Well today it’s time for the racers to lay it on the line in eliminations where two go down and one comes back. We kick off eliminations with another day of some very nice weather with a possibility of a front moving through later this afternoon. Thank you to our coverage sponsor Fuel Air Spark Technology, we’ll be in the house to bring you all the happenings, on and off the race track!
We are at it early this morning catching the sun coming up here in Bradenton for the NMCA 2016 season opener with a nice turnout of racers this year and several racers staying over from last weekends sister event with the NMRA.Martin Connelley is debuting a new car owned by Jason Martin this weekend and has run a 7.78 so far using a big block Ford prepped by BES with a Kevin Neal nitrous system while working out some gremlins in the new car. Tin Soldier Race Cars helped out mounting the front end just before Martin left for Florida.Randy Eakins is running in the Holley EFI Factory Super Car this weekend but he is down one cylinder and qualified fifth and hopes to earn points in round one today. Eakins has run NMCA before but not for some time campaigning a Drag Pack Challenger and this car the last couple of years. “It’s nice to be here for the NMCA and I like the schedule and hope to get to all of the events this year” Randy EakinsKevin Lumsden has made a few changes to his GM Performance Stock Camaro in the off season including the transmission gear ratios and swapped from a Moser 9 inch to a Strange 12 bolt which takes a little less power to turn.Chris Holbrook is qualified third in Holley EFI Factory Super Car with his Cobra Jet which he got back in 2010 as a 352 pushrod engine and was the only one built with that combo. He switched to the 5.4 combo before this Coyote engine. The NHRA Stock Eliminator rules are very strict as far as modifications but there is some room and allowances for engine builders to make their own improvement and Holbrook is well known in the industry and has worked with Ford Performance division in development of some of their pushrod crate engines in the past. He uses Comp Cams and has sponsorship from Ford Performance, Mickey Thompson Tires, A Tech Trailers and Flying A Motorsports.Scott Libersher is another racer at NMCA for the first time coming over from NHRA to run the Factory Super Car class and run an NA 427 combo in this 2015 Camaro. He was here testing earlier this week with the new engine running in the high 8’s and run 9.0’s here in competition. He also has a supercharged COPO he tested last fall and plans to bring it to the next NMCA stop in Commerce and should be right with the Fords there.
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The lone Mopar in Wiesco Street Outlaw belongs to Michael Sanders and is brand new from Bill Carter at Two Lane Performance. Sanders runs an NA Hemi that was formerly campaigned by Rick Jones in IHRA Pro Stock. So far he has run a 4.77 at 150 MPH this weekend.
Pro Mod Action had Josh Green facing Ray Commisso with both racers getting into tire shake. Green moved towards the center and shut it down with Commisso (near lane) recovering and moving on to round two where he will pair up with Robert Abbott.Richard Cohen won his match by default when Frank Cersosimo bumped through the lights before the tree activated. He will face Thomas Jones in the next round.Dave French was paired with Rick Mills in Ross Racing Pistons Outlaw 632 but made a single after Mills seemed to me misfiring before the burnout and was pushed back.Ken Quartuccio advanced with another run in the 4.40’s over Steve Cannizzo.Mickey Thompson Radial Wars had number one Woo! man Keith Berry with the earned single and Frank Meshaw scoring a 4.08 win over Mark Woodruff who struggled a bit this weekend and was bit by a faulty tire pressure gauge that basically negated any data and tuning that had done to get down the track Friday and Saturday. Keith likes to take a few moments to himself before a pass to get in the right frame of mind.Mark Micke faced off with Paul Major taking the win as Major lost his engine resulting in a little down time for cleanup.Attrition was the name of the game for round one of Edelbrock Xtreme Street with Tony Alm scoring a win over Bill Trovato with a 7.89 at 173 and Henry Lee advancing over Ray Cox’s Pontiac.Eric Kenward set low ET again running a 7.65 at 174,faster than his earlier run setting himself up for a 2016 record with his qualifying 7.67 ET but the day isn’t over yet.Leonard Long scored a come from behind win over Dan Bowles in round one of Quick Lane NA 10.5 with an 8.25 to Bowles 8.27.NA !0.5 number one qualifier Dwight Ausmus put up an 8.05 at 168 on a single run after qualifying with a 7.92.Kevin Lumsden scored a wheels up launch in Chevrolet Performance Stock running 10.63 at 124 over Glenn Pushis. he will give up lane choice to Ronnie Hackleton who ran a 10.60.
