Network
The Nationals Muscle Car Association has arrived at the mid-point to its 2018 tour as it rolls into the third stop on the schedule at the scenic and historic Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The weather is expected to play a role this weekend, as will the heat and humidity that annually keeps tuners and drivers on their toes to navigate the tricky racing surface. In addition to the traditional Dave Duell Classic Nostalgia Super Stock shootout, this event will also play host to a special LSX Real Street showdown and filming of the NBCSN televisions how Grudge Race.
Indiana native Doug Duell, the son of the late Dave Duell, has kept his father's legacy alive over the years with the annual running of the Dave Duell Classic. The elder Duell, a longtime class racer, was a major player in the Nostalgia Super Stock movement, and he'd certainly be proud to witness what this race race-within-a-race has become over the years. Some 65 Super Stockers -- Chevrolets, Dodges, Fords, and even an AMX are all a part of the show this weekend.
California’s Eric Gustafson is the most recent winner on the tour in Pro Mod, where he scored the first-ever win in a major Pro Modified series with a ProCharger centrifugal supercharger at the All-Star Nationals in Atlanta. Gustafson tested here in Bowling Green on Wednesday and Thursday, running a best of 3.85.
Billy Glidden has enjoyed a lot of success here at Beech Bend over the years, from the Pro 5.0 days in the NMRA and NMCA Super Street.
Pro Modified racer Aaron Glaser went for a wild ride in Atlanta when his nitrous-assisted '69 Camaro took an abrupt turn just off the starting line and spun into the wall. With new body panels unavailable in time to make it here to Beech Bend, Glaser and the team at his family-owned body shop made repairs to the body and the front clip on the chassis in-house. The custom paint schemes he's been notorious for require some 200 man hours to complete, and the stickler that he is for having a presentable racecar, he couldn't bring himself to run the car in primer; when a crewmember suggested he rattle-can the repaired side of the car, he shrugged his shoulders and said 'why not?' Glaser painted half of the nose and the passenger-side door with the words "Two-face" -- an ode to the two distinct looks on each side of the car.
Philadelphia Eagles star Fletcher Cox and his driver, Shawn Ayers, are presently leading the Street Outlaw points standings by a comfortable margin over Daniel Pharris, 1205 to 815, thanks to a unbeaten, untied, and unscored-upon record through the first two events.
Geoff Turk reeled off a stellar 8.18 in today’s Factory Super Cars test session to lead the field into qualifying later this afternoon.
If it’s hot out here — and trust us, it is — you wouldn’t know it by Jason Hamstra’s performance, as he uncorked a sub-national record 3.729 in testing.
Noted automotive TV host Willie B. and his production crew from Grudge Race have been filming a matchup today between a nitrous-assisted Nova and a gorgeous twin-turbo Dodge Dart.
Believe it or not, this very Corvette owned by Kentuckian Tom Blincoe was somersaulted through the shutdown area here at Beech Bend less than a month ago during the Outlaw Street Car Reunion. With just a handful of runs under his belt in a Pro Modified car at the time, Blincoe was late on the parachutes and applied the brakes, sending his virtually brand-new 1963 ‘Vette around, where wind got underneath the rear of the car and took flight, slamming down atop the wall just behind the cockpit and sliding to a stop near the end of the racing surface. Chassis builder David Monday, who tunes and oversees the ProCharger-fed machine, burned the midnight oil building virtually a brand new racecar, replacing the front clip, rear clip, replacing bars in the cage, and hanging a new body. Blincoe has been a best of 3.80 in the car. According to Monday, he’s building a pair of new C7 Corvette’s for he and Blincoe, both of which will be ProCharger-boosted.
Port Charlotte, Florida's Matt Salminen brought his beautiful 1969 Camaro up to compete in Nitrous Pro Street this weekend. Salminen, an electrical contractor by trade, built the Camaro that's powered by a 632-inch Nelson-built mill. On two nitrous kits, Salminen has been a 4.50 to the eighth-mile, and on all three expects to be a 4.30s player. And let us tell you, this baby is gorgeous, inside and out!
Jason Hamstra reeled off a scintillating 3.69 this evening to take the top spot with authority. Joe Baker slid in second, over a tenth back at 3.81. In all, 19 cars took a time in the opening round of qualifying, with Jeff Byrd holding down the bump at 4.45. Fourteen cars ran 4.03-seconds or better, and the field should tighten up considerably with two sessions tomorrow.
Don Walsh Jr. parked his twin-turbo Corvette in sixth at 3.85.
Shawn Ayers carded low elapsed time of the opening session of Street Outlaw tonight, going 4.372 to pace the seven car field.
Jessie Coulter sits atop the Real Street Shootout field after one session at 4.81, more than a tenth ahead of second-place Ernie Dampier at 4.97.
Driving the Firebird her father, Pat, piloted in Pro Street a number of years ago, Tricia Musi marched to the top of the Nitrous Pro Street order this evening with a 4.537. Jennifer Brooke-Rice made it all all-female charge at the top of the field, earning the second spot at 4.66.
