We are ready for race day here in Bradenton to kick of the 2016 outlaw racing season with slightly warmer temps and mostly cloudy skies today. We will be updating through the day to bring you the latest results and news from the pits till the last car goes down the track. A special thanks to Comp Cams, the presenting sponsor of our event coverage, for making it possible!
Mark Kopf puts some new rubber on one of the tractors this morning before the crew begins prep for Pro Drag Radial.A racer crew member tests the track surface this morning before first round of heads up eliminations. Things are looking good so far this morning.We had a prayer this morning before the National Anthem about 11:30. You can see Bill Futch in the background, he faced off with Josh Klugger putting up a best of weekend 4.16 to take the win over Klugger who lost traction shortly after the 60′.The way the ladder came down the other cars in class all had single runs. The Fast Forward Innovations crew must have figured something out as Thornton picked up over a tenth and seven miles per hour to a 4.05 at 187. Low ET for the round went to Scott King in The Golden Retriever with a 3.99 at 190 MPH.Billy Driscol (near lane) paired up with Brian Keep in round one of Ultra Street with both drivers not quite awake yet. Keep would earn a berth in round two running a 5.03 at 138 to Driscoll’s 5.01 at 149.Bill Gregan and Kirk Hatley also had a close match with Gregan putting up a .019 reaction. Hattly pulled off the win though with a 5.03 to Gregan’s game 5.08.In X-Treme Pro Mod Johnny Cobb put a tree on Frankie Taylor but slowed to a 4.27 allowing Taylor to get by earning the win with a 3.62 at 207 MPH.The last pair down in class was Tommy D’Aprile and Brandon Snider. D’Aprile scored a .019 reaction running a 3.57 at 215 earning low ET and high MPH on the run to Snider’s game 3.65 at 209.Open Outlaw open with Keny Gonyo taking a win over Tracey Stunkard and a clean up in Stunkard’s lane. Melissa Hutson andAndy Johnson were next up with Melissa gaining the starting line advantage. She would hold on to the strip with a 3.809 to Johnson’s 3.811 at 192.Next up was Craig Andrews and Stanley Albritton Jr. Albritton left first with a .062 but could not stay out front for long running a 4.0 to Andrews’ winning 3.90 at 184.Aryan Rochon advanced over Elizibeth Keene after her foul start. Rochon ran a 3.94 at 187 on the pass.
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Final Results
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X-Treme Pro Mod, Open Outlaw, Pro Mod B, Pro Nitrous.
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Pro Drag Radial, Ultra Street, Outlaw 632, Outlaw Pro Mod.
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Jay Cox faced off with The Carolina Kid Travis Harvey in the final of Pro Nitrous with Cox having lane choice. Just .008 separated them at the tree with Cox having the advantage. In a very tight race it would be Cox first to the stripe with a 3.763 at 198.67 over the hard charging Harvey right behind running a 3.775 at 200.89. Photo Bryan Epps, BME Photography.Travis Harvey Pro Nitrous Runner up. Photo Bryan Epps, BME Photography.The final of X-Treme Pro Mod was Jason Scruggs and Frankie Taylor with both drivers on point on the tree. Taylor with a .008 and Scruggs with a .011. Both cars ran best of the day ET with Scruggs coming out on top with a 3.546 at 21818 setting low ET and high MPH of the event. Taylor scored a 5.558 at 213.01. Photo Bryan Epps, BME Photography.Outlaw Pro Mod had a full field and then some with Chip King and Frank Cersosimo meeting in the final round. Lane choice went to King but that was of no consequence as both drivers went red in the final and Chip King getting the win as Cersosimo must have rolled the beam or just left much to early. Photo Bryan Epps, BME Photography.Outlaw Pro Mod Runner Up Fast Frank Cersosimo. Photo Bryan Epps, BME Photography.
