U.S. Street Nationals 2018 Race Coverage From Bradenton

Rob Cossack
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January 26, 2018
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Bart Tobener landed on top of the Fast Forward Race Engines Ultra Street class this weekend scoring a 4.71 at 149 MPH in his Coyote powered, Bullseye Turbocharged 2015 Mustang based out of Windel, Georgia. The engines was built by MPR and is fed by a Bullseye 76 MM turbo with additional sponsorship from Holley EFI, Race Parts Solutions, Speedcraft Racing and Diablosport. “We worked really hard over the winter to get some weight out of the car for the Ultra Street series which is a focus for us this year. The 60′ is where we want in the 1.10-1.11 range and the car is doing what it needs to do.” – Bart Tobener

Mark Micke was number two last night with a 3.749 at 212.96 MPH and had been 213 in testing and is the fastest MPH in RVW to date. The team has been testing some new things in the trans and converter that is working well now and are right in the heat of things going into 2018 season. “Nelson Competition has found a few things in the engine in the off season as well, with that and the testing things we have been working on in the transmission, we don’t want to let it all out yet, people are paying attention and we are looking forward to this season.” Mark Micke
“Lumber Jack” Keith Jackson has his former OL 10.5 Camaro here this weekend for the first time in the RVW class running a best so far of 4.13 at 175 in his first event on drag radials. “I been racing about 20 years, just trying to get out feet wet with the radial, I’m really impressed with the tire, really drives good and works good, we are going to try and go a few rounds and make out way to the winner circle. The best we had been in OL10.5 trim was a 4.40, and already been a 4.13. We sat out a couple of years kinda waiting for 10.5 to come back, it’s never come back we had to make a move forward, and this tire is bad ass so I don’t care any more.’ – Keith Jackson
James Lawrence was pumped for this morning's final session of RVW after running a 4.00 at 192 last night. A quick assist in the FT 600 this morning by Steve Petty had things tuned up resulting in a 3.97 at 194 for his first three second pass and enough to hold on to his fifth place position in the field.
Ruben Tetsoshvilli is running his first time on radials this weekend scoring a 4.83 so far at 167.
Mike Rimar is debuting his new Procharged Ultra Street combo this weekend running a blow thhru set up tuned by Jon Bitler with IRD Carburetors. He is the first blow thru in the 4.80’s and sits eighth with a 4.89 at 145 MPH.

