Sunday morning and ready for eliminations which are underway now. Gotta love the winter season here in Florida, while we are racing the rest of the country isn’t even open for business yet. Check back through the day for updates. I will have some morning notes coming after first round is completed.
Special thanks goes out to Mickey Thompson for sponsoring DragZine’s event coverage. Check out their great line of tires at www.mickeythompsontires.com.
We kicked things off right on time this morning with the staff on the line for the national anthem and look forward to a great, safe day of racing.Top qualifier Jason Rine was half the first pair out this morning for 7.50 index, he took the loss however.Buddy swaps out some new skins for Scotty G. this morning at the Mickey Thompson trailer. He had a single as Bobby Dodrill wasn't able to make the call in the Miss Misery all wheel drive blown Chevy pickup.Jason Gatlin from ATF just wrapped up designing of a new bolt together converter. He debut the piece here this weekend and has several racers lined up for development and testing.Eric Secaur is here running the JW Winters trailer this weekend. they have parts available here on sight and mentioned to me they are releasing a new TH 400 transmission case soon.
Round One Results
Ari Birchfield and Corey Swanstrom were the first pair down in X275 with Birchfield's nitrous not activating in the loss to Swanstrom. The Mustang is owned by Enrique Perez.Barry Mitchell skied the front early in his run, still managing a 5.07 to take out Troy Fredrickson's Procharged Camaro.Brian Keep and Clint Lonon had the tightest run of round one, keep got the win driving around Lonon with a 5.10 @ 137 to Lonon's 5.21 @ 142.
Ray DeGiovine made it through round one and will face Brian Amendoloro in an all Nova matchup for round two.Neal Watkins put up a 5.59 in the first round with his big block Chevy powered Elky. The father and son team is based out of St. Pete, Florida.
Willard Kinzer set low ET in round one with a 4.48 @ 181 on a single, Chad Opaleski could not make the call this morning.Klugger put down a 4.53 @ 181in his win over Scott Husted, earning high mile per hour.
Class founder Mike Schmidt had a single in round one running a 4.66 @ 155.
Jeff Lutz lost the tires at the hit, slowing to a 6.28 in a loss to Dave French.Robert Abbot managed a 4.33 @ 176 with his blown 2002 Camaro in his win over Bryan Markiewicz. Hooked up and Gone Race Cars handles the tuning and chassis set up.
Adam Flamholc got beat on the tree by Jon Adams but had the power to come around him on the top end with a 4.03 to Adams' 4.13.Tim Tindle got into tire shake and had to pedal the car against Jimmy Keen, who ran a nice 4.07 for the win.
Round Two Results
Final Results
This makes three in a row here at bradenton for Mr. 7.50 Matt Cummings. He won last October's ODRC event, the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals and the again here this weekend. the father and son team is based in Palmetto, Florida and runs a mild 468 ci. big block Chevy built by Ralph Stenger, who also handles their trasmissions and rear end work.Mark Mullen earned the runner up position driving the family S-10 for son A.J. who has re-enlisted into the armed forces and is away for training.
Fourth qualifier David Lacey put his 72 Vega in the winners circle running a 6.503 @ 103 against John Fernandez. Lacy runs a 383 SBC based out of Palmetto, Florida and is a frequent racer here at Bradenton and sister track Sunshine Dragstrip in St. Pete.6.50 Runner up John Fernandez is based in Tampa with his 88 S-10 pickup.
Jack Collins left first in the X275 final but popped a head gasket early in the run handing the win to Drakeford.Event winner Walter Drakeford is based in Clearwater, Florida with his Real Speed Racing shop. He qualified number two and getting through round two and three with a matching .009 reaction time, getting a holeshot win over Barry Mitchell in round two with his best run in eliminations. He met with Snowbird Outlaw Nationals winner "King Jack" Collins who lost a head gasket in the final before the 60 foot.Event runner up - Jack Collins runs out of Rocky Point, North Carolina with his 1988 Mustang.
