As predicted the weather is awesome this weekend and the performance in several classes shows it. Multiple new bests in Prolite Batteries Limited Street with Kevin Fiscus leading qualifying with a 4.40 flat. In Fastest Street Car Magazine Jose Gonzalez is on top of the class after a 3.86 @ 205 MPH in the El General Racing Camaro. We should have full sun all day which may give some of the teams some trouble as the track heats up this afternoon.
Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels for their support of our race coverage all season long! For all your high performance tire and wheel needs, visit Mickey Thompson.
Pat Steele is number one qualifier in 6.50 with his 1970 big block Chevelle. He has owned the car for fifteen years with most of it's life on the track. The Palm Haarbor, Florida racer runs a 505 ci Chevy from Scotty's Racing Technology in Spring Hill, Florida.
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I stopped by the Heads Up Composites Ulrta Street's number one qualifier John Snyder's pits this morning. The Middletown, Delaware resident runs a 1965 GTO in class with chassis and cage work by Drummond Race Cars and a 541 cubic inch Pontiac engine from BES with a Dale Cubic dominator and Tiger heads. His best run here was a 5.10, just a bit off his personal best 5.04 in the 40 degree air at Cecill County Maryland. Things kicked off this morning just after 10 am with the National Anthem and 7.50 Index the first class out.
Jeff Gibbud took a win over Stanley Albritton Jr. in 6.50 with his Real Speed Racing prepped fox body. Albritton broke out trying to make up for a late leave.Real Speed's owner Walt Drakeford (near lane) made his best run of the weekend earning the win over Larry Hart"s 56 Chevy with a 4.92 @ 144 MPH.Scotty Guadagno is driving for Eugene Rodriguez this weekend in X275. The number 5 qualifier was paired with Richard Ness who had trouble keeping the front end down. Scotty G got the win with a 4.95 @ 142 in the in house built small block powered Stang.Don Lamana had a single after Mark Mahowski did not make the round in Ultra Street this morning running a 5.41 @ 133.
ROUND 1 RESULTS
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ROUND 2 RESULTS
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ROUND 3 RESULTS
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FINAL RESULTS
Denise Sosa took home the honors in 7.50 Index over Robert Wilson. Number 2 qualifier Wilson was off pace on the tree with Sosa running a 7.547 earning the event win.Troy Pirez Jr. has been on a roll in 6.50 over the past few months with multiple final rounds appearances and several wins for car owner Kurt Sanders. Pirez was easily the most consistent on the tree all day.
7.50 Index runner up Rich Tilden runs this show car clean, street driven 63 Chevy out of Punta Gorda, Florida with a supercharged Chevy small block.Number 4 qualified Bill Lee Jr. met number 1 in the final of 5.50 Index pulling a perfect light on Jim Walter's 57 Chevy, earning the win by just .002 at the stripe.
TRZ Motorsports X275 Winner Justin "Lil' Country" Swanstrom was second quick in eliminations after qualifying number two. The Fat Boy Racing crew brought three cars this weekend and got at least one in the winner circle with Justin earning back to back wins after the Tomato Nats in Immokallee earlier this month. Eric McMillon's Speed 365, Seidle Racing Engines are on board with Induction Solutions nitrous set up.Scotty Guadagno made his X275 debut this weekend driving for Enrique Rodriquez. The Catagory 5 built 93 Mustang has a small Chevy from Scotty's Racing technoloogy and Induction Solutions nitrous. This makes 5 wins in a row for the Induction Solutions Additional fab work was done by Steffy Fabrication near Orlando.
There was a good showing for the first Heads Up Composites Ultra Street class this weekend with 13 cars making it for Sunday elims. Event winner Robert Rodgers put up consistent mid 5 teens and was second quick overall behind John Snyder's Pontiac. Team TRZ now includes Rodgers and Kevin Neal on board helping with the nitrous program. The Chevy small block is prepped by Nelson Competition in St. Pete, Florida.Ultra Street runner up Brian Keep hails from Ft. Myers, Florida running this 1998 S-10 Chevy.Prolite Batteries Limited Street winner Kevin Fiscus showed his hand early with a 4.36 @ 185 on his round one single. He bested Scott Husted in round three after both cars spun and Fiscus was late to the tune of .255. The final was also a pedal fest to a point but Turull was red by .002.
