We finished up round one with a little time to spare before the 11 PM curfew last night with some great racing and quite a few upsets. As we move into round two this morning the weather is a bit more sunny which could play a bigger factor in eliminations today compared to Saturday’s mostly cloudy skies.
It’s the summers’ biggest door car bash, and thanks to the support of Fuel Air Spark Technology, Dragzine will be bringing you all of the action, all weekend long from Route 66.
My partner in crime this weekend Brian Wagner shot this from the stands this morning before we got under way. We have been blessed with nice weather with the exception of a bit of rain on Friday. We have an exciting day ahead sure to be packed with some tight racing and enthusiasm.
This years Route 66 NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl has three new classes this year including Pro Stock which is the second race for the class this year and was prompted by Richard Maskin and Bob Book along with Dave W using 400 cubic in limited small blocks loosely based on Australian Pro Stock rules and including an 11,000 RPM limit. Bob has one of his small block Chrysler Hemi engines in Steve Graham's GXP who is here to help support the class and it's destined for long time racer Robbie Blankenship who will be competing in the class in 2017. The rules allow EFI and engine swapping between brands so racers are not bound by car make with the hopes of drawing cars from the Comp Eliminator ranks of different body styles, not just the late models. Other well known racers including Don Bowles and Don Baskin are also rumored to be interested in campaigning cars for the class next year. Kevin Fiscus was having a rough weekend in his Pro Mod Mustang. No time on the Q1 hit due to the car pushing through the beams, Q2 lost to weather, and Q3 was a no go due to a broken oil line. The team was able to overcome all those issues in round one to knock out Randy Adler who was top qualifier. Fiscus is very confident in the team’s chances now after getting the new motor sorted and ready.
Shawn Pevlor reset the MX235 record last night with a blistering 4.67 pass. Pevlor's crew chief Jason attributes the improved performance to constant testing and the switch to a fogger system on the Mustang. The team is running nearly identical on the 235 tire as they did in their win at a Nitrous X event last weekend in North Carolina at Shadyside Dragway. Jennifer Brooke is using her fathers old turbo motor in Nitrous Pro Street at the Super Bowl as she chases her first championship. The team is very confident if the track can take the power they are trying to put down a Super Bowl win is within their grasp.NMRA racer Adam Arndt does some prep work to his Mustang for the next round of Renegade racing action. Arndt has been running like a bracket car all weekend peeling off passes in the 7.60s all weekend.
NA 10.5 driver Dwight Ausmus gets his 1972 Pontiac Firebird ready for round 2 today. Ausmus knows how finicky these all motor monsters can be when it comes to track conditions, so he has both a hot track, along with a cloud-covered track tune-up on tap.NMRA Renegade racer Valerie Clements in her SBF F1A ProCharger powered 2005 Mustang has been creeping up on the tune with her new EGT sensors and it has paid off. The car went 7.60 with a 4.80 1/8th mile time, a new personal best for her. She racers her brother Alton Clements in round two who just went a 7.65
Nitrous Pro Street racer Randy Dolensek's 1969 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler Two could be one of most unique cars on the property this weekend. The car is powered by a 498 cubic inch big block Ford that is huffing a huge hit of nitrous through an EFI system, and is backed by a TH400 transmission. Dolensek is still working through the new car blues trying to figure things out, but has cracked into the seven second zone with this massive car, and is going to round three in Nitrous Pro Street.
We stopped by the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow display and had a chat with Rodney Bingham about their engine building competition. The program is designed for high school students in the automotive field where five person teams tear down and reassemble engines in a timed competition. There are multiple qualifier events across the country with the teams with the best times are invited to the Dual Championship Shootout at PRI show and SEMA for a chance to win a share up 4 million dollars in scholarship funds from tech schools such as the School of Automotive Machinists, OTC, UNO and Universal Technical Institute now in it's ninth year with this being the thirteenth for 2016. The engines are small block Chevy engines from 1986 to 1993. This year there are 172 teams competing with forty nine manufacturers participating in sponsorship. Plans are in the works for an LS engine based competition for college age students which are about a year out.
