what his plans were and he said ” We got some things in the works..”
Don Baskin and Jordan Ensslin faced off in ARP Nitrous Pro Street. Ensslin traveled back home for a spare engine overnight and made the call but it would not make the trip, kicking off two rocker arms on the pass as Baskin went on to earn the win with a 4.75.Archie Marasco (near lane) and Walter Drakeford from Real Speed Racing faced off with each other in round one today — an unfortunate pairing for the Clearwater, Florida-based team. Marasco failed to hook and Walt went right down running a 4.87 at 154 MPH.Phil Hines got left on the tree by Florida based Brian Criste who hole shotted his way to a round win with a 4.70.Troy Pirez Jr would skate his way to round two on luck as number one Xtreme Street qualifier Lou Iacopetti went red. Pirez struggled getting the General Lee to grab the starting line in qualifying so this was a big break for him.“The Chicken Man” Tripp Carter made it through to round three in Factory Super Cars with his Watson Racing prepped machine. From left to right is Chuck Watson II, his wife Robin Watson, Janet Roderick and Wanda Carter, Tripp’s wife.
Joe Baker is still in Xtreme Pro Mod with his blown Vette, getting around Billy Albert in round three. “We got a little loose out there,” he said “but still won it, made a decent pass. He shook right off the line and I had to pedal it one time. This is our first time out since October and we are going to try this NMCA deal for this year. Baker made some changes to the program the middle of last year and made two or three NMCA races. Baker uses Chuck Ford engines and blowers.
In the semifinals, Baker was involved in an accident while racing Tom Blincoe. He moved towards the center and the car got loose and crossed over the line. He avoided contact with Blincoe but hit the right side wall and ricocheted to the other lane, hitting the wall very hard. We are going to publish the official word from the NMCA’s Steve Baur here:
Xtreme Pro Mod driver Joe Baker was involved in an on-track incident at Bradenton Motorsports Park earlier this afternoon during the semifinals of the NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem event. The NMCA safety team extricated Baker from the vehicle. Upon extrication, Baker was alert, talking, and moving his extremities. Baker was transported to a local medical center for a complete evaluation.
Chris Holbrook supplies engines to Ray Skillman Racing and was over there getting one swapped in to his car the other day after a miss caused a head gasket failure. “Our day started out really good; we got by round one, round two, just tuned on it a little and went an .83 so, I don’t know, I think maybe we can win this thing.” Chris told us. Chris runs a 2018 Cobra Jet updated with a new front end with a John Holt chassis with Varsity Ford as the major sponsor. Here a crew member is packing the ‘chute preparing for round two while Chris is on the lap top.Bill Lee Jr. stole the show in the Hemi Shootout and the Arrington/Redline Quick 8 coming away with the win in both classes over two days.
Steve Cagle made the trip south this week for the NMCA 2019 season opener and promptly shattered his driveshaft in the burnout box on the first day here. Luckily for him, and John Langer, who also had a driveshaft issue, Precision Shaft Technologies (PST) is based in Clearwater and is equipped as a full service driveshaft shop and was able to get replacements out here on short notice. He qualified sixth with a 4.59 and made a couple of rounds before taking a loss to James Lawrence’s turbocharged Mustang in Street Outlaw. Cagle ran one event with the NMCA last year and has been doing some X275 and grudge racing close to home the past few years. He plans to attend Memphis and Atlanta and will determine the rest of his season on how the car does. He runs a BES 582 topped with nitrous from Induction Solutions and just put in a Rossler three speed transmission before coming here. “We have some tweaking to do, probably have to change some gearing around and maybe adjust the converter some. I’ll have to call Kenny over at PTC and see what he thinks after looking at the data.” Steve told us.