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Due to the sheer amout of Pro oMods here this weekend the track allowed a B field to run for some cash drawing nine cars. Well scored high MPH defeting Gene Musto with a 4.02 196.24 MPH run. He would give up lane choice to Andrew Handras. Handras took a small holeshot with a .059 but moved towards the center line where he got out of shape and the car took a turn into the rigth side wall. He ran off the end of the track and was unconsios for a period of time before coming to and being life flighted out. Well got the win with a 4.08 to handras 4.17. We wish the best for Andrew and hope for a speedy recovery. Aryan Rochon met with Melissa Hutson in the Open Outlaw final leaving first with a .014 reaction leaving Melissa to play catch up. She slowed a bit to a 3.84 at 193.05 in a valiant effort but couldn’t catch Rochon’s 3.867 at 189.43Dewayne Mills earned his way to the final with some low 4 second runs and stepping it up when needed in the semi’s over Rick Thornton and final round making two runs in the threes. The team used this event to test for Lights Out next month at SGMP and came away with some good data, a win and some extra money. Mills will be one to watch this year for sure with the “soft” performance this weekend.The Pro Drag Radial final was Scott King (near lane) and Dewayne Mills with King getting the holeshot in the KTR Golden Retriever. He would run a best of weekend and a new best ET for the car with a 3.962 at 191.08 MPH but it wasn’t enough to hold off the top end charge of Mills’ twin turbo monster. Mills ran a 3.917 at 208.09 taking the win in the first side by three second match on radials here at Bradenton.
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Mike Modeste met with Scott Husted in the final of Limited Drag Radial taking the class win running a 4.24 at 171 after struggling with going A to B on the new MT Pro Tire in the limited time he had to test. This new LDR class merges Outlaw 275 and Outlaw Drag Radial into one class and allows a choice of tire. For his part Husted ran a 4.41 at 175 Troy Pirez Jr. was on a rail today scoring a series of 4.89’s to make the final with Shawn Pevlor. Pirez put up an .018 light but Pevlor never moved from the stage beams. Pirez went straight down with yet another 4.89 taking the Ultra Street win.In Outlaw 632 it would be number one and three qualifiers in the final with Steinbach with lane choice over Ken Quartuccio. Ken left first with a .070 reaction and it was all over with that holeshot running a 4.416 at 162.92 over Steinbach’s quicker 4.403 at 166.29.Cleveland, Tennessee racer Heath Littrell took home the money in the 28/29 No Time Shootout in “The Huffa” powered by a Procharged Hemi from Riverside Race Engines. Sponsors and help come from HL Construction, Raw Motorsports, Mark Menscer, RPM Transmissions, Rick Rogers, and Michael McKeon. “I want to give a special thanks to my wife Tiffanny for putting up with me and thank the Lord for allowing me to be here and blessing me” – Heath Littrell
It warmed up quite a bit today for qualifying with temps reaching near seventy degrees with some intermittent cloud cover helping keep the track surface temp for escalating. We have near 60 Pro Mods here for the three classes and are sure to have some exciting racing this weekend to kick off the 2016 racing season. Keep it tuned here to Dragzine all weekend long as we bring you the latest news, notes, results, and photos from Florida. A special thanks to Comp Cams, the presenting sponsor of our event coverage, for making it possible!
We talked with Mike Stavrinos this morning about their day on Saturday. They were trying a new converter but felt the stator was wrong for the combo as they have a larger engine than most other turbo cars where the Proline Racing 481X is very popular. They swapped back to their old known unit from Pro Torque for qualifying.Eric Breihan from ARC is set up vending this weekend with a couple of new products. ARC now offers a choice for temperature controls on their ten pound bottle warmer baths. One with a thermostatic control where you can set the desired temp, or a new model with a knob similar to what you would find on your home oven. Also new just recently introduced is a mother bottle warmer which eliminates the need for a pumping station and is much quicker to fill bottles.
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Here is a side by side comparison of new offerings from Mickey Thompson. The ET Street SS (shown right) replaces the old design radials with a new tread pattern designed for more street friendly driving and in wet conditions. The ET Street R is designed to replace the old bias ply ET Street and has the same tread design but features Pro Drag Radial construction. The bias ply ET Streets will still be offered in select popular sizes. Troy Pirez Jr.s Innovative Racecraft is now doing fabricated rear housings with this being the first example out of the shop.
