It’s not often one gets to see a survivor 1968 ½ Cobra Jet Mustang, much less one at a race track so we had to stop and chat with the owner, Don Fotti, who has finished top ten in class points for the past three years with the NMCA.
The Cobra Jet was a mid year introduction with only 1,044 in the production run. This car is an automatic model, one of only 337, but this car is actually one of one that came with a block heater sold near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Don purchased the car from the original owner in 1971 and quickly started practicing launching the car with the intent to hit the race track and that has been a lot of it's just 43,429 mile life since. He won the first five events he went to at Bison Dragway and scored the track championship there in 1972. We are not done with the trivia yet; the Keystone Classic wheels were purchased out of California and were on the 1974 Winternationals-winning Cobra Jet. He hurt the engine in 1973 and was married soon after so the car sat for 18 years before being resurrected and campaigned once again. Don Limits the car to 11.50 due to not having a roll bar installed but he would never put a torch to such a wonderful example of 60's muscle. Don Fotti shown with his grandson, Nolan. Parked next to Don was Jerry Stamps of J&T Motorsports with this gorgeous 1973 Duster. He runs NMC-I, and NHRA G/SA which runs on a 12.0 index with a low compression 340 engine combo. The car is actually a 1971 Demon but converted to a ’73 Duster for the NHRA Stock Eliminator engine combo built by Parsons And Myers Racing Engines out of Dayton, Ohio. He has run this car since 1996 in NHRA and started running with NMCA in 2006 with the whole car built in-house at Terry’s Leisure Time Auto Body. The engine is backed by an ATI converter with a Darrell Stieger 904 transmission.
Rick Hornback faced off with 2017 class champion Leonard Long in Fuel Systems Technology NA 10.5 as the underdog but came away with the round win as Long slowed dramatically to an 8.76 --Hornback ran a career best 8.56 to move to round two. Hornback just got their engine back from M&M Competition Engines and was able to do some initial dyno testing at John Konkle's shop in Kentucky just a week and a half before this event, his first of the 2018 season. Konkle was also instrumental in getting a handle on the valvetrain in the new engine combo. Rick runs a Ram single disc clutch and Lenco ST1200 transmission behind the 585 cubic-inch Chevy topped with Dart 20 degree heads and sheet metal intake. The car was built at Pro Tree Race Cars with a 4-link rear suspension and Chris Spall just did new front A-arms for the car with Afco rear shocks and Strange up front. Rick has had the car 40 years, purchasing it when he was 16 years old, and he treats the racing as a family affair with his son, Tyler, as crew chief and wife, Twila and daughter Shelby aslo attending events. From left to right, car owner and driver Rick Hornback, Tyler, and Chris Spall from Spall Chassis and Performance. The Fuel Systems Technology NA 10.5 semifinal pit number four qualifier Dwight Ausmus against number one David Theisen with Ausmus going red allowing Theisen the win. The other pair was Rich Nye versus Chad Neuenschwander, with Nye getting away first but unable to hold off Neuenschwander, who scored his second seven second pass of the weekend, a 7.98 at 169.The semis of Nostalgia Pro Street pit two Florida racers versus the two women drivers with Matt Salminen versus Jennifer Rice and Tricia Musi against top qualifier Jordan Ensslin, setting up the potential for an all-woman final in the class. Salminen qualified third with a 4.56 but hurt the number eight cylinder last night and was assisted by Jordan’s father Larry Ensslin until near 2 a.m. swapping in a new slug. Musi was out front early with both cars going downtrack, but Salminen’s engine gave up just past the 330 slowing to a 5.07 to Musi’s 4.50 at 158. Unfortunately for Ensslin his car lost fire, allowing Rice the win where she put up a 4.53 sealing up the first all-female final in the class.