Final Qualifying Results

Jason Scruggs is one of a few cars testing for Pro Extreme this weekend, he is piloting Roger Henson’s Camaro this weekend with his own engine. He got a little close to the wall last night and had to pedal it but was on a .51 pass. Ran a 3.54 today, we are going to hit four or five races this year and have some fun while my car is being updated at Rick Jones.
Shane Novak is running his new car this weekend in Pro Mod Boost qualified at 15th. The car has brand new everything with a Procharged Pro Line Racing Hemi for power with updates to the Jeffers chassis by Brandon Hess from Brando Speed in Ceder Rapids, Iowa. Shane has about 5 clean hits on the car with a best of 3.84 at 187. Plans for the year include some NMCA, PDRA and radial racing at Duck’s along with some Top Sportsman. “We have a pretty versatile engine combo and look forward to trying some radials, have to than ks Procharger and Pro Line, without then this wouldn’t happen.” Shane Novak pictured at right.
Adam Flamholc received delivery of his Corvette this week here in Bradenton fresh from Chris Duncan Race Cars pulling a 3.83 on his first pass. A hung throttle had Adam just a few feet in the sand yesterday but no major damage was done. The team is using this as a test weekend and just concentrating on getting the car right, not worrying about the race itself. “I’m happy, the first run down the track we went an .83, the guys at Chris Duncan Race Cars built me a super car, so far so good.” Adam Flamholc. He sits in fourteenth going into round one.
Bob Harris the PDRA CEO got us tightened up with his son Jason Harris’ performance this weekend with Harris being teamed up with car owners Jimmy and Brad Boone and the Harris trailer and towing operation. “We are running good, qualified second, not pushing it right now but may have to in the finals if we get that far. We still have the Musi engines with Danny Perry who drove last year as crew chief now, which takes a lot of pressure off Jason when he is driving, it feels good to be in Florida right now, we had about a foot of snow just a couple weeks ago so this weather is real nice for us. We will be running PDRA this year and trying for a championship, taking it away from Tommy Franklin who won it the past two years.” Bob Harris
Pete Ferber’s crew was making adjustments to the 4 link prior to round one. He made a good pass with a 3.83 but left early taking a loss to Jose Gonzalez.
Procharger’s Dave W is here testing with two cars this weekend, Shane Novak and James Lawrence, both cars feature Pro Line Racing’s newest 550 cubic inch Hemi’s. The Dragzine sponsored Corvette of Lawrence is running the F3R 136 making 49-50 pounds of boost, with Novak’s Pro Mod running the F3R 143 running right at 54 pounds, still spinning it fairly low getting initial test runs on it. Going a 3.84 has been just outstanding according to Dave. “For us personally as a company it’s been a long time coming for us to break solidly into the threes consistently and with a new product like that, with new cars and engine combinations for Lawrence and Novak. Working with Pro Line and those racers on development we really feel we have formed a great team and look forward to 2018.” Dave W.
Jerico Balduff faced off with Jay Santos in Pro Mod Boost round one with Santos slowing to a 3.90 after losing the blower belt and Balduf running a 3.79 at 194 to earn his way to round two and has scored a new best 3.77 here last night.
Bob Bridges pedaled his way down and pushed out a breather on the top end pushing out some oil that resulted in a bit of a clean up. Tracy Stunkard would advance in this match.
Number one and two qualifiers Les Feist and Craig Andrews were the two cars left after the cleanup with both having earned single runs. Les ran a 3.80 moving around a little past half track with Andrews a little off pace with a 3.86 at 194. Feist Shown
Daniel Pharris scored a holeshot win over Randy Adler in a close match up with Adler running a 3.78 at 202 and Pharris there first with a 3.80 at 207.
Dewayne Mills was spitting flames in round two with Scott Husted scoring a 3.83 at 204.59 to earn his way past Husted who put up a new best 4.18 at 184 for his efforts.