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Rick Thornton is debuting the Fast Forward Innovation new car this weekend and had not a made a full run yet before qualifying. The car was originally built for Pro Extreme and never run. It's been at the shop for about three years and now has been fitted with the small block Chevy twin turbo combo that was in Rick's Corvette. Tuner Grant McCreary said this car reacts very different than the Vette so they are still working on going A to B. From left to Right, Rick Thornton and Grant McCreary. Mike Freeman leads the Ultra Street field after one session with a 4.806 at 146 MPH. Freeman and Team AFT will no doubt be looking for that 4.7x pass this weekend.Hannah Saunders is making her debut in Ultra Street this weekend with her ride out of Innovative Racecraft with BES power under the hood.
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We have two NA cars in Ultra Street this weekend with Washington, Michigan racer Butch Kemp landing second in class with a 4.81 at 144 using power from Chris Uratchko. Robbie Blakenship hails from Hudson, FL and sits on the bump after pedaling the car off the starting line. Brian Keep has things figured out fairly quickly in his new ride scoring a 5.05 at 141, just behind team mate Bill Gregan’s 5.00.Dewayne Millls leads in Pro Drag Radial running a 4.06 at 207 MPH. Yes you read that right, 207 MPH.Daniel Pharris from Sikeston, MO sits second with a 4.080 at 190.Dillon Voss put up a 4.51 to land fourth in the field in the Voss Racing 2009 Cobalt.Tony Lobaldo from Pembroke Pines, Florida sits fourteenth in class with a 5.18 after lifting near half track.Getting into the Pro Mod classes Pro Nitrous was up first with Jay Cox taking top qualifier with a 3.75 at 199.07, just off his personal best 3.71 in testing last night using Buck Racing Engines horsepower.Lizzy Musi was off a little running a 4.06 at 144 clicking it early on the run in the 2015 Jerry Bickel King Kong Dart.Local Outlaw Pro Mod racer Lynn Halverson has a new hi helix blower for 2016 but failed to make a full run in the first session. He is part of a multi car team with Richard Cohen, Ken Cruz and Open Outlaw racer Aryan Rochon.Chip King put his 1970 Charger RT on the pole in Outlaw Pro Mod with a 3.85 at 195 MPH.Tommy D’Aprile tearned number one in XTreme Pro Mod running a 3.65 at 212 MPH for car owner Mel Bush.Frankie Taylor laid down an easy run landing third with a 3.75 at 205.Terry Leggett from Pinetown, North Carolina is sporting a new 1971 Mach 1 body design for 2016. The car looks fantastic and gets horsepower from Charlie Buck.Bob Bridges from Davie, Florida sits on top of Open Outlaw with a 3.84 at 189. I believe that is a personal best for him.Aryan Rochon sits in second after one session with a 3.95 in the 8 car field.
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Tommy Franklin improved his performance in the second session running a 3.74 at 203 MPH from his first session 3.82 and taking over top qualifier.Travis Harvey also improved to a 3.78 keeping his third place position so far.We talked with Chase Driscoll who is working with Frankie Taylor this weekend both on his car and with Taylor tuning to T.J. And Tim Tindle. Tim was qualified second after the first session in X Treme Pro Mod with a 3.66 at 207.Wayne Smozanek hurt a cylinder here at the Snowbird Outlaw Nats. He ran a 3.93 earlier but put some smoke out on the top end due to blowing a secondary spark plug out of the head. They improvised a repair but had trouble in the second session blowing the burst panel out. The team was just checking things over after the second session and had not diagnosed the cause.Josh Green pulled off a 4.88 in the second session for a new personal best eighth mile ET at 194 MPH, a solid two hundredths quicker than their round one attempt.Adam Flamholc also set a personal best 3.81 in Outlaw Pro Mod to take top qualifier after two sessions. We spoke with the teams fuel man Mike Cantor and team is very happy with the performance so far and looking to improve into the 3.70’s. The 60′ was a .95, very good for a roots blower car running in IHRA trim this weekend.
