We caught up with Street Outlaw racer Chip Pike this morning – Chip’s dealing with some oiling system issues that caused a little bit of a leak yesterday. He’s on the hunt to track them down and excited to put the power he found over the winter down on the track. 

Andy Mason currently sits second on the qualifying sheet in Street Outlaw with a 7.08. Noted tuner Jason Lee is tickling the keys on the laptop this weekend, and the team is looking for a substantial improvement over yesterday’s performance. Could we see the first six-second pass in Street Outlaw today? it’s very possible…between Urist, Manson, and last year’s champ Phil Hines, each of the racers has a very good chance to do it. 

Coyote Stock racer James Meredith made the long-haul from San Antonio to be here this weekend. He’s the only competitor using an automatic transmission and ran a 10.78 yesterday afternoon, but feels there’s still more left in the combo with another torque converter change. 

Valerie Clements is having a tough weekend so far – her Renegade racer has oil on two spark plugs and is done in competition. However, we hear she may be taking over the seat in brother Alton Jr.’s blue notchback by the third round of qualifying. In a bit of surprising news, Alton Jr. told us that he’ll be taking over the driver’s seat in Ed Rice’s Super Street Mustang when the NMCA comes to town in just a few weeks. 

Brian Mitchell was doing some pre-race maintenance this morning. He clicked it off at the 900-foot mark yesterday afternoon and still ran an 8.41 in Renegade. Is it possible we’ll see an 8.2x today? It’ll be a battle between Mitchell and current number-one-qualifier Bart Tobener to see who gets there first. 

Richard Lelsz’s Coyote Modified machine is packing two sets of Speedtech nitrous foggers plumbed into the manifold. As the team hasn’t had any testing time with this combo, yesterday’s first round was the first time down the track where he clicked it off at the eighth-mile. We’ll be looking for big things from him today – especially if he hits the button on both stages. 

Louisiana’s Gregory Herbert barely made it here with his Coyote Stock entry – they are still assembling the car in the pits as we type this and will make it to the track for the final round of qualifying.

This is never a sight you want to see – the LifeFlight helicopter showing up to take a racer out. Chip Pike took a wild ride into the wall in round two of qualifying and was taken out to a local medical facility. Thankfully, he will be just fine. NMRA National Event Director Rollie Miller said, “Update on Chip Pike, the Street Outlaw driver involved in the racing accident earlier this afternoon here at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Chip was taken to a local medical facility and completely checked out with no serious injuries other than bruising and soreness. He will be held overnight for observation and most likely released tomorrow afternoon.” 

Filthy Phil Hines became the third Street Outlaw racer into the 0’s today during the second session of qualifying. We spoke with him this morning and he explained that the car was real fat on the tuneup yesterday – it looks like he’s starting to figure that out.

Andy Manson improved on his qualifying time, as promised this morning – he’s down to a 7.05 at 193MPH in his PTP Racing-tuned, Vortech XB-105-boosted machine. Urist did not improve, so the chase for the 6’s is still very much alive. 

JD Coon’s Whipple-blown machine is a new entrant into Renegade this season. JD didn’t have much time to test this winter as his home state of Louisiana has seen a brutal winter for the area. Even so, JD’s managed to run an 8.83 at 153 MPH in the 5.4L GT500.

As promised, Richard Lelsz lowered his qualified time in the Coyote Modified nitrous-injected 2011 Mustang down to a 9.33 at only 139 MPH on a shutdown pass.

Frank Varela remains at the top of the heap in Coyote Modified – he lowered his qualifying time down to an 8.87 at nearly 155MPH. Lelsz remains in the second position entering the final round of qualifying.

Elisa Coon is taking a chance running in Coyote Modified with her blown street car. Although she’s not on the pace set by Varela, she’s having a great time and is qualified fourth of six cars with a 10.12.

