The highly-anticipated final day of the 2017 Yellow Bullet Nationals is here — it’s been a marathon weekend filled with high-flying action, record-breaking elapsed times, and all sorts of carnage. We are expected to be on-track at 10AM with 8.50, then Top Sportsman, and then into the big-boy classes.
Stay tuned here all day as we bring you the photos and information you want to know.
We’re through the third round of eliminations in all pro classes now. Despite giving up a substantial holeshot to Ronny Rhodes on the starting line, Alex Hays was able to power around him to the stripe and move on to the next round. Hays’ 4.75 elapsed time was the best of the round. He’ll face Rodney Ragen in the semis.For a racer who’s vowed to quit racing, Joel Greathouse sure seems to have a lot of life left. How does a .013 reaction time and 4.81 ET sound? The Ultra Street racer has seen and done plenty in his illustrious career — can he bring home a YB Ultra Street win in 2017? He’s on a collision course with Hays but has to get through Chris Evans first in the semi.
Don Teague has a bracket car in Top Sportsman — but isn’t that the point? He ran a 4.29 in round three and then a 4.30 in round four to dispatch Erica Coleman. Teague goes up against Dennis Gaboriault’s Shelby in the next round.Scott McCracken was supposed to face local racer Tommy Romeo, but Romeo was a no-show at race time, so McCracken used the single for a test pass, knocking down the tree with a solid .020 reaction time. McCracken goes up against Chris Krajewski in the semis.Longtime Ford hotshoe Jimmy Chahalis is knocking them dead in 8.50 Index this weekend. Despite pushing through on the top end with an 8.492, Chahalis took a win over Peter Mattheos when Mattheos turned on the angry red bulb early. Chahalis faces John Goss and his big-block Camaro in the semifinal.
If you don’t love a blown Pro Mod Camaro, go to the doctor and get your heart checked out, because Kevin McCurdy’s machine is just flat-out awesome. McCurdy has been on rails all weekend long; he knocked out Melanie Salemi last round on his way to the semifinals, where he’ll face Danny Perry’s in a battle of Pro Mod Camaros — one blown and one squeezed.Paolo Giust took out Jimmy Bersani in the quarterfinals of Pro Mod on his way to battle Jonas Aleshire in a Corvette-on-Corvette slugfest. Paolo runs alongside Melanie Salemi in a loose team effort as Jon Salemi turns the screws on Paolo’s beast. Paolo also has a RvW Corvette, which he’ll be focused on for the rest of the season after this event. He’s on a mission to take home the big YB Nationals check at the end of the day, but he has to get through Aleshire and into the finals first.Andrew DeMarco continues to make noise in X275 – he took out Vinny Gianelli in the quarters and gets to face his old NMRA nemesis Phil Hines in the semifinals of X275.Speaking of Vinny G., he went for a wild ride, narrowly missing DeMarco as he crossed the track and nosed into the wall. He is OK, the car is obviously not.Vinny Palazzolo did his job on the starting line during eliminations this morning, strapping a .009 reaction time onto Dean Marinis and winning on a holeshot. In the process, he ran a 4.523 – the quickest ET of the round in X275. He’s up against John Ashnault in the next round.Joe Newsham cranked off a 4.08 at 187 in the quarters to knock out Mike Decker III. Newsham’s 540-inch ’68 Camaro is one of the cleanest cars on the property and is the epitome of what an Outlaw 10.5 car should be.I keep talking about Mo Hall, and for good reason. Mo, Joe Newsham, and Mike Decker Jr. battle each other here at Cecil County Dragway every month at the track’s Outlaw Street Car Shootout, and their familiarity with the surface shows as all three have made it to the semifinals. Mo put John Bartunek on the trailer in the quarterfinals.
