Today we are into round two of eliminations with another day of great weather. The No Mercy series has now grown into a four day festival of insane small tire action packed racing with racers and fans from across the country attending.
A special thanks goes out the folks at Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels, the presenting sponsor of our same day race coverage who allow us to bring you all the action from Georgia!
John Sears and the X275 crew have plenty of gear and apparel in the tent this weekend. John has been very busy teching cars this weekend with over 70 cars in class.
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This morning Donald Long, Alicia Price and Wade Mooney were handing out the exclusive top ten jackets from Light Out IV in the tower. Billy “Ticket Taker” Driscol and Don Lamana were paired up in the X275 second chance race this morning. There has been a friendly rivalry brewing for months over who has the faster show car. Driscol took the holeshot and went on to a personal best 4.95 and the win.Ryan “Toaster” Jones bolted some little 235 MT radials on about two months ago for the WCHRA Outlaw 8.5 class and picked the car up from 4.90’s to knocking on the 4.70’s with a best ET of 4.802 here at No Mercy IIII. He is in the finals here going up against Mike Fratena with lane choice.
Round Three Results
Tim Knieriem took the win over Smallwood and will face D.J. Loicano’s Procharged Mustang in the semi finals of second chance X275.Eric Kenward got the round win over McDonough with a 4.87 at 149 MPH. He will have lane choice in the semi final.John Kolivas was showing his excitement after a win by Shane Fisher against Brad Medloch in X275. Fisher will face Jason Michalak from the Bad9er crew in the semis.Michalak earned a holeshot win over Shane Crowden running a 4.79 at 149 to Crowden’s 4.74.Patrick Clenney won the best appearing award provided by Jeremy “Taco” Patterson who is one of the many photographers here this weekend. Clenney with face the Vortech supercharged Mustang of Andy Manson in the other pair left in X275.
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Semi Final Results
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Final Results
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Troy Pirez Jr. entered three index classes this weekend running Open Comp, 7.0 and 7.50 taking home the win in 6.50 and going to the semi finals of 7.0. Troy was also in the winners circle here back in February at Lights Out IV with the Sanders/Pirez racing Mustang.Mark Armstrong was also in multiple classes earning wins in both 7.50 and Open Comp with this clean S-10 Chevy.6.0 Index went to David Harvey who sports a number 1 on the window so you know he is no stranger to the winner circle. Photo courtesy John Fore III.Scotty Ray waded through the No Boost No Time field with the notorious “Game Changer” Mustang. Photo courtesy John Fore III.Team SVO got a well earned win in Boost No Time today. Erin Sheffer won a $10.000 KOTS event just two weeks ago but got lose near the finish and wound up into both walls after a great effort to save the car.Car owner Ted Slusarczyk took the car home and sat for a day before his wife and son prompted him to get the car fixed and head here to No Mercy IV. John Weis from Fox Rods hung new sheetmetal and painted the car by Saturday. Once home again the team spent most of the next two days around the clock preparing it then headed to Team Z at 5 AM Monday. Once there Dave Zimmerman looked the car over and set up the chassis, then they drive straight here winning the Boost grudge race in a great final round with Sheffer riding out a wheel stand for most of the eight mile for a $5,000 payday.Engine builder Tim Knieriem made if through five rounds of the X275 Second Chance race to meet with Jason Lawing in the final. Lawing took the starting line and laid down a nice 4.89 at 147 but fell to Knieriem’s quicker 4.82 at 145 MPH. Photo courtesy John Fore III.Los Angelas based Ryan “Toaster” Jones made the long trip worthwhile winning the Chassis Works Outlaw 8.5 and the $4,000 prize. The super clean Chevy II runs a small block Chevy with Brodix 12 degree heads fed by twin 76 MM turbos.Capslock Oil Co. Leaf Spring winner Ron Rhodes had a great weekend setting a new best ET and faltering only once in four round of eliminations against Cypress, Texas racer Jason Michalak, both cars struggled for traction this afternoon. Rhodes ran a pair of 4.77’s then a .74 flat on a single for lane choice on a against John McDonough. McDonough hurt the engine on his semi final pass and bowed out of the final giving Rhodes the win.Previous event winner Walter Drakeford was the picture of consistancy running a string of 5 teens on his way to the Billet Atomizer Ultimate Street final against Michael Sanders. Drakeford left first and it was side by side the rest of the way with Drakeford besting Sanders’ 5.18 with a 5.14 at 142 MPH.
