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Heads-up drag racers all across the country have been preparing since February for their return to the South Georgia Motorsports Park for what’s expected to be the most action-packed racing event of the season: No Mercy IV. One of the final hurrah’s of the long racing season, promoter Donald Long’s doorslammer bash in the Peach State brings out all the heavy hitters from the East coast to the West coast and everywhere in between for one epic battle. As always, we’ll be on the ground at SGMP bringing you all the news, notes, results, and photos that you won’t find anywhere else, so be sure to bookmark us and follow along as we bring you same day coverage from day one until the final trophy is handed out.
A special thanks goes out the folks at Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels, the presenting sponsor of our same day race coverage who allow us to bring you all the action from Georgia!
This year we started official testing and one round of qualifying on Thursday instead of Friday and there is already well over 300 cars registered. The tech line was long this morning and I wouldn’t surprise me if we started Wednesday next September.
The first pass down the track this morning went to Ron Rhodes. He laid down a 1.13, 3.10, 4.76 at 147 MPH to kick off the day. We have overcast skies today so the track isn’t suffering from the heat and it’s looking nice out there so far.
Chad Opaleski has some new carbon tubs and floor sections from Dan Neumann Race Cars, new Sonny’s 5 inch heads, new rods and pistons in the Nelson Competition Inc engine.
Keith Berry is back for his first race with a new block. He switched from a cast to billet block and will now be able to explore the potential of his engine. He tested yesterday to a 4.38, so he is back on track for tonight’s first qualifying session.
ADRL Pro Drag Radial champion Mark Micke is here sporting some new headers from Kooks and new exhaust housings from Tial Sport on the twin Garrett turbos in Jason Carter’s Malibu. The team is getting some maintenance in this morning after have the car on the road for several weeks.
T Shirts, get your T Shirts here. People were lining up early to get event T’s this morning. Get’em while they last, come Sunday there will be few if any left.
Patrick Clenny (near lane) is sporting a new paint job this weekend, switching it up from the dark blue the Ducky Johnson owned car was before. It doesn’t blend in anymore that’s for sure.
DeWayne Mills ran a 1.19, 2.96, 4.29 at 186 on his second run today. He runs PTC Radial vs. the World, now with a twin turbo combination after switching from a blower last year. Gotta love the false turbos in the grill.
California Artis Houston made the trip east to run in Capslock Oil/ Proformance Racing Transmissions Leaf Spring. He runs a big block Chevy from Pettis Performance with Induction Solution nitrous topped with a pair of carburetors from CFM. This year he set the record in PSCA Wild Street with a 4.95 and also had the NMCA Drag Radial record with a 7.41. Sponsors include Calvert Racing, VP Racing, Freddy’s Fabrications and TRZ Motorsports.
Shawn Ashe was here testing last night and got into the wall damaging the rear quarter, the front clip and one header, which was broken off at the flange. The ATF crew is working on repairs today and is removing the driver side head to inspect it as a precaution.
Dean Maranis put up a 4.63 @ 155 with his nitrous big block X275 Mustang based out of New York. Maranis is a top contender in the class.
Video of Brad Edwards’ monster wheelstand during testing this afternoon. Video footage courtesy of Chris Speck of Speck Daddy Productions
Candido Sanchez swapped his Outlaw 10.5 Camaro to drag radials recently, though he only has a couple of runs on the car before today. After a couple of shakedowns today tuner Bill Futch made some adjustments and Candido got down with a nice smooth 4.50 at 180 MPH, his best run by a good margin.
Chad Opaleski broke a U joint in his Chevelle this afternoon which was found during inspection after a run. The damage bent the pinion yolk rendering the carbon fiber shaft useless this weekend. They located a shop in town and will be there bright and early to get a replacement.
Brad Edwards had the honor of being the first on the chute mount today and has a lot of work to do back in the pits to repair the car. The crew hammered out the oil pan and awaits a new rack and pinion and K-menber to be delivered. The transmission case was also broken; Dave Klaput from Proformance Racing Transmissions will have a new case swapped over tonight.
Randy Matlock is here for his first drag radial event after running Pro Modified and following the ADRL series for several years. The car was built by Sheppard Race Cars and purchased from the previous owner. The car runs a 465 cubic inch LSX by Design Performance on nitrous with Mast heads and twin Pro Systems SV-1 carbs. His first full pass resulted in a 4.80. Randy is running X275 this weekend.
Will Stevenson set a new personal best with a 4.37 at 174 this evening in testing. Jason Rueckert is jumping in excitement for Will and crew, it's been a long time coming for Will, Denny Savage and chassis builder Dan Neumann.
Robby Keziah skied it in his X275 nitrous fed Nova earlier. All was well back in the pits Robby and crew.
We had the first round qualifying of PTC Radial vs. the World tonight starting at 8:30 with 37 cars in class today with Paul Major earning top qualifier with a 4.25 at 186.98 MPH. Keith Berry ran a new personal best 4.285 at 184 for second spot. Mark Woodruff, The Kevin Mullins and Fran Meshaw round the top five.
Frank Soldridge took sixth with a 4.37 at just 178 clicking it early.
Kyle Huttell was on a nice pass but hiked the wheels towards half track and shut it down, coasting through to a 4.91.
Tonight’s pit notes will kick off with the run order for Friday kicking it of with 7.00 Index at eight thirty AM. Aftger Index and Open comp. After Index and Open Comp it’s No Boost No Time towards nine with heads up qualifying kicking off with Outlaw 8.5. We will be warming up early then getting into some insane small tire racing early Friday.
The inter-cooler burst just before the stripe in the Blue Bu. Mark Micke is seen here at the welder with car owner Jason Carter assisting.
In Team M&M’s pit Woody’s Vette was also torn down after changing out a bad ring. They should have it wrapped up towards one thirty.
Lil’ Country is out with a burned piston. After speaking with Corey Swanstrom it’s safe to say the small block’s days are numbered in favor of a more favorable combination.
Brad Edwards is all back together but the rack and pinion thanks this motley crew including Pete Chad, Bigun, Pete Harrell and Dave Klaput.
Rob Valden sits eighteenth in PTC Radial vs. the World running a 4.57 at 176 MPH in what is now Andrew Alepa’s 1991 Mustang coupe. The car was the first in the sixes on drag radials with David Hance and campaigned in ORSCA by David Reese prior to that. This weekend marks the first race after a significant revamp from front to back including a new red paintjob. Look for them to improve on Friday as that was the first full run on the fresh build.
Al Jimenez is another record holder here from California with a best 6.84 at 211 on leaf springs. The combo is a big block Chevy fed by an F3-R 136 Procharger. John Calvert and Fab Tech Fabrications helped out on the build with QMP building the 525 cubic inch engine tuned by Eddie Rios at Addiction Motorsports. Al is here looking for the eighth mile leaf spring record, his previous best is a 4.50 back home.
