2018 NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl Coverage From Chicago

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We have one more qualifying session this morning before moving into eliminations here at Route 66 Raceway and the weather is fantastic with not a cloud in the sky this morning. Temps are in the mid 60’s as I write this with the track going hot at about 8:30 a.m.

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Dave Theisen from Highland, Michigan leads the NA 10.5 field after two sessions with a 7.81 at 176 using a Uratchko Racing Engines bullet. Chris posted to his Facebook “time to get after it,” so we may just see a bit more from the team this weekend, who currently holds both ends of the record with a 7.772 at 177.49 from Atlanta.

Former NMCA West racer Tom Marshall is here with car owner Terry Ryan from Salem, Oregon to compete in Street Outlaw. Terry has owned the car for a while, working up to it’s current build status. It has a Bennett Racing-built 400 tuned by Josh Lindsey with an 85mm turbo and M&M Turboglide transmission. The car is X275 legal as that is the teams’ main focus so they are here to have some fun and test at the same time. This is the teams’ first year on the road and they’re currently twelve races in with a 15-event schedule. Marshall sits fifth with a 4.64 at 156 mph so far.

Kallee Mills rode the ring gear into a wheelstand during the round two qualifying session, bringing it down easy with a pedal-job and rolling through with a 4.97 at 156. She sits ninth in Street Outlaw with her earlier 4.91 pass. Kallee's car is a Rob Mathias-built 25.2 cert 1968 Camaro powered by a PLR 427 LSX with a 94mm Precision turbo backed by an M&M Turboglide and Pro Torque converter. The car was in the family and she told her father DeWayne that is the car she wanted to race after moving up from the Jr. Dragster ranks. During the build she attended the Frank Hawley School in Gainesville, Florida to get acquainted with higher horsepower and door cars before getting behind the wheel of her new X275 build. Kallee is a Mass Communication major in her senior year at college. “We started out slow, I guess you would call, in that with my first full pass I went like 5.10...my mom wasn't expecting that. There are more things to do in this car but I completely love heads-up racing and I don't want to bracket race ever again -- I want go fast, so this is where I'm at, I like it here.” Kallee has been a best of 4.42, at Tulsa, and the team will be looking to improve on her 4.91 today with one session left before eliminations.

VP Racing Fuels Pro Mod racer Don Walsh Jr. is on par to re-set both ends of his class record after running a 3.709 at 213.70 last night. The current record is a 3.735 and 213.10 mph.

Chesterton, Indiana’s Mike Gucciardo entered in Limited Street this weekend and is running his car in it’s Pure Street trim with the weight removed. He uses a Kaley Motor Services-built 310 cubic-inch N/A engine backed by a G Force G101 four speed transmission with a Black Magic clutch and Fast Forward Race Cars rear suspension. Mike is getting his feet wet in the class and is having a relaxing weekend with his family this weekend. Mike discussed the option of running Coyote Stock in the future with the car as a diehard N/A guy and the tight competition and camaraderie in that class. From left to right: Mike’s parents, Bill and Kathy Gucciardo, and Mike and his wife, Amanda.

Shawn Calabrese has his new Chevy Performance Stock car here this weekend in it’s second race. He had issues with the manual transmission he started with, breaking it twice before switching to a TH 400 transmission from RPM and a Coan converter. Eric Kenward has been helping out with the car and Darren Poole Adams from North Carolina assisted with the roll cage. “It’s a new car so I am just getting seat time and learning what the car likes, or not. I have driveshaft and shock sensors hooked to the Racepak and working on suspension tuning. I brought my wife and 18-month-old along for the trip, making a little vacation out of it. We stayed in Nashville for a couple of days, then in Chicago for a couple of nights and hit up Giordano’s for some deep dish,” Shawn shared.

Krista Elyse is running Factory Stock this year in her first full season with NMRA after dabbling in Truck and Lightning, Super Stang, and True Street in the past. Her fiance is Adam Ardnt, who was deployed last year and tabbed Brian Mitchell to drive his car. This car was a six week build, starting as a full weight street car and she jumped right in class with a 10.50 at her debut in Bradenton. “ We worked with Chris Jones from Blow By Racing, which was huge in getting us up to speed with the SCT tuning software. Tony from Tuners Inc was also very helpful in getting the car in the right direction with Adam now doing all the tuning. I ran a 10.60 at 122 last night and use every run as practice for my reaction times, I don’t think I have a hundred passes racing yet so my reactions have not been the best but I am working on it every run,” she explained.

NPS racer Matt Salminen from Port Charlotte, Florida made the 18-hour drive north after his win at Bowling Green. We caught up with him making some small changes to the fogger system which was flowed and installed by PKRA on top of the Nelson Competition-built big-block Chevy. Matt missed the Atlanta race but plans to finish out the rest of the season. The crew, from left to right: Marti Roberts, Michael Lanzetta, Matt Salminen, and Marc Helfrich.