This beautiful 1969 Chevelle caught our eye running in Open Comp and is owned by Donny Edmunds based out of Franklin, Ohio. The car is powered by a big block Chevy displacing 565 inches topped with Dart CNC heads and Dart Big M block built by Greg Robinson at Robinson Racing Engines with TRZ rear suspension and Global West control arms up front. The 12 bolt rear is filled with Strange internals and a Richmond 4.11 pro gears. The car runs consistent 6.0's in the eighth and 9.40's out the back at 141 MPH.
The Factory Appearing Stock Tire (F.A.S.T.) class is here at the NMCA for the second time after running one event at Norwalk last year. The interesting thing about the class is all the cars are factory appearing with full interior with the engines maintaining a factory appearance as well though modifications are allowed to the internals. This 69 Hemi Roadrunner belongs to Dave Dudek displacing 498 cubic inches and has run in the high nines at 139 MPH. The class will also be featured again at Norwalk later this year which should draw about 30 cars compared to the ten here this weekend with several racers sitting out and making repairs. This 69 Corvette belongs to a husband and wife team with matching cars though his car is not here this weekend. Julie Pennington runs her car in the Factory Stock class with an L88 427 running a best ET of 10.87 at 125 MPH with the attention to detail really showcasing the potential of factory stock muscle cars.
Don Giannone owns this 1966 Chevelle in FAST running a 555 cubic inch mill out of The Engine Shop. Don has been racing this car about ten years in the class and is based out of Lansdale, PA. There are three cars left in eliminations today and he will face off with Dudek's Roadrunner in the next round. Don holds the 60 foot record with a 1.51, an impressive feat on the required tire.
We stopped and Talked with Tim Savelle who ran a 3.83 at 201 in round two and is set to face off with Greg-Seth Hunter in the MMR sponsored Mustang. Tim has driven for Mike Bankston about eight years after running Top Sportman and Pro Mods of his own and as a hired driver. Savelle has lane choice over Hunter who has been running 4.0's and has been fighting a misfire this weekend and looking to get back on track and in the 3.90's next round. He is General Manager and an engine builder at MMR. The car uses a 351 inch Mod Motor fed by a pair of Garrett 88 MM turbos and will be the last event for this combo before switching to their own billet block and topped with Coyote heads. Tim Savelle is pictured with Keith Auwarter on the right and Greg-Seth Hunter with Mark Luton on the left.
Round Two Elimination Results
In the FAST Semi finals David Dudek faced off with Don Giannone in a Mopar vs Chevy battle with Giannone launching hard but striking the tires just after the hit and slowing to an 11.08 at 128 with Dudek putting up a 10.33 at 134 to take the win. He will face off with Ed Keim's 69 (pictured left) Camaro in the class final.
The Pro Mod final is set with Kevin Fiscus taking the win over Tony Williams setting up a nitrous vs turbo, Ford Vs Chevy match. Fiscus will have lane choice against Tim Savelle in the Pat Musi powered Camaro.
Radial Wars has has some good racing as well as some upsets today. Mark Micke faced of with Matt Bell in the semi finals but struck the tires past the tree with Micke going on to a 4.07 at 200.59 MPH on the run. He will face off with Dwayne Mills who has lane choice with a 3.97 in in his win over Daniel Pharris in a close race. Charles Hull is having good luck this weekend with his new KBX combo which is very similar to Jared Johnson’s engine. His 4.47 at at 166.93 is a new best for Hull who advanced over Manny Buginga.Joel Greathouse has taken over driving duties from Johnson in White Riot this year and has been running well for team KBX. On this pass the car climbed the ring gear and into a wheel stand allowing Jacky McCarty will have lane choice in the next round where he will face Phil Hines.The American Racing Headers/Farks Supercars Camaro advanced over Rodney Massingale with a 7.55 at 182. He will have lane choice over Erik Kenward in the Xtreme Street Final.Aaron Bates paired up with Alton CLements in the Renegade Semi final with both drivers having very close reaction times and tied together to the stripe where Bates edged out Clements for the win by the slimmest of margins. 7.584 winning over a 7.588.Tim Matherly also had a tight race in Coyote Stock against Drew Lyons, earning a win with a 10.381 to Lyons’ quicker 10.377.