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In round two of VP Fuels Xtreme Pro Mod Chris Rini was paired up with Raymond Commisso and got loose just past half track and hitting the left side wall hard. The car careened off both walls again before coming to a stop and Rini was flown to the hospital where reports he is banged up with some broken ribs but was alert and speaking with Alan Chervitz the track owner later. Once into the semi finals of Pro Mod we had two local racers Ken Cruz and Richard Cohen left in with Ray Commisso and randy Adler. Kruz had an unfortunate leak when they went to fire the car in the water box giving Commisso a single where he ran a 3.902 at 191. Adler and Cohen has close lights with Adler netting the round win with a 3.903 at 196 to Cohen’s 4.08.The Holley EFI Factory Super Cars had a great showing for their NMCA debut with eleven cars making it for round one. Chris Holbrook, Glenn Pushis and Brunno Massel making it through to the semi finals where Holbrook launched into a wheel stand against Pushis as the cars left the line. Pushis would come out with the hole shot round win with his 8.85 to Holbrook’s quicker 8.79 setting up an all COPO final.In Wiesco Street Outlaw Jarod Wenrick had a single in round two putting up a 4.59 at 159. There were two other cars left in with Phil Hines scoring a win over Dwayne Barbaree with a 4.53 at 162 MPH with Barbaree falling off pace to a 5.10 at 158 setting up the all Procharger final.
Final Results
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Commisso had lane choice by .001 and took the right lane but gave up the tree to Adler. It didn’t matter though as Adler had his own leak and got in his own fuel and spun the tires with Commisso going on to a 4.08 at 188 earning the win. Commisso is running a new car this year tuned by Bob Newberry who is also tunes for Cruz and Cohen. Commisso is based out of Canada and uses Al Billes horsepower with a roots combo and has nine runs on the new set up since getting here Tuesday. The longtime NHRA racer is planning to run NMCA and PDRA for 2016 and keeps the car at Newberry’s home in Gainseville, Florida.Pushis left first in the final with a .142 reaction to Massel’s .159 but was running 8.8’s and could not stay in front of Massel’s 8.55 at 158 making this the COPO win in heads up competition.Ross Racing Pistons Outlaw 632 had two racers dominating today running 4.40’s like clockwork. Curt Steinbach running a clutch combo and Ken Quartuccio with his familiar 69 Camaro automatic. Quartuccio had lane choice going into the final with a 4.417 from the previous round with Steinbach winning the reaction time game and running a 4.454 at 166 in the final, however that was not good enough as Quartuccio put up a 4.424 at 163 to get by and earn the win again as he won here last year as well.
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In the Weisco Street Outlaw final Hines had lane choice taking the left side and Wenrick taking the starting line advantage with an .038 reaction and running it out to his best of eliminations 4.50 at 161 to Hines game 4.51 at 162 MPH. In ARP Nitrous Pro Street we had just two cars here in Florida which is not a great turnout for this class which has good participation at the northern tracks. 2015 class champ Joe Bucaro was number one qualifier over John Trobiani who was struggling with gremlins this weekend. In the final Bucaro put up a 7.37 at 185 with Trobiani running a 9.52 at 150 on the motor as his nitrous didn’t activate.Ronnie Hackelton met with Kevin Lumsden in the final of Chevy Performance Stock with both drivers having near identical reaction times, a .091 and.092 respectively. Ronnie had a slight ET advantage going in and came out with the win running a 10.619 at 124.32 to Lumsden’s 10.626 at 125.55 with the margin of victory being just .0082. Hackelton will have another car just like this one running in Atlanta which will driven by his Gran-daughter.Joe Middle Jr. met with Ron Tiller in the ATI Performance Nostalgia Super Stock final round with Tiller going red and Middle breaking the transmission. He had an eventful weekend losing his hood scoop twice on the top end and running the final without it due to the significant head wind we had here today.Mickey Thompson Radial Wars had several cars qualify in the 4.0’s with Dewayne Mills, Keith Berry and Daniel Pharris making it through to the semi finals with Pharris having the bye where he moved left and let out to a 4.69 at 121. Mills treed Berry by .010 and the race was on with the cars side by side to the stripe. Mills would get there first with a 4.002 at 201 earning the round over Berry’s 4.016 at 188 MPH for a .020 margin of victory.In the final it would be Pharris out first with an .040 to Mills’ .084. Pharris had to pedal the car a bit running a 3.990 at 198 with Mill’s setting low ET of the event with a 3.971 at 202.29 making history here for the first side by side threes in NMCA competition, it just wasn’t quite enough to get in front of Pharris’ better reaction time. Pharris has put a new team together for 2016 including Josh Ledford on the keyboard with great results so far this year.
