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After a three-year hiatus, the Flowmaster NMCA Muscle Car Nationals Series returns to the Gateway Motorsports Park in St. Louis this weekend, bringing with it the all-new Radials Wars category, as well as the annual Dave Duell Classic for Nostalgia Super Stock racers highlighting the racing lineup. Dragzine will be in the house all weekend long bringing you all the news, notes, results, and photos from Gateway, so keep it right here.
A special thanks to Comp Cams and the entire Comp Performance Group, the presenting sponsor of our same day event coverage throughout 2014!
The annual Dave Duell Classic, held for many years at the NMCA event in Bowling Green, Kentucky, has moved back to St. Louis this year, and at last check, a staggering 66 cars have teched in to compete thus far, making it one of, if not the largest Nostalgia Super Stock events ever.
After debuting his new Mustang a couple of weeks ago in the Pro Boost class at the PDRA event in Valdosta, Ed Rice and his driver, Alton Clements are taking on the Radial Wars class with the twin-turbo machine this weekend. The team went a best of 4.60 and 171 MPH in their debut, but Rice is confident the combination can dip into the three-second zone with the bigger tires on it.
Ohio native Bill Lutz is among a rumored 16-plus Pro Mod cars on the property this weekend — a field that includes Bob Rahaim, the top qualifier at last weekend’s Throwdown In T-Town, Jeffrey Cummins, Jason Hamstra, and Jim Widener.
Earlier this month, Dwayne Barbaree became first Street Outlaw racer in history to record a sub seven-second lap. After their history-making weekend in Maryland was cut short by tire spin, Barbaree and company spent the weeks leading up to this weekend’s event overhauling their Neal’s Powerglide transmission, switching out the low gear to calm down the violent striking of the tires they have been experiencing.
Local boy Mark Woodruff, from nearby Arnold, Missouri, will have some stout competition this weekend in the Radial Wars category from the likes of Keith Berry, Dewayne Mills, and Mark Micke.
Dwayne Barbaree sailed down the Gateway Motorsports Park quarter-mile to close the morning testing, going 7.13 at a stout 198 MPH.
Dan Saitz and his turbocharged Ford Probe (left) and Ron Muenks (driving Dave Pierce's nitrous oxide-injected Camaro) are among the impressive list of entrants in Pro Mod this weekend.
You could say there’s a couple Nostalgia Super Stockers here for the Dave Duell Classic.
Willard Kinzer is certainly the elder statesman of the Radial Wars class, but he can still hang right in there with the young guns in the new class behind the wheel of his twin-turbo '98 Ford Mustang. The Kinzer Drilling team has opted to run the Mickey Thompson slicks to begin the weekend, believing them a better fit for the hot and sticky conditions expected this weekend.
If you want to go radial tire racing, here’s a pretty good start….
Jeffrey Cummins has his gorgeous new Jerry Bickel Race Cars-built ’67 Ford Mustang packing 872 cubic inches of Reher-Morrison power, backed by a four-speed Liberty Extreme transmission, here competing in Pro Mod this weekend, as he and his team work to gain grade points for entry at NHRA national events later this season. They will, of course, have to pack on an extra 50 lbs. when they do after the NHRA sacked the nitrous cars this week.
Mark Woodruff (left) obliterated the Radial Wars field in the cooler conditions of tonight's first qualifying session, blasting to a new provisional national record of 4.21 at 188 MPH. Georgian Keith Berry, also in a Pro Line-powered Corvette, told us before the run he wanted to get a solid lap in on the slicks before trying the radials, and he did just that, going to No. 3 with a 4.445 at 178.33.
DeWayne Mills and his twin-turbo ’68 Camaro cranked off a 4.407 at 181.84 to slide in second in the order, with twelve cars taking a lap in the opening session.
Tell us where you’ve heard this before: a Pat Musi-powered car walking all over a field of Pro Mods. Illinois native Josh Green uncorked a 5.99 earlier in the heat of the day in testing, and then turned around and improved in the opening session when it counted, going 5.934 at 239.78 MPH for the provisional pole.
The good news is Bob Rahaim cranked off a stellar 5.961 to jump into the second spot in the order, but you can see the bad news here, as a nitrous backfire in the lights sent the hood scoop and other bits and pieces shooting high into the St. Louis skyline.
Don Baskin drove his ’87 Olds Cutlass, packing 688 inches of Chevy power, to the top of the order in Nitrous Pro Street with a 7.29, which paced his son, Skip, by a mere three-hundredths and change.
Dwayne Barbaree unloaded on the Gateway Motorsports Park track surface this evening, hiking the front wheels and carrying the nose higher and higher before giving it a quick slap of the loud pedal to bring it back to earth. Despite the pedal-job, he still cruised to a 7.24 at 195.96 MPH to pace the Street Outlaw field with the only full pass of the session.
Michael DeMayo (left) folioed up his earlier 7.99 in testing with a quick 8.00 at 168.11 MPH to lead the NA 10.5 field after one session. Don Bowles (center) took his '92 Mustang to an 8.33 to finish third, while Don Baskin and his beautiful Pontiac GTO slid in fourth with an 8.51.
Eric Kenward (left) made the long trek from Vero Beach, Fla. worth it in the opening session of Xtreme Street, running 8.000 at 171.47 to lead John Warren (8.119), Steven Wardlow (8.123), Dewey Bastin (8.139), and Corey Stephens (8.563), all rounding out the top five. Bill Trovato (right), in his beautiful fifth-gen Camaro, ran off his usual pace -- his 8.60 only good for eighth.
Jeffrey Cummins' Shelby Mustang slowed early, allowing everyone that much more time to fawn over the gorgeous new machine. (Right) Billy Glidden and engine builder Jeff Naiser both ran strong to 1,000-feet in their opening runs, Naiser clicking it off early and coasting to a 6.29 at just 180 MPH, while Glidden, likewise, pushed in the clutch before the stripe, going 6.37 at 191.24 MPH.
First Round Qualifying Sheets