Final Round Notes
Cool as a cucumber – Luis Martinez simply knocked John Goss out of the show right at the starting line. A perfect .000 reaction time and 8.51 put the race in the bag for him.Mo Hall kills ’em all – Mike Decker, Jr. never took the tree as the car was leaking after the burnout. Hall took the tree for the single and powered to a soft 4.092 for the Yellow Bullet Nationals Outlaw 10.5 win in an anticlimactic final round.Chris Krajewski came all the way from the 27th spot to take the win in the Top Sportsman class. Krajewski was dead-on all weekend long..0045-second separated Pro Mod winner Paolo Giust and Kevin McCurdy in the final round. In a twist of fate, McCurdy had lane choice and switched lanes right before the burnout box, but it was for naught as Giust torched the track to a 3.890 at 195.51 mph to McCurdy’s 3.892 at 194.55 mph. This is Paolo’s first race out with the Liberty transmission setup and he came all the way from the 10th qualified spot to take the win. A totally awesome final round!He must know something we don’t – Vinny Palazzolo was all thumbs up before the final round of X275. He took a 7-thou advantage over Andrew DeMarco on the starting line and then powered around him on the top end for a hard-earned win. Palazzolo had the transmission out of the car to rebuild it on Friday as the team discovered an internal problem that almost wrecked their weekend. A great showing for the Pennsylvania native. DeMarco goes back to Massachusetts empty-handed, but he also has to feel encouraged in just the second time out with the car.Joel Greathouse took a .011-second advantage on the starting line, but Alex Hays took over almost immediately as Greathouse started a wheelstand and had to pedal the car. Hays turned in a 4.77 monster pass in the final in the naturally-aspirated hotrod to take the YB win – to go with his best-appearing crew award. A solid showing for the big-block Mustang.
Final Eliminations
Pro Mod/Outlaw 10.5/8.50 Index/Top Sportsman
Ultra Street/X275
It’s the sort-of final day for the 2017 Yellowbullet Nationals. After yesterday’s washout, the track surface is wrecked. The Cecil County Dragway staff is out on the track now scraping all the way to the eighth-mile, which is expected to take a few hours at this point. Following that, the run order will be as follows: Pro Q2 starting with 8.50 Index, Pro E1, followed by Sportsman classes E1. Qualifying is complete for the Sportsman classes. If necessary–which is what it looks like from this vantage point–we will be back here tomorrow to finish eliminations.
Once eliminations begin, the pace will be hectic, so I’ll do my best to get information up as quickly as possible.
This was the scene around noon. The Cecil County staff scraped the entire track to the eighth-mile to prepare the surface for today.On Friday night, Paul Major got out of the groove, and from my vantage point, it looked like he pancaked the right rear quarter panel. But this damage to the bullhorn and a scrape on the wheel, are the only bits of damage I could see when I stopped by his pits. Paul’s got an all-new suspension, a 526-cubic-inch Hemi from J&E Performance, an all-new suspension setup from DMC Racing, and the complete Fuel Tech 600 engine management system. The car usually runs in Radial Vs. The World with 98mm turbos, but rules have Paul with a pair of 88mm turbos here. They are still working to line the car out and will get one more shot to turn it up in qualifying this afternoon.Jeff Kinsler was swapping transmission fluid this morning to prepare the car for today. He did say the car spun at one second out on Friday night so if the track is there today he should be much more successful with his cheated-up Ultra Street Pontiac.It’s all about the kids here on Sunday at the Yellowbullet Nationals.
Monty Mikho, his wife Maria, and the entire YB staff put together a huge trailer full of goodies for the kids, and they all get to compete and earn a prize for their efforts. Tommy Mauro and Shannon Davis of Davis Traction Control discussing Bump Box settings. Mauro had an electrical panel failure on Friday night which affected how the car is staging. With Shannon’s help he says he’s got the problem fixed.Nick Agostino and his crew were swapping transmissions this morning to change up the gear ratios in his Outlaw 10.5 car.Chris Rini is qualified in the number-two spot in Pro Mod, and the team is still working on the tuneup on the familiar ATI Performance Products-backed machine. Rini runs a Buck Racing Engines 941ci engine with five stages of Switzer Dynamics five-stage dry nitrous system. The car has been 3.69 previously.You may remember Tyler Hard’s mcAmis Camaro from the five-part build series we did with him back in 2014. Hard normally runs quarter-mile in the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod series, so the car is still set up for that and he’s leaving a bit of performance on the table with the gear ratio. But the car is incredibly-consistent, and he’s looking forward to racing against the tough competition here at the YB Nats.
It’s time to go back to racing, so I’m headed out to the track. Be back later!
Nick Agostino went for a wild, wild ride in his $20,000 match race with Jerry Morgano during the Outlaw 10.5 qualifying round today. He got loose right at the stripe, hooked left and hard into the wall before going up and into the air and crashing back to earth hard, ultimately ending up on the lid and spinning to a stop.The car is not in the best shape, and according to one of his crew guys, Nick appeared to be OK but took a precautionary trip to the hospital. Nick is one of the nicest guys we know and we wish him the best.