Final Results Sheets
Tom Blincoe earned the VP Racing Fuels Xtreme Pro Mod win this weekend in his David Monday Race Cars 1963 Corvette over Jim Widener. Blincoe got faster every round ending the day with a 3.75 at 201 for the Procharger boosted Chevy. Widener had a little tougher road to the final and pulled off an upset over Steve Summers in the semi final running a 3.80 at 198 to Summer’s off pace 3.88 at 175. Jim and Tom were near identical at the tree but Widener lost traction early and smoked the tires approaching the sixty foot.“It was definitely a fairy tale weekend, we had a wonderful time. Drew’s car, the third pass down the track was a bullet. We worked really hard, we came to Bradenton and tested earlier and worked our tails off and I think it’s really showing…” Bill Skillman told us after the winner circle photos. “Chris Holbrook builds great power but we still have to get it down the track, you gotta get the suspension working and the right gear ratios. I really have to thank Tomi Laine and Dave Yudeny, who are our co crew chiefs of course my son Drew, Joey Gwynn, Anthony Bivens who is one of our great crew guys Everybody works their tails off, Turbo who drives the truck really was a lot of support in the pits this weekend. We had Tommy and Dave come over from the Pro Stock team, and they’ve got a lot of knowledge. These cars are going fast, not just because of the power but because of the whole package. I’m really happy, it’s a good win, I’m excited for this eight race series with the NMCA, COPOs against the Cobra Jet Mustangs and the Drag Pak cars, everybody has a lot of fun, it’s a great class.” The main sponsors for the Skillman team are Valvoline and Axalta Coatings along with Ziebart, AAGI Insurance Group and Indianapolis Car Exchange. The Skillman’s run a fourteen location dealership franchise with eighteen brands in the Indianapolis area.James Lawrence ran the table in Street Outlaw this weekend scoring a 3.38 to top qualifying and earning the event win in a close match with Shawn Pevlor. Lawrence’s strategy is to race the track and play the odds. He softened it up in the heat to a 4.50 earning his way by Steve Cagle, then put up back to back 4.442’s in the semis against Eric Kenward and the final. Pevlor, who is driving Tony Bischoff’s Mustang piloted in previously by Nick Bacalis, was right there all weekend and tested the track to the three thirty on a semi final single before running a 4.488 next to Lawrence. Lawrence purchased the car from Daniel Pharris who nearly won the championship last year with it and converted it to an 85 MM turbo on alcohol for the 2019 season and use horsepower from KBX. Lawrence is a multi time NMCA Champion and is looking for another one in 2019. “We have a great crew, these guys work their ass off..” Lawrence told us. “ We had Matt Kesatie crew for us this weekend coming on board to help out here in Bradenton… This was a tricky race to win, when Ayers broke it gave us a better path to the finals, I didn’t have to go through him, but every round is important. I’m a percentages racer” He said. “I try not to beat myself, so we’re kinda going forty four, we went a fifty when it was really hot in round two. I gotta thank my crew this weekend Joseph Trujillo, Chase Driskell, Dean Jigamian and Matt Kesatie, we can’t do this without all the guys hard work. My wife Melissa most of all and my family for supporting me and the team out here.” Lawrence uses VP Fuels, Precision Turbo 85 MM Gen 2 with a special thanks to Aeromotive Fuel Systems, Total Seal Rings and Diamond Pistons for coming through in the clutch.Patricia Musi and the team faced a hectic week to get the ARP Nitrous Pro Street Camaro back together for the the event this weekend. Once the engine was back in the weather was bad the the team came here without any testing. “ We came here blind and you know me I want to win all the time,” she told us. “So we busted and busted hard and sure enough the first race out we won it and I am more than happy with everything. I gotta thank my husband Michael Bankston, all my crew, Kyle, Ashton, Hayden, Aaron, Doug and Kate, they’ve been awesome. I’m just happy to put Papa in the winner circle again and I plan to do it a lot more this year” Photo Courtesy BME photography.Mark Hoagland showed up late on Saturday morning with a new HRE aluminum 632 and ended qualifying third with a 4.50. “Hats off to Daryl and the whole crew, Jordan Hoagland, Mark, Harry Ridenour, Steve Constantine and the big thanks to Daryl for the amazing job and dedication to give us a solid engine and get us to the winner circle.” Crew Chief John Sloan told us. “ Most important is all of our wives and the support they give us, they couldn’t make it this weekend but for all the support and help, Daryl’s wife for putting up with all the late nights at the shop, without their support we wouldn’t be able to do all this. I can’t forget Clayton Murphy from Chassis Engineering, he is a huge part of our success getting us the right shocks and getting the chassis set up right” Hoagland runs an FTI transmission and bolt together converter with a recent round up upgrades to the car from Cameron Johnson Race Cars.Troy Pirez Jr finally found the winning set up on a round two single scoring a 4.73 at 148 earning him lane choice with Bill Trovato in the semis. Pirez took an .008 advantage at the tree and the pair were locked side by side to the stripe with Pirez earning the round with a 4.774 to Trovato’s 4.794. The other pair was Tony Orts and Troy Pirez Sr with Tony pushing the tree and leaving early, ending a good weekend for the Oswego, Illinois based Racer. The old man took the tree in the final and made his best run of eliminations but Jr earned the win taking the stripe first with a 4.717 at 149.72 to a 4.744 at 149.87. “We struggled all weekend, we didn’t make it down the track four runs in a row, knocked the tires off every time. It came together though and we go the win.” he told us. “Sr. left first but I horsepower him/ It was then thousandths margin of victory at the end.” Pirez uses Fast Forward Race Engines, Diamond Pistons, PTC converters with PRKE nitrous and owns Innovative Racecraft based in Tampa. Ruben Pino crew chief with Ron Fondaw and Bill Gregan on the crew.Leonard Long earned top qualifier and the event win in FST Carbs NA 10.5 this weekend after meeting in the final with John Langer’s 69 Trans Am. Long was away first and held the advantage to the stripe running a 7.89 at 174 to Langer’s best effort during eliminations 7.79 at 173 after showing up with freshly redone ride. Photo courtesy BME Photography.