Cape Coral, Florida racer Terry Duffy took home the 5.50 trophy this weekend with his 79 Cutlass after Wesley Lee pulled up just .005 too early for a foul start.Number one qualifier Wesley Lee is always a top contender no matter the class he is racing, he had some tight packages during the day but fell victim to himself in the final in the Bill Lee Race Cars 96 Mustang. Bill Sr., Bill Jr. and Welsey all have extensive experiance in both cars and racing Harley's out of their full service shop in Palmetto, Florida.
Limited Street/Radial Tire winner Scotty Gaudagno turned it up for the final against Josh Klugger running a 4.48 @ 160, matching earlier low ET by Williard Kinzer who slowed to a .63 against Scotty in the second round. He runs his own fuel injected big block on nitrous, built in his Spring Hill, Florida shop. The Jet Blue crew is Frank, Mike and Anthony and they are always a top contender weather running Limited Street on true ten fives or with the big tires in Outlaw 10.5.Josh Klugger pulled driving duties this weekend for the Fiscus/Klugger Racing Mustang. The first race out with the winter changes and a runner up finish is good so far for the newly formed team.
John Schroeder is glad he made the haul from Stanford, Connecticut with his 2002 Camaroearning the win in Outlaw 632 this weekend. Improving performance through the day he met with Mike Schmidt in the final and got the win on a double foul start. Scotty G. helped out tuning the car today and the engine is going back there to be freshened up on the ride back.Outlaw 632 runner up Mike Schmidt runs out of Sunrise, Florida with his 2002 Camaro and runs a Nelson Competition 632 ci. big block Chevy under the hood. He ran as quick as 4.63 today to get around Eddie Whitlow in the second round after getting edged out on the tree.
Frank Meshaw had a wild ride this afternoon getting out of shape and winding up in a scary situation on two wheels after the 330 cones. he did a great job on the save, and a lot of good fortune as well. Based out of Palm Bay he and Peg Fratena make as many area evets as possible between NMCA events. Lucj went his way in the final against Candido Sanchez who lost traction early in the run allowing Meshaw to drive by. Sponsors and help for the team include TRZ Motorsports, Hank Hill's Hooked up and Gone Race Cars, Chris Nelson from Nelsom Competition, Jason Gatlin from ATF Transmissions and Mickey Thompson tires.Outlaw 10.5 runner up Candido Sanchez is based out of Miami, Florida with his 2000 Camaro formerly owned by Bill Futch. The 615 ci BBC was built by Oscar Rodriguez from PRD Engine Development, who was on hand this weekend helping out Sanchez and other customers. Special thanks to Carlos Zaldivar and crew for the helping hand.
Terry Coyle (far lane) was dead late on the tree but managed to pull out the win running a 3.92 in the Pro Mod final against Adam Flamholc.Terry Coyle made his first trip to Florida and came home with a win with his K&B Race Cars 57 Chevy. He normally runs in Kentucky and Ohio Valley quick 8 events. The car has a roots blown Brad 6 providing the power running consistant low 3.90's all day.Adam Flamholc first raced here at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals last year earning a runnerup finish. The Swedish team is now based here and will be running assorted Top Sportsman events along with the ADRL series. He made his best run of the day in the final, a 4.033 @ 163 after qualifying with a 3.97.
We got started a little early today after the cancelled session yesterday. The cold front has moved through so we have some nice weather to look forward to for the rest of the event. We kick off this morning with a test session starting with the 7.50 index class, then moving through to Pro Mod before the first round of qualifying so everyone that wants to can get a run in before things start to count.
Special thanks goes out to Mickey Thompson for sponsoring DragZine’s event coverage. Check out their great line of tires at www.mickeythompsontires.com.
