Once again we are under a rain delay this morning after a shower put a stop to round one eliminations after a delay getting started. We will be here providing our same day coverage through to the finish tonight so stay tuned for the latest track and pit updates.
Bradenton, Florida based Wesley Lee gets the “Boondock” award for the weekend being the last car in in the pits on the top end of the track. He has been racing “The Pineapple” Mustang for about 6 months after swapping the engine from his S-10 pickup and was entered in 10.0 index before losing a close match in round one this morning.Open Comp racer Alex Couret is based out of Margate, Florida running this 1969 Plymouth Valient with a 358 cubic inch NASCAR based small block Mopar built by Danny Glad running in the mid 9’s at 142 MPH. He has been in Florida for about fifteen years after moving from The Bronx, NY. The car is a converted grudge car that saw many street battles in the northeast back in the day. “ My best run this weekend was a 9.42 at 142, I’m just driving trying to have a good time this weekend and have a good time with my friends.” Alex CouretThe Voss Racing crew had to pull and engine swap this morning getting back to the track about 5:30 this morning from their shop in Live Oak. They grabbed their crew man Mike Murphy’s shortblock and threw the top end from the spare engine on it last night and set it back in PDRA Extreme 632 Champion Dillon Voss’ Suncoast Chassis Corvette this morning. “We had a good year with the PDRA winning three of four events and setting PDRA record with a 4.27. Crew chief Cory Voss is shown at left with brother and driver Dillon.Long time Florida racer Randy Blackmon is here in Outlaw X632 with his home built Nova based out of Miami, Florida. Randy runs a Little Chief 440 cubic inch small block and is the former owner of the Popeye Camaro driven by multi time Pro Street and Pro Mod Champion Pat Musi.The Daytona Boyz have a new car in the stable with Robert Padget here sorting out his new Outlaw X632 Camaro running a single stage combo in the class. John Townsend’s Red Rum Nova is the new number one on Florida’s Top Ten list which was contested here last weekend at the Stick Shift Mafia Cash Days event. Jeff Kittle’s Outlaw Racing Fuels is a big supporter of the team.
We got started with Extreme Pro Mod in the early afternoon with the invocation done by RFC Chaplins Jeff Berdahl and Jerry Grieninger with announcer Lee Sebring pictured at the left.
Round One Elimination Results
Billy Glidden and Chris Cline were the first pair out in Extreme Pro Mod with Cline going red by .006. Both cars went down in what would have been a good match with Glidden (near lane) coming away with the round win with his 3.840 at 190.In a father vs son match George Williams III met up with his son George. Both racers were anxious and left early, a .004 to .007 with the younger racer earnign the win and running a 3.796 at 198 MPH to a 3.82 for his father.Number six qualifier Chuck Ulsch was paired with Rick Hord’s Maximum Effort IV Corvette. Hord was away first with a .035 light running a 3.78 at 202 for his best run of the weekend to Ulsch’s 3.81.Todd Tutterow matched up with Ken Lang in a blower battle with Tutterow earning a .010 advantage on the tree. He ran hard scoring a 3.74 at 199.17 to Lang’s 3.91 and will advance to round two. Crew Chief Brad Schmidt shown with Denise Tutterow.The last pair featured Jay Cox and Colby Barber with Cox getting away first. Colby had figured the tune up last night and he was running hard on the top end scoring a nice 208 MPH run and best of weekend 3.88 but it wasn’t enough to overcome Cox’s 3.763 at 199.Kristian Nystrom had the earned single in the Pro Mod B field and ran well to just past half track before lifting. Here car owner Adam Flamholc (center) directs the car back.Wayne Smozanek was qualified ninth and had a single due to Ken Cruz not being able to make the round. He scored his weekends best run with a 3.95 at 184 MPH.Scott Husted faced of with Tip Dotson in round one of Heavy Street laying down a 5.61 at 205 through the traps. to Dotson’s 6.91 at 152.Gary Gonzalez is