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Tripp Carter has the newest FS/XX car out of Watson Racing camp and has been associated with the team for about three years. Tripp and Chuck Watson II got their competition licensees together at Joliet and campaigned a 2016 Cobra Jet a couple of years ago before selling it and commissioning a shootout car from Watson. A new 2019 Ecoboost model was sourced and delivered to Watson’s shop for the build. Carter has raced in several venues including motocross, offshore boats and has been drag racing for nearly ten years now. Carter owns Gus’s Friend Chicken based out of Memphis, which was founded about twenty years ago and now has 35 locations. “I’ve been working toward doing this for a long time and finally getting to enjoy myself, and Watson built me a killer car to go and do that,” Tripp told us. He picked the car up a week ago Friday and came right down to Florida to get some runs in and get acclimated to the car. He has been only 8.60’s prior to this weekend so the team is being cautious and creeping up on the tune, making quite a few partial runs as Tripp gets more comfortable. Tripp qualified last night with an 8.005 at 175 mph. Watson Racing has four cars in class this weekend and will field these and share data all year at NMCA and NHRA events. Those cars include Chuck Watson Sr, Tripp Carter, Paul Roderick Jr., and Gardner Stone. Tripp pictured at right with Chuck Watson II.
Bill Skillman and his son Drew set tongues a’wagging last night after putting up a pair of 7.70’s on the board in Holley EFI Factory Super Cars, making them the two quickest cars in the class’ history. Ray Skillman Racing was founded by Bill’s father, Ray who has drag raced since the 1950’s. When Bill was born he stepped away to start a family. Ray returned to racing in the ’70’s trying his hand at some asphalt circle track racing and then again in the 1980’s and raced in some different series: the K&N, All Pro Series and ASA, so the family has a long racing history. Eventually that morphed into Bill looking to order a couple of 2008 Cobra Jet Mustangs for his dealership but he was later getting in and the run was sold out for that year.
“So we ordered a couple of 2010 models and they happened to come in while I was out of town and when I came back they were gone.” Bill told us, “My father and son stole both cars and took them to the race track and that is how it all started.” The cars were both stick shift, one with a 4.0L blower and the other a 2.3L combo, so one ran in NHRA Stock and the other in Super Stock. Fast forward to 2018 and the team ran the black car a few times with limited success, winning a couple of rounds out of three or four events. Ford was at a power disadvantage with their small 302-inch engine and some changes were in the works with Ford and NHRA to allow some changes for 2019. The approvals added some stroke to the crank and a new, more more efficient supercharger with Skillman citing a significant drop in air intake temps compared to the older combo.
The car Drew drives is the 2019 number two Cobra Jet with Geoff Turk owning the number one car currently under construction at Watson Racing. The Skillman’s took the car and finished it themselves with a four week thrash to get down to Florida for NMCA season opener.
“We got after it last night” Bill said. “The weather conditions were good, Kurt does a fabulous job here. It’s like Disney World. You’re not gonna’ run these kind of numbers at an NHRA event with the totally different prep, it’s just not gonna’ happen, but even here with the little 9-inch tires we are getting wheel spin on the top end.”
Drew put up the quickest pass, a 7.704 at 176.29. We asked him about the run: “I was really surprised. I didn’t think the car ran that good. I knew we were on a decent pass, our fastest pass for sure, but that was only the third run on the car.” The 2019 model is a four link rear suspension and the black car has a three link arrangement so the chassis are very different to set up and doesn’t carry over from one car to the other but the engine, tuneup and gear ratios are the same. “It surprised us to run that fast … we were hoping to be somewhere under 7.80, so we didn’t think we were gonna’ run that fast,” said Bill. The previous best was a 7.81. Pictured from left to right: Drew and Bill Skillman.
Scott Libersher has three FS/XX cars on the team of five cars with his son Lenny in one and Dan Condon in the third car. The team has been in the sevens while testing and both Scott and Lenny made it into the Holley EFI 7 Second Club in last night’s qualifying session. Magnuson Superchargers, Mickey Thompson and VP Fuels are some companies involved with the hard working group which is looking for more partners to come onboard with the Joliet, Illinois based team. From right to left: Scott and Lenny Libersher. Libersher uses Ray Barton Racing Engines tuned by David Barton.