Final Results

The Open Outlaw final pit Tracy Stunkard in Ken Gonyo's dragster against Craig Andrews' 23 T Roadster who was number two qualifier. Stunkard was away first with a .050 reaction and runnign a 4.19 at 167, a solid run for the team and enough to win as Andrews had trouble and slowed to a 4.58 at 123.
Radial vs the World US Street Nationals Champion Mark Micke re set the class MPH record this weekend with a 215.56 blast in the second round of eliminations today over Lyle Barnett in a come from behind win and scoring low ET 3.744 at 212 in the final against the screw blown Camaro of Jeff Miller who ran a 3.80 at 199.91 for his effort. Team M&M put the class on notice this weekend with several great runs with power coming Nelson Competition 540 ci Big Chief style Chevy topped with Vizner billet heads. Winner Circle Photos by Audra Lustig.
Jeff Miller Radial vs the World US Street Nats Runner Up. Winner Circle Photos by Audra Lustig.
The final of Nitrous Pro Mod was set with Jason Harris and Lizzy Musi with Musi having the ET advantage by a good margin after her 3.68 int eh semi finals over Jimmy Stoupas. Harris’ .017 reaction was a good start for him but Musi’s car faltered at the hit allowing Harris to ride through to a 3.76 at 199 and earn the event win. A good win for Pat Musi Racing as both cars run his power plants. Winner Circle Photos by Audra Lustig.
Tommy D’Aprile is the Pro Boost Pro Mod winner this weekend driving Al Billes car with a 4.9 bore space Noonan Hemi combo in the car’s second outing. “I couldn’t be prouder of our team, Al Billes Racing, Noonan Race Engineering, this new engine we have thanks to Jamie and Rene, we have about 16 runs on the car, it’s fantastic, I’m just honored to be part of it” – Tommy D’Aprile Winner Circle Photos by Audra Lustig.
Ultra Street winner Tony Alm struggled a bit in early qualifying with a broken converter before tracking down the problem with the car being off what the team was asking of it. Once that was repaired tings were back to normal running two 4.70’s in eliminations and earning the event win over Brian Keep in the final with a 4.70 to Keep’s 4.80. “Thanks to MPR Race Engines, Pro Torque, RPM Transmissions, Richard Colas at NRP , Thunder Autosports and my crew. I can’t do this without all the great help from my crew, friends and my wife Patti.” – Tony Alm Winner Circle Photos by Audra Lustig.
Brian Keep made it to the Ultra Street final but suffered to the 60′ against Alm and slowed to a 4.80. at 147.
Ben Wolverton earned back to back wins this weekend after his Heavy Street win at the Snowbird Nationals in December. Ben runs a home built big block Chevy with Induction Solutions nitrous and TRZ Motorsports suspension in his 1978 Malibu with assistance from Randy Shearin, Jimmy and Justin Mccurdy and Bobby Breton. Wolverton was .080 on the tree to Christopher Perry's sleepy .351 making all the difference in the world at the stripe earning the win pulling 4.94 at 141 out of the hat when he needed it to stay in front of the hard charging 4.73 at 155 of Perry. Winner Circle Photos by Audra Lustig.
Ken Quartuccio earned top qualifier in Outlaw 632 running a record setting 4.22 and was in the .20’s all day going into the final with Jordan Ensslin. Ensslin got away first with a .057 but wasn’t able to hold on as Quartuccio drove by with a 4.31 at 169 as the Trans Am had trouble near two hundred feet out with Jordan shutting it down and Quartuccio earning the win in the East Side Performance C&S Performance Camaro. Winner Circle Photos by Audra Lustig.
Jordan Ensslin US Street Nationals Outlaw 632 Runner Up.
Kendall D’Aprile qualified number two in 8.90 Jr Dragster with ten cars in class with Lauren Sandrey the top qualifier and her final round opponent. D’Aprile took the reaction time advantage with a .099 light. Sandret ran it to the stripe first breaking out with an 8.83 at 71 trying to make up the lost ground at the start. D’ Aprile was .03 over index earning the event win here in Bradenton.
Parrish Florida based Lauren Sandrey Qualified number one in 8.90 Jr Dragster earning her way past Tyler Vinacco in round one and tradin goff singles with D’Aprile in rounds two and three. It was a good start to a new year for both racers this weekend.
7.90 Jr Dragster aslo featured the top two qualifiers in the final with Gage Burch and Jonathan D’Aprile respectfully and two. Burch met Alexi Stoupas in round two after his earned single sending her home early with a .020 staring line holeshot. The stripe went .015 to Burch setting up the final with D’Aprile who put a .018 on McKenna Kitterman for his round two effort. Burch left first in the final by .014 making it tight at the stripe with D’Aprile making up .02 more but not enough as Burch earned the win by .012.
Jonathan D’Aprile earned the 7.90 jr Runner Up this weekend and great family performance with taking two of three final round wins for the Port Charlotte, Florida Sir Thomas Racing team.
Dean Thompson earned fifth qualifier in 5.50 Index in his 1964 Chevy II based out of Sarasota. He had a tight match with Kenny Puffenberger in round two giving up .008 on the tree to the Bradenton based racer. he pushed it to a 5.506 to take the round win over Puffenberger’s 5.534. the semi final by gave him a chance to air it out to a 5.486 and set up for the final with Steve Tiona driving a 1999 Monte Carlo this weekend. They were locked at the tree with just .001 separating them. Thompson would earn the win running a 5.513 to Tiona’s 5.529 pass.
6.50 Index Lee Neal put his 1996 S-10 Chevy tenth of twenty four cars and waded through four round of racing before meeting number five Bill Step’s 81 Oldsmobile in the final round. He faced the double entered Heavy Street racer Austin Stephans in round one, advancing to meet Matt Marcus, Scott Travers and a semi final single putting up a 6.537 on the board. Step went red in the final ending the race for the US Street Nationals Championship early for both racers.
Bill Step, 2018 Us Street nationals 6.50 Index Runner Up.
Joe Tillman out of Longwood, Florida put his 2002 Ford in the winner circle after meeting up with Bob DeMilt in the 7.50 Index Final. Tillman won the reaction time battle, .035 to DeMilt’s ,083. He would also earn the event win running a 7.546 to DeMilt’s 7.522. Gage was also entered in Open Comp where he met Troy Pirez Jr. in the final round taking the holeshot and pushing Pirez to a 6.42, way under his 6.51 dial.
Bob DeMilt 7.50 Index Runner Up hails from Myakka City with his trusty Malibu wagon.

