We’ve crowned one champion here in Indianapolis, and now we’re set to add a few more as we kick off the remainder of eliminations on this, the final day of the 2014 NMCA racing season. One round of Pro Mod and Nitrous Pro Street are in the books, and we’ll be picking up where we left off this morning, with sunshine and warmer temperatures in the forecast.
A big thanks to the folks at Comp Cams and the Comp Performance Group, the presenting sponsor of our same day event coverage!
Current Ladders
Pro Mod Semifinals
Brian Hicks squares off with newly-crowned champion Steve Summers. Both drivers have been in the 5.80’s, but Summers has had the upper hand on paper, running 5.81 in qualifying. Just beyond sixty feet, Hicks’ Duster powers into a huge wheelstand, forcing him to lift. Summers, meanwhile, powers through to a 5.88 at 254 mph, but leaves a big cloud of death-smoke all through the shutdown area. Word comes that Summers’ parachutes failed to deploy, and the cloud of smoke was the result of some excessive braking to get the Camaro stopped. The wrecker is headed to top end, as Summers reportedly flat-spotted one or both front tires to the point of deflation.
After a brief delay, Jim Widener’s nitrous car pulls into the beams alongside Michael Biehle’s twin-turbo Camaro. Widener made his best run of the weekend earlier today with a 6.10, but Biehle has been a bracket car all weekend, running 5.80’s every pass. Widener gave it all he had, getting out of the groove and hanging with it, but he was no match for Biehle, who ran 5.87 to punch his way into the final.
Nitrous Pro Street Semifinals
Don Baskin and Kevin Parent are locked side-by-side in their semifinal match, but Parent just can’t catch the flying Baskin and his Olds Cutlass, which cards a 7.20 to move into the final, There, he’ll meet teammate Greg Delaney.
Radial Wars Round Two
Steve Criafulli takes on the ageless wonder, Willard Kinzer in the first pair out in Radial Wars. Crisafulli knocked out a 4.19 in round one, while Kinzer was well back at 4.34. The two were locked together straight and true, but Crisafulli just had too much, taking the 4.21 to 4.30 victory.
A last-minute lane swap in the second pairing, as Keith Berry switches to the right hand lane. But this one was over quickly, as Bill Houghton rolled through the beams in his Barracuda. Berry, not one to take a run in these kinds of conditions lightly, clicks off a 4.17 to move into the semifinals.
Another late lane swap — DeWayne Mills moving over to the right lane behind Berry, pushing Rodney Massengale over to the left. Massengale got out on Mills early, but could;t match the 4.15-second effort.
The last pairing is Josh Klugge and top qualifier Mark Micke. Klugger shared with us earlier this morning he felt the new Racecraft machine could go 0’s today if the team can get a handle on the early numbers. Well it wasn’t an ‘oh’, but Josh Klugger did drop a perfect light on Micke, carrying it through to a 4.38 to 4.42 victory.
Street Outlaw Round Two
First out, Manson and Corndog. Identical lights, but it’s Manson with the quicker 7.00 to Phil Smith’s 7.07 for the win.
A pair of NMRA and NMCA veterans, Phil Hines and Jason Lee, square off in their six-second Mustangs. This one was ugly from the word go, as Lee roasted the tires before moving six inches, while Hines appeared home-free. Near half-track, however, smoke became visible trailing behind the car as he slowed and coasted. Lee, realizing what was happening, made every effort to chase him down, but it was Hines at 8.90-seconds moving into the semis to face Barbaree.
Xtreme Street Round Two
John Warren lines up in the first pairing with top qualifier Dan Baumann. Warren is out ahead early, and takes a big holeshot win, 7.81 to a quicker 7.79.
Next out is Steve Wardlow and Doug Keen. Keen welds Wardlow to the tree, but doesn’t have enough steam at the top end, with Wardlow taking it with a 7.85.
David Hutnick, in his bright red Camaro, takes his match with Dewey Bastin wire-to-wire, clicking off a 7.72 to Bastins’ struggling 8.69. With the win, Hutnick will meet up with T.J. Strange in the semifinals.
N/A 10.5
A family affair in the first pairing, with Vince Khoury meeting Rocko Khoury. Rocko takes it to the top qualifier, running 8.06 for the win to a right-there 8.15.
In the second pairing, Shawn Dixon, already the benefactor of one foul start, gets another gift when the much-quicker Rick Riccardi, who has been in the sevens this weekend, goes red, handing the round over to Dixon, who posts an 8.79 at 160. In the next round, Dixon will face Robbie Blankenship, who advanced with a 7.99 on the foul start of Andy Schmidt.
N/A 10.5 Semis
Shawn Dixon’s luck finally runs out in his semifinal match with Robbie Blankenship, as the Florida racer puts a 7.92 on the boards to move into the final. Rocko Khoury, on his competition single, clicks off an 8.17, losing lane choice to Blankenship.
Radial Wars Semis
Corvettes a pair, as new champ Keith Berry takes on Steven Crisafulli in the first pairing. The pair was welded together, but Berry unloads the quickest pass in the shirt history of the category at 4.11-seconds, ousting Crisafulli’s game 4.18. In the other pairing, DeWayne Mills nearly match Berry, running 4.12 for the win as Josh Klugger is forced to lift about 500 feet out.