FINAL QUALIFYING RESULTS AND LADDERS
8.50 Index
X275/Pro Mod
Top Sportsman
Ultra 275 John Kolivas is doing multi-duty with all of his KBX customers this weekend. It seems like he and partner Justin McChesney are out on the starting line during the entire X275 and Ultra competition sessions.In the second round of Outlaw 10.5, Shawn Ayers was on a pass and then got way out of shape, spinning the Golddust machine multiple times in the center of the track, ultimately coming to rest none the worse for wear. Ayers took the loss against Mike Decker, Jr.Mo Hall is on a tear this weekend and appears to be the man to beat. He qualified at the top of the field, turned in a 4.03 on his first-round bye run, then ran a bracket-like 4.04 to put Ron Green on the trailer in round two, In round three it will be a Fulton-on-Fulton matchup when Hall faces off against John Bartunek.Round two of Outlaw 10.5 saw Joe Albrecht (seen here in round one) as a no-show. Last year’s YB winner is out, with Joel Wensley advancing on a single. Wensley has had some issues of his own, as he ran into a barrel turning off at the top end of the track and had to perform duct tape surgery to get the car ready for eliminations.White Girl Wasted – Andrew Demarco’s DMC-built ’86 Mustang – is on a roll tonight. DeMarco put out Jeff Helsinger in round one with a 4.49 from the Vortech-boosted SBF. DeMarco had a single in round two when Mike Cerminaro didn’t make the call and ran a career-best 4.48 in X trim.Lou Sciortino won over John Carinci – 4.095 to 4.055 – with a holeshot on what is likely the worst pair of reaction times of the weekend, Sciortino’s .216 light knocking out Carinci’s .257 in a super-close race.Mean Dean knocked out the Blue Goose of Mark Dykeman in round two of X275 with a monster 164 mph pass.
Results To Current Position
X275/Top Sportsman
Ultra Street/Outlaw 10.5
Wow is all I can say — yesterday was the longest full-on race day in recent memory. We went into round one of qualifying around 7PM and the last Ultra Street car went down the track at 2:17AM. We had some record passes, absolute mineshaft conditions, and 564 tech cards after the first round of competition. No sleep ’til Brooklyn, right? I’ll get right to the details…
Jesse Lambert behind the wheel, Rodney Lambert on the keyboard, and a Mustang up on two wheels. Jesse went for a wild ride during the first round of Outlaw 10.5 last night. Initially, Jesse staged on a single pass and the tree didn't drop, so he dropped the RPMs. He went back on the chip, the tree came down, and at the end of the track this was the result. 4.30s on two wheels through the lights... Yet you’d never know it from this photo. The left side of the car is slightly pancaked, and there is some other damage, but they are working to fix it. Not sure whether he’ll make it or not, but he’s on the hunt for parts to repair the car.Jerry Morgano has forever been on the hunt for a 3-second pass from his 450ci small-block twin-turbo Ford. In last n ight’s killer air, he came oh-so-close with a 4.074 at 188.65 mph. Morgano sits fifth in the tight field of 31 cars.Can’t have a YB Nats without at least one of these. Jim Bersani made a mess on the track, forcing an hour-plus cleanup near midnight.Steve Drummond’s Pro Mod has been recently redone after a fire at Maryland International Raceway. Steve had a great day yesterday — not only did he snap off a stout 4.04 at 188 mph in the car to land in 10th in the Pro Mod field, he and wife Kathy celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary.Just moments after he put his new 920-inch nitroused Camaro right at the top of the Pro Mod ladder with an insane 3.741 blast, Cecil County Dragway track owner Jim Halsey came ripping back down the track — still in his firesuit — on the track spray machinery. Halsey and his staff worked nonstop all day and night long to keep the track in top shape.
SPECIAL NOTE:
The race has been called for Saturday. The weather forecast is extremely poor for the rest of the day. The plan is to be on track as early as possible tomorrow morning, run one more round of Pro qualifying, and go right into first round of eliminations after that. They will be doing their best to run it out tomorrow but will run into Monday if necessary.Â
More coverage to come, they are kicking me out of the tower. I’m going back to my hotel and will be bringing you more as soon as I get there.
