The sun is out, the lanes are full, and there is racing on the track here at the Shakedown At The Summit. The weather is going to be hot again today and all of the teams are getting a game plan ready for the conditions.NMRA Street Outlaw star Charlie Cooper bolted up a set of 315 Micky Thompson drag radials to his Mustang to run the Heavy Street class. So far it has paid off since Cooper earned the top qualifier spot coming into Sunday’s eliminations. Cooper told us the gear ratio isn’t optimal but it’s working and they are ready to go some rounds today.
John Cipolla currently occupies the number three spot on the ladder for X275 and is ready to roll into eliminations. "This weekend has had both good and bad but we're happy overall. We were number one for a while and have only spun once this entire weekend. The goal for today is just to make it down each pass and take what the track will give us."
Ultra Street class record holder Mike Thompson has been riding a wave of success in his nitrous-fed Camaro recently and was able to secure the top spot at the Shakedown. "The name of the game all weekend has really been power management. I've been working on making sure I pull just enough to get the car down the track while still running fast. Today conditions will still be hot so it's going to be tricky to keep things were we want power wise and avoid spinning." With track temperatures reaching the 135-degree mark all the radial tire racers had their hands full trying to make a clean pass. X275 number one qualifier JD Campbell was nearly a victim of the hot surface during the first round when he spun at the hit but was able to recover and pick up the win.
During the final qualifying round of the $10K Drag Shootout things got pretty explosive on the track. The Dream Team was able to steal the number one qualifying spot from Team Stinky Pinky with an 8.66 pass, while Team Boddie experienced a massive nitrous backfire that shredded their hood scoop. The first round of Pro Modified was just brutal across the board between a massive oil down, huge upsets, and Carl Stevens Jr.’s wild ride. Stevens was on a great pass but as his Camaro came out of a half-track wheel stand the car made a move to the left, took out the timing blocks, then shot right and hit the wall. To add insult to injury the car ended up in the sand trap as well but thankfully Stevens wasn’t hurt.
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The weather this morning is much better and the lanes are starting to fill up with cars at Summit Motorsports Park. The plan is to have two full rounds of qualifying today to set the ladders for eliminations on Sunday.
Melanie Monagon has been racing since she was 12 years old and started out behind the wheel of her 1972 AMC Gremlin. In an effort to take her racing career to a new level she purchased a 1967 Shelby Mustang Pro Mod and is learning how to make this car work. "I made the switch because the gremlin was tired and had seen it’s better days after racing so many years with a blown alcohol engine in it. It was time to take the next and Pro Mod is my dream and this car gets me closer. Right now we're running a blown small block with a 6-71 blower in the car and we have a bigger one for next year. My goal is to just learn how to drive this car correctly this year and then start stepping it up more next year while running in the seven-second range. Jimmy Detrick is driving the 1972 Hurst Olds owed by legendary chassis builder Keith Engling in Pro Mod and is currently sitting safely in the show at ninth on the qualifying sheet. The team had a very long night due to some connecting rods exiting the block during the first round of qualifying Friday at the top end of the track. Engling drove to his shop to get a spare bullet and the team thrashed until the wee hours of the morning to get the Olds ready for qualifying today.
The Outlaw 10.5 class has erupted into a full-blown game of home run derby during qualifying. After Ken Quartuccio Jr. reset and then backed up a new class record Mike Decker III stepped up to the plate and uncorked a 3.83 shot at over 191 MPH. He must back up that pass today to make the record official and that doesn't even guarantee the record will stand with Quartuccio in the batter's box today. "The goal of that pass was a mid-80s number and the 3.83 was a nice surprise, we are very happy with the run. There’s a little bit left in the car to work with and we could run 80s on a slick, we could run mid to high 80s on a slick no problem. When the 315 tire was allowed in Outlaw 10.5 and then people started running it that created a lot of discussion in the class and made it interesting. I want to thank my wife, mom, father, grandfather for the opportunity to race, the good lord for keeping me safe. My team behind me helps make this possible Brian, my uncles, my cousins Ronnie and Matt, Dave Reese, Gale Mogley."