Lyle Barnett is driving Jason Digby’s car again for 2018 and it’s fresh from some off season updates at Mag’s Fabworks including rear suspension upgrades and additional bars, new exhaust system and a fresh engine from HED along with a fresh converter from Greg Slack. Lyle is running RVW this weekend to get some testing in in good weather. He scored a 4.49 at 165 this afternoon.
Don Walsh Jr has the teams new car here this weekend which was purchased as a roller from Jose Gonzalez and fitted with the teams own Hemi fed with a pair of Precision turbos backed by an M&M transmission and converter. Plans for the season include some NMCA and PDRA events with the intent of having a good time with dates that don’t conflict with his daughters traveling volleyball series. Crew chief is Justin Haddon with Michael Begley and Chris Church along for assistance, sponsor assistance come from HPL oil, Brisk spark plugs and VP Racing Fuels.
James Lawrence is here debuting the new Corvette “Blown ZO6” this weekend with eight runs so far with a best of 4.12 so far this morning. Steve Petty is the man working the Fuel Tech engine management on the 548 cubic inch Pro Line Hemi. The car was built by PMR Race Cars and Pro Line Racing's Jamie Miller is assisting with the chassis and suspension tuning this weekend.
Robert Abbott scored a 3.85 on his first full pass with the chassis upgrades from Coast Chassis Design after a crash last year. It’s stretched a few inches now from it’s days as a stock wheelbase car and running straight down the track.
Dewayne Mills has some changes in the off season centered around getting the weight down to class minimum standards in Pro Drag Radial which entailed moving the turbos out front and dropping the hundred pounds of “wheelie reduction” weight added to the car. He scored a 3.73 testing this week and is ready for qualifying.
Outlaw 632 racer Ryan Thorp has a new engine combo and has been struggling a bit with converter/transmission issues since swapping over. He managed a 4.48 today which showed an improved response. The team also had a promising recent dyno session at Scranton Engine and Dyno with engine builder Joe Irwin from Fast Forward Race Engines.
Steve Jackson laid down a nice 3.74 at 200 this afternoon. Look for him to perform well given his consistency here at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals last year.
Mark Wells was here testing with decent results this week but couldn’t quite get where they wanted with the front struts so are awaiting fresh replacement units from Strange Engineering tomorrow.
Paulo Giust’s Black Betty ran a 3.78 personal best on Thursday and came out for Friday’s shakedown session where he put up a 3.79. This is the first event out with the Pro Drag Radial car since standing it up at No Mercy last year, some minor damage was repaired in the off season and she is clearly good to go for 2018. “We are running with the best now, in the 3.70’s where you need to be. We are scheduled for this event, Lights Out and the Sweet 16 at SGMP and then looking to run some NMCA events with the Pro Mod, I’ve heard nothing but good things about it and looking forward to racing that series.” – Paulo Giust. Black Betty is MSR powered with a Quick Lock Quick Drive and a Liberty 5 speed transferring the power to the rear. Mark Menscer shocks help keep things planted with Jim Salemi of G Force Race Cars as the team crew chief.
Chad Opaleski made the switch from Procharger to C Rotor screw with Bob Newberry a welcome addition to the team in the search for more power and lower ET’s. The Fast Forward Race Engines built Hemi is still residing between the rails but now sports mechanical injection and a magneto. So far Chad has made a few short hits getting it dialed in and it’s looking good so far.