Final Results
Kevin Fiscus met with Tim Savelle in the final of Xtreme Pro Mod running a 3.84 at 209 to Savelle’s 3.86 at 200 MPH. That was Fiscus’ best MPH of the weekend when he needed it after struggling early in qualifying and not getting a solid pass for any data in eliminations. In the Superbowl Showdown Kevin played a part in setting up the NMCA win.Mark Micke and Dewayne Mills met in the Radial Wars final with Mills going in with lane choice. It was a close match with Micke improving slightly over his semi final performance but was not enough to get by Mills’ who ran identical ET to his semi final run scoring a 3.973 at 198.58 to Micke’s 4.05 at 200.98 MPH.Phil Hines met up with Jackie McCarty in the Street Outlaw final but stumbled at the hit allowing McCarty to get out front and stay there with a 4.456 at 169.15 to Hines ‘4.55 at 165.66 MPH run.Steve Graham earned a hole shot win over Nino Cavallo in an all Dodge Avenger final. Graham nailed an .012 reaction to Cavallos .070, 7.011 at 196.39 to Graham’s winning 7.032 at 196.04.In the MX235 final it would be Brad Medlock vs Brian Edwards. Both cars left together but Edwards lost traction early while Medlock went straight down to a 4.72 at 154 to earn the event win.The Xtreme Street final would be a turbo vs Procharger match with Eric Kenward and Louie Filippedas with Filippedas having lane choice. He took the left lane which turned the match in his favor as Kenward struck the tires at the hit knowing he need to improve his performance to a mid 7.50 to be in the game. Filippedas went on to win with a 7.57 at 184 MPH.In NA 10.5 the final would pit Dwight Ausmus against Mike DeMayo with both racers very tough competitors. DeMayo would be the victor today scoring a 7.98 at 169.17 to Ausmus’ game 8.06 at 196.32 for the Pontiac powered Firebird.Factory stock pit Dan Ryntz and James Meredith against each other with Ryntz getting the advantage at the tree. His 10.92 at 120 was not enough to hold off Meredith who laid down a 10.76 at 124 to earn the event win.Adam Arndt and Aaron Bates met in the Renegade final round with Bates taking the holeshot and the win with a 7.55 at 183 to Arndt’s game 7.62 at 180.The Coyote Stock final had Tim Matherly against “Shiftin”Shane Stymiest with Matherly taking the starting line advantage. At the finish line it would be Matherly with the win with a 10.45 at 126 MPH over the Stymiest who was quicker with a 10.41 at 126.The Street Outlaw final paired Jacky McCarty and Charles Hull who had lane choice choosing the left side. It was fairly even at the line and side by side down track with McCarty scoring the win in a very tight match with a 4.436 at 167.47 to Hull’s very close 4.438 at 172.14 MPH. They would face each other again in the Superbowl with the same outcome.Radial Wars racer Dewayne Mills sealed the deal for the NMCA Superbowl win this weekend scoring a 3.85 at 206 MPH. The NMRA was ahead in the race for the rings but Kevin Fiscus and Jacky McCarty did their part winning their races setting up a make or break final pass with Mills and Aaron Bates who put up a 4.85 at 147.
We are back for day two of the Route 66 NMCA/NMRA Superbowl after rain disrupted the second round of heads up qualifying yesterday leaving many racers with just one hit on the track, losing a qualifying session. Today we will have one session of qualifying before moving into eliminations scheduled about 3 PM this afternoon.
It’s the summers’ biggest door car bash, and thanks to the support of Fuel Air Spark Technology, Dragzine will be bringing you all of the action, all weekend long from Route 66.