It's a beautiful morning here in Bradenton as we get started for the 2012 US Street Nationals, the season opener for many racers in the outlaw ranks.Jon Anderson gets the nod for being hte first in line this morning with his Real Speed Racing prepped 7.50 Index Mustang. A mild small block Ford built in house provides the power."Ziff" Hudson was out early in X275 this morning but wasn't able to grab a hold of the track along with many others in X275 during the test session.Mickey Thompson is a major sponsor of assorted classes and events around the country. Tom Kundrik (left) and Carl Robinson have been here all week for tire testing and are on hand this weekend observing and helping out the racers.Scott Husted was the first LS/Drag Radial car to make a clean pass this morning, a 4.82 @ 163 straight down the middle.Mel Nelson managed a 4.74 @ 173 despite an apperant miss during the run.Greg Chandler launched hard on his way to a clean run with his twin turbocharged Outlaw 10.5 Camaro.Bryan Markiewicz had a nice 4.41 @ 180 this morning in his first event back in over a year. The twin turbocharged Mustang is tuned by Steve Petty with a Nelson Competition big block Chevy providing the power.Tim Tindle lost the tires at the hit in his blown Mustang. Several other cars that run the ADRL series are here this weekend as well.Drew Handras had a small nitrous backfire on his attempt this morning. There was no other real damage to be seen so they should be back for qualifying.Jackie Slone got into tire shake with his Chevy Cobalt, putting the car out of shape early and he shut it down without incident.This 57 Chevy put down a nice 4 flat but resulted in a mist of oil part of the way down resulting in a little down time.Pat Musi is here this weekend piloting the King Kong 5 Dodge Stratus, his 3.90 @ 193 was the first three second run today.Todd Tutterow bettered that with a 3.86 @ 201 in the Al Anabi Racing '69 Camaro.
Round One Qualifying Results
Lehigh Acres, Florida racer Jason Rines took the top qualifier in round one of 7.50 by virtue of MPH over Greg Maples' 79 Zepher.
Jay Folker Jr. put the wheelstanding Malibu wagon on top of 6.50 Index this morning running just .004 over index.
Walter Drakeford got a 5.03 @ 140 in the first session of X275 to earn number one qualifier. The Real Speed Racing shop car is owned by Mike Burkhart and runs a 400 ci SBF with Induction Solutions nitrous.
The Part Time Performance tuned Mustang oned by Willard Kinzer has top spot in LS/Radial Tire with an easy 4.64 @ 173, he is on slicks this weekend so far.
Rodney Campbell has the car to beat so far in OL 632 running a 4.58 @ 158 in the first session a full seven hundredths better than the number two man Jimmy Marino who is driving for Troy Blake this weekend in his 68 Camaro.
Rob wells came off the trailer ready to rock and laid down a nice 4.26 @ 186 to earn number one in OL 10.5 . Built in house at Ford Speed Racing he uses a 600 cubic inch big block Ford with twin turbos providing the boost.
Pat Musi scored the top qualifier after one round, running slightly off his earlier 3.90 during testing with a 3.95 @ 191.Dan Bandish has a new car and has switched to a nitrous combination for 2012, his 4.002 @ 185 earned him number two qualifier.
Round Two Qualifying Results
The track is coming around now for the radial tire cars as several racers were able to improve from the earlier session."King" Jack Collins rolled down to Florida again after winning X275 at the Snowbird Nationals back in December of last year. His 4.93 was enough to jump in front of the also improving Drakeford.
Final Qualifying
Jason Rine held the top spot in 7.50 all day with his 388 cubic inch small block powered S-10, but two other racers tied his ET, first time I have seen that happen.There is a nice field of 22 cars for 6.50 this weekend. Looks like opening the rules here to allow backhalf cars has really went well.
Vero Beach, Florida based Eric Kenward turned it up for the last session as the track came around and recorded his personal best ET with a 4.90 @ 144 to take number one qualifier. Kenward runs full TRZ suspension, a SBC from Nelson Competition and Wilson Pro Flow nitrous. Helping out this weekend is Attilio Derosa and Todd Brash.Justin Swanstrom is part of a father and son team with a two car effort. Father Corey runs a turbocharged combination while Corey drives a naturally aspirated big block Ford in the 91 Mustang purchased last year out of California. Running 5.20's at just 16 is awesome, we love racing families.Brian Keep is fresh off a win at last weekends Tomato Nationls in Immokallee, Florida. A small fire in the shutdown there burned some of the nitrous plumbing so he is only running one kit this weekend, his 5.11 was good for eleventh on the ladder.
Tony Ridenour came away with the number one spot in LS/Radial Tire in the final session with a fine 4.58 @ 166 as Kinzer fell to fourth in the field, he still has top MPH by a wide margin. Tony is running a revised engine from Fast Forward Race Engines in Crystal Springs, Florida in the twin Procharged 2000 Camaro based out of Largo.Macon, Georgia racer Jason Borum laid down a nice run in the final session, moving from eigth to third with a 4.63 @ 167 with his 04 Saleen.