Gustavo Turull pitoted the El General Racing 2004 Corvette to the runner up spot in Limited Street with a new best ET 4.39 @ 176 coming in a tight race with Will Stevenson in the second round.
John Schroeder won the long haul award in T&J Services Outlaw 632 and swept the event with number one qualifier, low ET (4.53 @ 161) and the win. He ran a 4.55 @ 161 in the final with Robert Briscoe fouling first. Scotty's Racing and Induction Solutions are responsible for making the record setting power.Outlaw 632 Runner Up Robert Briscoe pushed the tree too much in the final, his best run today was a 4.591 @ 157 MPH.
Jimmy Keen held strong for the nitrous lovers in Fastest Street Car Magazine Outlaw Pro Mod running mid/high 3.90's all day. He had a tight race against Fast Frank in the semi's coming from behind with a 3.97 @ 188 to the Viper's 4.059 @ 186. His .077, 3.991 @ 187 MPH run took the win after a foul start by Gonzalez.Number one qualifer Jose Gonzalez set low ET with a 3.824 @ 206.89 MPH blast over Mike Tokars in round one. Gonzalez left .004 too sonn in the final getting loose near half track and clipping the ET cones before getting it back into his lane, reacting quickly to avoid contact with Keen.
Tine for qualifying today in Bradenton’s 2013 US Street Nationals door slammer kickoff event. There some very good numbers ran in testing last night with 3 time runner up Adam Flomholc running a pair of 4.0’s in his blown Pro Mod Camaro. Former OL 10.5 winner here Rob Wells also ripped on a stellar 4.09 setting the pace for the class and running one of the quickest OL 10.5 passes stateside after David Hance broke into the 3’s just days ago in Qatar with a 3.99.
Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels for their support of our race coverage all season long! For all your high performance tire and wheel needs, visit Mickey Thompson.
Some local racers relaxing before qualifying include Tip Racing, Acme Performance, the Sosa's and random miscreants. This weekend weather is amazing so far.
ROUND 1 QUALIFYING RESULTS
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Dave Acker drug his Capri down with Chuck Moan's Pro Modified Camaro as he does double duty driving in X275 and crew chief for Moan. A clean 4.87 @ 147 was the result for the first attempt by the Levittown, PA racer.
Troy Pirez sits on top in X275 after running a record pace 4.725 @ 153.53 MPH blast this morning.Neal Watkins leads qualifying in 5.50 Index with a 5.521 @ 127 MPH. The Largo, Florida based racer is half a father and son team running this hard launching 68 El Camino with a Nelson Competition big block Chevy on the bottle.VP Fuels rep Robert Rodgers put the purple stang at the top of Ultimate Street with a 5.19 @ 138. The car is tuned and maintained by Eric Kenward with TRZ Motorsports and AA Performance parts and chassis. Look for this team to run up front in class.John Snyder made the trip down from Middletown, Delaware to run Ultra Street with his super clean 65 GTO. His 5.20 @ 133 puts him second in the field.
Tim Eichhorn carried the wheels out in his NA fox body Mustang but clicked it early with a 5.51 @ 102 MPH.Kevin Fiscus put up another 4.40 @ 182 MPH blast in the first session of Limited Street qualifying after running a .40 last night in testing. The Pro Lite Battery/Hurricanne Performance Fiscus/Klugger Racing team is based in Jacksonville, Florida.Will Stevenson amde it here with a borrowed F3-R135 Procharger and sits second in class with a 4.47 @ 167. Kevin Smith from KSR Fabrication just finished up new 5 inch piping and a Wilson 123 mm throttle body install. The car also now has a 2 speed TH 400 trans from ProFormance Transmissions.
Stanford Connecticut's John Schroeder is here running T & J Services Outlaw 632 this weekend. He put his 2002 Camaro in the poll with a fantastic 4.59 @ 157 MPH to lead the other 19 cars in class, some of which are here testing for Leaf Spring or Outlaw 275.Wade Gullett is still wearing battle scars after an incident with the wall here at Bradenton at a prior event. He sits on the bump after having trouble on the run and shutting down early.