running the East Side Performance 1999 Camaro this weekend getting things dialed in for Kaitlen Quartuccio who will take over driving the car this winter with plans to run in Outlaw 632 with her father Ken. He is qualified eighth in Heavy Street with the team focusing on Ken’s car in X632. The car is powered by a C&S built big Chevy with nitrous plumbed and set up by Richard Beaumont. His opponent Nick Bernardo jumped the start with Gonzalez car stalled as he mashed the throttle going on the trans brake. He got the lucky round win on the foul start after re-firing the car and taking the tree.in the all green match up Eric Kenward faced off with Rick Prosspero’s RX7 with just .001 separating the two racers on the tree. They were side by side to the stripe with Prospero just edging out Kenward’s wagon with a 6.307 at 166 to Kenward’s game 6.315 at 165.Chris Bruntz earned his way to round two over Devin Yankey’s box Nova running a 6.19 at 160.Number one qualifier Ken Quartuccio got into a power wheelie and pedaled his way to a 4.36 on his earned single.Robert Sellers was paired with Mark Hoagland who is here at his second race with the teams new car. Sellers would take the win with a 4.52 in the ARC sponsored Plymouth.Jeff Ensslin was unable to engage reverse after the burnout in the Still Doin Time 37 Chevy allowing Dwaine Kessler to move to round two uncontested.Ken Kershaw also had an opponent broke bye where he ran a 4.49 at 158 MPH showing he and Clayton Murphy are working things out int eh new car.Dillon Voss ran well with the new engine going A to B with a 4.367 at 165.Don Lamana scored his best of weekend run in Ol 10.5 vs Radial, a 4.15 at 184.Jeff Miller played it safe on the tree against Ron Fisher scoring a round win with a 4.02 at 187.
Tony Alm faced off with Tyler Ronx in TRZ Ultra Street earning the round with a 4.75 at 147 as Ronx rode the ring gear to a huge wheelstand before smashing down hard and taking out the transmission pan oiling the track resulting in a long clean up.
Eric Kenward’s “Wheelie Wagon ” lived up to it’s name in round two of Outlaw 10.5 vs Radial as he put the power to it and rode out a big wheel stand. Miller would advance with a 4.04.Hall scored a 4.022 at 177 for his effort in a semi final single.Mike Freeman spun away his chances against Hannah Sanders (far lane) in round two of TRZ Ultra Street, she ran a 5.01 at 142 on the pass.Tony Alm (near lane) went .013 against Brian Keep in the semi finals going a 4.76 at 147 to Keep’s 4.771 at a hard charging 148 MPH to earn the win.Temple, Georgia’s David Reese was piloting this black Corvette and was sixth int he Pro Mod B field. He met up with Ruben T in the semi final and got a late sater at the tree. Bother racers were off pace with Ruben earning his way to the final with a 4.289 to Reese’s close 4.292, the pair were side by side but for the reaction time difference.Wade Gullet qualified eighth in Top Sportsman and made it two rounds before running up against number fourteen Scott Kervin in the semi finals. He would play catch up as the faster car with nearly identical reactions it would be Kervin’s 67 Cuda to the stripe first with a 5.378 on 5.36 dial to earn the round.
Don Lamana slowed in his round two effort vs Mo Hall but only after breaking loose near half track as Wade Hopkins from Southern Speed Racing, Don and Matt LaRue had found some issues with the engine dropping cylinders on his earlier 4.15. He would be allowed a test pass later earning a 4.10 at 176 but still not a hundred percent. Round two of Extreme Pro Mod had some interesting action with Adler jumping early against Williams and Salemi earning her way past Rick Hord on ET with a 3.7837 at 200 to Hord’s quick .011 reaction 3.77 at 203. Tutterow repaid the favor in the semi final scoring a 3.747 at 200 MPH win despite giving up .010 on the tree to Salemi’s 3.76 at 196.Jay Cox faced off with Todd Moyer with neither having a clear advantage going by previous round performance. Cox improved some to a 3.74 earning his right to face George Williams III. Williams went .015 on the tree but fell off pace to an .85 and Cox took the win with his 3.73.