Lou Iacopetti tops the qualifying sheet for Edelbrock Xtreme Street with a 4.651 at 149 MPH, just ahead of Troy Pirez Sr. and is on-track for a record performance with an official backup. He runs a 522 big-block Chevy from Bill Trovato backed by Pro Torque and Proformance Racing Transmissions and topped with Nitrous Outlet Stinger 3 plate. Lou purchased the car in 2015 and has progressed in baby steps since then getting quicker every year, runnning around the Chicago area and some Ultra Street events. “The car has been working well and I want to give a shout to Kevin Stevens and my partner John Galloway, we’ve been baby stepping and got where we want to be right now.” Lou told us.
Longtime racer and NMCA/NMRA participant Tony Jarvis waved us over to show off his new car, a Cobra Jet Mustang he purchased out of Arizona. The car had never been raced and he put two laps on it right away and competed in the NMRA’s Coba Jet Showdown here last weekend. His best run was yesterday was an 8.78 at 154. Tony has a burgundy ’66 Mustang he has raced for years and let his friend drive here last weekend with everyone having a blast. His home track is New England Dragway where he has been running Super Street 10.90 or 10.50 Outlaw, and 6.50 index with that car here at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Jarvis has raced since the mid 1970s but took some time off for the family business, Jarvis Appliance, in 1981. He got married and had children before getting back involved at the racetrack in 2005. Tony’s father founded the business in 1957 which is now run by he and his sister.
Final Qualifying Results
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The 2019 NMCA season is officially underway here in Bradenton, Florida and we have some excellent weather on tap for the weekend. “Fast” Frank Cersosimo acquired this Bickel-built Chevy Cavalier last year and did some shakedown runs at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals here in December. The car features a Buck Racing Engines powerplant and Frank told he is eagerly looking forward to campaigning the new car this year.
Chuck Watson Sr. had low ET in the Holley EFI Factory Supercars while testing this morning, running a 1.23, 5.06 at 139, and 7.83 at 177 MPH — a significant improvement over the numbers here last year due to some rule revisions in the offseason. Geof Turk was the first class car to break into the sevens here last year and the Chevy and Ford cars have new blowers for 2019 which has evened up the field. Watson mentioned the new blower, a Whipple now displacing 3.0L, and a stroked crank as differences.
“Actually we’re doing real good and we’ve got some more tune to put in the car and we’re just going to be a little conservative and creep up on it and prepare for Gainesville next weekend.” All four of the Watson Racing cars here ran in the sevens so far this week including the new team member, Trip Carter, “The Chicken Man”. Round one of qualifying is sure to be exciting as the various racers vie for spots in the 7 second club.
Jim Widener is back at it in Pro Mod for 2019 with one obvious change to the car: it’s got a hood scoop now. After using a blower injector hat as the throttle body in order to see out of the car better for about two years they fought some tuning issues with car stalling and idling issues because of the major increase to plenum volume. The car runs exactly the same under power so the team at BES decided to scrap that idea and go back to throttle bodies, using a pair of twin oval units from Vizner. Jim scored a new best with the car this morning running a 3.80, the quickest nitrous car in the test session this morning. The engine displacement was also increased from 903 to 944 as the team will not campaign the NHRA circuit this year.Tony Bischoff’s Street Outlaw Mustang has a new look and a new driver for 2019 with Shawn Pevlor now behind the wheel. Crew Chief Preston Mosher got us up to speed on some of the changes: “It’s a different class this year, pretty much everything is changed around with a different cubic inch to the build and an additional 200 pound weight added per the 2019 rules package. We de-stroked the engine in anticipation of changes and it didn’t actually work out in our favor after it all shook out but we are doing alright so far … it’s gonna’ be a hard year to try to keep up.” The amazing paint work is by Chris Alexander. So far Shawn has been 160 MPH but the team is pushing the engine harder than they would like to do it. Pictured left to right: Preston Mosher and John O’Neill.Former Coyote Modified Champion Joe Guertin has switched to Renegade/Extreme Street for 2019 using an MPR-built Coyote engine backed by an ATFSPEED transmission and converter and fed with a Procharger with Chet Caminita as crew chief and Hartline Performance tuners. Joe and Chet from CRE Performance have campaigned the car from test n tune days at PBIR to Coyote Stock and now Xtreme Street for some years now.