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Quick Lane NA 10.5 had four cars competing with Dwight Ausmus taking top qualifier with his BES powered 72 Firebird. He would meet Leonard Long in the final and did his job on the tree just edging out Long by .006. At the stripe that would be reversed at Long would beat Ausmus to the stripe by the same margin scoring a win in a very tight final. Long's 8.026 at 170.45 earned the win over Ausmus' 8.038 at 169.65. Edelbrock Xtreme Street also had some tight racing this weekend with Eric Kenward coming away with the record 7.67 but falling to the Straightline Performance 2002 Camaroo of David Hutnick in the semi finals after slowing to a 7.710 at 174 to Hutnick’s 7.68 at 179. Newcomer to NMCA Martin Connelley had a single after his round two win over Henry Lee and took the tree for the round giving up lane choice to Hutnick. Connelley (far lane) shown with Henry Lee.Connelley scored a much better reaction time with an .035 and ran a 7.82 at 177 for his effort but he 2015 Xtreme Street Champion Hutnick laid down a 7.73 at 174 to earn the win.
Day two here in Bradenton started things off with a short rain shower delaying qualifying and 45 minutes or so while the staff dried up the track and lanes. Thanks to the support of our presenting sponsor, Fuel Air Spark Technology, we’ll be in the house to bring you all the happenings, on and off the race track!
First up this morning we dropped by Chris Rini’s pit only to find Steve Crisafulli and David Campbell changing a rod and piston out for pit neighbor Keith Berry who told us “We knew the tune up wasn’t quite right yet but didn’t want to go slow.” He didn’t and leads the Radial Wars field as the sole car in the 3’s after one session. Crew Chief Campbell was trying out some different set ups on the new car fro Rini and the car has been switched back to their Thursday set up for round two Pro Mod qualifying.Dwayne Barbaree went back home after the NMRA to go over the car and repair one cylinder head and had to pull flood avoidance on I-20 and drive through six hours of sideways rain on the way. His 4.54 last night was an easy A to B pass. Look for him to improve his performance in the second session.Ed Schwarz is running Gear Vendors True Street today with his single turbo LS Nova. Schwarz has run some local no prep events with the Stick Shift Mafia and has a new build under way with a New Edge Mustang being prepped for the Outlaw Drag Radial/Limited Drag Radial class.Brothers Mike and Chris French are here out of Ocala with a pair of fine old school muscle to compete in True Street. Mike on the right with his 68 Camaro and Chris with the Chevelle out of their own shop, Jenkins Collision Center. The brothers bracket race regularly at Gainseville Dragway with power coming from big block Chevy’s prepped by Rollins Automotive.
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Al Wilson originally is from Michigan but a long time Tennessee resident just transplanted to Crystal River, Florida. He is running this 1960 Belvedere in NSS/E he has been racing for about seven years with a 400 cubic inch engine using the more rare Short Ram Cross Ram intake combo which offers better higher RPM performance due to an increased plenum volume and shorter divided area of the runners. Interestingly Al was attending MSU back in 1969 and involved in a factory backed effort through the university where the class prepped and maintained a W31 Olds Cutlass in NHRA G Stock.