The cars from the Horsepower Wars $10K Drag Shootout officially made their track debut Friday during qualifying with Team Bigun taking the top spot with a 9.23 pass where they shut off early. Today the teams hit the track again with Stinky Pinky was able to make a full pass and ran a 9.51 after they knocked the burst panel off the blower Friday. Team Boddie, The Dream Team, and Team Bigun all struggled to get down the track. You can see all the cars being built and catch up on the episodes of the $10K Drag Shootout at Horsepowerwars.com!David Adkins set the internet on fire early this weekend when he became the quickest man in an LSX-powered car with a 5.97 pass in his Camaro. Unfortunately during Radial vs The World qualifying the engine in the Camaro that had a high amount of brutal quarter-mile passes on it finally expired. Determined to not have is race weekend cut short Adkins pulled his trusty 1963 Impala out of the trailer to stay in the show.Glenn Pushis had to thrash to get his COPO Camaro ready and his here to get some data. “We hurt the engine after it lifted a head during the NMCA race a few weeks ago. This week was spent just getting the engine in so we could come to get ready for the NMCA finals next weekend. We’re making more power so now we have to learn what the car likes and how to use it.”Tom Bailey just got done making it through one of the most challenging Hot Rod Drag Weeks ever due to weather, but that wasn’t the only racing he had planned. “We haven’t slept at all since we drove straight here from the Drag Week awards. The plan was to always come up here and test with Sick Seconds 2.0 but we stayed on Drag Week the entire time since things were going well there. Right now we’re still going to make some laps in this car and see what we can learn.”
The third round of qualifying for the $10K Drag Shootout saw a new team take the top spot. Team Stinky Pinky's Dr. Rod Knocker shot to the top spot with a 9.15 pass and that was done while the engine shredded a blower belt. The Dream Team was able to produce a 10.18 pass and was the second quickest for the round. Beer Money gave team Bigun some fits as it struck the tires at the hit and wasn't able to reclaim the top spot. Team Boddie continues to fight their Regal as it will stay running in the pits, but not when they come to the starting line. They also are having suspension issues that are causing the car to be more than a handful for Jay.
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Things got off to a very moist and foggy start today at the Shakedown At The Summit. Heavy fog caused a slight delay in the racing but the Kurt Johnson-led team here at Summit Motorsports Park got things in order quickly for racing to begin.
There's nothing better than a fresh racecar and when it's a 3,400 horsepower Pro Mod the feeling is even better. David Norris took delivery of his brand new G-Force C7 Corvette Thursday before testing at Summit Motorsports Park. His team had never seen the car or its 521 cubic-inch Jeff Fowler Hemi until it showed up at the track at 10:00 AM. The Noonan Racing heads on the engine support a large C-Rotor blower that is making some big power already. In an early shutoff run during testing, the Corvette registered a healthy three-second elapsed time. Brian Chin had to do some thrashing on his Outlaw 10.5 Camaro late on Thursday night to get ready for qualifying today. “We had a little mishap after we put new head gaskets on and got water in the oil. We decided to skip testing to make sure things were repaired correctly and ready to go. Everything was drained out of the engine, it was cleaned it up, and will be ready for qualifying today. The goal is to make good consistent passes and have some fun racing this weekend.”Carl Stevens Jr. dropped the hammer on the Pro Mod field during the first round of qualifying with a 5.64 at 261 MPH. This comes after the team struggled to get down the track during testing on Thursday. The booming pass looked relatively effortless for the Jim Bell owned machine and it should pick up more during the Q2 session tonight.
Ken Quartuccio Jr. continues to make things interesting in the Outlaw 10.5 with his new C7 Corvette. During Q1 Quartuccio snached the class record away from Mike Decker III with a 3.88 pass. The team is still working on finding what the Corvette is capable of and expects to pick up even more this weekend. Charles Hull is back racing in the X275 ranks after taking a little bit of time off racing and selling all of his equipment. If the car he’s driving looks familiar it’s because this is the car that he originally owned, sold, and then purchased back from Leroy Nabors Jr. Hull’s first round of qualifying landed him in the top half of the field with a solid 4.53 pass.
