We’ve been met with blue skies and sunshine on this, the final day of the NMCA Muscle Car Nationals in Bowling Green, after yesterday’s complete washout of qualifying. There are showers in the forecast later this afternoon, however, and series officials are set to fire though today’s eliminations rounds in hopes of crowning some champions in the Aerospace Components Winners Circle before the weather arrives.
As always, a big thanks to the team at Comp Cams, the presenting sponsor of our same day coverage!
This is about as relaxed as Ed Rice has been all weekend long. After Jennifer Brooke Rice broke a rod on Thursday in testing, Rice headed back hone to Tennessee and built a fresh engine from top to bottom on Friday and through the night, returning on Saturday afternoon in time to drop the motor into Jennifer’s Mustang. Rice shared that the engine that broke was his old turbo motor, being run on nitrous with turbo pistons in it. The engine he rebuilt and brought back is a nitrous-specific motor, albeit wit a single turbo-intended piston in the No. 5 cylinder. Rice got the motor fired up last night and with no signs of oil leakage or other issues, is set to run the car today in the first round of Nitrous Pro Street eliminations.
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Cars in the lanes is a positive sign. Track officials worked hard this morning to get the remainder of the puddles and damp pavement dry, and we're about set to get underway with index eliminations and bracket time trials. With the help of Chris Nelson, Eric Gustafson, and Patrick Barnhill, Leroy Nabors Jr. got his Street Outlaw Mustang back together yesterday and is set to face Gustafson in round one this morning.A huge field of more than 50 Nostalgia Super Stockers are paired up and set to kick off the first round of the Dave Duell Classic this morning.
Eliminations Round One Ladders
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After all of their woes this weekend, the Rice family seemed due for a little luck on race day, and Jennifer Brooke Rice got just that in the first round of Nitrous Pro Street when Don Baskin uncharacteristically rolled the beams, lighting the red bulb and handing the free pass to Rice.Michael Biehle put together a stellar 5.95 at 248 mph to oust an out-of-shape Clint Hairston in the first round of Pro Mod to advance into the final round.
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As the No. 1 qualifier, Scott Oksas got the honor of a bye run in the first round into the final. Oksas was on another stellar pass when he visibly slowed around 1,000 feet with a cloud of smoke trailing the car through the lights as he clocked a 6.22 at just 235 mph. Keith Berry survived a bit of a first round scare, as his Corvette was lazy at the hit, forcing him to chase down Brian Green in the lights. Berry won it with a 4.61 to Greens’ 5.02.
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Phil Hines (left) arrived late here in Bowling Green and never got so much as a time trial run before rolling to the starting line for eliminations. Hines had no trouble setting his car up for the track, however, as he rolled to a 6.93 at 202.27 mph to dispatch a slowing Phil Smith. Eric Gustafson laid down another killer run in the first round opposite of Leroy Nabors Jr., carding a 6.844 at 203.28 for lane choice in the final. Like Hines, David Hutnick didn’t make a single qualifying run this weekend and was by default paired with No. 1 qualifier Paul Smith. Hutnick didn’t miss a beat, though, running low ET of the round at 7.74 for the win. Hutnick will take on John Warren in the semis, while Dan Baumann and Tony Alm will square off on the other side of the ladder.
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Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, and even an AMC...there's something for everyone in the Nostalgia Super Stock category here this weekend.
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Glenn Pushis (left) had low ET of the opening round of Chevrolet Performance Stock in his COPO Camaro at 10.60 to oust Keith Vaugh. Robbie Blankenship (right) made the quickest run of the opening round in N/A 10.5 at 7.920. Blankenship will face Dwight Ausmus in the second round a little later today.
Round One Results
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Well folks, it’s a wrap from here in Bowling Green. As we worked our way through the index categories and toward the second round of eliminations in the heads-up classes, the skies opened up once again and soaked the Beech Bend Raceway. Although the skies have since cleared, after calculating the time needed to dry the track and the impending rain that’s headed this way later this afternoon, the decision was made to pull the plug and conclude this event in Indianapolis next month. From all of us here at Dragzine, thanks for tuning in to our coverage, and be sure to check out out photo gallery below, with a look back at the weekend’s activities!
It’s day two of the NMCA Muscle Car Nationals here at the legendary Beech Bend Raceway Park, with two sessions of heads-up qualifying on tap, along with the Dave Duell Classic for the throngs of Nostalgia Super Stock competitors. As always, with the support of Comp Cams, we’ll be bringing you coverage throughout the day and the weekend, so keep it right here!
Well, this isn’t the way you want to start a busy day of drag racing. The forecast for this weekend had turned from bleak to so-so as the week progressed, but today’s 50% chance of precipitation proved to be inaccurate, as racers awoke to driving rains this morning. As of a little after 11 a.m. local time, the rain is still coming down and no decision has been made about today’s program as of yet.There hasn’t been much activity here at Beech Bend today, unless of course you’re a kid (or a kid at heart) and enjoy playing in the puddles.