David Pearson has one bad hot rod taking the win in MAC FAB Outlaw 275 by running a string of 4.40’s, capping the night with a 4.42 at 169 in the final with Phil HInes. Photo courtesy John Fore III. Monte Smith/Holley and Steve Schmidt racing Engines sponsored Outlaw Drag Radial this weekend and Chris Tuten showed them how it’s done by running the table in class. He was in the 4.40’s as well for most runs then laying down a stellar 4.37 at 180.33 MPH in the final with number six qualifier Tony Ridenour. There was some great competition and some real upsets this weekend in PTC Radial vs the World with Kevin Mullins earning the win and a new record with a 4.208 Mullins was quicker every round Sunday meeting up with Candido Sanchez in the final running a 4.29 at 189 MPH for the win. The High Point North Carolina racer runs a 1997 Mustang with a 521 cubic inch Hemi few by twin turbos. You can’t ask for a much better weekend than Candido Sanchez had in his first time running drag radials. Sanchez qualified eleventh and dipped into the 4.30’s. The team includes Oscar Rodriguez from PRD Racing Engines, Mel Nelson and former car owner Bill Futch among others. Twin Precision 94’s feed the 615 cubic inch Chevy big block.
We started early again today with No Boost No Time, kicking the day off with some grudge racing action. We have a nice breeze with partly cloudy skies this morning with a cool temp of sixty eight degrees. The qualifying action so far has been action packed with racers trading spots back and forth in the early session. Stay tuned for updates through out the day.
A special thanks goes out the folks at Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels, the presenting sponsor of our same day race coverage who allow us to bring you all the action from Georgia!
In this view from the top of the grandstands you can see the packed house this morning in the pits at SGMP.MacFab Outlaw 275 had some very nice runs this morning with several racers improving from last night. Patrick Clenny put the Ducky Johnson owned Trans Am in seventh with a 4.66 at 153 MPH.Sean Ashe managed some runs last night in PTC Radial vs. the World running a 4.58, this morning he improved .003 to a 4.55 at 159 settling into fourth in OL 275. Phil Hines ran two cars behind Ashe laying down a very nice 4.46 at167 MPH.The Won and Done crew was in racer negotiations setting up to film the first of three episodes today.Troy Pirez Jr. unloaded his Mustang Wednesday only to have a lifter failure warming up. Some replacements were sourced and he is ready to rock for Saturday morning qualifying.The X275 folks wrapped up a Wiesco drawing from Farmington Dragway with a new set of pistons going to Ari Birchfield.
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These sheets get up up to date with this morning's round three qualifying.
Final Qualifying Results
Chris Tuten landed number one on Outlaw Drag Radial with a 4.35 at 179 MPH for the Pelion South Carolina racer.The track got tricky after the sun heated it up this afternoon for many racers including Outlaw Drag Radial racer Will Stevenson. He qualified with a 4.36 at 177 in this morning session, improving his best ET by one hundredth.Jason Richards is running two classes this weekend, ODR and No Boost No Time. As other struggled today Richards laid it down. He is qualified 12th with a 4.59 at158. Check the tire on the launch, he is hooked up and stuck.Bryan Marrow hails from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and has been a top car in Leaf Spring since its inception here at SGMP. His 4.63 at 159 took top spot in class.Bobby Flippen rode out a long wheel stand this afternoon during Leaf Spring qualifying. He sits eighth with a 4.86 at 148 running a big block 582 Chevy on nitrous. Check out the sequence in the gallery.The Kevin Mullins earned the top spot in PTC Radial vs the World with a 4.232 at 189 MPH.Paul Major (far lane) sits third in PTC Radial vs the World with a 4.25 at 186 MPH. There are no less that seven cars qualified in the 4.20’s with Keith Berry rounding out that group with a 4.285 at 184.Kevin Cram (near lane) and Shane Stack were paired up in the final session of Radial vs the World. Stack is 12th with a 4.39, Cram is 25th with a 4.52.Chris Lancaster is knocking on the four second barrier after qualifying number one in Ultimate Street with a 5.012 at 144 MPH. He swapped the drivetrain from his 1965 model into this four eyed fox.Ronnie “Danger” Wilson is sporting new colors this weekend and running well in Billet Atomizer Ultimate Street qualifying eleventh with a 5.17 at 137 for the Coral Springs, Florida racer.Ryan Jones has “The Toaster” here from California to run Chassis Works Outlaw 8.5. He is the sole car in the 4’s with a stunning 4.84 at 156 for top qualifier.Melbourne, Florida racer Mike Fratena is sporting 235 Mickey Thompson radials in Outlaw 8.5, he sits second with a 5.04 @ 151 in the ATF and TRZ Motorsports sponsored Camaro.