The NPS final would turn out to be a great match with the with close reaction times and both cars going down with clean runs. The boards lit up and both racers recorded 4.51's, with Musi just a touch faster and earning the win, 4.516 at 158.00 to a 4.519 at 153.65. Tricia scored her first career win this weekend in Nitrous Pro Street in the first all-female final while paired with Jennifer Rice, driving her fathers' vintage Pro Street Camaro in it's second outing. Definitely a historic weekend for the Musi family after bringing Pat's car back from the showroom with some updates by B&B Race Cars to make it current and legal for 2018. We want to offer congratulations to the Musi family and Mike Bankston on the win and Mike and Tricia's recent engagement and carrying on the winning tradition. Tricia with Aerospace Components' Kim Kussy at left. Vortech Supercharger/VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw semifinal had Shawn Ayers opposite of Alton Clements in Manny Buginga’s Little Red and Daniel Pharris with the bye. Clements took the starting line advantage over Ayers and ran another 4.40 for his efforts this weeken, but it was not enough to stay in front of Ayers’ 4.35 at 167. Pharris spun the tires and gave up lane choice to Fletcher Cox’s Gold Dust driven by Ayers.In the final round it was Pharris cutting the tree down with a .006 reaction and his best of the weekend 4.343 at 172, but Ayers drove by with a 4.319 at 167 to earn the event win in the DiSomma-powered, Bruder-tuned machine owned by Fletcher Cox. “I can’t thank Fletcher enough for letting us have the operation this weekend while he’s at training camp back in Philly. Our season is going well — we won Bradenton and Atlanta, won here and had a runner-up in Bowling Green. I have to thank Dave at Proformance for a reliable transmission and Shannon at Davis Technologies, VP Fuels and Mickey Thompson. I can’t thank everyone enough for helping out to get where we are now.” Ayers was number one qualifier and is leading the series points this season. News broke the internet over the weekend about Fletcher’s new Radial vs the World car coming out of the Racecraft Inc. shop and we look forward to seeing that monster later this year.
The Mickey Thompson Radial Wars final was Dragzine's Procharged Corvette of James Lawrence against DeWayne Mills, with Lawrence having lane choice by slim margin after his 3.911 semifinal win over Marty Stinnett. Lawrence had the consistency advantage this weekend and it showed in the final as he laid down a 3.894 with Mills a little too hot for the conditions with the tires giving up before half track. Jason Hamstra qualified number two in VP Racing Fuels Pro Mod, coming off a Midwest Pro Mod win in Topeka a couple of weeks back. He laid down a 3.66 in round two this morning putting the class on notice — he didnt run those kinds of numbers in the later rounds but did manage to snag the record away from Don Walsh Jr. claiming the the 3.703 from the semifinals as the new class record and leaving himself room and a shot at more points later in the season rather than put it potentially out of reach, as the .66 pass would be more difficult to achieve depending on weather and track conditions. This is Jason’s first NMCA event win which put him in the points lead on the season.G Force Coyote Stock had 13 cars in class with Charlie Booze Jr. scoring top qualifier, earning low ET with a 10.201 and coming away with the event win in a big weekend for the team. Booze is driving the car for owner Justin Fogelsonger. Justin’s son was here and the rest of the family was back home watching the Speedvideo live feed. Charlie runs a G Force G101 transmission and Spec clutch with sponsorship from S&L Water Solutions, JLT Performance and SST Performance along with a host of others who assist in various ways. “I have always had a positive experience coming to Route 66 besides trying to knock the bumper off the back of the car. This place and I, ever since I first started coming here back in the late nineties I’ve had positive outcomes, win or loss, it’s just a track I get along with. It feels good to be here again especially after rolling the beams at Columbus, said Booze.Edelbrock Renegade was short on car count but not on drama as Team Hellion’s B car, driven by Frank Varela lost an engine in round one Saturday night. the crew worked until 6 a.m. powered by Bud Light and determination to swap in the new engine planned for Haley James’ car. Varella ripped off a 7.397 at 184 to earn the event win over Tony Hobson game 7.43 at 185.56, earning top MPH in eliminations.
Final Results
Superbowl Results
NMCA Final Results
NMRA Final Results
We have one more qualifying session this morning before moving into eliminations here at Route 66 Raceway and the weather is fantastic with not a cloud in the sky this morning. Temps are in the mid 60’s as I write this with the track going hot at about 8:30 a.m.
Dave Theisen from Highland, Michigan leads the NA 10.5 field after two sessions with a 7.81 at 176 using a Uratchko Racing Engines bullet. Chris posted to his Facebook “time to get after it,” so we may just see a bit more from the team this weekend, who currently holds both ends of the record with a 7.772 at 177.49 from Atlanta.Former NMCA West racer Tom Marshall is here with car owner Terry Ryan from Salem, Oregon to compete in Street Outlaw. Terry has owned the car for a while, working up to it’s current build status. It has a Bennett Racing-built 400 tuned by Josh Lindsey with an 85mm turbo and M&M Turboglide transmission. The car is X275 legal as that is the teams’ main focus so they are here to have some fun and test at the same time. This is the teams’ first year on the road and they’re currently twelve races in with a 15-event schedule. Marshall sits fifth with a 4.64 at 156 mph so far.