Rodney Campbell set the pace in OL 632 in his first outing with this Camaro owned by Jerry Charles. A Nelson Competition built 632 with three kits from Speedtech provide the record setting power.Jimmy Marino put this Camaro owned by Troy Blake in third spot with a 4.64 @ 154.
Rob Wells was another racer to hold onto the top qualified position through the day with his 4.246 in the first session.Carlos Zaldivar puts number two qualifier Candido Sanchez in the beams earlier today. He improved his time to a 4.247 @ 180, just .001 behind Wells in the final session. The Miami, Florida based team uses a 615 cubic inch BBC from PRD Racing Engines with twin turbos.Frank Meshaw did well with his NMCA legal Mickey Thompson 10.5W Trans Am putting up a 4.385 @ 175, good enough for fourth.Billy Gordon landed fifth but put out a lot of smoke on his last run while staging. Hopefully they can get things on track for eliminations tomorrow.
Todd Tutterow owned Pro Mod today, eventually running a 3.86 @ 201 in the final session.Stamping Ground, Kentucky based Terry Coyle put up a 3.90 @ 188 knocking Pat Musi to third in the second session.Tommy D'April struggled today and wound up on the bump with a 4.347 @ 184, just edging out Pat Quesenberry's 41 Willy's.Lizzy Musi is behind the wheel of this Top Sportsman Camaro owned by John Lee this weekend. This is her first time in competition in the car after some recent testing, both here and at PBIR. Her previous experience is in Jr. Dragsters for eight years, but her father Pat will ensure she doesn't get over her head too soon. Her best run today was a 4.40 while entered in 5.50 index just to get some seat time. The plan is to run the ADRL Top Sportsman class and eventually graduate to a full Pro Mod ride. A fuel injected 762 on nitrous from Musi provides the power.
It’s the first big race for the heads up racers in 2012 this weekend in Bradenton. A full slate of racing classes from Pro Mod to X275 will be on hand for a truly great show. Keep it tuned to DragZine all weekend for all the round-by-round race coverage updates.
Special thanks goes out to Mickey Thompson for sponsoring DragZine’s event coverage. Check out their great line of tires at www.mickeythompsontires.com.
Coverage starts Friday Afternoon!
The weather today wasn’t co operating so the test session was cancelled. The track will be open for test runs at 9 AM. The plan after that is four rounds of qualifying for all classes. This being the big kickoff for the 2012 season of outlaw racing there are several new cars on the property and updates from several teams and racers.
Josh Klugger pictured on the left, and Kevin Fiscus have teamed up for the 2012 season as reported here on Dragzine just today. They have run into the 4.40's @ over 180 MPH so far this week testing here in Bradenton.This Clark Brothers Racing 1967 Mustang hails from Texas with a new Brad Anderson motor. It's a new combo and they made some runs last night here with no real luck. They will be running ADRL Pro Extreme again this year with Eric handling the driving. From left to right, Kevin Burgess, Robert Loar, Eric Clark. Ken Nelson is also involved with the program.Fast Forward Innovations brought their Dodge Stratus to Bradenton for testing in preperation for ADRL Exterme 10.5 racing this year. The Texas based shop is a partnership between Grant Mccrary and Rick Thornton who raced against each other in the texas King of the Hill races for several years. Rick was interested in moving over to turbo's and the partnership developed from there with the shop building anything from Pro Extreme cars to Pro Mods. The engine is a 5.3 bore space short deck engine from Has Fuestal with a Bruo/Lenco trans and fed by twin 94's from Precision. This car is a virtual twin to the blue car which holds the record for the quickest turbo car with a 3.84.Chad Opaleski was here testing last night and lost a head gasket after hitting the rev limiter. There was no other damage so they should be ready for tomorrow. He has switched to a FAST fuel/engine managment system tuned by Robert Zarconi switched out to a 1.6 first gear in the powerglide trans and a 3.40 rear gear along with a complete rewire.Chris Owens sold his Mustang as I mentioned and has installed that combination into this Monte Carlo originally campainged by Mike Moran. Owens purchased the car