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Round One Results
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Dave “The Sprinter” Ginter went for a wild ride in his Ultimate Street Mustang taking a loss to Brian Rippy. This shot was taken on the way up, he came down hard and bounced this way and that with Ginter finally getting it under control and away from the wall.Nick Bernardo took the win over number 13 qualifier Robert Rogers with a 5.11 at 136.Number five qualifier Jeff Colletta wheelied out in his match with Shannon Renfro. This is the debut weekend for Jeff and this car in X275. Jeff is a multi time NMCA Nostalgia Pro Street champion but has since sold that car in favor of small tire racing and more open rules format.The Kevin Mullins took home the PTC Radial vs the World ET and MPH records running a 4.208 at 194 during round one.Paul Major got the wheels up early in his match with Jeff Reed and came crashing down in a shower of sparks. He would go on to win the round despite his abnormally late reaction as Reed had trouble of his own.Mark Micke and the Team M&M crew earned a round win and new best 4.278 at 187 MPH over Rob Valden.
We are into qualifying early today with Ultimate Converter Concepts/Billet Atomizer Ultimate Street up now. Thursday’s overcast skies gave way to cooler temps and sunshine this morning with a current temp of seventy degrees and just eighty two being the forecast high this afternoon, certainly some good weather for racing.
A special thanks goes out the folks at Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels, the presenting sponsor of our same day race coverage who allow us to bring you all the action from Georgia!
Mickey Thompson is the title sponsor of No Mercy IIII and has been a big supporter of the small tires racing community and a leader in tire technology.The Mac Fab Performance Beadlocks crew is on hand this weekend once again proving beadlock conversions and welding services for racers in need. They were instrumental in getting Shawn Ashe fixed up last night by swapping out the center of a Holeshot wheel and and outside beadlock that was damaged in a Wednesday night indecent with the wall. They are also a sponsor of Outlaw 275 vs. 28’s along with Precision Turbo and Engine.Our round card girls this weekend are Kay Blevins and Stephanie Niewinski introducing Ultimate Converter Concepts/Billet Atomizer Ultimate Street this morning.Josh Nesbitt was one of the first pair out in Ultimate Street rolling out to a 5.31 at 137 MPH.
Round One Qualifying Results
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Mustang Mike leads Steve Schmidt Competition Engines/Monte Smith/Holley Outlaw Drag Radial with one round in the books with a 4.53 at 169 MPH. The team has struggled with the twin Procharger combo but things are starting to come together now.Jason Richards is back in ODR this weekend with his 1968 nitrous fed Camaro based out of Gastonia Georgia. His 4.66 at 157 MPH was good for fifth in class so far.David Pearson is knocking on the 4.40’s in Mac Fab/Precision Turbo Outlaw 275 with a 4,51 at 167 MPH earning number one qualifier. Pearson runs a Procharged small block Ford in a 93 Mustang out of Marion, North Carolina.Artis Houston landed fourth in Capslock Oil Co./Bilet Atomizer Injectors Ultimate Street with a clean 4.76 at 149 MPH in his California based Nova.Ron Rhodes set a new best 7.671, running another 1.10 60′ in the process, the third one today. They have been experimenting with different converters today, winding up with the one they started with at the end of the day.Frank Meshaw also ran a new best in Radial vs the World trim with a 4.33. He lost one pushrod on the run and has the parts on hand to get it fixed right up.Kyle Huttel was on point tonight making at least two runs in the 4.20’s. Inspection after the last round revealed some bad rings, the Bad9er crew was getting it buttoned back when i visited their pits later.This pair was filming for the Won and Done TV show. You will have to watch the show to see who won.Kenjo Kelly is sporting a new car this year at No Mercy IIII. It was formerly owned and built by Brian Goss and campaigned with a blower combo. Kelly fitted a turbo combo and is running X275 this weekend.
