Photo Credits: Ford Racing/Mike Yoksich

For the second time this year, ProMedia Events put on a Ford Cobra Jet Showdown in conjunction with one of their races, this time with the NMCA at the 7th Annual JE Pistons NMCA Muscle Car Nationals held at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. Three first-time winners were crowned when all was said and done in this tuneup for the NHRA’s US Nationals to take place this coming weekend.

In the dial-in-style Cobra Jet CIC class, Ohio’s Ron Matchum earned the win against well-known West Coast Cobra Jet racer and legendary chassis tuner John Calvert in a close-fought battle. The battle on the tree had Matcham getting out of the gates first with a .009 reaction time to Calvert’s .013, and on the big end it was an 8.78 to Calvert’s 9.68 across the stripe.

Cobra Jet Top Stock had NMRA Renegade competitor Mike Harris taking on well-known Ford engine builder Chris Holbrook in the final round. You might remember Harris from this video last year, where he wrecked his beautiful CJ in a testing accident at Cecil County Dragway.

Harris rebuilt the car and has been showing well in Renegade competition this year, and here at the Cobra Jet Showdown he used a stout .011 reaction time and 8.756 elapsed time to take the holes-hot win over Holbrook and his .068/8.740 line.

The big-dog Cobra Jet Super Stock class saw P.B. Candies in his 2010 5.4L CJ lined up with Ray Skillman and his 5.0L boosted piece. Both racers had been flirting with the 7-second zone all weekend, and in the final round, Candies posted an 8.000 elapsed time combined with a .043 reaction time to take home the win over Skillman’s 8.046.

As the Cobra Jet Showdown is a tuneup for these racers prior to the Big Go, there were 28 Cobra Jets on the property making their passes and getting things in order. Skillman and Candies in particular could be considered favorites to win in Super Stock eliminations. Keep an eye on these guys during this coming weekend’s big show -the NHRA US Nationals at Indy.