Final Results
In the final just two thousandths of a second separated the drivers with Cox kicking the tires hard just after the hit with Tutterow going on to a 3.75 at 200 MPH to earth the event title.“We brought a car we haven’t run very much, got a blower from Al Biles, it was the first time running that and we didn’t have the overdrive gearing we wanted for it here, either too much or not enough, so we went with not enough made some good runs. I had a lucky run with Billy in round two, he red lit and I had to abort after getting close to the wall. We expected Jay would be .71 or .72 for the final but he had a nitrous malfunction and spun the tire hard. We had Brad here and my son Ty, Kevin Rivenbark flew in and was good to have him here with Mr. and Mrs. Wells, a great way to finish the season off with a win.” – Todd Tutterow
Scott Husted met Austin Stephens in the Heavy Street final in a blower vs turbo battle. Stephens knew he had to push the tree for a shot at a class win and went .014 read against Husted who recorded a 5.68 at 190 on his event winning run. Scott is a repeat class winner here with his Camaro several year back now before moving over to Drag Radial and building this car. St Pete Florida’s Austin Stephens is the Heavy Street Runner up driving the families 68 Chevy C10 long bed. The truck is a fifteen year project started by his father at their shop NBS Race Cars in Pinellas Park.Bruce Thrift had a great weekend scoring a his first three second run this weekend to qualify number one in Top Sportsman and making it to the final with Scott Kervin. Both racers were quick to react with Thrift scoring a perfect reaction to excellent Kervin’s .004, forcing Thrift to push it towards the stripe. He would go 4.002 at 180 on his 3.99 dial earning the event win in a great match up.
Ruben Totsoshvili earned the Pro Mod B class win after struggling in qualifying and swapping to some Garrett turbos and finding the tune up. He went .057 on the tree in the final vs number two qualifier Chuck Hicks scoring a 3.925 at 203 on the victory lap.
Number two and six qualifiers met in the TRZ Ultra Street final with Tony Alm taking the starting line advantage by .043 over Nick Bernardo. Bernardo had improved every round and earned his best in eliminations 4.92 at 144 in a game effort against Alm's winning 4.743. In a rematch of the ODRC 632 final it would be Dillon The Kid” Voss vs Jordan Ensslin with Voss playing it safe on the tree with a .069 light. Both racers slowed in the final with Voss earnign the win with his 4.33 at 166 to Ensslin’s 4.40 at 159.Dillon Voss Outlaw X632 Winner “The engine we swapped in this morning ran great all day but I fought driving the car all day with a front end issue, it was a handfull for sure but we made it work. We got it fixed for the finals and went straight to put the Voss Racing, Suncoast Race Cars Corvette in the winner circle.” – Dillon VossJordan Ensslin, Outlaw X632 Runner Up.Outlaw 10.5 vs radial Winner Mo Hall “We were trying for threes every run it just wasn’t the weekend for it. The track was way better than we thought it would be and we needed more time testing on a tight radial prep track..I run a Fulton 903 with Switzer Dynamics nitrous, Jim Halsey helps a lot with tunes and chassis tuning, Brandon has done a lot of work with us this year too, he’s put us in another zip code with what we are doing, I gotta thank Henry Fryfogle at HFR Fabrication for a great chassis too, I’ve been using him for about ten years now and he always does great by me. We had a really good year, about the only race we really lost was to my good friend Mike Decker at the Shakedown.. been here six or seven times from 2000 or so trying to win so this one is very sweet.”John Carinci Outlaw 10.5 vs Radial Runner Up improved to a 3.930 at 202 to back up his 10.5 record in the semi final with Jeff Miller who was away first at the tree running a 4.05 at 187 in a game effort. He went .006 to Hall’s .008 reaction but slowed to a 4.80 at 111 in finalTroy Pirez Jr was entered in two class this weekend running 10.0 Index in the trusty shop Camaro and the NT Shootout in the General Lee. The Off the Trailer Mafia crew put in work and planned to test the Mustang but entered the NT shoot for a shot at some money. He was lucky pulling chips scoring two bye runs and facing Rob Brazeal’s Granny int he finals of the shootout. Both racers spun making it a pedal fest with Troy coming away the double up victor this weekend.Troy is using the new BX4 Alcohol carb on 10.0 car and BX4 Extreme 4150 carb on the Mustang along with PTC converters, Diamond Pistons, Upper Limit Performance and Racing with special thanks to Eric Edelmann and to Big Joe at the Mons.Arthur Spells 10.0 Index Runner up from Ft. Pierce, FloridaOpen Comp Winner Bobby Taylor Jr.