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Glenn Adams pulled over to the side on his last run in Ultimate Street. A broken axle was the culprit. They are in need of a 33 spline piece for a 9 inch Ford housing.
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The track came around nicely after the sun dipped behind the stands this evening. Sometimes making for a nice flame show. It's shaping up to be a very exciting event. Jeff Cooner lost a head gasket on the passenger side causing some real damage to the head. They are solidly in the field so have most of Saturday to make repairs.Brad Medloch led X275 qualifying earlier today with a 4.67 at 154 MPH.Rich Bruder laid down a 4.61 at 163 MPH, earning top honors in X275 at the time, he fell to third however when the round was finished. They will have one more session on Saturday.
Heads-up drag racers all across the country have been preparing since February for their return to the South Georgia Motorsports Park for what’s expected to be the most action-packed racing event of the season: No Mercy IV. One of the final hurrah’s of the long racing season, promoter Donald Long’s doorslammer bash in the Peach State brings out all the heavy hitters from the East coast to the West coast and everywhere in between for one epic battle. As always, we’ll be on the ground at SGMP bringing you all the news, notes, results, and photos that you won’t find anywhere else, so be sure to bookmark us and follow along as we bring you same day coverage from day one until the final trophy is handed out.
A special thanks goes out the folks at Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels, the presenting sponsor of our same day race coverage who allow us to bring you all the action from Georgia!
This year we started official testing and one round of qualifying on Thursday instead of Friday and there is already well over 300 cars registered. The tech line was long this morning and I wouldn’t surprise me if we started Wednesday next September.The first pass down the track this morning went to Ron Rhodes. He laid down a 1.13, 3.10, 4.76 at 147 MPH to kick off the day. We have overcast skies today so the track isn’t suffering from the heat and it’s looking nice out there so far.
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Chad Opaleski has some new carbon tubs and floor sections from Dan Neumann Race Cars, new Sonny’s 5 inch heads, new rods and pistons in the Nelson Competition Inc engine.
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Keith Berry is back for his first race with a new block. He switched from a cast to billet block and will now be able to explore the potential of his engine. He tested yesterday to a 4.38, so he is back on track for tonight’s first qualifying session. ADRL Pro Drag Radial champion Mark Micke is here sporting some new headers from Kooks and new exhaust housings from Tial Sport on the twin Garrett turbos in Jason Carter’s Malibu. The team is getting some maintenance in this morning after have the car on the road for several weeks.T Shirts, get your T Shirts here. People were lining up early to get event T’s this morning. Get’em while they last, come Sunday there will be few if any left.Patrick Clenny (near lane) is sporting a new paint job this weekend, switching it up from the dark blue the Ducky Johnson owned car was before. It doesn’t blend in anymore that’s for sure.
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DeWayne Mills ran a 1.19, 2.96, 4.29 at 186 on his second run today. He runs PTC Radial vs. the World, now with a twin turbo combination after switching from a blower last year. Gotta love the false turbos in the grill. California Artis Houston made the trip east to run in Capslock Oil/ Proformance Racing Transmissions Leaf Spring. He runs a big block Chevy from Pettis Performance with Induction Solution nitrous topped with a pair of carburetors from CFM. This year he set the record in PSCA Wild Street with a 4.95 and also had the NMCA Drag Radial record with a 7.41. Sponsors include Calvert Racing, VP Racing, Freddy’s Fabrications and TRZ Motorsports.Shawn Ashe was here testing last night and got into the wall damaging the rear quarter, the front clip and one header, which was broken off at the flange. The ATF crew is working on repairs today and is removing the driver side head to inspect it as a precaution.Dean Maranis put up a 4.63 @ 155 with his nitrous big block X275 Mustang based out of New York. Maranis is a top contender in the class.