With Mike Cerminaro behind the wheel of his ProCharged 2001 Trans Am, Bruce Maichle is able to play crew chief and see how the car reacts from outside the driver’s seat. The BES-powered machine clawed its way to a 5.36 slip-and-slide pass during last night’s lone X275 qualifying session.With Saturday rained out, perennial player Jamie Stanton finds himself in the 33rd spot in X275 – just outside the bump – with a soft 9.263 pass. He’ll get one more shot at getting into the field tomorrow morning during the final qualifying session before we head into eliminations.We’re not sure if John Sears is getting paid off to keep the Bruder Brothers out of X275, or if he’s betting on them to lose, but one thing is for sure – he and Monty Mikho are up to something.John Keesey thrashed like a maniac in the days leading up to the race to get his KBX bullet back under the hood. In round one, he launched the car and immediately headed straight for the wall. It turns out that the allen set screw in the steering shaft worked its way out and left him unable to control the car. he just nosed the edge of the spoiler into the wall and was able to come to a complete stop short of severe damage. The car is repaired and he’s chomping at the bit to get into the field.Speaking of the Bruders.. Rich was unable to make a clean pass in the Mustang and is in an uncharacteristic 30th of 32 cars entering tomorrow. The track appeared to be hit-or-miss for some guys like night, while others went straight down Broadway.A 4.69 monster moonshot puts Alex Hays at the top of the Ultra qualifying sheet by a wide margin–his next closest competition is Louie Filippides with a 4.83. Hays has been working on his engine program and it shows.At 12:40 AM, Phil Hines stormed to the top of the X275 ladder with a 4.41 blast that put the rest of the class on notice this weekend. Hines is well-known for his consistency and driving skill. He’s just ahead of Ron Rhodes’ 4.44 and Andrew Demarco’s 4.54.Fran Schatz is another racer who was thrashing in the days leading up to the race. He picked up his engine from Weston Machine on Tuesday, worked to get it into the car, then junked the starter during initial fire-up. As of Thursday he had pulled the plug on getting to the event, but there he was for round one of Ultra Street. He’s on the ladder with a respectable 5.15 to place 17th of 32 cars entering Sunday.Mo Hall disappeared into the night in the first round of Outlaw 10.5, becoming the only racer to crack into the 3s with this 3.99 blast.How can you not love Frank Saponaro’s Nova wagon? This is one of the cleanest cars around. Saponaro is outgunned in Outlaw 10.5 but the style points count for something. He’s currently 22nd in the field with a 4.82, but there’s a bunch more left in the car. It runs a traditional SBC with a pair of snails.Jonas Aleshire’s Chris Duncan Race Cars-built screw-blown Corvette stormed to a 3.83 at 193.02 mph to take the 7th spot in Pro Mod.
The baddest doorslammer and small-tire racers from the Northeast and beyond converge on Maryland’s Cecil County Dragway for what’s become a annual tradition on Labor Day Weekend: the one and only Yellow Bullet Nationals.
John Stanley’s crew was hard at work getting the car set up this morning. When I talked to John, he said they had to throw about 160 pounds in the car to be legal for Pro Mod and he had no idea what the car was going to do on the track.Chuck Bartholme and Franny McCarthy were poring over the data after their first test hit. With regular tuner Mike Dez tending to business and family at home, McCarthy was pressed into service, Bartholme says he has all the confidence in the world in “Dez Junior”.Chris Evans, Eric LaFerriere, and Matt Butrim discussing Big Green’s tuneup. Evans–who just freshened the engine before the race–says the car should run right up top, and there are only a few racers he’s worried about. Butrim works the laptop on this machine.Just a few weeks ago, Brian Devilbiss’ X275 GT500 was in the shop getting a complete makeover. They had it to the NMCA race at Norwalk last weekend and managed to tune the car to a 4.59. Devilbiss says the car is totally different now and they are working to get back to the tuneup, but it no longer has the “street car feel” it did previously.Vinny Palazzolo is driving Benny Ortiz’ GT500 here this weekend. Palazzolo, who recently sold his own car to Bob Clayton, is debating whether to continue to drive in X275 and purchase this car from Benny, or make a drastic move into the seat of a Pro Mod.Rich Bruder has all the luck! Jack French of Billet Atomizer just built this nasty RvW Challenger and Bruder is here getting ready to make some hits. It’s only a matter of time until this car is at the front of the pack in the class. You can read more about it {link=https://www.dragzine.com/news/atomizer-racing-injectors-finalizing-their-radial-tire-shop-car/}right here{/link}.One of the most notable performances in the test session this afternoon belongs to Mike “Hollywood” Decker III in Outlaw 10.5 – he joined the 4.0 club with a 4.07. This is the 21-year-old’s first official race behind the wheel of the Decker Salvage Camaro.Keith Berry is providing “consulting services” to Fletcher Cox and Shawn Ayers, who are competing in RvW Vs. Outlaw 10.5 this weekend. There are rumors of Berry coming back to play next season, but when I asked him, all he said was “they are rumors”. I guess we’ll see…Speaking of Fletcher, he was shining Golddust up in preparation for round one.Last year’s Outlaw 10.5 winner, Joe Albrecht, has what I think is the loudest Outlaw car I’ve heard in years. The screw-blown machine turned in a 4.05 at 193.29 mph in the first round of qualifying.