Round One Qualifying Results
The big news of the day involves the Holley EFI Factory Super Car class with Ray Skillman Racing's Drew and Bill Skillman jumping in with both feet straight to the 7.70's with Drew scoring a 7.704 at 176 MPH to top the qualifying order so far. The Skillman team was long gone celebrating by the time qualifying was finished today so we will speak with them first thing Saturday morning. One thing we can say beyond doubt is the they are well prepared and sent shock waves through the crowd when the board lit up.
The Holley EFI Seven Second Club is now filled ( unofficially at press time until cars are cleared by the tech department) with Geoff Turk breaking down the barrier here last year and the rest of the five cars to be included sealed the deal in the first qualifying session this evening. They are: Chuck Watson, Scott Libersher, his son Lenny Libersher, and Carl Tasca. Congratulations gentlemen, and all involved with their various programs. The cars were qualified in predetermined order based on previous performance so the cars in the Holley EFI Seven Second Club are the first, not the fastest cars to qualify. Pictured from left to right, Chuck Watson Sr., Lenny Libersher and Scott Libersher. Tasco is the highest qualified car in the 7 Second Club with a 7.82 at 176, good for third after the round.
The DSR Racing Mopar's ran well and both cars carded seven second runs with Mark Pawuk running, a 7.993 at 170 and Leah Pritchett following that with a 7.938 at 172.
Milton, Florida based Joe Baker (right) leads the Xtreme Pro Mod field with a 3.72 at 201 MPH in his blown 2016 Corvette. Tinley Park, Illinois based Randy Adler and the A Team Speed Shop team sit second in class with a 3.77 at 198.
Former Radial Wars Champion James Lawrence is racing Street Outlaw for 2019 since the NMCA moved away from that class in 2019. His new car was formerly campaigned by Daniel Pharris and has underwent some changes since then, including a switch to alcohol based fuel. He currently sits on top of Mickey Thompson Street Outlaw with a 4.389 at 166 MPH after running a .37 in testing. J. Money99 was today's good luck charm. Don Baskin sat out 2018 after a difficult recover from knee replacement surgery but is back with a vengeance and two cars, one in NPS, the other in NA 10.5, a newer style GTO with the old school Judge graphics. He ran an 8.08 earlier and sits fourth with an 8.11 after one session running a six hundred cubic inch Chevy from BES and TH 400 from RPM Transmissions with Dewco rear end out back. He is also running in NPS with his former Championship winning car. Don told us he had not missed a year of racing since he was fifteen and a half years old and it was not a fun time sitting out the season. He still has the first car he raced back in 1976, a 1963 Impala with a 409 and three on the tree stick shift car back home in his museum.Leonard Long ran very well in FST Carburetors NA 10.5 scoring a 7.84 at 175 MPH.Dwight Ausmus (pictured) and Robbie Blakenship were neck and neck for second with Ausmus getting the nod by .005.John Langer moved to the left on his run and lifted. You can see the wheeli bar is not hitting evenly and needs some adjustment so they won’t turn the car. This small tire class is a difficult road when you have to rely on bars to work the tire and suspension, it’s fin line to walk but very rewarding when it all comes together.ARP Nostalgia Pro Street had seven cars enter today with Ensslin racing leading the field with the two car team. Jordan, pictured here took second to Jeff Ensslin who is driving a red 68 Camaro.David Munday suffered some transmission damage on his attempt in XPM this afternoon. The team was tearing it down when we dropped by the pits and found at least a broken sprag. They should be good to go in the morning.The Libersher pits was the happening spot to be tonight with the Super Car tech inspection. It’s a long day for them after making it in to the club with cylinder pumping and an assortment of details to check.Street Outlaw has a new face in the class this year with Tony Hobson driving the AEM Infinity sponsored Mustang based out of St Louis. Tony has been drag racing for three years and comes from a family steeped in racing coming up from dirt modified and go carts, getting started at just five years old. Hobson’s father raced for some years, taking time off to raise a family and promote his son’s racing careers. After college the boys branched off doing their own thing a bit and he got back into dirt modified. Tony started drag racing on his own and was soon hooked up with JCP out of Maryland and it snowballed from there to a serious effort with the NMRA/NMCA. Tony as a lot of folks involved with his program, including Extreme Racing Oil, BMR, HPJ Performance, Cortex, RGR Engines, Proformance Racing Transmissions, Neal Chance Racing Converters, Weldon, VP Racing Fuels, The Brake Man, DeatschWerks Fuel Systems, and Weld Racing. The car was built at Larry Jeffers Race Cars where Tony works as a fabricator and chassis set up. Pictured from left to right, Tony Hobson and his grandfather Gary.