about ten monthsogo from Bill Lutz' insurance company after it was crashed at Orlando a couple of years ago. He and Brian Goss rebuilt the front half and got it in running order and will be running the car in Pro Mod with a clutch set up. The engine is a 427 Ford with a 114 mm Turbo.Ruben Tetsosvilli had some updates done by Teddy Houser over the December break. New shocks and struts, new carbon tubs, some assorted bracing, bars, a double frame rail tunnel and rewiring.Under the hatch of Ruben's Mustang is the water tank off to the left, fuel cell on the left and the Pro Lite Racing battery in the corner. The carbon tubs and panels reduce weight by a significant amount.Williard Kinzer and the Part Time Performance crew made the haul down with three cars. Williard will be running Limited Street/Drag Radial with Jeff Lutz set to drive the Cobalt in Outlaw 10.5. A twin turbo charged corvette will be driven by ARCA series racer Steve Blackburn in 5.50 index. More on this car Saturday morning.James "Ziff" Hudson is debuting his new ride, a 1980 Mecury Zepher built in just 12 weeks. A Charlie Buck big block on one kit sits under the hood and is tuned by Jeff Prock. The first run was in the 5.0's with the second pass being a 4.88. The cage was done by JP Performance with full Racecraft suspension and additional fabrication by Kazai.Here is a peek under the Zepher featuring the full line of Raceraft suspension components.Barry Mitchel set tounges wagging this week after running a 4.78 @ 150 testing here on Wednesday for X275.powered by a Fulton SBX just installed last week. The car was updated by Gibbons Race Cars with the sheetmetal work and composites by Kazai Fabrication in Charlotte North Carolina. Jeff Prock from Applied Nitrous Technologies tunes the engine and was here testing with them this week getting it dialed in.Steven Adams hails from Tennessee and rode down to compete in OL 632. He purchased the car from Eddie Whitlow, who also run the class. He runs a 632 machined at Riverside Machine Shop on two kits with a powerglide transmission in the 98 Camaro. Pictured here with his son Micheal on the left.
"Big Lo" Angelo Graham is running drag radial this weekend, taking a weekend away from the grudge scene for the G Body King. Some fresh updates were done recently by Attilio DeRosa from Double AA Performance and Eric Kenward. Graham uses a 632 BBC from PRD Engine Development, Applied Nitrous Technology, TRZ Motorsports suspension and PDL Transmissions with apperal from Obnoxious Motorpsorts.
This Mustang was formerly owned by Chris Owens with a small block Ford turbo in Drag Radial and was purchased by Joe Warnick out of Texas a few months ago. A long time friend of Eric Kenward it was left in his hands and updated at Eric's Automotive with a Nelson Competition 446 small block Ford using Victor 15 degree heads and Wilson Pro Flow nitrous. The car will stay here with Joe coming back to race in February for the Radial Revolution, updated to a 25.5 chassis and rewired, then back to Texas it goes to make the season opener West Texas True Ten Five event on April 21st.John Schroder made the haul once again to Florida from Coneticut and will be running on OL 632 with his 2002 Camaro formerly owned and built by the late Leo Barnaby. They will be headed back Sunday and dropping the engine back at Scotty's Racing technology in Spring Hill, Florida for a freshen up. Plans for the year include getting some weight out of the car and running a new big tire class at Cecil County Dragway and Englishtown.Wiscoinson resident Jim McMillan comes down to Florida for six months of the year to get some racing in during the winter months. He arrived last October and ran the Snowbird Nationals, also running the local bracket races and any index racing he can get in. This weekend he is running the 6.50 class with the 502 ci. big block powered 69 Camaro. Shout outs go to Masters Transmissions in Rosemont Minnasota and NMCA racer Curt Anderson from Autocraft Muscle Cars.Billy Driscol applies the OL 10.5 sticker to the window of the Markiewicz Racing Mustang. The team are coming back for 2012 with a fresh engine from Nelson Competition. Bryan and crew weren't here earlier, so I will have more info coming tomorrow.Frank, Anthony and Scotty G from left to right. Scotty and the Jet Blue crew are always a top contender in 10.5
