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It’s Friday at SGMP, time for more testing and qualifying which is set to start at 5PM. Right now we are under a rain delay with intermittent showers slowing things down for us.
Special thanks to Mickey Thompson Tires our event coverage sponsor. Check out their latest products at Mickey Thompson Tires.com
Friday News from the pits
Amanda's car is all back together this morning but they are chasing an electical issue.
Announcing the RTCTTFMF Pictorial. Thi is something we have been working on over the past few weeks that has been under wraps from the public. We have planty on site for everyone and look for more issues packed with his res color photos and off color editorials in future issues covering radial and small tire racoing across the country.
Jeremy Mcelrath broke an axle last night and so far have been unable to find a replacement so it looks like they are done for the weekend. The car has a twin turbo 588 ci. big block Chevy built in house out of Ashville, North Carolina.
Bruce Roberts ran a 5.14 last night. They will be running FTI Extreme 275 this weekend with the car as they feel their cylinder head combo is saddled with a bit of extra weight in Ultimate Street. He is also sporting a new K member fromAttilio Deroso's AA Performance which weighs a scant 9 pounds.
Eric Kenward has a fresh 18* bullitt from Nelson Competition now sporting the TFS heads which have picked up their MPH by about three so far intesting yesterday.
Keith Berry's Corvette is all buttoned up after a late night session. Keith would like to thank Matt Davis for helping out last night with tools and wrenching till 2:30 AM. Also Steve at CRT Transmission for parts to get it repaired, and TCI Transmissions.
Kenny Markwich is here with a fresh engine from Fast Forward. They just got it running last night, there are no major changes for them this weekend.
Al Marlow made the trek from Maryland to run FTI Extreme 275 this weekend. He has a smaller 588 ci BBC and went a 4.93 @ 150 testing at MIR recently.
Tommy Brewer and the Mad Man racing camp made the switch to a Littlefield Hi Helix supercharger on top of a 526 ci. BBC but have not made any hits yet. They were still putting the trans in last night.
Sean Lyon is back again for Extreme 275 with NMRA Drag Radial Mustang.
Team real Speed will feild a two car team this weekend, Walt Drakeford will drive the twin turbo T Bird in the Boost class while Charlie Pixley will handle driving duties in Mike Burkhart's nitrous powered Mustang in Ultimate Street.
Francis Johnson made the trip from up north as well with his February, he has the quickest nitrous stock suspension car going.
Tony Ridenour changed the drive ratio for the blower this morning to take out some power. He ran a 5.03 @ 154 after pedaling through a bit of tire shake.
Dave Boger is up from Plant City, Florida sporting a special new prosthetic "extension" on his 68 Camaro.
Ligia the "Rockin Romanian" is here this weekend as the official ORTC girl. She can rescue me any time.
This is what the track surface looked like about an hour and a half ago. Now the racing surface is about dry and the track crew is drying off the shut down area. it will still be a while before we are back racing.
Kenny Markwich could not build boost on his attempt this morning. They are looking over various things and the wastegate to try and locate the problem
Lunch is all day for everyone at the ORTC. It's not a race, it's an event
Tom Kundrik from Mikey Thompson gets in on the action munching down on some awesome ribs.
Racers are still coming in today. Troy Pirez rolled in around three thirty and is still unsure if he will run in FTI Extreme 275 or the No Boost class.
Some folks got bored staring at the wet track surface so they decided to go fishing. Steve Petty caught a nice sized bass last night too.
We are rained out for today, we start back up at 9 AM with some testing then into qualifying.
Testing Notes
Enrique Perez had a shock fail on the ride up. I caught up with him while talking with Brian Goss discussing tune up stuff.
Kevin Fiscus made it out to the race but had an issue when he went to make a pass. The car is wearing a flat black treatment after the fire at PBIR earlier this year. He is running hte Extreme 275 class this weekend for a change up.
Mike Freeman ran a 5.43 next to Aaron Gramer's 5.51 in the new car. Freeman had to pedal the car to get the front end down on the pass.
Rober Coady managed a 5.61 in his ORTC debut with the new car. Built in house at Catagory 5 Race Cars the Mustang has a Fast Forward engine under the hood
Pete Chevere ripped off a 4.95 in X 275 trim today for low ET in the class so far.
Steve Jackson got in the four second zone finally after changing transmissions last night. It was a long night for them as the swap entailed fabricating a new cross member along with several other items to mate up the powerglide where a TH 400 was. Josh Klugger got a 5.04 @ 154 on his first hit with the car this weekend since the repairs. Chad Opaleski ran a 5.02 @ 148 with a soft short time, turning the power on later in the run.
Mel Nelson managed a 4.70 @ 167 on his only hit today. Pretty sure that is top MPH in the Boosted class. Tony Ridenour got down with a 4.83 while Johnny Kolivas ran a 4.73 just a few cars back. Kenny Markwich managed to get down the track on his second run, running a 5.71 @ 150 as the boost came in very late. Brad Edwards ran a 4.75.
Wayne Oliver piloted John Sears' Malibu to it's best ever pass today running a 5.77 @ 120MPH.
Clint Lonon got a 5.17 @ 135 off the trailer for the Nasty Bitch in the TRZ Ultimate Street class. That puts then right near the top of the class today along with Eric Kenward
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