Jose Gonzalez put his Pro Line Race Engines powered Pro Mod Camaro in the numbner one position with a 4.001 @ 195 MPH towards the end of the session.Ruben Tetsosvilli is here with his new Pro Lite Battery Pro Modified Camaro for it's race debut. He has made some short hits to the 60' so far this weekend. The Nelson Competition powered car was built by Teddy Houser Race Cars. We will have a full feature on this car coming soon.Melbourne, Florida racer Dan Bandish had a nice launch on his first attempt but moved out of the groove down track and had to lift early. He sits 14th with a 5.38 @ 90.
ROUND 2 QUALIFYING RESULTS
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Mike Meeks is running X275 this weekend with his LS Powered 5th gen Camaro. His second run today was a 4.96 @ 141 putting him in 6th so far. He runs a Pro Systems SV1 carb and nitrous.Bobby Flippen is rolling out with his nitrous inhaling 2001 Camaro. Flippen is based in Glaucester, Virginina and his 4.860 @ 147 has him 4th of 21 cars vying for 16 spots today.John Snyder inproved his lot in Ultra Street with a 5.104 @ 134, better by a full tenth from his first round pass earlier today.J.R. Atkins improved his time in OL632 from a 4.72 to a .67 but fell one spot to 5th. Atkins won class at the Tomato Nationals earlier this month in Immokallee.Jimmy Keen put up a nice 4.96 @ 189 in Pro Mod and improved to 3rd with his 1963 Corvette based out of Parish, Florida.
After running a 4.09 while testing Friday night Rob Wells has struggled in qualifying. This round he rolled the beam, he currently is on the bump with a 5.89.
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Brad Brand left hard on his second run but the car started pulling the wheels near the 330', got on hte wheelie bars and made a move to the center. he did a great job avoiding the other car and got it straightened without incident.
FINAL QUALIFYING RESULTS
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Troy Pirez let it eat in the final qualifying session of TRZ Motorsports X275 but had to pedal after the front came up a bit too much. His 4.725 is on pace for a record in class provided he can back it up tomorrow.Bradenton's own Ryan Thorp set the pace in 5.50 Index with a dead on run this afternoon.Bill Lee Jr. (far lane) and Steve Tiona leave together in the final session of 5.50. Both racers are tough and have multiple events wins here in Bradenton.John Snyder hald on to the top qualifier in Heads Up Composites Ultra Street with his pure Pontiac powered natrually aspirated GTO. He went out first round at last years Yellow Bullet Nationals to Eric Kenward and vowed he would be faster come next year. He has repeatedly set new best's here this weekend after some engine work in the off season.Scott Husted broke into the 4.40's with a clean 4.469 @ 170 to earn 5th spot in Prolite Batteries Limited Street, a new personal best. Most racers improved through out the day in qualifying.
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Bryan Marrow was finally able to make repairs for the last session in Limited Street after breaking the transmission yesterday. He is in the field at 10th after a wild ride and a 4.88 @ 144 MPH run. Hopefully there is no further damage after a hard landing. Gustavo Turull is driving the Limited Street Corvette for El General Racing this weekend. The Miami based racer put up a 4.60 @ 172 this afternoon, good for 7th spot out of 11 cars.Joun Schroeder took back the top spot in T&J Services Outlaw 632 from Chris Levangie (aka tenfiveracer) with a 4.561 @ 159 in the final session. Levangie struck the tires on his attempt.
Mike Schmidt jumped solidly in the OL 632 field with one good run in the final session putting him in 6th with a 4.671 @ 156 MPH, just edging Dave French to 7th.Jose Gonzalez led all day in Pro Mod and finishing up with a 3.846 @ 205.33 MPH. He is the only car over 200 MPH here this weekend.Adam Flomholc was unable to get the car in reverse after his burnout on his final attempt. he is qualified 2nd with a 3.924 @ 191 MPH.Fast Frank Cersosimo had the pipes lit up on his last run, the 4.045 @ 186 MPH was good for 7th in Fastest Street Car Magazine Outlaw Pro Mod.Rob Wells was on a hit for sure on his final run, and only decent one of the day but he also pulled the wheels similar to Brad Brand in the second session shutting it down with a 4.40 @ 161 MPH. It was good enough to move him up two spots to 14th.
