Network
Things are heating up in Pro Media’s twin series where the NMCA and and NMRA meet up at the Superbowl here at Route 66 Raceway, the second time the series meet in the year though there is only one Superbowl. We have a large car count this weekend and guaranteed to be great racing. Stay tune to Dragzine for the latest news from the track and pits.
We stopped by Ron Potenzo’s pit to talk with driver Brian Hicks but he was unable to make it this here to Route 66 and Mario Orsini will be behind the wheel this weekend. John Paterimos was able to get us filled in with the info. The team has had the car out all year but this is the first NMCA event for 2018 for the team. The car features a 477 cubic inch Alan Johnson topped bullet and has been trying different things with the combo shaking it down.
Curtis Catalon runs Renegade out of Triangle Speed Shop in Orange Texas but is doing some testing this weekend and entered in Xtreme Street for this event. He will be back in Renegade for the Bowling Green event. Catalon has been racing in NMRA heads up classes for five years after moving up from Modular Muscle. The combo this weekend is a 4.6 base 298 cubic inch engine with a 67 MM Precision Pro Mod turbo backed by a power glide Proformance Transmission with sponsorship from Circle D converters and Camp Dog Cajun Seasoning.
NPS Points leader Jennifer Brooke Rice runs a small block Ford in the Racecraft built car tuned by her father Ed. “It’s tough with a small block in a big block world rebuilding the engine after every race. It would be great if we could get 150 pounds on the other cars to even things up a little but we are doing well leading points in class” – Ed Rice on the left.
Jim Beal suffered an engine loss and fire two years ago at Indy in his NPS Olds Cutlass and is back for 2018 in his second event for the season after debuting at Bowling Green. The engine is a spread port big Chevy topped with an Induction Solutions fogger out of BES with Joe Opalski assisting on the Fuel Tech engine management system. “We are just sneaking up on the tune up getting everything put together after being gone for two years and should be in the 4.50 range this weekend”. – Jim Beal.
Kevin Lumsden is debuting a stick shift transmission here at Route 66 this weekend after some successful testing recently and hopes to improve on his performance this weekend.
Jason Hamstra went a clean 3.74 at 207 to earn top qualifier in Pro Mod round one qualifying.
Greg Seth Hunter and Mark Luton from Team MMR are both in top ten for points this season going into the Superbowl. The team is still using the red car as the development mule for new parts and tuning changes with Luton in the silver car having the ET advantage with a best of 3.83. Luton qualified with a 4.04 at 191 MPH in round one.
Marty Stinnett made the trip up to Illinois with his freshly painted “Orange Crush” Mustang for Radial Wars action. He managed a 4.31 at 157 pedaling the car down the tricky sun soaked surface.
Round One Qualifying Results
Local racer Randy Adler had a safe tune in the car for round one running a 3.84 for the round before turning it up a bit and scoring a 3.79 in round two after the sun went down. “We were just trying to go A to B in the first session, but it shook through first gear. My brother and Brian Robbins handle the tune ups on the car and it’s always interesting to watch them go back and forth with Brian always wanting to throw the kitchen sink at the car. Between them we have a good handle on the car.” – Randy Adler.
John Stanley lost a crank in the first session causing a short clean up on the top end and a lot of work for the crew back in the pits to prepare the car for the next qualifying session. Several delays allowed the team the time swap long blocks, transmissions and make the necessary repairs to the car and make the second session. It wasn't fast but they made the round next to Adler's 3.74.
Jeff Rudolf debuted his new Pro Mod at NMCA Atlanta making this his third of the year for the car and a total of five events and one test session at Cordova Raceway for a Super Chevy there on the season. So far so good for Rudolf and crew chief Steve Summers who is tuning on his championship winning engine for Rudolf. “We have been creeping up on the tune and it a whole different ball of wax especially when the converter locks up a few hundred feet out., it's been a learning curve much different than a nitrous car, it's always pulling Gs.” Jeff Rudolf He sits in tenth so far with a 3.85 at 209 MPH.
Dan Stevenson also has Steve Summers on board as the new crew chief and is testing a Liberty transmission here this weekend. Stevenson has been running NHRA points and is using this event as a test for Indy. He scored a 3.89 at 203 so far which is good for thirteenth on the day. Dan Stevenson shown with his Grandson Dan.
Manny Buginga has both cars back out with Alton Clements driving the Fox in it's first time back after a crash at the World Cup last year. Alton made a couple of shake down runs before turning it loose in the second session and landing second in class with a 4.34 at 165 MPH behind Andy Manson. Both cars feature DiSomma Racing Engines with JW Race Cars handling the repairs on Little Red. Jamie Miller and Josh Ledford tag team the tuning for the team with Larry Jeffers on hand for his expertise and two cents. “ It's a lot faster than my Renegade car but sits the same and I fit right in. We are just getting comfortable going through the motions and trying to make some fast passes later this weekend.” - Clements shown at left.