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That's Jennifer Brooke Rice's Nitrous Pro Street Mustang, and that's the engine not in Jennifer Brooke Rice's Mustang. Brooke Rice put a rod through the block Thursday in testing and father Ed Rice has been burning the midnight oil, driving back home to Tennessee overnight to get new parts and repair the motor. Ed returned with the motor this afternoon and the team set right off getting it assembled to finish the weekend.
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Tumble Shoals, Arkansas native Brian Green is trying his hand at the Radial Wars class this weekend in a car borrowed from good friend, Donnie Hall. Green, who crewed for many-time NMRA Super Street Outlaw champion John Urist back in the mid-2000s, bolted a set of new Mickey Thompson 3062R radials to the car that has been 4.35 in Outlaw 275 trim in the past. The car, originally built and campaigned by Randy Westmoreland, features power from a 568 cubic inch big block Chevrolet with a pair of 88mm turbochargers. Green encountered some issues with the oil pump primer prior to yesterday's first session of qualifying and was unable to make the call. Despite the best efforts of the Beech Bend track crew and NMCA officials to get the track dry, a thunderstorm that’s presently skirting the race track dropped some brief showers in the shutdown area during the drying process, and with more rain forecast for later this evening, the announcement has been made that today’s activities have been cancelled. With even more precipitation in the forecast for tomorrow, series officials aren’t taking any chances and have moved the eliminations program up, with Pro Mod set for round one at 10 a.m. in an effort to beat Mother Nature.
After a short one-year hiatus, the National Muscle Car Association returns to the fabled Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky this weekend for the Quick Fuel Technologies Muscle Car Nationals. Keep it tuned right here as we bring you same day coverage, presented by our friends at Comp Cams, all weekend long.
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If there were a long haul award this weekend, it would certainly have to go to Pro Mod racer Scott Oksas, who is here all the way from Southen California with his twin-turbo 1970.5 Camaro. Oksas made a couple of solid short hits in testing yesterday and then made a statement in the muggy afternoon testing session today, storming to a 5.93. If you like old school iron, there’s no shortage of that here in Bowling Green, as the annual Dave Duell Classic, honoring the late class racing pioneer, has brought out more then fifty of these iconic machines from the 1950s and 60s.
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Following his acrobatic exploits at Lights Out 6 in South Georgia back in February and the subsequent repair of his familiar 'Golden Gorilla' 1968 Camaro, DeWayne Mills is making his return to competition this weekend in Radial Wars. Repairs to the Camaro were completed this week and the team had just enough time to test at Holly Springs this week, laying down a best of 4.08. Maypearl, Texas native Leroy Nabors Jr. is making his NMCA debut here this weekend in his “Give God The Glory” Street Outlaw Mustang. Not only in this his series debut, but it’s also his first foray into quarter-mile racing. Nabors’ story is particularly unique in that he’s only been racing a short time — sharing with us that he’s only been down a dragstrip in any type of vehicle less than 30 times. His motivation stemmed from his 20-year old son, who battles with Cystic Fibrosis and dreamed of going racing. So Nabors, with a fearless personality, bought a former grudge car, befriended esteemed tuner Patrick Barnhill, and went X275 racing. The car, in Street Outlaw trim, features a 402 cubic inch small block Chevrolet with Brodix 18-degree “X” heads and a Precision Pro Mod 88mm turbocharger. Nabors plans to follow the rest of the NMCA tour, along with some 15 additional events in X275. He and Barnhill discovered water in the intake manifold during a testing hit yesterday, and were busy checking things out and making repairs today in preparation for qualifying.
Round One Qualifying Order
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Glenn Pushis motored right to the top of the Chevrolet Performance Stock class in the opening session in his gorgeous COPO Camaro with a 10.55 at 125.34 mph. Pushes leads Kevin Lumsden, who sits second with a 10.72 from his ’99 Camaro.
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Another California runner who finds himself a long way from home, Eric Gustafson, stormed to an incredible 6.826 at 203.46 mph from his '89 Mustang to lead Street Outlaw qualifying.
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Two California-based racers, Scott Oksas and Clint Hairston, put on a killer side-by-side run in qualifying, with Oksas (left) getting the upper hand with a 5.92 from his Camaro. Hairston, who is running an all-new big block engine combination this year, was right there with a 5.95.
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Radial Wars points leader Keith Berry unloaded on the field in the first session tonight, running 4.17 to pace the seven-car field. Frank Newsham, who won the most recent event in Atlanta, sits second with a 4.25. Joe Bucaro, with he fresh new paint scheme he debuted this season on his 2004 Mustang, leads Nitrous Pro Street by a mere two-thousandths of a second — his 7.249 leading Don Baskin’s 7.251.