Day two here in Orlando was interrupted by Mother Nature this morning during 10.0 Index qualifying but that won’t stop the action later today. We have record setting performance in multiple classes so stay tuned to Dragzine for the latest in same day coverage from the twenty fourth annual World Street Nationals.
John Carinci is on track to set an Outlaw 10.5 Record this weekend powered by an Extreme Racing Engines Hemi which is maintained by Jan Cen Racing and tuned by PTP using a Hal Tech Engine Management with Adam and Randy Lambert’s Precision Racing Suspensions does the suspension tuning and set up. Power gets transferred via a Mark Micke built transmission and Pro Torque converter to Mickey Thompson 10.5 slicks. He has campaigned this car since late 2015 and won his class here in 2016 before switching to methanol for the 2017 season. John is shown with his son James Carinci, from left to right.Bruce Thrift and crew are very happy with his performance last night scoring his first three second run. “It’s been a long road, getting through the fours is a long battle, I was about to think I was parked in the rest area but we finally got there last night. I want to thank Charlie Buck, Greg Samuel for the dedication and hard work he put into this, he is as big a part of this as we are. Mickey Miller for standing by us and the team and see if we can’t get a little better.” This is the second race Bruce has on the new Buck 784 and a new power glide and XPM lock up converter from FTI. Thrift has been racing since he was sixteen years old and Miller has been with the team as crew chief for six years. From left to right Micky Miller and Bruce Thrift.Rodney Ragen was just .002 off his personal best in last nights session with his 4.70 in his KBX Powered 89 Mustang. The car was built by Billy Pedus’ BP Racing in Babylon, NY, the same town Rodney is from. KBX’s Justin McChesney is tuning the car this weekend with the Big Stuff 3 system. The found an issue with the blower and were getting that serviced this morning. From left to right, James Dipolito, Rodney Ragen and crew chief Billy Pedus.This was the scene at Orlando about 10:45 this morning just a short time after we began qualifying in 10.0 Index. It’s nearly 1PM now and we are just minutes away from getting back to to racing action.We have a good crowd today with spectators lining the fence past the boards but mother nature is giving us fits with intermittent showers delaying qualifying several times.Todd Moyer moved himself into the Extreme Pro Mod field in round two running a 3.83 at 202.64 landing eighth in the field.Chuck Hicks improved one spot off the bump with a 3.95 at 185 but backfired in the lights sending the scoop and hood flying. This was his first run in the threes and word is the the engine and car are ok.Chuck Ulsch improved a bunch in the session from his 4.02 yesterday to a 3.821 at 196 landing sixth.Scott Husted found his way to top qualifier in Heavy Street running a 5.73 at 171. A reminder this class is running to only 1000 foot this weekend so the MPH of the various cars may not be indicative of the real trap speed.Rick Prospero also earned his way into the field with a 6.32.Dean Vallese improved slightly to a 6.20 from last night’s 6.25. Dean is running well and keeping the front end on the ground so far this weekend.Jim Aldus improved his lot in the X632 class running a 4.539 at 160 to move up to tenth spot in the class with twenty three cars making laps this round.Troy Blake made his first attempt today running a 6.54 after a massive wheel stand. He sits in twentieth currently with one more round in process now after a very long day with the staff going to work drying the track no less than ten separate times.Outlaw 10.5 vs Radial saw Mo Hall ride the bars out on this pass to a 4.003 at 192.29, so close to the threes.Jeff Miller put the Bumble Bee in the beams scoring a 4.07 at 186, good for tird in class for the Gilbox, SC based racer.Chad Opaleski put his Ocala, Florida based Chevelle. He managed a 4.20 at 171 and sits fourth after two rounds and one attempt.The Pro Fab Performance Plus entry of Don Lamana waas entered in the N/T shoot out yesterday but switched to OL 10.5 vs Radial and got the car going A to B for this session with a 4.44 at 165.Mike Freeman made just one pass in TRZ Ultra Street landing fifth with a 4.86 at 145 MPH, just behind Clifford Connolloy’s T Bird.Mike Fratena improved his lot in Ultra Street running a 5.28 at just 111 and huffing a lot of smoke. We will check up on Mike and the TRZ crew later.