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Mel Nelson ran a 4.21 personal best in his Pro Drag Radial Camaro today but wheelied in the second session. In the off season he had Clayton Murphy from Chassis Engineering narrow the rear housing to fit some wider wheels on the car to get more tire footprint on the ground.
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Tommy Mauro is here running Pro Drag Radial this weekend for his first time on the radial. He spun at the hit on his only pass so far due to a increased boost issue. Mauro plans to run the Mickey Thompson OL 10.5 series again this year as well as OL 10.5 at Cecil County and both Duck X events at SGMP. The engine is the same piece from DiSomma Racing Engines but now fitted with a pair of 94 MM turbos and a few extra pounds per the rules.
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We stopped by Wild Bill Devine's pit to see how the Bullseye Turbo crew is doing. They have their new NLX series dual ball bearing turbos featuring silicon nitrite bearings, billet aluminum center section, Gen IV tune-able race cover and the NLX hubless compressor wheels all made in house at Bullseye. The engine dropped a cylinder for part of the last run so they are looking to improve in the final session. Ken Quartuccio moved up to number one qualifier with a 4.430 in the second session. In the pits the team was making a tune up adjustment looking for a little more. I want to give a special shout out to Jamie Miller from Pro Line Racing Engines for assisting with tuning the car where they won their last event and are looking for a repeat performance.This beautiful 57 Chevy is owned by Dick Messino since it was brand new. The car has been raced for nearly it’s whole life. He ran the car in C and B Gas Coupe through the 1960’s and 70’s including the 1966 NASCAR Winter Nationals in Daytona, Florida scoring a runner up in Street Eliminator. In 2007 the car was upgraded to a Pro Stock Chassis with RJ Components by Gene Pudlow in Hammond, Indiana. Power comes from a 632 Chevy built by Mike Lopez High Speed Performance in Illinois. They usually match race the Shake Rattle and Run Chevy up north and have come here to the US Street Nats the past two years for something a bit different. The car uses original Chevy parts supplied by Danchuk and is all steel except front end.Round three of Pro Drag Radial had some excitement for us with Scott King running a 4.18 next to Scotty G’s 4.28, both drivers bast run of the weekend and Scotty’s first nitrous pass on the new combo.Daniel Pharris improved a bit to a 4.066 at 197 to temporarily take over number one spot.Rick Thornton has a single where he put up a 4.19 at 180 in Fast Forward Innovation Camaro, his first full pass in the car. Grant told us the car is not accelerating and they are looking for a gremlin in the system with the trap speed dawn a sold ten MPH plus.Not to be outshined Dewayne Mills was up next and he left well and drove straight to a 3.94 at 208 retaking top qualifier for race day tomorrow.As mentioned above Tommy Mauro spun the tires on his first attempt. This time the car left hard but got into a power wheelie just past one hundred feet and forced Mauro to lift and abort the run.
Final Qualifying Results
Eric Kenward qualified the wheelie wagon thirteenth in Ultra Street running a 5.05 at 142 MPH.Shawn Pevlor ended up with third on the ladder but I think there is a mistake as his MPH is ,92 better than Butch Kemp’s or some fourth number ish going on in the computer as both racers ran 4.816.Dan Stevenson landed fifth after today’s qualifying in his 2013 Camaro with a 3.863 at 195. The Outlaw Pro Mod field has a 1.6 ET spread which should make for some close racing on Sunday.Jackie Slone put the Slone Boys Racing 1005 Grand Am in fourteenth running a 3.95 at 187, improving for the 4.01 in the first session.
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The 2016 heads-up drag racing season kicks off back where last season ended, at the Bradenton Motorsports, with the now-traditional U.S. Street Nationals, featuring many of the top Pro Modified, radial tire, and small-tire racers in the nation. Keep it tuned here to Dragzine all weekend long as we bring you all the of the news, notes, results, and photos from Florida. A special thanks to Comp Cams, the presenting sponsor of our event coverage, for making it possible!