Kallee Mills rode the ring gear into a wheelstand during the round two qualifying session, bringing it down easy with a pedal-job and rolling through with a 4.97 at 156. She sits ninth in Street Outlaw with her earlier 4.91 pass. Kallee's car is a Rob Mathias-built 25.2 cert 1968 Camaro powered by a PLR 427 LSX with a 94mm Precision turbo backed by an M&M Turboglide and Pro Torque converter. The car was in the family and she told her father DeWayne that is the car she wanted to race after moving up from the Jr. Dragster ranks. During the build she attended the Frank Hawley School in Gainesville, Florida to get acquainted with higher horsepower and door cars before getting behind the wheel of her new X275 build. Kallee is a Mass Communication major in her senior year at college. “We started out slow, I guess you would call, in that with my first full pass I went like 5.10...my mom wasn't expecting that. There are more things to do in this car but I completely love heads-up racing and I don't want to bracket race ever again -- I want go fast, so this is where I'm at, I like it here.” Kallee has been a best of 4.42, at Tulsa, and the team will be looking to improve on her 4.91 today with one session left before eliminations. VP Racing Fuels Pro Mod racer Don Walsh Jr. is on par to re-set both ends of his class record after running a 3.709 at 213.70 last night. The current record is a 3.735 and 213.10 mph.Chesterton, Indiana’s Mike Gucciardo entered in Limited Street this weekend and is running his car in it’s Pure Street trim with the weight removed. He uses a Kaley Motor Services-built 310 cubic-inch N/A engine backed by a G Force G101 four speed transmission with a Black Magic clutch and Fast Forward Race Cars rear suspension. Mike is getting his feet wet in the class and is having a relaxing weekend with his family this weekend. Mike discussed the option of running Coyote Stock in the future with the car as a diehard N/A guy and the tight competition and camaraderie in that class. From left to right: Mike’s parents, Bill and Kathy Gucciardo, and Mike and his wife, Amanda.Shawn Calabrese has his new Chevy Performance Stock car here this weekend in it’s second race. He had issues with the manual transmission he started with, breaking it twice before switching to a TH 400 transmission from RPM and a Coan converter. Eric Kenward has been helping out with the car and Darren Poole Adams from North Carolina assisted with the roll cage. “It’s a new car so I am just getting seat time and learning what the car likes, or not. I have driveshaft and shock sensors hooked to the Racepak and working on suspension tuning. I brought my wife and 18-month-old along for the trip, making a little vacation out of it. We stayed in Nashville for a couple of days, then in Chicago for a couple of nights and hit up Giordano’s for some deep dish,” Shawn shared.Krista Elyse is running Factory Stock this year in her first full season with NMRA after dabbling in Truck and Lightning, Super Stang, and True Street in the past. Her fiance is Adam Ardnt, who was deployed last year and tabbed Brian Mitchell to drive his car. This car was a six week build, starting as a full weight street car and she jumped right in class with a 10.50 at her debut in Bradenton. “ We worked with Chris Jones from Blow By Racing, which was huge in getting us up to speed with the SCT tuning software. Tony from Tuners Inc was also very helpful in getting the car in the right direction with Adam now doing all the tuning. I ran a 10.60 at 122 last night and use every run as practice for my reaction times, I don’t think I have a hundred passes racing yet so my reactions have not been the best but I am working on it every run,” she explained.