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Randy Blackmon is out for the second time with his new car after debuting at No Mercy last year. He is running Outlaw 632 this weekend and will be moving to Radial Wars for the second event in Atlanta and beyond with the small block nitrous combo. Felix Garcia out of Performance Fabrication in Largo has his Heavy Street prepared Chevy II entered in Pro Mod this weekend. The car has been done about a year with Felix wrapping up various small stuff in between work at the shop. This is the second outing with the car where he debuted it at the Orlando World Street Nationals last year. The combo is a big Chevy 555 fed by twin 76 MM Precision turbos.Jim Monson lost the cam seal on the Jessel drive yesterday requiring a trip to harbor Freight and some loaner tools from Paul Major and Bill Trovato to make tear it down to replace the seal. He is ready for round two qualifying this morning.Kevin Skinner is the Factory Super Car number one qualifier and part of a father and son two car team with engines prepped by Chris Holbroock who is qualified third. The cars run the 5.0 liter 2.9 Whipple combo in the 2014 model Cobra Jets. John Holt Race Cars helps with the chassis set up.Paul Major is back at it in Radial Wars for 2016 with Eric LaFerrier as crew chief once again. He switched to the Fuel Tech EFI for this year running a 5 inch bore space 588 from J&E Engine with 98MM Precisions, backed by and M&M Trans and Pro Torque converter. Today’s qualifying will be his first attempt this weekend.
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Eric Kenward is focusing on Edelbrock Xtreme Street for 2016 swapping out the Ultra Street legal turbo on his TNT Engines small Chevy for a Garrett unit from Jose Rayas at Forced Induction with thanks to Bill Harshell at Garrett. Also new is a fresh redo for the Wheelie Wagon including a new Lexan wind shield and side glass replaced from TRZ Motorsports. He tested in Orlando directly before coming here with good results. Fresh paint by Bobfather's Garage
Round Two Qualifying Notes
Randy Adler improved his performance in round two qualifying of VP Racing Fuels Xtreme Pro Mod running a 3.804 at 200 MPH, the first NMCA car to run that quick in competition.Robert Abbott improved his qualifying time on a full pass in session two running a 3.931 at 191 MPH moving into the top half of the Pro Mod field.Thomas Jones went up in smoke on his attempt with several other racers also struggling in this session.Chris Holbrook did not improve his ET but ran well in the heat with an 8.53 at 157 MPH.Brian Massingill also ran well, hooking hard and riding the bars out to a 9.06 at 148 for the 450 NA combination.Ross Racing Pistons OL632 racer Dave French is here with a fresh engine and taking it easy working in the tune up. He qualified last night with a 4.72 at 147 and scored a 4.74 at 151 today.Jason Juday put up a 4.69 at 150, also not an improvement but a solid mid day/hot track pass.Ken Quartuccio did not make a qualifying run Friday and moved right into second with a 4.49 at 158 MPH.
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We stopped by Curt Steinback's pit this morning catching Curt and Kris Nelson servicing the clutch, his 4.46 at 163 improved slightly. He maintains top qualifier in OL 632 with the Nelson Competition powered 63 Vette. Mark Wells improved his lot in Radial Wars to a 4.51 at 180 MPH after a soft run early and going 180 through the traps putting him seventh.Dewayne Mills improved to a 4.09 at 201 though Pharris also improved to a 4.06 jumping in front of Frank Meshaw’s 88 Trans AM.Jack McCarty put up a 4.61 in this session and has the hot track tune up set.Eric Kenward set low ET with a 7.67 at 176 taking over number one qualifier from Henry Lee in Edelbrock Xtreme Street.Leonard Long made a good run in Quick Lane NA 10.5 after not stopping at the scales yesterday. He moved to second in class with an 8.08 at 169.It looks like we have may the third ever Gear Vendors True Street average in the seven second zone with a 7.817 for this turbo charged Formula out of South Florida owned by Stephan Smith. We will have the full official results for the class later this evening. Check out some of the photos we have added to the photo gallery.
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Final Qualifying Results
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Keith Berry and the crew were on a thrash to prepare teh car for the final qualifying session after replacing some internals this morning. He made the round but not a full pass and is still on top of the Mickey Thompson Radial Wars class.
