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Things got busy at SGMP as soon as the gates opened today. Racers were lined up as far as the eye can see going through tech and getting ready to take their two qualifying shots today.
Jeff Naiser made a clean hit last night in Radial vs The World in his NRC powered Camaro. The 903 cubic-inch engine still has a lot left in it and the team plans on using the power when they can. "The plan this weekend is to be consistent run high 70s low 80s. The first session we went up there with a conservative tune-up down low to get in and now we're going to get after it. Today it's going to be in the sun so we will have to race the track in the first session and turn it up in the second."
Ultra Street standout Joel Greathouse made the trip to No Mercy trying to expand on his performance from the Yellowbullet Nationals. “We hurt an engine earlier this year so we haven’t made many races. The engine program has been great so the only thing we really played with was the cam profile that’s it.”
Ron Hamby has pulled off the double victory at Lights Out before in two different classes and he's here at No Mercy to do the same. "We're here to double up again in LDR and Pro 275. For both classes we really just change tires and play with weight and that's it. The car has been 4.12 with this big Pat Musi engine in it so we have the power to win again for sure, we will just have to control it."
John Keesey has put a lot of time into upgrading his Mustang and the results are beginning to show early in the weekend here at SGMP. “Right now we’ve started off at Yellowbullet and just found a lot of things that needed to be changed like the stator in the converter and the rearend. At this event, we’re starting over again and have been creeping up on it again. I really want to see it touch the .40s and with some chassis adjustments, it should be there.
TJ Gatlin and his crew had their hands full with a major engine thrash this morning. They were trying to get everything buttoned up before the first round of qualifying in X275 today.
Jason Rueckert is leading the LDR class after round 1 of qualifying and is already bringing some race tactics into his approach for the rest of the weekend. “We’re debating on if we’re going to go out for the day session or sit it out for the night session. I think we’re going to be in cloud conditions for the rest of the event so I want to have my go-to tuneup for that.”
Dustin Mewbourn had a bad day at the office driving for Tommy Rainer in his Radial vs The World Camaro. At the top end of the track his car experienced catastrophic drive shaft failure that broke the tail shaft of the transmission, destroyed the drive shaft tube, and covered the inside of the car with fluid. Thankfully, Dustin was okay after this scary accident.
Brian Keep has left the fold and gone Procharger in his 1998 Camaro over the summer after finally tiring of the maintenance and upkeep on a small block nitrous combo. Brian pulled the trigger and went for the boost using the same engine as before from Hameetman Race Engines with new Diamond pistons and Total Seal rings on the fresh build. The blower is driven by an ATF Gear Drive and backed with an ATF Trans and Converter. He scored a 4.98 on his second full run and is qualified seventh in Ultimate Street with a 4.901 at 143.58 today. “ We learned it's got plenty of power, it's plenty of room to go to the top of the class, we changed to a Haltech engine management system, I gotta thank Haltech and Victor there for all the help with the new system, we took the time on the dyno and learn what we needed to learn to make it work. Does everything we asked it to. I been wanting to go with the blower for a while now and went right to M1 and the blower, the boost is a lot of fun and we are just getting into it.” - Brain Keep From left to right, Mark, Charity fro Nauti Chick Racing and Brian Keep.
Temple, Georgia based David Reese has been running local no times races with the Corvette recently while testing radials on the car preparing to come here. His first test pass here was a 3.86 and he left it alone for last night’s qualifying repeating the .86. “I’m blessed with my younger brother being able to fund the car and take it were I want to go with it, we plan to be here in February and again in March for the $100,000 invitational. I want to thank my wife Mandy for putting up with all this stuff and being there to support, Terry Parise who does all my engine work, and Chuck Ford who handles the blower. ” David Reese
Marty Stinnett shocked the crowd with the run, scoring a 3.77 at 197 to move up to number one in Radial vs the World round two qualifying.
Marty Stinnett is fresh off a runner up season with NMCA Radial Wars before coming here this weekend. “We had ideas to take off a few pounds, up the turbos to some 94 MM units and push the car a little harder and it’s working very well so far” says tuner Wade Hopkins from Southern Speed Racing. The team worked hard racing NMCA this year and it payed off with a runner up finish on the season. Intent on coming to No Mercy 8 to play hard and run with the big boys the crew went to work removing weight and changing to the Garrett 94 MM turbos and generally going over the car with a fine tooth comb. They scaled the car, put on a new rear wing to aid down force them before they knew it were changing quite a few more things than they thought going in. Whatever they did payed off with a 4.771 at 197.33 MPH in the second session of Radial vs. the World.
“We took the weight out of it we run for NMCA, got a new wing on the back, it’s feels good yeah, Southern Speed Racing does all the chassis work and set up on the car actually, believe it or not, as well as it was working we changed a bunch of things on it. It was amazing it was working at all. That Jeff Burns Racing Engine small block Chevy there, Dave’s Proformance Transmission, Wade Hopkins at the lap top tuning it, brother she’s getting it, we’re pretty tickled, the Lord’s blessed us, no doubt about it.” said Stinnett. Elaborating further he said, “Woo Hoo! What do you say? A small block just went a 3.77!!” – Marty Stinnett.
Another NMCA competitor Mark Woodruff is here this weekend with a fresh piece from Nelson Competition topped with new billet heads from Sonny's. This unit measures 570 inches compared with the 522 he has been running. He went 3.86 at 203 today with the A to B tune in it and comparing data he should have a hot rod once the new beast is unleashed. “We have Joe O from Hyperaktive, Jamie Miller is doing the tune up on the car, we put a new FT 600 in it, just put all new gates and blow off valves and 106 MM turbos. It should make about another twenty five pounds of boost and eight hundred more horsepower than out NMCA legal set up in this trim.” Mark Woodruff.
Fresh off a season championship with the NMCA in Radial Wars Josh Klugger sits on top of Pro 275 with a 4.08 at 191 MPH from last nights session. Watch out y’all team FKR is coming. Johnny Drama (front) with Steve Cooks shown.
Ken Quartuccio got in on the RVW round two session scoring a 4.29 which he would repeat in Outlaw 632 qualifying landing number one in class with a 4.293 at 170 MPH.
Shawn Pevlor goes a 4.74 in Ultimate Street going number one in the second round. Shawn runs Haltech fuel management, RPM Transmissions, Nitrous Express plate and a BES engine topped with a Wilson Manifolds Fat Mouth throttle body, VP Fuels and ICE ignition with Kevin Neal assisting with the nitrous tunes.
Round Two Qualifying Sheets
Final Qualifying Results
