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We just squeezed in the finale of the opening round of qualifying last night before a thunderstorm swept into the Beech Bend Raceway Park. While the track crew was busy working to dry the track to start as on-time as possible this morning, another shower moved into the area. We’re looking at a 10:30 a.m. start time, beginning with Nostalgia Super Stock.
The sun has come out and the pit areas are abuzz as crews began preparations for the second round of qualifying. With warmer temperatures expected, as well as direct sunlight on the racing surface, improvements in the order may be a challenge.
Sixteen years after his untimely passing, Pro 5.0 Mustang star Steve Grebeck still rides with his friend, Don Walsh, Jr., on his Pro Modified Corvette.
Just three races into their switch from the tried-and-true magneto ignition system to coil packs on their Pro Line Hemi, DeWayne Mills and tuner Tim Davis are firm believers. Davis says the setup, which uses FuelTech's FTSPARK module and eight individual coil packs, has not only changed how the car sounds, but has vastly improved how the engine operates and is tuned in regards to ignition timing and fuel. Mills leads the field at present with a 3.88. An interesting fact from Davis: in Radial vs The World trim with 106mm turbos running at 80 psi, Mills, Hemi makes over 5,000 horsepower, and "we can use all of it and then some," he adds.
Pro Modified competitor Mats Wicktor has come all the way from Sweden to take part in his first NMCA event this weekend. Wicktor, a 30-year drag racing veteran who regularly competes in his native land on what he calls "terrible tracks," shipped his nitrous oxide-assisted '53 Corvette to the United States in December to try his hand stateside. Following a six-week trek by boat, Wicktor and his crew set up camp in Florida. Wicktor was to compete in this weekend's Heads Up Madness event in Bradenton, Florida, but with that event cancelled due to weather, he and his guys made a last-minute, sleepless trek to Kentucky. Wicktor has been a best of 4.01 in Sweden with the car, which is using some prototype nitrous components that Wicktor developed. He currently sits two spots outside the field with a 7.19.
Randy Seward made a stop at Beech Bend on his summer-long, unsupported tour of the United States behind the wheel of his 8-second Ford Mustang. Seward has already traversed 950 miles, from his home in Orlando to the Atlanta Dragway yesterday in Georgia. An 8.95 on his opening hit at the track in True Street time trials left Seward less than content as he was busy tinkering with the tune.
A Kentucky native, Marty Stinnett told us back un March that he’d have to not want to come to Bowling Green in order to miss. Little did he know however what he’d have to go through to get here. In the final round at the All-Star Nationals in Georgia last month, Stinnett impacted the guardrail at 190 mph in his small-block Ford Mustang, causing extensive damage to the front and passenger-side of the car — this just weeks after he and his crew had to thrash to repair the car at the Sweet 16 in South Georgia when a steering failure caused the car to glance off the wall. Stinnett says of the Atlanta mishap, “my ego was hurt, my pride was hurt…I just wanted to put the car away and forget about it.” He says in the days following, he received phone calls from friends and fellow racers that lifted his spirits, convincing he and racing partner Wade Hopkins to begin work on rebuilding the battered Fox body. In the accident, the body was shifted over on the chassis by a slim measurement and the turbo system and suspension damaged. He and Hopkins redid the front clip and repaired the nose and quarter panel.
After several nearly sleepless days and nights over the last week as he trekked between his home and Hopkins’ in Mississippi, the crew finally fired the car yesterday and loaded up to head to Bowling Green, arriving just before sunset, in time for the opening qualifying session. Stinnett has clocked a best of 5.22 thus far in a pair of abbreviated runs. He comes into this event as the points leader in the class, a mere 15 ahead of DeWayne Mills.
Geoff Turk got more than he bargained for in last night’s opening session of Factory Super Cars qualifying, as his Blackbird Dodge Challenger drifted out of the groove and got so sideways you could read the lettering on the door from the starting line. Said Turk: “I was pretty sure I was going to be doing some body-work after that one.” Turk struggled in today’s second session, striking the hides early and recording just a 9.61, last on the sheet of 16 cars.
Shawn Ayers continues to pace the Street Outlaw field with his 4.37 from last night,just a few ticks head of Daniel Pharris 4.41.
Tricia Musi says it’s “a dream come true” to own and pilot her father, Pat’s famed Pontiac Firebird. The car sat for 14 years untouched in sponsor Don Reem’s showroom on display before Mike Bankston purchased it lock, stock, and barrel. The car is almost entirely as it was when it last ran in 2004 — the only changes a move to an M&M transmission and a new poured seat for Tricia. Born as Patricia and, as she explains, undeniably her father’s daughter, she and Bankston put “Pat Musi Jr.” on the door and on her tech card.
OG Xtreme Street racer Tony Orts (left) is sitting ninth in the class after two sessions with a 5.51-second best in the very same car he was running here 15 years ago. Bart Tobener is 16th out of 17 cars on the sheet with his well-off-pace 8.40. Jessie Coulter continues to pace the field with his 4.791.
Leonard Libersher currently sits fifth in Factory Super Cars with an 8.231 in his COPO Camaro. Father Scott, the reigning series champion, leads the field at 8.121.
James Lawrence improved to a 4.04 at 189.04 mph in the Dragzine Corvette in Q2. Mark Woodruff is a close third at 4.05. DeWayne Mills continues to lead the field at 3.88.
"Good job honey," shouts Shannon Glidden over the radio to husband, Billy, as he punched his way into the Pro Mod field with a last-ditch 3.92 in the final session of qualifying.
There aren't too many 1953 Studebaker's let running around in Pro Modified, an certainly none as historic as this one. Morris, Alabama's Hank Stubbs has been running the former Scott Cannon-owned and driven 'Stude for a number of years in Outlaw Pro Modified around the South. The car, built in 1997 in Australia by Murray Anderson, has an untold number of passes on it ... Stubbs commenting, "they say after 400 or 500 runs a car isn't any good anymore...we probably put that many on it in one season." Stubbs parked the screw-blown machine in the top half of the show with a 3.859.
Rob Goss saved his best run for last, unseating Shawn Ayers atop the Street Outlaw field with a stout 4.340.
Highland, Michigan’s Dave Theisen qualified atop the N/A 10.5 field with a 7.896, a scant .007-seconds ahead of Leonard Long. Dwight Ausmus joined them in the sevens at 7.990.