Round One Results

Frank Beal from 5 Day Plantation Shutters has his Mustang fitted for Outlaw 632 now with Daryl Hameetman driving and proving the horsepower via his HRE engine shop.Daryl is in eighth position so far with a 4.51 at 156 MPH running at 2775 pounds this weekend.
Tommy Cunningham now owns and drives this GT 500 formerly campaigned by Galot Motorsports. Tommy is new to a screw blower and the Bruno Lenco combo so this is the first outing with the car here this weekend. The car is tuned by Chris Duncan and Jonas Aleshire with the team based out of Murray, Kentucky and here testing for the Midwest Series Pro Mod class.
Robert Abbott improved his ET to a 3.80 at 198 in the final session landing ninth for the “ WYO” Tutterow powered Camaro in Pro Mod Boost.”Thanks to Tim at Coast Chassis, the car is smooth, smooth, he’s done a wonderful job with that car, start to finish was about five and a half months. We are going to stay with our local racing schedule this year and may hit the Atlanta NMCA race. My crew does an awesome job, my son in law Guy Carlton runs the computer with Scotty Halstead as crew chief, my main man Javier does the tires and whatever else needs help getting done and my brother Craig does the cooking and drives the rig.”
Randy Adler had a very nice run in the final session, making it through the “Shake Zone” for the first time this weekend. “It had the front end hiked and she was hauling, it was over too fast, the fastest run the car has ever made.” – Randy Adler. His previous best was a 3.75 in Orlando, tonight’s 3.71 at 206 is a big step and puts him in fourth so far.
Jim Bersani also scored a new best 3.88 at 200 and has been testing here this week with PTP’s Patrick Barnhill and gained some consistency running several 3.90 runs. “ Thanks to Jim Francia, who’s been helping me now for some time, Patrick Barnhill and Jason Lee and Jerry and Gary who came to help this weekend and Patty the pit Bull for pit security.” – Jim Bersani
Bryan Markewicz is debuting his new Pro Drag Radial car this weekend, which he purchased from Mike Stravinos and now powered by a PLR stage 3 570 cubic inch engine with 102 Precision turbos feeding the boost and backed by a Bruno Lenco. Its been near seven years since Bryan raced in Outlaw 10.5 and the team is excited to be back in the game. “We have a Fuel Tech engine management with Josh Ledford as our main tuner with just three runs on the car so far. We plan to race here and through the sweet 16 Donald is putting on and taking the summer off boating, but we are back and it feels good. – Bryan Markewicz
Brian Keep had an easy 4.79 in the first session and improved to a 4.74 in Ultra Street landing second behind Bart Tobener’s 4.71 at 149. He is still looking for 60′ to improve but the car is coming around nicely in just four outings with the new Procharged combination.
Les Feist is number one Open Outlaw qualifier after two sessions with a 3.76 at 195 in his Procharged 2013 Miller chassis dragster.
Craig “Slim” Andrews ran well with a 3.79 at 197 in the first session, the fastest the car has run to date and his .79 and .78 the best back to back runs in some years. He has a new fuel management set up from Lahey which is already helping get the car making smoother runs and better MPH. Crew includes Troy Gotschall on fuel system and Jay Rigdon on the clutch.
Team Ensslin Racing struggled a bit with clutch settings with the two car father and son team with Jordan (son) and Jeff qualified two and three with a 4.37 and 4.41 respectively. Look for four or five hundredths quicker from these cars if the clutch set up is right tomorrow. “ We gotta thank Edmunds Metal Works and Team Edmunds and Santuff Suspension and all the folks that are just too many to thank by name, there are always so many that help in small yet appreciated ways that contribute to a team success. – Jeff Ensslin Jordan Ensslin shown.
Lizzi Musi leads the Pro Mod Nitrous class with a clean 3.69 at 205

Round Two Qualifying Results

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