We kicked off the day with Dragzine’s Brian Wagner doing a photo shoot with Shannon Poole on the top end of the track. Last night we made it through five classes of round one qualifying before shutting down about 11:30 PM and resume Q1 with Pro 275 as today’s first class.

Barry Cook (pictured at left) is based near Nashville, TN and is another street car entered in Pro 275 this week. The 1992 Blazer is powered by a 408 cubic inch LS built by Mike Lough Racing and fed by a pair of VS Racing billet 79/78 turbos putting down 1325 RWHP. Cook was experimenting with second gear launches yesterday looking to keep the front end down in the short wheelbase truck and hurt the transmission, which is on it’s way to Dave Klaput at Proformance Transmissions for repairs.

Orlando, Florida based Fat Daddy Racing’s Matt Schlein has a new wrap and a new name for the “ICY HOT” Mustang and is entered in the small block no time shootout. Last time here he aired it out with a long wheelstand ending his weekend a little early. He has a new engine combo for 2018 but of course it’s all secret … you know how these no time guys can be.

We caught up with Troy Smith with Top Secret Speed who had his engine on the ground last night putting in a new crank and bearings after losing the number one main from overheating on a run. He is entered in Open Comp with the “Fire in the Hole” Camaro named in a contest on the Top Secret Speed Facebook page. They had a friend who lives near Summit Racing who was kind enough to stop by the facility and pick up a new crank and bearings and bring with him to SGMP to make repairs which were wrapped up about 6:30 this morning. Smith is also involved with the Veterans Adventure Group, a non profit based in Nashville, TN who supports extreme sports teams and has about nineteen Vets here this weekend both on the team and as spectators. The engine was put on the dyno at Dynotune Engineering making 666 horsepower prompting the team to have another naming contest resulting in “Devils Dynamite” for the 454 cubic inch big Chevy. Some of the sponsors that help out are Howards Cams, Wallace Building Supply, Armour Coating, Gina Miller at a Flick of the Wrist who does the apparel and decals and KY Excavation to name a few. Troy Smith, Mike and Harlie McGuire pictured from left to right.

Brian Keep was doing maintenance to his small block Chevy last Tuesday and discovered two pulled head studs and a cracked block prompting an epic thrash session to prepare a new short block. Brian and Daryl from HRE went to work using three 24 hour sessions prep a new block which was luckily already on hand. They had to reuse the crankshaft due to the spare still being on order but the rest of the parts were in the shop as part of a plan for a spare engine. So now the spare is the “Hanibal” A unit and the B unit awaits shipment of a new crank and block repairs. He is qualified with a 4.80 at 148 in Ultra Street.

Lyle Barnett is running Limited Drag Radial this weekend in Jason Digby’s “Tooth Jerker” and is qualified third with a 4.30 at 184 after one session. Barnett has a new Greg Slack converter in the car since the U.S. Street Nationals with good results so far after looking at the data. “The track has been tricky so we don’t have a real tune-up in it yet but are happy with the performance so far and will be putting some ‘stank’ in it during tonight’s session looking for teens,” said Barnett. “Pooch and Tyler have put together a good rules package which makes some tight racing, Stack is the champion from last year so everyone is kinda’ chasing him but Ray Parson’s is about a tenth ahead of us with that teams new car.”

Mark Rogers is qualified second in Ultra Street with a 4.74 at 147 and a new best 60′ 1.097 in his ’03 Cobra Mustang sporting a 281 inch Mod Motor from HED with a Work Turbochargers 76 MM managed with a Holley EFI. Customs by Bigun did the chassis fabrication and suspension. The car has Proformance Transmission fed by a CDS/Greg Slack converter with Rogers teamed up with Mark and Lyle Barnett who race and pit together.

DXP 235 is debuting here this weekend featuring a resurrection of Florida Real Street rules double reverse piggy backed from Charlie Taylor’s XOS 235 in Ohio. The class is designed as the new entry level class and features limited cast wheel turbos, small superchargers and jet limited nitrous combos and bars nitrous and boost controllers as well. The cars should be in the 5.10-5.20 range. Martin Connelley is the top qualifier so far with a 5.21 at 133 MPH.

Number two qualifier Jason Anderson hails from Fairland, Indiana with a 565 cubic inch Chevy powered 69 Nova running a 5.23 at 134.48 MPH, top for the class so far.

Tony Alm sits fifth in Limited 275 with a 4.80 at 142 MPH, a clean A to B pass for him.

Jeff Shawver sits on top of the Pro 275 field with a 4.24 at 182 for the Ocala, Florida based racer.

John Keesey sits second in X275 behind Earl Stanley with a 4.50 at 162. Keesey hails from Coatesville, PA.

Don Lamana scored a 4.08 while qualifying in Radial vs the World at 189 MPH but required some repairs and welding to the right side steering arm after the run.

Jeff Shawver improved slightly to a 4.23 at 181 on his round two attempt in Pro 275 though was bumped to second by Josh Klugger’s 3.98 at 197.

JR Lazic’s 88 Firebird is all the way from BC, Canada and likes to spit flames. He is fourth in class with a 4.54 at 160 MPH.

Bradenton, Florida’s Bill Gregan scored a new best ET 4.87 at 142 in Ultra Street in the second session landing fourteenth in a tough field of cars here this weekend.

Ron Rhodes placed himself in the records books again scoring a 4.388 at 160.19 putting himself on top of X275. This is the first small block in the class to run 4.30s. Just try to keep up.

Kenny Hubbard ran well landing seventh in X275 after his 4.49 at 160 MPH for the Montgomery, Texas based racer.

Daniel Pharris put Andrew Alepa’s Vette on the pole in RVW, if only for a short time, running a 4.81 at 211 MPH.

Not to be out done Steve Jackson squeaked his way to number one with a 3.804 at 196. The track is coming around now so those times are likely to fall in the final qualifying session Friday.

Taylor Lastor is qualified seventh in RVW but got loose and hit the wall in the opposite lane. It’s doubtful he will return to competition this weekend after the incident.

Troy Smith made it after the engine repairs last night running a 6.34 at 105 in the “Fire in the Hole” 68 Chevy. He sits thirty fourth in Open Comp.

Rich Bruder put the teams blown ’89 Mustang in the second spot in X275, running a 4.42 at 165.

Eric Leeper ran well in the second session of X275 landing sixth in class with a 4.48 at 161 MPH.