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The weather cooled off quite a bit overnight for a low of near 60 degrees though we will be facing a lot of sunshine heating up the track surface today. We go hot at 10 AM with round two of qualifying in the first of three sessions today. Dragzine will be back in the house bringing you coverage throughout the weekend, made possible by the folks at Comp Cams. Keep it tuned right here for the latest news and photos from one of the biggest outlaw races of the year.
Tim Bates and Lil Bull were on the mike this morning waking the racers up getting things started. There are several racers here and local participating shops offering services to racers in need of parts or repairs including BLP Racing Products, American Motrosports/Advanced Driveline, JW Transmissions and Holeshot Performance Wheels and Central Florida Machine’s Gene Kerr.
Joseph Hutfill drives this 1970 Camaro in World Street, pitting import vs domestic cars in head to head battle. He sits second in class with a 7.23 at 183 MPH. Mike Walker and David Beggers are partners in this car with Begger’s owning the chassis and Walker tuning the Fuel Tech engine management. The car was finished earlier this year but the rainy summer limited their testing with the team having about 15 runs on the car to date. Twin Competition Turbo’s provide the boost backed by an FTI trans and converter.
We caught up with Enrique Pirez putting his second round tune up in the car this morning for driver Ari Birchfeild. The team had a new personal best winning Ultra Street in Palm Beach two weeks ago and ran a 5.05 while testing here Thursday. Enrique is shown here at left with his niece Ariel Birchfield.
Danny Palm Jr. and crew are long time participants here at Orlando and have resurrected the El Camino for Outlaw 632 this weekend after an accident in 2007. The car was originally built in 1989 and went through multiple updates since the crash now running a Shafiroff 632 cubic inch big block Chevy.
Charles Hull is normally found at NMRA or X275 events but has switched it up with a 102 mm Precision turbo for Outlaw 275 this weekend feeding the billet head Bennett Racing small Ford as part of Team KBX with car build and fabrication from Pressurized Solutions. So far so good with the added power and Hull will be looking for 4.20's this weekend.
Tyler Roux runs an unusual combination in his Ultra Street Chevy Silverado with a ODC Built 383 small block Chevy single Borg Warner 76 MM turbo with a blow through carburetor set up. Eric Kenward's Eric Automotive was tasked with fab work and assisting tuning the TRZ Motorsports suspension. Yesterday he was running off the waste gate landing thirteenth with a 5.26 at 130 MPH.
Mike Gaffney from Wildwood, Florida was an early racer in 10.0 Index this morning with his beautiful Pro Street style 1970 El Camino.
Rolando Hale is driving the new car out of Bum Harrison/Wildman Jimmy Hall camp in Outlaw 632 this weekend.
Jason Juday made his first pass in OL 632 today going A to B on his attempt.
Troy Pirez Jr. jumped right in the Ultra Street field today running a 4.97 at 142, good for third in class after two rounds of qualifying.
Mike Fratena improved slightly to a 5.09 at 140 with his single turbo third gen Camaro.
Tim Hendricks was fourth in Ultra last night and made a nice run this afternoon in the heat.
Ziff Hudson jumped rigth to top qualifier in Outlaw 275 off the trailer with a 4.40 at 176 MPH.
Several racers showed up today including Mustang Mike who is running Outlaw 275 this weekend. He did not make a full pass this round.
Chad Opaleski did not make a pass in qualifying yesterday after repairing an oil leak that rose it’s head in testing.
Jamie Hancock showed up late last night and pulled a 4.25 at 180 to earn top qualifier in Radial vs the World.
Chuck Mohn put up a 6.04 at 235 MPH earlier today in Pro Mod.
Ruben Tetsosvilli paired up with Rickie Smith in round three qualifying but got loose just past the 60′ on this run.
Long time Orlando racer Wayne Smozanek put up a personal best 6.17 this afternoon in Pro Mod.
Randy Goodman lit the tires up on the Dark Horse supercharged Nova on his third round attempt in World Street getting crossed up but avoiding contact with the wall.
We have a good crowd here today with the fence lined deep on the pit side.
Jerico Balduff is a little worse for wear with some front end damage after his off track excursion yesterday. The car is ok otherwise and they will be taking another shot in the final qualifying session this evening.
Jordan Ensslin put up a 4.56 at 157 MPH in OL 632. His best run of the weekend.
Eric Kenward matched his earlier qualifying 4.93 in Ultra Street for the round three session. Mike Miller near lane.
Jamie Hancock improved to a 4.13 at 184 in RVW solidifying his lead in the class.
Chad Opaleski improved to a 4.32 with his 66 Chevelle in RVW though had some smoke after the stripe. We will check with the team later to see how they are doing. Hopefully no real damage occurred.
Ron Fisher looked like he gathered up some engine damage on his round three attempt in RVW. He has been inproving slightly through the day.
Kenny Anderson has been running 8.50 today and decided to jump into World Street requiring soem tuning and weight adjustments between rounds.
Final Qualifying Results
Ricky Smith earned top qualifier and the track ET record running a 5.760 at 250.16 MPH in the final session.
Adam Flamholc set anotehr personal best with the new Pro Mod engine combination running a 5.87 6 at 236.67 landing third in the Pro Mod class.
Asaoas Rojas was running well this afternoon and with the Mech Tech Cobalt. In the final session he left well and the car stuck running through the finish line to a 5.98 at 241 to become the first import powered car to runs 5's in the United States.
Joseph Hutfill rolled out to a 7.07 at 196 MPH to earn second in World Street behind Jorge Lazcano.
Mike Freeman jumped in front of Eric Kenward taking top qualifier in Ultra Street with a 4.907 at 144 MPH.
Brian Keep struggle hooking the truck this afternoon. He was able to figure things out and put up an clean 5.06 at 138 to land eighth in class.
David Pearson is double entered this weekend and leads both Outlaw 275 and Radial vs the World with a 4.121 at 176 and 4.131 at 175 respectively.