Not how you want a Saturday at the race track to start... Word from the pits is the driver is working on getting a new windshield for the first round of eliminations. Billy Banaka secured the number one spot in Pro Mod with a solid 3.89 pass in the first round of qualifying.Randy Adler was able to negotiate the tricky surface and put down a nice 3.94 pass during the first round of qualifying and is looking to step things up for the next round today.Richard Holt and his team put the big boy tune-up in their Camaro on a very exciting 3.98 pass where Holt had to wheel the car at the top end. Holt’s plan for the final session is to turn the car up even more and see what the track can handle
Current IHRA Pro Mod champion Dina Parise had a timing issue with her CTS-V during Q1, but the team has it fixed and is ready for Q2. Current NMCA Pro Mod points leader Scott Critstoffel shook the tires hard first round and is sitting 9th on the ladder. The team plans on some slight adjustments for the final round.Rob Valden shook the tires pretty hard in Q1 due to the tricky track and is qualified 10th currently.
The top two in Radial Wars Points DeWayne Mills and Daniel Pharris both had issues with the hot track as well qualifying 6th and 8th on the ladder for the first round. Mark Micke is sitting third after Q1 with a 4.47 pass and a safe tuneup in the G-body.Number two qualifier Eric Gustafson made some adjustments to his Mustang to run in Radial Wars this weekend and ran a 4.41. The team went to a bigger blower and taller tire to see what the car will do in Radial Wars trim for the first time.
Defending Radial Wars champ Keith Berry went for a wild ride on his 4.31 pass in Q1. The C5 vette went into a MASSIVE wheel stand and came down very hard. The damage to the car was minimal and they will be ready to go for the final round of qualifying today. The NMCA has picked up MX235 for several races this year which is a class similar to Nitrous X and Ultra Street but running on a 235 series MT Radial tire running various power adder and NA combinations. Shawn Pevlor, Darren Hilterbrand, Chip Pike and Brad Medlock are some of the racers here this weekend. We stopped by Medlock’s pit for a chat this morning who is the current points leader and sits number one in qualifying after one session with a 4.83. Brad has some new parts on the car including a new Pro Torque converter and FAST engine management which has resulted in improved MPH testing in Holly Springs last weekend. Medlock uses Kuntz power and an M&M Transmission in the Mike Duffy built car formerly campaigned by John Urist.Dwayne Barbaree and Russel Stone are teamed up running Street Outlaw. We caught Dwayne taking some weight off the front end and making some suspension adjustments to better get a hold of the track today.Mike Jostick is running a new engine combo for VP Fuels/Wiseco Street Outlaw in 2016 with this being his first event for the year. He is running a 450 cubic inch LSX tall deck engine topped with Frankenstein heads and intake assembled by Mike Duke and topped off with NX Nitrous and backed by a transmission from Chuck Johnson at Finishline Transmissions. Brian Viara is the crew chief and partner with the combo with Kostick’s son Michael Jr. also assisting with various crew duties. Pictured is Mike and Carey Kostick who were just married on May 13 after 5 years together.Randy Truhlar runs out of the Midnight Racing team in Street Outlaw with a 598 BBC built by Shane Grit and backed by a Proformance Transmissions two speed TH 400. Steven Wardlow redid the car including paint roll cage and wiring over the past year or so with this being his first race out since the upgrades. “I’m grateful for all the help from Dave and the guys at Proformance and and Steve Wardlow for taking me under wing and all the help with the car.” – Randy Truhlar.NA 10.5 Racer Leonard Long has good mile per hour but had trouble on the starting line the past few events and has changed the shocks and springs out back in effort to fix the issues there. They were just putting on the hood scoop in preparation for round two qualifying.
Cal Hayward, Chuck Watson and several other cars in the lanes for QA1True Street were involved in an incident with several cars receiving significant damage. Hayward's multi event winning “Pinky” Mustang has front and rear damage and sadly will not be able to compete in the class this weekend.