Round Two Qualifying Results
There were noteworthy changes to Extreme Pro Mod after the final session with Todd Tutterow moving up to second with a 3.737 at 200 MPH to take over second position over Melanie Salemi.The top ten order remains unchanged besides Chris Cline improving to a 3.868 bumping Rich Hord to eleventh.
Alma, Georgia based racer Colby Barber landed on the bump in his Outlaw Racing Fuels/Davis Electronics/C&R Farms/Sweat Racing 2000 Corvette with a 3.935 in the final session after struggling getting the car to make a clean pass. He earned top MPH on the run with a 203.92 MPH blast out the back. He has a new engine combo and is running Precision 94 MM turbos. They finally found the trick in the last session and we able to improve just making it into the field. Barber is a long time PDRA racer and founding member of the series and came straight here form the season finale. The incrementals were 1.04, 2.71 3.93 at 203 showing there is more left once the short time improves. From left to right, Tyler Sweat, Bart McMorris, Colby Barber and Toby Sweat. Kristian Nystrom is the top qualifier in the Pro Mod B class with his 3.936 at 195 MPH driving for Adam Flamholc this weekend in the5 Day Plantation Shutters Mustang.Mo Hall is still looking for that elusive three second run here in Orlando but the car is running well and looking good. He is a solid second in the Outlaw 10.5 vs radial class with his 4.003 from the second session.Don Lamana improved significantly once tuner Wade Hopkins get some data from the previous run. He is still in sixth but now with a 4.24 at 175 MPH.Ron Fisher sits eighth in OL 10.5 vs radial with his improved 4.89 at 156.TRZ Ultra Street racer Mike Freeman was paired with number one qualifier Rodney Ragen int he final session. Neither improved but it was a tight match with both cars wheeling well past the 60′.
Final Qualifying Results
Extreme Pro Mod Qualifying
Jay Cox 3.707
Todd Tutterow 3.737
Melanie Salemi 3.752
Randy Adler 3.754
George Williams III 3.783
Chuck Ulsch 3.807
Billy Glidden 3.827
Todd Moyer 3.832
Jerico Balduf 3.862
Chris Cline 3.868
Rick Hord 3.878
George Williams 3.880
Tony Williams 3.896
Chris Patrick 3.914
Ken Lang 3.915
Colby Barber 3.935
The legendary World Street Nationals returns of the Orlando Speed World Dragway this weekend, featuring Pro Modified, Outlaw 10.5, Pro Drag Radial, and and a host of other heads-up and index eliminators.
2009 Outlaw 10.5 Champion Chuck Ulsch has his new 68 Camaro here after surcharging from Todd Tutterow as a roller and swapping in a Brad7 from Roche Racing Engines. He attended the last PDRA event running a best of 3.72. He is looking for sponsors to put together a program for 2018 and currently has backing from Candy Man/Falters Candy’s Fundraising, MB Enterprises and Roche Racing Engines and Brian and Jeff Weddle. The crew from left to right; Tracy Hicks, Pops, Jeff Weddle, Chuck Ulsch and The Brian Weddle.Outlaw 632 racer Ken Kershaw is here for the third event with his new car out of Chassis Engineering affiliate Eliminator XTR Race Cars headed by Clayton Murphy. This is the third car out of the shop with number five under way. Ken has ran well so far making several laps in the 4.50s with about fifteen runs on the car after debuting at Lights Out VIII in September. The team will be looking to move into the 4.40’s this weekend and will focus on consistent laps.
