It’s that time of the year. Besides the nation’s more tropical settings like Southern California and Florida, the rest of America is enjoying the cooler temperatures, changing fall colors of amber and crimson, and the final few remaining weekends of drag racing. Yup, it’s the end of the season and everybody is getting their final passes in before snow starts to litter the ground. Nowhere was this more true that at the 31st NPD/ZDDPlus F.A.S.T. event at MIR. The IHRA-sanctioned facility in Budds Creek, MD is known is a hotbed for competitive racing and no better location than for the Factory Appearing Stock Tire series to button up its most eventful year ever.

Dave Dudek`s 69 Road Runner made eight low-second passes; five 10.0’s and two were in the teens. Not too bad considering Dudek needed to drop the oil pan and the #6 rod cap to chase down a problem.

The late October air cooled the sea level track. The Halloween weekend looked good letting everybody know that there was gonna be plenty of hook. Scheduled as a one day only race, there was little time to spare as everybody who attended came out for one reason: to simply “lay it down.” And did they ever. This past Halloween weekend, MIR delivered with nearly everybody who attended setting a new personal best. In the end it was the ever-present Dudek in his “murdered-out” black-on-black HEMI Road Runner and the Tiemann-built Firebird battling it out for FAST supremacy. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves…

Don Giannone’s 396 ’66 Chevelle SS is new to the F.A.S.T. 10-Second Club. Running a personal best of 10.62 @ 127.

Lane Carey – current F.A.S.T. record holder – showed up to battle Sunday morning, but fell victim to the bad luck and lost a front pump seal backing the Ford out of the trailer. Unable to fix it, he had to sit the event out.

For those expecting a final showdown between Dudek and Lane Carey’s first-into-the-9’s ’71 Cobra Jet Mustang, Lady Luck simply wasn’t having it. Lane Carey fell victim to a faulty front pump seal while backing the Ford out of the trailer. Unable to repair it, Carey had to sit the event out. Too bad too, as there was a lot of friendly smack talk on www.fastraces.org forums leading up to the event. Carey wasn’t the only one, though. Several others fought with misfortune during the one-day showdown.

Dudek himself had to drop his elephant’s oil pan (as well as the #6 rod cap) to perform some rushed triage. Tom Cannon, yet another victim needed to replace some burnt pushrods in his 440 Six-Pack ’71 Super Bee. With time short and tensions a little, mistakes were bound to be made. Don Giannone in his slick ’66 Chevelle 396, the newest member of the F.A.S.T. 10-Second Club, ran a personal best of a 10.62@127. Don won the consolidation race against Ed Cook with matching 10.63 passes, but without controversy though. The guy at the tree waved both drivers into the beams while they were still flashing red. This threw off both drivers, especially Cook as his reaction time was almost a full ½ second after the tree dropped.

Tom Cannon, yet another victim needed to replace some burnt pushrods in his 440 Six-Pack ’71 Super Bee. Tom went on to set a new personal best running 11.49 @ 122 in his 4-speed car.

Nonetheless, the conditions were right and the E.T.s kept dropping. Harry Chargois set a new personal best and is the fastest Mopar low deck (383/400) in the class with an impressive 11.62 at 118.18 mph in his ’69 383 Super Bee.

Rick Mahoney’s cool ’68 Firebird, which he races in the Factory Stock class. Well, after the MIR event, Rick`s pretty Firebird is now the worlds fastest Pure Stocker smashing the ‘Vette`s 11.31 pass with an 11.18@122.

Rick Mahoney in his aqua ’68 Firebird, who races in the Factory Stock class, (see here for more details) is now the worlds fastest Pure Stocker smashing the ‘Vette`s 11.31 pass with an 11.18 at 122! Is this possible with a ‘Stocker? You better believe it. If not, stay tuned as Street Legal TV will be at the huge 2011 ZDDPlus/NPD F.A.S.T. & Factory Stock race covering the tech of these cars reporting first hand on how these cars are teched.

Mike Nasi’s ’71 440 6-BBL GTX ran an incredible 11.14 @ 123.79 with his new engine combo and more is on its way. Mike’s desperately trying to figure out the suspension. A run-of-the-mill F.A.S.T. 60 ft. will put him well into the 10’s! That`s a big car to move like that!

Ultimately, it was favored Dave Dudek’s ’69 Road Runner that won the event, making eight passes throughout the weekend. Five of his passes were 10.0’s with two of them in the ten-teens. With the exception of the Cecil race, the HEMI Road Runner has won nearly every race for four years straight.

Eddie Cook’s ’63 Plymouth Max Wedge ran the best of 10.63 @ 129. A new car for 2010, it’s getting faster each time out.

Scotty McKenzie fields a very mild and beautiful F.A.S.T. car; truly an entry level, dual-purpose Street & F.A.S.T. car. Scotty ripped off a 1.75 60 ft. and set a personal best of 11.74@117. And it’s a real A12 car to boot!

 Jim Mino’s an old school factory racer and if you’ve been around, you’ve seem his name in different magazines. Jim’s beautiful ’68 400 4-speed Pontiac races in the Factory Stock class and set a personal best of 11.75 @ 118mph this past Halloween weekend.

Rick Mahoney’s other Firebird was new to F.A.S.T. late last year. This little ‘bird is getting faster and faster all the time and made it all the way into the finals against Dudek. Built and driven by Scott Tiemann she lit up the scoreboards with a 10.37@133