We dropped by Troy Williams pit this afternoon, he is one of the trans builders at M&M Transmissions and is running his 1966 Chevy II in MX 235 this weekend for his first event since redoing the car with a new engine combination. The JD Engine and Machine built 430 inch small block Chevy is fed by a pair of Tial 67 MM turbos and managed by a ComSyncEFI system with coil on plug ignition. The paint and body was done by Ricky Morris with the rest of the car built in house at M&M Transmissions. So far the new build has six three hundred foot hits and one full eighth mile pass with good results and performance. Martin Connely is running Xtreme Street with a BES big block Ford with a Speedtech system with assistance from Robert Lane and Kevin Neal. He ran a 7.70 yesterday and is still looking for more ET. The car rides on TRZ Motorsports suspension and Menscer shocks with trans assistance from Rodney Massengale and Bilbury Transmission in Louisville.
A special match race with Trevor Peterson aka “Fat Jesus” in The Grinch and Boosted GT is scheduled for this evening. We spoke with Jim Plimpton aka Dr. Ford to get the scoop and were told The Grinch has a big Chevy on one system based out of Wisconsin. We asked Plimpton about the match and he said “Boosted GT better add another turbo.” Boosted spun at the hit on his test pass while The Grinch went A to B under power making a nice pass. Kalie Mills was pushed back after a bit of a leak in her matching Street Outlaw Camaro. A tough break for her as she was not on the first round sheet so will have no data from here this weekend going into round one eliminations later today.Dwayne Barbaree took over top qualifier in Street Outlaw in a match with KBX entry with a 4.49 at 164. Greathouse landed fourth with a 4.52.Manny Buginga went A to B improving his time to a 4.54 at 165 in his Disomma powered Bruder Bros. tuned Mustang.
Xtreme Street number one qualifier took a hard left into the wall past the finish line and caught fire. The Safety Safari was quick to respond and he was out of the car on his own but the fire was significant and will likely end his weekend and will take a bit of work for the team to make repairs on the car.
Final Qualfying Results
We stopped by number one Radial Wars qualifier Dewayne Mills pit and spoke with Pro Line Racing’s Jamie Miller about their day. Since we lost a qualifying session due to rain they put an easy tune in the car putting down a 3.98 at 197 MPH. He has been a best of 3.79 in St Louis and is the quickest turbo charged Drag Radial car and the first boosted car in the 3.70’s.We caught up with Pro Mod racer Tommy Dwyer who runs a blown 1970 Chevelle in the class. He lost a lifter in qualifying also damaging the camshaft which required a significant tear down to repair. The crew was still working on the engine when we stopped by but they were well on their way to reassembly and should be ready for eliminations later.Jimmy Dahl is here running Xtreme Street this weekend for his second time in the class after debuting at Indy with prompting by his long time friend and NMCA tech guy Dave W. He was running X275 and changed the turbo to a Precision 76 mm piece and class legal tires running an 8.0 today after running 7.80s at 177 in Indy. The engine is from TNT Racing Engines topped with TFS Hi Port heads backed by an ATF transmission and converter.
Joe DeDona struggled with traction today and spoke with Mark Menscer about it then pulling the shocks for a tune up and re-valving over at the Afco trailer before first round elims where he will face off with Jacky McCarty.