NPS racer Matt Salminen from Port Charlotte, Florida made the 18-hour drive north after his win at Bowling Green. We caught up with him making some small changes to the fogger system which was flowed and installed by PKRA on top of the Nelson Competition-built big-block Chevy. Matt missed the Atlanta race but plans to finish out the rest of the season. The crew, from left to right: Marti Roberts, Michael Lanzetta, Matt Salminen, and Marc Helfrich. Nick Bacalis scored a new personal best last night with a 4.40 at 167 mph in his Street Outlaw Mustang running a BES-built big-block Ford. It’s been an interesting couple of years for Nick after starting this build as an N/A combo and running into some headaches before switching to a nitrous combo. The car is definitely coming around now and showing competitive promise. Dr. Ford is here assisting today and Sunday and there is still another qualifying session to utilize, though Nick will likely use it to prepare a tune-up for eliminations once the track heats up.We stopped by the Watson Racing pits to check on the team to find out Chuck Watson II’s qualifying runs Friday were disqualified over some improper paperwork on his tech form. Chuck runs a 2014 car with a 2016 “shootout combo” engine and he neglected to put the correct year for the engine on the form, creating a technical violation. He did run well scoring 8.20’s but spun in today’s session — a tough break for the team as he will face number one qualifier Joseph Welch’s 2015 Challenger. Chuck Sr. finished second in class points last year running the number one 2016 Cobra Jet. Senior landed seventh in class with an 8.16 at 169 mph. He will face off with Glenn Pushis’ 2016 COPO Camaro.Haley James landed second in Coyote Modified, just two-thousandths behind Tommy Annunziata with a 7.698 at 176 mph. Team Hellion math has a possibility of her clinching the championship for Hellion Team B in round one provided things go the right way for her. John Kauderer, David Witt, and Triangle Speed’s Daniel Pachar round out the ProCharger Coyote Modified field.Steve Roden is a second generation racer running this Wally Stroupe-built 1968 Firebird built in 2015 though this is the first weekend out with the car as he’s been concentrating on the family business. Roden runs a 522-inch big-block Chevy built in-house at Legend Racing Enterprises in Schaumberg, Illinois — the bullet is topped with billet heads and a 14-71 supercharger and backed by a Quick Drive and Lenco three-speed and a Coan converter. The car has Strange shocks, struts and their modular rear housing. “We came out to shake the car down but had some issues, new car blues they say. We won’t make the next event but plan to be at the finals in Indy,” Steve says. Steve’s father ran NMCA Pro Street from 2009 through 2011 in a 1957 Chevy and did some match racing with the Chicago Wise Guys for several years. He got started racing in Super Stock as a kid and just never got away from the scene after starting a family. He then founded Legend Racing Enterprises after being frustrated working for other people and the rest, as they say, is history. “He is doing a great job behind the wheel, we are just trying to get it sorted out as fast as we can,” Doug says.Romeoville, Illinois Nostalgia Pro Street racer John Trobiani had an engine backfire in the third session and caught fire on the top end after coming to a stop. He was out of the car quickly and uninjured, though the fire did burn for a little bit causing a good bit of damage to the front of his 1968 Camaro before the safety crew was able to put the fire out.
Final Qualifying Results NMCA
DeWayne Mills took the provisional top qualifier in Mickey Thompson Radial Wars with a 3.890 at 204, bumping Stinnett’s “Orange Crush” to second.Joseph Welch, based in Long Boat Key, Florida, is knocking on the seven second zone in his 2015 Challenger with an 8.02 at 169 qualifying time in Holley EFI Factory Super Car. If he makes it in he will be just the second Stock Eliminator car to accomplish the feat.
Final Qualifying Results NMRA
Frank Varela put the Hellion Turbo B Team Renegade car on top of the field by a wide margin, running a 7.38 at 187 mph, with his nearest competitor, Tony Hobson, just over one and a half tenths behind with a 7.54 at 184. Bob Cook and Brian Mitchell have a lot of work to do on the front half of the track to keep up.Tommy Annunziata’s Coyote Modified car launches hard in the final session — he was not able to improve his earlier performance.Bart Welt has the launch down in his Richmond Gear Factory Stock ride, hooking hard off the line in the final session. He landed second in class today with a 10.14 at 127 on the run.
Fuel Systems Technologies just launched the company this weekend and came on board as the NA 10.5 class sponsor as well as the presenting sponsor for the event. We spoke briefly with the owners and reps and will have lots more information coming soon here at Dragzine. Suffice to say it's some very nice stuff and it was a great effort to keep it all under wraps until this weekend here at Route 66 Raceway. The company is bring hi tech innovations into the carburetor world available to everyone from the week end street and track racers to full tilt race teams and carb builders.
Round One Elimination Results
It was certainly a long day here at Route 66 with quite a bit of down time on the track with Joseph Welch pulling a long wheel stand and getting out of the groove and crossing the track into the opposite wall. He was out of the car and ok but the clean up from the broken glass took some time. Two more late oil down put us finishing up near midnight. The track goes hot about 8:30 AM.
Things are heating up in Pro Media’s twin series where the NMCA and and NMRA meet up at the Superbowl here at Route 66 Raceway, the second time the series meet in the year though there is only one Superbowl. We have a large car count this weekend and guaranteed to be great racing. Stay tune to Dragzine for the latest news from the track and pits.