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Dewayne Mills and Daniel Pharris both improved their ET in the final session of Radial Wars with Pharris going a 4.003 and landing second in the field, just .002 quicker than Mills. Ken Quartuccio moved up to take over top qualifier in Ross Racing Pistons Outlaw 632 with a 4.444 at 162 MPH.Jarod Wenrick bumped Phil Hines to second qualifier in Wiesco Street Outlaw after running a 4.45 at 161 MPH.
The National Muscle Car Association kicks off it 2016 campaign this weekend at the Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida, and thanks to the support of our presenting sponsor, Fuel Air Spark Technology, we’ll be in the house to bring you all the happenings, on and off the race track!
Good morning from Bradenton and the 2016 NMCA season opener. We have some nice weather forecast this weekend. The track staff was just wrapping up the initial prep right about 9 AM this morning.On our way through the pits this morning we dropped by Keith Berry’s pits and spoke with Steve Crisafulli aka “Johnny” who informed us Berry had bent a couple of connecting rods at Lights Out 7 working on the new tune up. It went back to Proline Racing for repairs and the team is here to defend their 2015 Radial Wars championship.Mark Wells is here running in Radial Wars this weekend on the tire for the second time instead of the 10.5 slicks. This car is the first OL 10.5 car in the threes and will be looking to be a top contender in the class shooting for 3.80’s with Crew Chief Clark Dienvenu. He has already run over 200 MPH with the set up in testing running the 94MM turbo combo this weekend. Well is planning to run the NMCA season for points and some PDRA events switching back to the slicks for those events.The Pro Mod class was dropped back to eighth mile for 2016 and should see and increase in interest as many Pro Mod events are run to half track anymore. Rick Sacksel is running a screw blower on his Camaro for the 2016 season and has tied the screw blown big Chevy record with a 3.87 at 194 MPH back in January at the US Street Nationals here in Bradenton.Craig Sullivan is here for his NMCA debut with his new car sporting an eye catching Richard Petty inspired wrap. We will have more on the team coming later this afternoon.Pro Modified racer Chris Rini is kicking off his 2016 season with a new car out of Jerry Bickel’s shop and will be running last years 903ci monster from Buck Racing Engines till the new piece is ready. Rini tested yesterday running a 3.86 and 3.81 at 196. “Pretty good for the first outing” according to Crew Chief David Campbell.Chickenhawk Motorsports’ Thomas Jones is here with the teams brand new DMC Racing built1967 twin turbo Pro Mod Mustang based out of Sumerset, Kentucky. Jones started racing go carts at four years then got into Jr. Dragsters at six before moving up to Pro Mod at 16 with a David Munday built 67 Camaro. Power comes from a Nelson Competition built Brad 8 tuned by PTP Racing. The wrap is from Kryptonite Customs in Oklahoma.Jacky Mcarty is running NMCA for the first time with his X275 car in Street Outlaw with a Mcarty built small block Ford fed by a 94 mm turbo up from the 85 MM unit he ran in X275 and won five events with in 2015. They have very little testing with this set up so far and are still working things out. He also has his other car here just in case this new drive train combo doesn’t cooperate this weekend.Racers were lined up this morning getting registered for the weekend at the NMCA registration trailer.Tony Alm is rocking some changes for 2016 including a turbo change to an Ultra Street legal unit feeding his 400 cubic inch small block Ford from Tim Eichorn at MPR. Chassis and plumbing upgrades were handled by Tig Vision and Thunder Autosports. Also new for this season is a Dailey dry sump oiling system, and new intake manifold and elbow from Wilson.Craig Sullivan ran a 4.37 at 159 during today’s testing.A 4.02 at 189 on the first full hit on the new car made the Chicken Hawk Racing team quite happy so far this weekend.David Hutnic is here to defend his title in in Xtreme Street with a fresh piece from BTR. He tested yesterday with a new converter but it was tight on the gear change so they team switched back to what they know works and is planning to run on the MT Drag Radials for this season.First time NMCA racer Richie Nye is entered in NA 10.5 this weekend with a 434 SBF from Kuntz under the hood. The car is a back half four link with a G-Force 5 speed trans which Nye has run in the Pro Stick class around the Pennsylvania and Maryland area. Special thanks to Gary from Hammaker Enterprises for the assistance and tuning.Austin Ford is a long time NHRA racer here for the first time at NMCA this weekend with his new car which he has for a few weeks now and installed a funny car cage. He is liking the Cobra Jet so far including the new car smell. after running 67 Shelby’s in Stock Eliminator setting several national records in class.