Street Outlaw
We’ve ot a pair of singles here, as Phil Hines is unable to make the call to face Dwayne Barbaree. Dwayne takes a shot at the track, but strikes the tires early and lifts. On the opposite side of the ladder, Andy Manson takes the tree for his bye run, picking up the front wheels twice as he pedals his way to a 7.54 for lane choice in the final.
Xtreme Street
A bit of suspense in this round of Xtreme Street, as Steven Wardlow and David Hutnick are still locked in a bid for the class championship. If Hutnick advances one round further than Wardlow, he can steal the title. And just like, it gets interesting, as Wardlow lights the red bulb, handing the win and the trip to the final to John Warren, who to his credit, carded a stout 7.80. That puts the pressure on Hutnick, who does what he needs to do to steal the championship way, ousting T.J. Strange, 7.71 to 7.75, to pounch his way into the final. With the race win, he’ll be the champ.
Final Round Eliminations
In Xtreme Street, David Hutnick, needing a win to come from behind and upset incoming points leader Dan Kroll and then new leader Dan Wardlow, did just what he needed to do, thanks in part to a red light start by John Warren. Hutnick rolled out to a 7.75 at 178 to clinch the title, much to the delight of his crew back on the starting line. In Street Outlaw, Dwayne Barbaree, after a couple of less-then-stellar passes in the previous rounds of eliminations, got his combination lined out for the final, and he needed every bit of it, taking down Andy Manson in a spectacular final round, 6.971 to a 6.973. With that win, he also snagged the championship from Phil Hines, as Hines was forced out of eliminations with a broken motor in the second round. Robbie Blankenship, a former champion of the naturally aspirated category, put together a stellar run in the final against Vince Khoury, carding the second quickest pass of the weekend at 7.907 and 170 mph to oust Khoury’s off-pace 8.07.
With sunshine in the forecast, we’re set to kick things off here in Indianapolis, with two rounds of heads-up qualifying set to roll into the waterbox beginning at 11 a.m. this morning. Time permitting, the plan is to contest round one at 4:00, with another round of eliminations to follow.
A big thanks to the folks at Comp Cams and the Comp Performance Group, the presenting sponsor of our same day event coverage!
Round One Qualifying
Final Qualifying Order
Round One Eliminations
Pro Mod
John Green advanced on a single, when opponent Jennifer Green was unable to make the call. Green clicked off a smooth 6.54.
Billy Glidden keeps the candles lit to around 1,000 feet, coasting across the finish line ahead of a slowing Randy Adler with a 6.31.
Clint Hairston and Hector Laracuente both annihilated the tires at the hit, but Hairston was able to collect it up quicker and pedal his way to a winning 7.60 elapsed time.
Brian Hicks takes a break single, running his Duster out to 330 feet and clicking it off.
Michael Biehle clicked off another consistent lap to dispatch Don Walsh Jr., running 5.87 to advance to round two. Walsh, like he did in the final session, was loose early in the run and was forced to lift.
Kevin Fiscus throws away another killer 5.85 with a red light start, handing the win over to Jim Widener who, adding insult to injury, struck the tires right at the hit.
Perhaps by chance or clever strategy, Josh Green and Steve Summers ended up paired up in round one, with the championship on the line — winner take all. Green, however, had struggled with mechanical woes throughout the day, and he’s snake-bitten again, being forced to shut his Pat Musi-powered Camaro down, handing the break single and the title over to Steve Summers. In another case of insult to injury, Summers doesn’t make it beyond the tree before his Camaro began to dance around, forcing him to shut it down.
Nitrous Pro Street
Jennifer Brooke Rice got well out on Keith McCoy, but got WAY loose, dancing all over the lane, allowing McCoy to streak on by for the 9.20-second win and a ticket-punch into round two, where he’ll face Don Baskin.
Greg Delaney runs a clean 7.88 to oust newcomer Tim Bowling and move onto round two.
Kein Parent and Andy Vogt were welded together all the way down the strip, with Parent taking the round with a quicker 7.27 to Vogt’s 7.37.
Right at the hit of the throttle, Joe Bucaro lit up the night sky, lifting the hood scoop right off his Mustang with a big flash of flame. Meanwhile, Jill Hicks reeled off her best pass of the weekend at 7.29 to advance on for a matchup with Greg Delaney tomorrow morning.
Garry Nash takes a break single, as Josh Ritli is unable to make the call. Nash gets after it, striking the tires, then climbing back into a wheelstand, and then slamming back to earth in a shower of sparks. Nash will face off with Kevin Parent tomorrow.
Don Baskin, with the competition single based on his crushing No. 1 qualifying effort, rolls in, breaks the beams, and backs away. Baskin will meet Keith McCoy in round two.
And with that comes the call — track temperatures have quickly dropped below that of which NMCA officials deem safe, and the plug has been pulled for the evening. We’ll be back tomorrow with a very full day of racing action. That is, if Mother Nature doesn’t have her way.
It seems like only yesterday the NMCA Muscle Car Nationals Series was kicking off its 2014 campaign down in Florida, but already we find ourselves here at the season finale in Indianapolis, with a number of championships on the line at the Fel-Pro NMCA World Street Finals. With cool fall air upon us, there’s sure to be records assaulted as well, as the heads-up competitors look to send the year out with a bang. We’ll bringing you all of those stories and more from the Lucas Oil Raceway as we wrap up the season with our weekend-long coverage right here on Dragzine.
A big thanks to the folks at Comp Cams and the Comp Performance Group, the presenting sponsor of our same day event coverage!
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