Teddy Weaver continued to raise the bar in Pure Street this morning, turning in a stout 9.67 during round two. From what we understand, the air quality this morning measured around -400 feet, and the barometer was up around 30.01. Dem’s horsepower-makin’ numbers, folks.

Scotty Barker took his Pure Street machine into the 9’s this morning, becoming the second competitor to do so. The Four-Valve Modular pounded out a 9.95 at 135-plus MPH. Jimmy Wilson got oh-so-close, carding a 10.009, also at 135-plus.

Joe Charles ran the quickest time of the Coyote Stock field in round two, clicking off a 10.61 at 125MPH and going from #10 to #3 in the process. Neither #1 qualifier Shane Stymiest nor #2 Drew Lyons could improve on their elapsed times.

Jacob Lamb also improved in round two this morning, scoring the #5 spot entering the last round. His 10.621 betters his previous effort by four hundredths – this class is so close that’s a major victory.

The final round of qualifying was a hell of a show – records were set and parts were broken, and at the end of the day Brian Mitchell sat atop the Renegade ladder with an unreal 8.211 at 167.47 MPH – the quickest pass in Renegade history, with what he calls “a slow 60 foot at that.” We can’t wait to see what the ET looks like when he puts up a sub 1.20 short time like he’s capable of doing.

Matt Williams also claimed his earlier 10.85 as the Factory Stock record, then proceeded to back it up with a final round 10.96. Looks like he’s getting the new parts and pieces sorted out just fine. Jay Dold is hot on his heels, though – he’s qualified with a 10.87 to take the second spot.

Shane Stymiest also claimed the record in Coyote Stock. He’s picked up right where he left off last season, topping the ladder with a 10.43 at 125 MPH, over a tenth quicker than number-two qualifier Drew Lyons heading into eliminations tomorrow. Stymiest seems to have something figured out that the rest of the class hasn’t caught onto yet – or maybe he’s just that much better of a driver than everyone else? We’ll be watching closely to see if he can repeat as champion.

“The Modfather”, Ronnie Diaz made it to Street Outlaw – but his car didn’t. He’s here using a loaner car from a friend to score the points. “All we needed was three more days, man – it’s so close. I can’t wait until Georgia,” he says.

Daniel Pachar’s insane Modular machine jumped up in the Street Outlaw standings, clipping off an outstanding 7.16 at 191MPH in the final session. Pachar’s Triangle Speed Shop-built monster runs a turbocharger on top of the tiny 281-cube mill and carries the wheels on nearly every pass.

Jim Breese got bit by parts issues in the second round of Renegade qualifying – the clutch fork decided to give up, causing him to lose a qualifying shot. His best pass during qualifying was a 9.12. Things have to turn around soon for the Pennsylvania-based racer.

Bad Bart also pushed his way into the 8.20’s today, busting out with an 8.26 during the third round of qualifying. As far as we know, this leaves Tobener and Mitchell as the only inhabitants of the Renegade 8.20 club. A fitting tribute to two of the long-standing competitors in the class.

Filthy Phil also entered the Street Outlaw ‘0’s Club’ with his 7.09 blast at over 197 MPH. The race for the 6’s continues..lots of competitors with a good shot at doing it.

How about Johnny Lightning acquitting himself well in the heads-up realm? JL is qualified third in Renegade with an 8.43 out of his awesome Cobra Jet machine.

Local Florida X275 racer Tony Alm is out this weekend doing battle in his incredibly-pristine white notch. The car is still in X275 trim including the small 88mm turbo, but he’s acquitted himself well by landing sixth on the ladder with a 7.37. Although his business takes up too much of his time to travel the series, he was having a ball at this event and mentioned possibly coming back to compete in Street Outlaw again in a few weeks when NMCA comes to Bradenton.

Frank Varela’s run on the Coyote Modified class continues – he lowered the bar yet again today by running an 8.70 in the final round of qualifying. Simply amazing for a car that was completed in the span of four days, with a driver that hadn’t been on the track in three years.