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John Lynch earned the number one on his car last year in NMCA Top Sportsman points and is here this weekend with new Hoosier tires and some chassis changes by John Teharr at JT Racing to move some weight around and improve the car's reaction and sixty foot. The father and son team use a big Chevy built by Rob Adler at A Team Speed Shop for power netting consistent 7.30's. He put up a 7.23 at 188 earlier in testing.
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Jarod Wenrick has this stunning Chevy II built by Tim Lyons here this weekend for his second NMCA event after running Norwalk last year where he went to the finals in Street Outlaw taking a loss to Eric Gustafson. He runs a small block Procharged combo tuned by PTP. NMRA/NMCA True Street racer Randy Seward made one lap in testing earlier today to an easy launch and 8.49 at 163 MPH pass. He was the overall winner here at the NMRA last week and scored the win in the Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords Spring Break Shootout on Sunday.Don Bowles put up an 8.14 at 156 MPH for his effort in NA 10.5. He finished fifth in 2015 points.
Round One Qualifying Results
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Randy Adler leads VP Racing Fuels Xtreme Pro Mod after the first qualifying session tonight with a 3.82 at 199.91 MPH.Number two qualifier Adam Flamholc is fresh of his win at the IHRA Amsoil Nitro nationals last weekend at Orlando running a 3.89 at 193 with Fast Frank Cersosimo, Josh Green and Thomas Jones rounding out the top five in class.Thomas Jones is doing well so far with the debut of the Chicken Hawk Motorsports 67 Mustang TT machine scoring a 3.918 at 203 MPH, top speed for the day.
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Team Money Grinder in the house representing the locals with Ken Cruz and Richard Cohen. Bob Glenn is also running here this weekend with his blown Hemi Dodge pickup. The switch to eighth mile for this year has brought out some local cars that would not be here otherwise and is a welcome addition. Ross Racing Pistons Outlaw 632 has nine cars today with Curt Steinback ahead by a good margin scoring a 4.48 at 164 in the Nelson Competition powered 63 Vette out of the Suncoast Race Cars stable.Lutz, Florida’s Jason Juday sits second with a 4.63 at 152 driving his Scotty’s racing Technology/Induction Solutions powered 68 Firebird. Dave French (far lane) sits third with a 4.72.Mickey Thompson Radial Wars has some tight action in the top five with Keith Berry leading the field with a 3.98 at 189 and Daniel Pharris just over a tenth back with a 4.094 at 197.Dewayne Mills scored high MPH with a 4.14 at 201 landing sixth in class so far.Mark Wells lifted the front end early on his qualifying attempt, setting it down then powering up on the bars down track before clicking it off and coasting through to eighth.Phil Hines leads the Wiseco Street Outlaw field after one session with a 4.47 at 161. Jack McCarty earned second qualifier with a 4.51 napping high MPH with a his 163 MPH trap speed.Henry Lee put his McCarty Performance 90 Mustang on top of Edelbrock Xtreme Street with a 7.72 at 175 with David Hutnick just behind him with a 7.73 at 180 scoring top MPH for team nitrous and Straightline Performance.Dwight Ausmus was paired up with Leonard Long in Quick Lane NA 10.5 where he scored top qualifier with a 7.92 at 172 for the pure Pontiac, BES powered 72 Bird. (near lane)Don Bowles took second in class with an 8.15 at 166 after testing to an 8.14 earlier in the day.Ronnie Hackelton sits number one after the first qualifying session of Scoggin Dickey performance Center Chevy Performance Stock with a 10.35 at 127.93 MPH. Glen Pushis, Kevin Lumsden and Keith Vaughn round rounded out the class today in order.