PDRA Pro Nitrous racer Tommy Franklin is here running the Pro Nitrous Pro Mod class this weekend. There are three Pro Mod classes this year including Pro Nitrous and Pro Boost which feature the same basic rules package as PDRA and Bradneton is set to host the series again here in October after last years event was canceled to to rain, Sponsors are Tommy’s own Franklin Electric and Smart Com Home Technologies.John Sullivan is also here with a new car, this 63 Corvette built by Garret Customs with B&B Race Cars assisting Sullivan finishing up the car and doing the wiring and electrical work. The power comes from a Brad Anderson Hemi with Brad 9 heads topped with a PSI C rotor blower and fuel system from Resolution Racing Services.Jason Scruggs has a new chassis for 2016 out of Rick Jones shop using the same engine combo the team ran in 2015. The team will be focusing on the PDRA again this year to defend their 2015 Championship season.Killin Time Racing is in the house with the Golden Retriever running in Drag Radial. The team has switched drivers from the 6′ 8” Bubba Livingston to Scott King in an effort to reduce weight.
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We spoke with Robert Hays in the Jason Harris pits who is sporting a new car for 2016 built by Hays. The team consists of Robert Hays, Jason Harris and Jimmy and Brad Boone with power coming from Billy Albert. They tested on Monday here in Bradenton making a four short hits with good results and 60'. They are running a brand new R8 fuel injection system from EFI Technologies in Torrance, California which controls every function on the car. This is the first system to hit the racetrack and the team is excited to work with the new comprehensive EFI system.
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Billy Ticket Taker Driscoll will be driving for Joel Greathouse this weekend who is on vacation. The KBX crew has also made a swap of power adders sporting an F1A 94 MM Procharger on the car for 2016 in stead of the turbo they ran last year. Ultra Street racer Brian Keep is debuting a new car this weekend purchased from Justin Smith. The 1998 Camaro was built by NRC in North Carolina featuring full Racecraft suspension components. “I want to give a big thanks to the guys at Pro Fab Performance Plus in New Port Richey, FL for the quick three day turn around on the headers and Matt LaRue for assisting getting the new ride wired up.” – Brian Keep.
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Smith briefly campaigned the car with a Procharger in X275 but Brian has swapped in his Nitrous Outlet huffing small block Chevy. Brian still has his trusty S-10 pickup but was looking to get away from the leaf spring suspension which is disadvantaged on less than optimum surface and high track temps we see here in Florida, the aerodynamic advantage of the Camaro should also help out with MPH. Turky posted a 3.71 at 205 driving for El General/Q80 Racing this afternoon. Best pass of the day for any team so far we have seen.Outlaw 632 racer Ryan Thorp ran a nice 4.48 at 158 MPH showing they are right on track with the Fast Forward Race Engines/Induction Solutions powered Chevy.Shawn Pevlor is here running in Ultra Street and off to a good start going A to B with a 4.90 at 145 MPH. We spoke with Steve Hudspeth, the Drag Racing Product Manager for Hoosier tires briefly and he mentioned Shawn did some testing for some new Hoosier Drag Radials earlier this week. He kept the results to himself but it’s noteworthy that Hoosier is developing a new tire after losing market share to Mickey Thompson who has dominated the drag radial market for several years. Competition in the marketplace breeds better products and will give racers more choices.Scotty Gudagno is back out with a new engine doing some testing. He ran no time on this pass but it looked pretty good. We will have more info on the new combo for you later but suffice to say Team Jet Blue is looking to make waves in the premier radial class this year.Bob Glenn is sporting partial new paint by long time friend Andy Gouldon the B&K Racing Dodge Dakota. The Mc?aren Volcano Red stands out. The paint should be completed shortly after this event, the team didn’t want to miss the race this weekend.Brian Keep went straight down the track to a 5.23 at 119 on this run, which was the first or second hit on the new ride.
