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The annual Shakedown at the Summit returns to the Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park this weekend in Norwalk, Ohio, featuring the top names in Pro Modified and small-tire doorslammer racing in the country.
We are set for a great day of racing here at the Shakedown. The track is great and the weather is going to be outstanding.
During testing Thursday the track was set on KILL! Lots of fast times and racers setting personal best.
Bill Lutz is racing Rob Sphar’s Mustang in Radial vs The World. The car’s harmonic balancer came apart during testing and the team is working on a transmission issue as well. They are thrashing hard to be ready for Q1 today.
Brian Goldstone’s 1973 AMC Javelin is best known for being a heavy hitter on Drag Week and will be racing in the Pro Street class this weekend The car features a 572 cubic-inch Ultra Tech racing engine with a pair of Precision 88mm turbos. “The 3300 pound weight limit in the class puts us on an even playing field and lets us actually race heads up. We’ve never been on a track this good so it will be interesting. The car should run 4.40s no problem, but our goal is to get into the 4.30s with the gear change we made,” Goldstone said.
Ron Rhodes has been absent for most of the year after waiting seven months for a new block for his revamped engine combination. “We sold the old motor at the end of last year, this new one is almost the same, but it’s bigger and better. It went 160 earlier in testing and it’s showing promise, I just need to work out the bugs a bit more,” Rhodes explains.
YellowBullet Outlaw 10.5 winner Mo Hall is on the property and ready to go back to back at the Shakedown. "The weather and conditions are going to be outstanding and we want to repeat what we did at Yellowbullet. We're going to get qualified solidly in the field and then really get after the car and try to run in the mid 3.90s. This is going to be a fast race in Outlaw 10.5 for sure," Hall says
Chris Cadotto has his Dodge truck known as “The Brick” ready for Outlaw 10.5 battle. The team was working on getting weight moved around for the first round of qualifying to take advantage of the new power the team is making.
Carl Stevens Jr. was testing Jim Bell’s Camaro yesterday. Bell will be racing the car this weekend to try and get seat time in the new setup. “We’re testing for the St. Louis NHRA race this weekend in full NHRA trim. The car has been totally rebuilt and a lot of stuff fixed. So far it has responded very well to the changes we made and wants more,” Stevens said.
Phi Hines was able to go number 1 in X275 with a great 4.46 pass, but he almost didn’t make the call. “We were actually in bed and didn’t realize we would be the second class out. I just threw a basic tune-up in the car based on the air and was happy it made it down the track. I’m going to make some adjustments for the next round to pick up some power for sure,” explains Hines.
Jason Carter is here wheeling Mark Micke’s Malibu in Radial vs The World. According to Carter, the track threw them a curveball, but they will be ready for the second qualifier. “The tune-up was a bit hot for the conditions. We’re going to make a few adjustments for the next round and will be good for sure. The air is so good it made the car pick up a lot more too,” Carter says.
Tyler Crossnoe's Mustang spent a good amount of time under the knife recently and the work paid off with a solid 4.82 pass in the first round of Ultra Street qualifying. "The car 60-footed better than it ever has and picked up two numbers. The Mags Fabworks updates along with the Racecraft and Menscer parts all helped make this possible," Crossone said about the new performance upgrades.
Local racer Mike Barran put his twin-turbo Camaro in the number two spot with a 4.50 hit. “The car had a great 60 foot but started to push to the right so I had to lift. We’re going to make a couple of small adjustments to try and address that and pick up some more for Q2,” Barran explains.
Frank Soldridge has been working on getting his new Stage 4 Proline 481x dialed in and is pleased with the results so far. "We're searching to see what the car likes with this new motor and got the car to go a 1.09 sixty foot on that pass. The goal is to get into the 1.05 range so it can transistion better and get us into the three second zone," Soldridge says.
Pro Street racer Ron Stang is working on shaking down his twin-turbo mustang after just getting the engine back in the car a day ago. “The first pass was kind of soft because we didn’t want to lean on it too hard yet. The track is really good so for the next pass we plan on turning it up a lot more,” Stang explains.
Bruce Boller had some issues during Q1 of Pro Modified when his blown Firebird got a bit fussy down track. “It was one of those runs where the motor went really lean, kicked the burst panel, and knocked the blower off. We will have it fixed for Q2 and not do that again for sure,” Boller explains.