We stopped by Ron Potenzo’s pit to talk with driver Brian Hicks but he was unable to make it this here to Route 66 and Mario Orsini will be behind the wheel this weekend. John Paterimos was able to get us filled in with the info. The team has had the car out all year but this is the first NMCA event for 2018 for the team. The car features a 477 cubic inch Alan Johnson topped bullet and has been trying different things with the combo shaking it down.Curtis Catalon runs Renegade out of Triangle Speed Shop in Orange Texas but is doing some testing this weekend and entered in Xtreme Street for this event. He will be back in Renegade for the Bowling Green event. Catalon has been racing in NMRA heads up classes for five years after moving up from Modular Muscle. The combo this weekend is a 4.6 base 298 cubic inch engine with a 67 MM Precision Pro Mod turbo backed by a power glide Proformance Transmission with sponsorship from Circle D converters and Camp Dog Cajun Seasoning.NPS Points leader Jennifer Brooke Rice runs a small block Ford in the Racecraft built car tuned by her father Ed. “It’s tough with a small block in a big block world rebuilding the engine after every race. It would be great if we could get 150 pounds on the other cars to even things up a little but we are doing well leading points in class” – Ed Rice on the left.Jim Beal suffered an engine loss and fire two years ago at Indy in his NPS Olds Cutlass and is back for 2018 in his second event for the season after debuting at Bowling Green. The engine is a spread port big Chevy topped with an Induction Solutions fogger out of BES with Joe Opalski assisting on the Fuel Tech engine management system. “We are just sneaking up on the tune up getting everything put together after being gone for two years and should be in the 4.50 range this weekend”. – Jim Beal.Kevin Lumsden is debuting a stick shift transmission here at Route 66 this weekend after some successful testing recently and hopes to improve on his performance this weekend.Jason Hamstra went a clean 3.74 at 207 to earn top qualifier in Pro Mod round one qualifying.
Greg Seth Hunter and Mark Luton from Team MMR are both in top ten for points this season going into the Superbowl. The team is still using the red car as the development mule for new parts and tuning changes with Luton in the silver car having the ET advantage with a best of 3.83. Luton qualified with a 4.04 at 191 MPH in round one. Marty Stinnett made the trip up to Illinois with his freshly painted “Orange Crush” Mustang for Radial Wars action. He managed a 4.31 at 157 pedaling the car down the tricky sun soaked surface.
Round One Qualifying Results
Local racer Randy Adler had a safe tune in the car for round one running a 3.84 for the round before turning it up a bit and scoring a 3.79 in round two after the sun went down. “We were just trying to go A to B in the first session, but it shook through first gear. My brother and Brian Robbins handle the tune ups on the car and it’s always interesting to watch them go back and forth with Brian always wanting to throw the kitchen sink at the car. Between them we have a good handle on the car.” – Randy Adler.
John Stanley lost a crank in the first session causing a short clean up on the top end and a lot of work for the crew back in the pits to prepare the car for the next qualifying session. Several delays allowed the team the time swap long blocks, transmissions and make the necessary repairs to the car and make the second session. It wasn't fast but they made the round next to Adler's 3.74.
Jeff Rudolf debuted his new Pro Mod at NMCA Atlanta making this his third of the year for the car and a total of five events and one test session at Cordova Raceway for a Super Chevy there on the season. So far so good for Rudolf and crew chief Steve Summers who is tuning on his championship winning engine for Rudolf. “We have been creeping up on the tune and it a whole different ball of wax especially when the converter locks up a few hundred feet out., it's been a learning curve much different than a nitrous car, it's always pulling Gs.” Jeff Rudolf He sits in tenth so far with a 3.85 at 209 MPH. Dan Stevenson also has Steve Summers on board as the new crew chief and is testing a Liberty transmission here this weekend. Stevenson has been running NHRA points and is using this event as a test for Indy. He scored a 3.89 at 203 so far which is good for thirteenth on the day. Dan Stevenson shown with his Grandson Dan.
Manny Buginga has both cars back out with Alton Clements driving the Fox in it's first time back after a crash at the World Cup last year. Alton made a couple of shake down runs before turning it loose in the second session and landing second in class with a 4.34 at 165 MPH behind Andy Manson. Both cars feature DiSomma Racing Engines with JW Race Cars handling the repairs on Little Red. Jamie Miller and Josh Ledford tag team the tuning for the team with Larry Jeffers on hand for his expertise and two cents. “ It's a lot faster than my Renegade car but sits the same and I fit right in. We are just getting comfortable going through the motions and trying to make some fast passes later this weekend.” - Clements shown at left.