Rich Nye is running NA 10.5 this weekend and crew man Frank Edwards was helping to swap a lower gear to compensate for the not so great weather looking for some ET. This is his third even for the year taking a couple of events of to make some engines changes to a smaller cubic inch piece from Hamacker Racing Engines. He runs a G Force transmission from Leaonard Long with help setting up the clutch from James and Crystal Smith in his first years racing the class with NMCA. Andy Voght is a long time NPS racer based out of Desplains, Illinois working out some new things this weekend in his first event of the year. Long time friend Dave Klaput tunes the car with crew help from his brother Tony, his wife and daughter.Josh Ritli also runs in Nostalgia Pro Street with a new combination machined by Tommy Dixon this weekend. He made a couple of horsepower only passes to shake the car down and will be turning on the nitrous for round one eliminations. He took some time off after losing an engine back in 2014 and lives just a few miles away from here so came out for what is basically a test session. “ I gotta give Joe Bucaro a shout out for some help this weekend loaning me a battery and some other parts today.” – Josh RitliMike Gucciardo runs this cream yellow car in Pure Street for two years now in the class after switching from Mean Street. He has a fresh 311 in engine topped with Trick Flow heads from Kalui Motor Services out of South Bend, Indiana backed by a Tremec TKO 600 Trans from Walt at Pro Motion. Mike is a 19 year cancer survivor sporting a Livestrong badge on the front of the car. He gets help from Bruce Hmminger, Mike Washington and Ed Curtis from time to time. This is the second event for the new combo after it’s debut in Columbus, Ohio. They plan on doing a lot of testing before Bowling Green.
Dave Theisen runs NA 10.5 in his Firebird with Uratchco Racing Engines power topped with heads from Slick Rick and a Proformance Transmission. He is qualified third with an 8.08 at 171 MPH for his third event for 2016. Theisen moved over from the All Motor at Milan last year. Dave and Kevin were pulling the wheels off to swap to a new set of slicks.
James Noel is an NPS racer running a Wally Stroupe built 69 Mustang in the class powered by a small block Ford from Bennett Racing for his second race in a heads up class after usually running Top Sportsman both with the NMCA and NHRA Division 2. Shawn Morrow and Noel race together and have both their cars here this weekend. Paint and body is by Spearman Brothers with Dan Robelo doing the custom air brush work.
For something a little different we stopped and talked to Ryan Bell running this Corvette in NA 10.5 with an SB2 small Chevy based out of Brooklyn, NY. The rear suspension is a custom leaf spring set up with Cal Tracks and all the chassis work done in house by Ryan. This is the teams first race and they plan to run other events getting a feel for the class and is looking to upgrade the car and engine and come back for a full season next year if everything works out. We stopped by Mike DeMayo’s pit and caught up with Mike and Gabby Labiosa while they were swapping the carburetor. He sits second in class today with an 8.02 at 168, is last years champion and is second in points this year so far. Things are going well for Team Powerhead.
Jesse Coulter normally runs the LS series in Real Street and is here this weekend running Xtreme Street with his third Gen Z28 with power from Brian Tooley. Jesse built the car himself in his shop Jesse's Garage. He is partnered with his friend Rick Ball from RC Components who is well known in motorcycle circles and is a wheel, brake rotor and exhaust parts manufacturer now entering the automotive racing wheel market with this being the debut event for the wheels. He run an RPM transmission and Pro Torque converter. Tony “The Sandman” Williams earned a win in round one with his best pass of the weekend running a 4.08 at 185 mphGreg Seth-Hunter has one of the more interesting Pro Mod combos at this event with a MMR mod motor under the hood of his Mustang. Seth-Hunter ran a 4.07 at 185 to pick up the win, and move on to round two on Sunday.Kevin Fiscus overcame some transmission issues from Q3 to pull off the biggest upset of the round taking out number one qualifier Randy Adler running a crisp 3.85 at 207.Jordan Pennington moves on to round two in Factory Super Car with a 8.58 at 159 hit in round one.Chuck Watson picked up over his best run in qualifying ripping off a 8.45 to move on to round two of Factory Super CarJeff Rudolf was having problems all weekend in Nitrous Pro Street and was finally able to pull it all together in round one to take out the number three qualifier with a 7.48 at 184.After a lot of adjustments in the pits Keith Berry was able to keep the nose down on his Corvette and rip off a 4.03 in round one of Radial Wars action.Points leader DeWayne Mills kept his title hopes alive in Radial Wars running a 3.96 at 198 to defeat Greg Powrie in round one.Rob Valden set low ET of the round behind the wheel of Andrew Alepa’s C7 Corvette in round one of Radial Wars. The team is looking to make some big moves on Sunday to push towards an event victory.Ray Litz defeated Alan Felts in the first round of Street Outlaw running a new personal best of 4.58. This is Litz’s first season in Street Outlaw and the car is starting to show some serious promise to be a player in the class.Number one qualifier Dwayne Barbaree had a bye in round one when John Urist could not make the call. Barbaree set low ET for the round ripping off a booming 4.46.Charles Hull finally was able to get a handle on his new combo running a 4.69 to take out number three qualifier Phil Smith in round one of Street Outlaw.