Nick Bacalis scored a new personal best last night with a 4.40 at 167 mph in his Street Outlaw Mustang running a BES-built big-block Ford. It’s been an interesting couple of years for Nick after starting this build as an N/A combo and running into some headaches before switching to a nitrous combo. The car is definitely coming around now and showing competitive promise. Dr. Ford is here assisting today and Sunday and there is still another qualifying session to utilize, though Nick will likely use it to prepare a tune-up for eliminations once the track heats up.

We stopped by the Watson Racing pits to check on the team to find out Chuck Watson II’s qualifying runs Friday were disqualified over some improper paperwork on his tech form. Chuck runs a 2014 car with a 2016 “shootout combo” engine and he neglected to put the correct year for the engine on the form, creating a technical violation. He did run well scoring 8.20’s but spun in today’s session — a tough break for the team as he will face number one qualifier Joseph Welch’s 2015 Challenger. Chuck Sr. finished second in class points last year running the number one 2016 Cobra Jet. Senior landed seventh in class with an 8.16 at 169 mph. He will face off with Glenn Pushis’ 2016 COPO Camaro.

Haley James landed second in Coyote Modified, just two-thousandths behind Tommy Annunziata with a 7.698 at 176 mph. Team Hellion math has a possibility of her clinching the championship for Hellion Team B in round one provided things go the right way for her. John Kauderer, David Witt, and Triangle Speed’s Daniel Pachar round out the ProCharger Coyote Modified field.

Steve Roden is a second generation racer running this Wally Stroupe-built 1968 Firebird built in 2015 though this is the first weekend out with the car as he’s been concentrating on the family business. Roden runs a 522-inch big-block Chevy built in-house at Legend Racing Enterprises in Schaumberg, Illinois — the bullet is topped with billet heads and a 14-71 supercharger and backed by a Quick Drive and Lenco three-speed and a Coan converter. The car has Strange shocks, struts and their modular rear housing. “We came out to shake the car down but had some issues, new car blues they say. We won’t make the next event but plan to be at the finals in Indy,” Steve says. Steve’s father ran NMCA Pro Street from 2009 through 2011 in a 1957 Chevy and did some match racing with the Chicago Wise Guys for several years. He got started racing in Super Stock as a kid and just never got away from the scene after starting a family. He then founded Legend Racing Enterprises after being frustrated working for other people and the rest, as they say, is history. “He is doing a great job behind the wheel, we are just trying to get it sorted out as fast as we can,” Doug says.

Romeoville, Illinois Nostalgia Pro Street racer John Trobiani had an engine backfire in the third session and caught fire on the top end after coming to a stop. He was out of the car quickly and uninjured, though the fire did burn for a little bit causing a good bit of damage to the front of his 1968 Camaro before the safety crew was able to put the fire out.

Final Qualifying Results NMCA

DeWayne Mills took the provisional top qualifier in Mickey Thompson Radial Wars with a 3.890 at 204, bumping Stinnett’s “Orange Crush” to second.

Joseph Welch, based in Long Boat Key, Florida, is knocking on the seven second zone in his 2015 Challenger with an 8.02 at 169 qualifying time in Holley EFI Factory Super Car. If he makes it in he will be just the second Stock Eliminator car to accomplish the feat.

Final Qualifying Results NMRA

 

Frank Varela put the Hellion Turbo B Team Renegade car on top of the field by a wide margin, running a 7.38 at 187 mph, with his nearest competitor, Tony Hobson, just over one and a half tenths behind with a 7.54 at 184. Bob Cook and Brian Mitchell have a lot of work to do on the front half of the track to keep up.

Tommy Annunziata’s Coyote Modified car launches hard in the final session — he was not able to improve his earlier performance.

Bart Welt has the launch down in his Richmond Gear Factory Stock ride, hooking hard off the line in the final session. He landed second in class today with a 10.14 at 127 on the run.

Fuel Systems Technologies just launched the company this weekend and came on board as the NA 10.5 class sponsor as well as the presenting sponsor for the event. We spoke briefly with the owners and reps and will have lots more information coming soon here at Dragzine. Suffice to say it's some very nice stuff and it was a great effort to keep it all under wraps until this weekend here at Route 66 Raceway. The company is bring hi tech innovations into the carburetor world available to everyone from the week end street and track racers to full tilt race teams and carb builders.

 

Round One Elimination Results

It was certainly a long day here at Route 66 with quite a bit of down time on the track with Joseph Welch pulling a long wheel stand and getting out of the groove and crossing the track into the opposite wall. He was out of the car and ok but the clean up from the broken glass took some time. Two more late oil down put us finishing up near midnight. The track goes hot about 8:30 AM.

About the author

Rob Cossack

Rob has had an interest in photography since he was young, but didn't get started until 2007, when he started shooting at the local tracks. After that, he started doing local video coverage of heads-up events and began working with Power Automedia shortly after.
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