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Video of Brad Edwards’ monster wheelstand during testing this afternoon. Video footage courtesy of Chris Speck of Speck Daddy Productions
Candido Sanchez swapped his Outlaw 10.5 Camaro to drag radials recently, though he only has a couple of runs on the car before today. After a couple of shakedowns today tuner Bill Futch made some adjustments and Candido got down with a nice smooth 4.50 at 180 MPH, his best run by a good margin.Chad Opaleski broke a U joint in his Chevelle this afternoon which was found during inspection after a run. The damage bent the pinion yolk rendering the carbon fiber shaft useless this weekend. They located a shop in town and will be there bright and early to get a replacement.
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Brad Edwards had the honor of being the first on the chute mount today and has a lot of work to do back in the pits to repair the car. The crew hammered out the oil pan and awaits a new rack and pinion and K-menber to be delivered. The transmission case was also broken; Dave Klaput from Proformance Racing Transmissions will have a new case swapped over tonight.
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Randy Matlock is here for his first drag radial event after running Pro Modified and following the ADRL series for several years. The car was built by Sheppard Race Cars and purchased from the previous owner. The car runs a 465 cubic inch LSX by Design Performance on nitrous with Mast heads and twin Pro Systems SV-1 carbs. His first full pass resulted in a 4.80. Randy is running X275 this weekend.
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Will Stevenson set a new personal best with a 4.37 at 174 this evening in testing. Jason Rueckert is jumping in excitement for Will and crew, it's been a long time coming for Will, Denny Savage and chassis builder Dan Neumann. Robby Keziah skied it in his X275 nitrous fed Nova earlier. All was well back in the pits Robby and crew.
We had the first round qualifying of PTC Radial vs. the World tonight starting at 8:30 with 37 cars in class today with Paul Major earning top qualifier with a 4.25 at 186.98 MPH. Keith Berry ran a new personal best 4.285 at 184 for second spot. Mark Woodruff, The Kevin Mullins and Fran Meshaw round the top five.Frank Soldridge took sixth with a 4.37 at just 178 clicking it early.Kyle Huttell was on a nice pass but hiked the wheels towards half track and shut it down, coasting through to a 4.91.Tonight’s pit notes will kick off with the run order for Friday kicking it of with 7.00 Index at eight thirty AM. Aftger Index and Open comp. After Index and Open Comp it’s No Boost No Time towards nine with heads up qualifying kicking off with Outlaw 8.5. We will be warming up early then getting into some insane small tire racing early Friday.The inter-cooler burst just before the stripe in the Blue Bu. Mark Micke is seen here at the welder with car owner Jason Carter assisting.In Team M&M’s pit Woody’s Vette was also torn down after changing out a bad ring. They should have it wrapped up towards one thirty.Lil’ Country is out with a burned piston. After speaking with Corey Swanstrom it’s safe to say the small block’s days are numbered in favor of a more favorable combination.Brad Edwards is all back together but the rack and pinion thanks this motley crew including Pete Chad, Bigun, Pete Harrell and Dave Klaput.
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Rob Valden sits eighteenth in PTC Radial vs. the World running a 4.57 at 176 MPH in what is now Andrew Alepa’s 1991 Mustang coupe. The car was the first in the sixes on drag radials with David Hance and campaigned in ORSCA by David Reese prior to that. This weekend marks the first race after a significant revamp from front to back including a new red paintjob. Look for them to improve on Friday as that was the first full run on the fresh build.
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Al Jimenez is another record holder here from California with a best 6.84 at 211 on leaf springs. The combo is a big block Chevy fed by an F3-R 136 Procharger. John Calvert and Fab Tech Fabrications helped out on the build with QMP building the 525 cubic inch engine tuned by Eddie Rios at Addiction Motorsports. Al is here looking for the eighth mile leaf spring record, his previous best is a 4.50 back home.