Round One Results
The first pair out in the new Pro Stock class was Nino Cavallo based out of Melbourne, Australia with his 2012 Avenger and Rob Pearce with his 53 Studebaker with Cavallo taking the win with a 7.11 at a 7.42 for Pearce. The other pair here this weekend is number one qualifier Steve Graham and Mervin Moyer Jr.. Graham would advance in his white GXP putting both Bob Book powered cars in the final tomorrow. Gardner Stone pulled a nice wheel stand in Holley EFI Factory Super Car on a single where Michael Skinner was not able to make the round running an 8.83 at 152 MPH on the run. Vic Brum hails from Arizona and made the trip “back East” with his 1970 Chevelle to run ARP Nitrous Pro Street qualifying eighth with a 9.08 at 159 MPH. He put up an 8.30 to advance to round two over Dave Harris and will meet with Jennifer Brooke Rice in round two who was top qualifier in class.Jarod Wenrick would advance to round two over Charlie Cooper with a 4.59 at 160 in Street Outlaw.Street Outlaw racer Joel Greathouse took out Randy Trulhar in a very nice 4.49 at 166 MPH.Shawn Pevlor had the earned single as top qualifier laying down low ET with a 4.67 at 155 MPH.
Who will reign in 2016? The top doorslammer racers in the country are set to face off at the 11th annual Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing at the Route 66 Raceway near Chicago, featuring the heavy hitters of both the NMRA and NMCA as they take on one another for street car drag racing supremacy. It’s the summers’ biggest door car bash, and thanks to the support of Fuel Air Spark Technology, Dragzine will be bringing you all of the action, all weekend long from Route 66.
Things are set to kick off here at Route 66 Raceway for the 2016 edition of the NMCA/NMRA Super BowlStreet Outlaw and X275 kingpin Joel Greenhouse is on the property this weekend behind the wheel of the “White Riot” Mustang.Greg Powrie made the trip from Michigan with his Camaro for some Radial Wars action. Powrie has a brand new 481x bullet under the hood, along with a new pair of Precision turbos.Kevin Fiscus and Josh Klugger are making their return to the track this weekend with their Proline powered Mustang. The Pro Mod suffered extensive damage at Englishtown after a massive engine explosion.Charles Hull made significant changes to his Street Outlaw Mustang before the Super Bowl. The car now has a new Peterson dry sump system, and the entire turbo setup has been updated to match the new lower location of the turbo.Chris Bishir brought his twin-turbo LSX powered S-10 for some True Street action this weekend. Bishir has won multiple events with this truck, including a Hot Rod Dragweek title.Mike Bowen and his 1971 Ford Mavrick will be trying a few things this weekend in the always tough Coyote Stock class. He plans on a possible transmission change at some point in the future.Joe DeDona, a regular on the Chevy Performance Challenge Series is trying his hand at Street Outlaw this weekend with his ProCharged LSX Corvette.Nitrous Pro Street Champion Joe Bucaro is working on some converter repairs and changes ahead of his first qualifying session later this morning.Mike Kostick and his 1999 Firebird are making their first event this weekend with a new combo in NMCA trim. The Pontiac is powered by a 450 cubic inch nitrous huffing LSX engine. Everything is brand new from the motor, to the gear ratio. They are hoping to get some good data this weekend and see what the potential of the combo will be.Coyote Modified racer John Kauderer and his Cobra Jet are making a comeback after an expensive wheel stand at the Maple Grove event. The car is untested with brand new MMR motor, RPM Transmission, and 6.50 cert cage from Watson Racing in the car. The plan is to put the car on the track and let it eat to see what it can do.Reigning NMCA Open Comp queen Jenna Pierce Wilson is working on her program trying a brand new tire combo from Mickey Thompson here at the Super Bowl.Glen Pushis will be pulling double duty this weekend