The U.S. Street Nationals at the Bradenton Motorsports Park in central Florida has become one of the annual kickoff events of the drag racing season, as some of the quickest and fastest doorslammer racers in the world get out and stretch their legs for the first time after the grueling winter. Once again, Dragzine is back in the house to bring you same day race coverage, news, notes, results, and photos as they happen! Keep it tuned here all weekend long, because we aren’t leaving until they hand out the last piece of hardware on Sunday.
Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels for their support of our race coverage all season long! For all your high performance tire and wheel needs, visit Mickey Thompson.
Assorted Pro Stock, Pro Mods and other teams have been testing here in Bradenton for the past couple of weeks. The crew was scraping some built up rubber from the surface this afternoon getting ready for tonight's test session and the weekend racing.
The ever controversial Jeremy Fowler aka Max Rider has teamed up with the Fat Boy Racing team for 2013 for a three car effort. Shown here with Corey Swanstrom (right), Justin will be driving X275 with Skywalker and Mike Wacasser behind the wheel of the third car. Jeremy would run a 4.86 @ 143 later in t0nights session.Tommy Rainer rolled out to Florida with his beautifully wrapped 1st Gen twin turbo Limited Street Camaro. He was a bit light teching in earlier so will be adding a few pounds before making any passes today.This Ford Lightening pickup was finished up late last year and was debuted with this combo at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals here in Bradenton. The AC Carcraft built truck is owned by Eric Leeper who is fresh off a runner up finish in X275 at the Tomato Nationals. The engine is a 5.4 mod motor by Tim Eichorn at Mustang Performance Racing fed by a large frame 88MM Precision turbo.
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Kenny Markwich is back to racing after loosing an engine last year. The father (Gary) and son (Kenny) team has no real changes since they last ran with the exception of the fresh engine and are glad to be back here and racing again. Gary ran a nice 4.73 @ 160 today.
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Bryan Marrow is here this weekend running Limited Street with his second gen leaf spring Camaro. The F3R136 Procharger feeds a Fig Performance built 565 ci. BBC backed with an ATF transmission and ATI converter. The team runs out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida with the AC Carcraft fabricated chassis.
Track official Keith Adams checks the inlet of Markwich's turbos in tech this afternoon. TRZ Motorsports machined several gauges for checking inlet size of various turbos and blowers for X275 founder John Sears, who is also on hand this weekend.Former NMRA Hot Street racer Tim Eichhorn has made the move to Ultimate Street after the racing organization discontinued the class. He runs a naturally aspirated 400 cubic inch small block Ford assembled in house at Mustang Performance Racing in Boynton Beach, Florida. Steve Matukas built the chassis several years ago and Tim runs a Pro Trans Proflight Transmission with a Neal Chance converter and can be 300 pounds lighter than he ran previously with the NMRA. He is sponsored by BlowbyRacing and UPR.
Team Pirez unloaded here last night and get down the track to the tune of 4.73 @ 153, so far the fastest run under the 2013 X275 rules. We have some great weather in the forecast so we will see if that number holds through the weekend.Kevin Neal's new car is here fresh from TRZ Motorsports as of yesterday. The car features some new innovations and a double rail chassis for X275. After a couple of runs they look to be getting a handle on it as this was on the way to a 4.96 @ 149 MPH.Walt Drakeford from Real Speed Racing in Clearwater, Florida looks to have his ignition woes worked out, now just to keep it on the ground, he did set this one down easy.This Mustang is fresh out of London Chassis Dyno, owned by Howard West and driven by Charles Epperson. It's got a 347 ci. 8.2 deck small block Ford with a GT47/88 turbo providing the power to run X275 this weekend."Tripple B" Bad Brad Brand made the ride to Florida to compete in Outlaw 10.5. So far it's Brand and Rob Wells that I saw on the property today with Wells running a 4.15.
Troy Pirez Jr. (left) lends a hand with getting Ziff Hudson's Zypher fixed up after eating a piston today.Another casualty of the evening belong to Bryan Marrow who had the mak gear in his transmission shear on his full run attempt this afternoon. They hope parts from ATI arrive in time to make repairs and are trying to source a passable replacement just in case.