PDRA superstar Melanie Salemi decided to come do some quarter-mile racing this weekend and took the number one spot with a blistering 5.76 pass in Q1. “I really wasn’t expecting it to go that fast, maybe a 5.79, but not a 5.76. John has been working really hard on looking at data to get the car ready for this. We made a couple of changes, like in the gearing, and have been happy so far,” Salemi said.
Rich Bruder ripped off 4.39-second pass during the second session of X275 qualifying. According to Nick Bruder, they had to work pretty had to get the car to run that number. ” Since we got the lockup converter taken away and weight hit we had to change a few things and just got it figured out. If the track is there we’re going to try and push it more on the 60 and 330 parts of the run.
NMCA Pro Mod racer Steve Summers was struggling in testing and Q1, but got his Camaro sorted out for Q2 on Friday. “We were having problems with the rules package at the event since they took away the lockup converter and we had to go to the smaller turbos. After we got it figured out the 5.84 at 253 happened. Our plan is to bump it up more going forward and try to move up the ladder,” Summers said.
Brian Chin Outlaw 10.5 nicked a piston pretty bad during Q2 on a 4.20 run after the engine dropped a valve. It’s the car’s first time out and it’s showing a lot of promise. They are trying to get the parts in so they can fix the car and make the show, they're not sure if they will make Q3 or not yet.
The Harrington brothers are working on pushing their twin-turbo Mustang towards the top of the Pro Street class. “We got softer on the hit with the tune so it didn’t reset the tires again making it wheelie towards the wall. The car was down about 6 mph so we’re tearing into the motor to see if there’s an issue causing it to be down on power. The goal is to get the car to run lower into the 4s for Saturday, “Harrington said.
Louie Scirotino is still trying to get a handle on his Musi powered C7 Corvette during Outlaw 10.5 qualifying on Friday. "The car is a Vanishing Point kit that me and my friends assembled in my shop along with mounting the body, motor, and transmission. We really didn't have much luck first couple of outings with the car, we started to get it figured out at Yellowbullet with a couple of 4.09 passes. This weekend we're trying a new converter setup to pick up more," Scirotino said.
Karie Ann Beebe is trying to get her Chevelle into the Pro Street field, but is having a fair amount of problems. “The first run we struggled and had a nitrous bottle that was empty after it sat in the hot box. We had to put a hot and cold bottle in so it only had about 500 pounds of line pressure. We’re also struggling with the car not coming up on the chip at the line. We’re trying to figure that out, and it will help the 60 foots a lot. It’s all about having fun and making the field for us, “Beebe said.
According to Kevin Gluski, crew member for Tom Kemp, their number one qualifying effort in Outlaw 10.5 came from a smart tune-up call made in the pits. "For that pass we played off what we learned in Q1 and made a couple of adjustments. The car wanted more timing down low so we added it and left the top end alone," Gluski explains.
sJohn Stanley decided he wanted to roll the dice and try to win the $5,000 Money Shot bonus during Q2 in Pro Mod. That risk paid off with a booming 3.68 pass to make him the current leader for the bonus. “That pass wasn’t something that came easy for the team. “We really didn’t know what it would do since we didn’t test at all for this weekend,” Stanley said.
Canadian racer Mike Gondziola ran a 5.84 on his quickest pass of the weekend behind the wheel of his stunning C7 Corvette. "We were hoping for low .80 or high .70, but the converter didn’t lock up on the pass. The plan is to add more down low, and get the converter solved to run faster in this fast field", Gondziola said
Alex Hays is trying to win back to back events after his huge win at the Yellowbullet Nationals in his all-motor Monster Mustang. “Right now we’re trying to get a handle on the air in the Midwest after Yellowbullet with the carb since it’s so different. As we pick away at the tune and make some jet changes, the car should pick up more in Q3,” Hays said.
Charlie Cooper made the switch to a 98mm Garrett for NMCA and NMRA Street outlaw and is at the Shakedown testing this weekend. Cooper is having some problems, but is in the field for the race. “Right now we’re fighting some transmission issues this weekend in the Pro Street class. I’ve gone through two transmissions this weekend and we’re not sure why yet,” Cooper explains.
The Bader family knows how to throw an event! Besides all the great racing, they had local band Trainwreck put on a great concert for the racers and fans.