with his Factory Super Car COPO, and Chevy Performance Stock Camaro.Andrew DeMarco has a brand new combo for his Street Outlaw Mustang for the Super Bowl this weekend. Under the hood is an updated short block with new heads and class legal F1X ProCharger. DeMarco was tight lipped about the updates, but did say the car should run in the 4.50s this weekend with ease.Kenny Johnson is still working on shaking the bugs out of his 2010 Xtreme Street Camaro. The car is powered by a 385 cubic inch LSX that wears a set of DR heads and intake. The car gets boost from a 76mm Precision turbo. Johnson thinks that after he gets the car sorted out it should easily be a seven-second player in the class for sure.Jarod Wenrick won the first three NMCA Events this year in Wiseco Performance Products Street Outlaw and is leading the points for the class heading into the fifth race of 2016. A red light put him out early in the last event and the team will be focusing on a hot weather tune and going A to B here this weekend.We dropped by the Bankson Boys Racing pit earlier and chatted with crew member Keith Auwarter. Tim Savell has been to four NMCA events so far this year and is leading points and currently has the class record with a 3.767 with his 2014 Camaro. Team mate Billy Banaca has a new car from Jerry Bickel out for it’s third event for the year wrapped in a 69 Camaro body. Power for both cars comes from Pat Musi in the form of a 960 inch 5.3 bore space Chevy based engines.Randy Hackelton had made some changes in his COPO Camaro earlier this year but has switched things back for this event to the winning set up from Bradenton after three event losses since. He had not yet made a qualifying attempt when we chatted.Jason Hertel has sat out for a few years but is back out with a new combo in Coyote Stock and is another racer who has swapped to the G Force G 101A trans and an Ace clutch working with Cale Aronson and Bruce Hemminger on tuning. Jacob Lamb was instrumental with his advice on building the engine. Hertel debuted this combo in Ohio using it as a test session and formerly campaigned the car in Mod Muscle with sponsorship from Logan Motorsports.Scott Libersher Racing has three of his four cars here this weekend with two entered in Open Comp and the third, a 350 ci supercharged combo in the Factory Supercar Class against the Ford Cobra Jets. The other white car packs a 396 NA engine and the black car is driven by Scott’s son in law with a 350 ci. NA engine in Open Comp.
This gorgeous 1966 Chevy II is owned and driven by Hollis Jones. The F3R Procharged engine makes around 3200 horsepower on alcohol and is being tuned by Patrick Barnhill from PTP Performance this year. Jones ran the car here in Pro Modified two and three years ago but skipped last year and has come back for some Top Sportsman action this weekend. They will be looking for 6.70's this weekend with Steve Morris power in their second outing for the year. The chassis was built by JC from Performance Concepts. He set the carburated Procharged record two years ago with a 6.90 and has since switched to fuel injection for ease of tunability and horsepower capability with a best of 7.0 this year.
We dropped by Tim Matherly and Jacob Lamb's pit to catch up with the team mates. Lamb is second in Coyote Stock points this year after two wins and a semi final in Pennsylvania with his 1986 Mustang. Rules changes in the class have Lamb and several other racers switching from the Tremek T5 to the G-Force G101A Trans this event. Matherly has struggled a bit this year going at least one round at every event. Radial Wars racer Mike Hupp ran a 4.49 at 150 MPH on his first qualifier today despite the trans not shifting out of first gear. This was his first time on the Mickey Thompson 3062R radial slicks. The required tire in the new Limited Drag Radial class. Engines are done by Dustin Hiday at Simple Engine and Machining with chassis work by Andy Smith at Pro Tree Race Cars. Mike’s father in law Bob assists with tuning.