Jerico Balduff has new new Chevelle on the property from Andy McCoy Race Cars and has two solid runs on the car so far with a 3.92 on Thursday and a 3.87 today. The fantastic paint work was done by Dale Winters with artwork done by his wife. From left to right, Ron Balduff, Billy Gliddena nd track owner Ozzy Moya. Mo Hall made the trip down at the last minute for the Outlaw 10.5 vs Drag Radial class.Extreme Pro Mod ad twenty five cars made an attempt today in qualifying with Jay Cox earning the top spot with a 3.707 at 201.58 while paired up with Melanie Salemi who landed second in class with a 3.752 at 200.92.Randy Adler put his 57 in third, also running a 3.75 but scoring high MPH so far with his 202.91 MPH top end charge.Galot Motorsports’ Todd Tutterow has his new Bickel car here with only a hand full of runs on it so far after receiving it midway through the season. He put some laps on the car at NHRA Bristol and decided on Monday to swap to an automatic trans and come here in Pro Boost trim as their other cars also run in the class. Todd rounds out the top five in Extreme Pro Mod with his 3.80 at 198. Billy Glidden briefly held the top spot with his 3.82 at 193 in the Ray Skillman Auto Group, Axalta Camaro.Balduf is running well so far scoring a 3.86 at 187 in his first qualifying attempt with the team’s new car.
Felix Garcia is solidly out front in Heavy Street with his 6 Chevy II running a 5.85 at 179 MPH. The class is being contested to one thousand feet this year in an effort at compromise given the variety of combinations in the class. Garcia runs a twin turbo 555 cubic inch big Chevy for power. Dean Vallese sits second with his '79 “Zombie” Malibu wagon running a big Chevy nitrous combo. Eric Kenward is running Havy Street again this weekend after entering at the ODRC in Bradenton recently. He was running his NMCA engine combo there after a freshen from MPR up but has made some changes for this weekend running in Limited 275 trim with an 80 mm turbo on alcohol. Eric reports he is near 200 HP better with 1,330 RWHP with this set up. He sits sixth with a 6.69.Gino Bia pedaled his car twice before it hooked hard in this session, he managed a 7.71 for tenth place in class.Ken Quartuccio (far lane) landed on top of Outlaw X632 with a 4.27 at 164, his second .27 of the day. He and PDRA 632 Champion Dillon Voss were paired up with Voss landing third with a 4.40 at 161.Jordan Ensslin earned second place with a 4.34 at 163 with Ken Kershaw and Mike Pruss rounding out the top five cars in class.Top Sportsman racer Bruce Thrift (far lane) scored his first three second pass today earning top qualifier in class with a 3.99 at 181 MPH.
Florida's own number one John Townsend put up a 4.84 to earn second qualifier in Top Sportsman in his 75 Nova with Mack Roberts taking third spot with a 4.85 in his 1963 Vette. John Carinci (far lane) leads Outlaw 10.5 vs Radial with a record performance 3.93 at 201 MPH blast. He will have to back it up for an official record but has been running well and surely will provided the weather and track co-operates. Mo Hall made the trip down from Olney, Maryland with his 2007 Corvette. He put up a 4.01 at 177 to earn second qualifier while paired with Carinci.Rodney Ragen came away with top qualifier in TRZ Ultra Street with a 4.70 at 149 MPH. Mike Bernardo landed sixth with his 69 Camaro.The weather and track conditions were very good for Ultra with Tony Alm landing second with a 4.74, just in front of Brian Keep’s 4.75. Clifford Connolly (far lane) and Steve Buscema round the top five.John Wallauer earned top position in 8.50 index with his 1973 Duster based out of St Cloud, Florida with an 8.538, an identical ET to Luis Martinez’ 84 RX7, just a little bit faster for the tie breaker.
Round One Qualifying Results
TRZ Ultra Street, Outlaw 10.5 vs Radial, 10.0 Index, Open Comp
8.50 Index, Outlaw X632, Heavy Street, Top Sportsman.
