It’s Sunday at the NMRA World Finals in Bowling Green, KY. What that means is it’s time for eliminations. Last night we saw temperatures fall into the 40s and with that drop, we also saw records fall in multiple classes. You can check out the ladders in our Saturday coverage. We are at the track waiting for eliminations to begin. Keep checking back here for the latest updates.
We’ve talked a great deal about Hines and Urist this weekend. Number 5 in qualifying and third in points, Andy Manson, has the potential to steal the championship depending on how the next two rounds go for him, Hines, and Urist.Val Clements went out in round one of Renegade to number one qualifier Bad Bart Tobener.
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Bart Tobener looks to have the Renegade championship clinched after Brian Mitchell failed to make the first round call.Brandon Alsept was one of three Coyote Stock cars to run a 10.3x in round one. Joe Charles, and Drew Lyons also ran these numbers, Coyote Stock could come down to these three this weekend.Terry Beefcake Reeves continues to dominate Coyote Modified in round one, taking a single run, Reeves, made a full pass running an 8.27 at 164.51
With his car back together after last night’s tear down, John Leslie Jr. points his Factory Stocker towards the sky in round one. Unfortunately Leslie’s efforts weren’t enough as he went out in round one.
In round two Frank Varela had to face off against Terry Beefcake Reeves. After a showdown in Joliet that ended with Varela timing out at the lights, the Hellion team was looking for some payback. In a side-by-side match that would decide the Coyote Modified points championship, Varela managed to pull Beefcake at the top end, going to the next round and clinching the points championship.The drama for the Street Outlaw championship continues to ratchet up the tension. Phil Hines took a competition single in round one and two, just tripping the lights and shutting the car off. John Urist out drove Shane Fisher to advance to the semi-finals, where he and Hines will face off. Andy Manson also advanced in a dramatic pedal fest against Dwayne Barbaree.Justin Burcham is on a tear in the Turbo Coyote shootout, running deep in the 7-second zone.
Finals
It has been a weekend filled with awesome racing at the NMRA World Finals. The performances put on by the racers in attendance have been nothing short of astounding. Fantastic temperatures, a sticky track surface, and racers fighting for championships have contributed to this high-energy weekend.
Factory Stock
James Meredith has owned Factory Stock this weekend, and the final was no different. Facing off for the event win against Fogelsonger, Meredith took an easy win running a 10.79 after Fogelsonger lit the red bulb.
Coyote Stock
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Records have fallen and the close parity of Coyote Stock has brought out some awesome racing this weekend. Steve Gifford took out top qualifier Hi-Po Joe Charles in the semi-finals, while Darin Hendricks took a competition single, and Drew Lyons pointed the front tires to the sky in the far lane grabbing second with the front end hanging way out there to take out Jacob Lamb. Gifford proceeded to take out Hendricks in the semi-final while Lyons took the competition single. Steve Gifford faced off against Drew Lyons in the Coyote Stock final, it was a repeat of a race at Thornhill months ago, with the two competitors side by side the whole trip down the trap. At the stripe it was Gifford, who had tree’d Lyons. Gifford’s 10.43/124 beats out Lyons’s 10.43/127
Pure Street
Teddy Weaver was working on a perfect season in Pure Street (This photo is from qualifying) In the final it was Weaver vs Jimmy Wilson. In the end Weaver made it magic, capping an undefeated season with the win over Wilson. Weaver ran a 9.66/138 to Wilson’s close 9.72/138
Coyote Modified
Dyno Joe Cram made his way to Bowling Green all the way from Texas. After qualifying it looked like Cram could be the underdog in eliminations. After running the fastest pass in the semi-finals, he went on to face Frank Varela in the final.
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Cram got the hole-shot on Varela in the final, cutting .058 light to Varela's .061. Dyno Joe rode the back tires several hundred feet. The crowd cheered, but it wasn't enough to get Cram the event win he was looking for. Varela had caught him by the 60-foot mark and took the event win and the points championship with a 8.30/166 to Cram's 8.56/165
Renegade
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Left; Bad Bart Tobener faced off against last year's Renegade points runner up Adam Arndt in the Renegade final. With the points championship wrapped up for Tobener, this was for the event win. Arndt pushed through the beams at the starting line tripping the red bulb. Tobener made a full blast and closed out his season with a very nice 8.02 at 170 MPH.
Street Outlaw
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The big matchup in Street Outlaw was Phil Hines vs John Urist. Unfortunately Hines's car got loose after lifting the tires around 100 feet. Hines went into the wall around the 330 mark but coasted off the track and was ok. Urist came to the starting line where he should have faced Manson. When Manson was unable to make the final round, Urist took the beams and became the 2014 Street Outlaw Champion.
It’s a beautiful Saturday morning in Bowling Green, KY, the sky has cleared out, the rain is gone, and we’re ready for some more qualifying in the top classes, as well as the remaining rounds for other classes. The high temperate today is only forecast at 58 degrees! We expect with this cool weather, and a sticky track, we could see some records fall today.
We’ll be updating as fast as the track wi-fi connection will allow us to upload, so keep checking back here all weekend.
Conditions should be favorable for a whole lot of this today.John The Fireball Urist, is locked in a close points battle with Phil Hines. Hines currently sits atop the Street Outlaw points standings, but the margin is only 40 points. The Street Outlaw title comes down to this weekend’s race.We talked with Mr Open Comp himself, Larry Geddes, who’s watching the weather factors closely for his qualifying strategy.Darin Hendricks is currently third in Coyote Stock points, after his first full season in the class. It’s mathematically possible for someone to unseat points leader Shane Stymiest, but to do so would require Stymiest to go out early.The always smiling Kennady Jones made the trek from Florida to give the boys a run in Truck and Lightning.
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Steve Moberly thrashed to repair the transmission in his big yellow Fairmont before heading to Beech Bend this week After experimenting with an automatic, and then switching back to a Tremec, Adam Cox is looking for low 10s, or even high 9s in Modular Muscle. The conditions today couldn’t be better for his attempt at a personal best.We caught up with Hi-Po Joe Charles this morning, while the dew was still wet on his Honey Badger 2.0 Coyote Stocker. He told us that fast pass from last night was with some extreme wheel spin on the starting line. With good air today we could see a very low 10 out of the Coyote Stockers, possibly a new record.
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True streeters were making some awesome test hits this morning. We expect at least three cars in the 7-second zone later today. Jacob Lamb was hosting a raffle to help out the Borgia family, who lost their son’s Jr Draster in a recent garage fire. Up for auction are some awesome prizes including AutoMeter gauges, a Snap-On tool set, a hood, and more. Tickets are just a $1, and all the money is going to a great cause.
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In the car show there are some beautiful cars. Including Phil Heacock's recently completed Keith Allison built '69, complete with Pro Touring suspension, and a blown Coyote under the hood. We saw numerous Coyote swapped Foxes in the show, showing us the trend is going this way with Fox body Mustangs.
Qualifying for heads up classes is up next, keep checking back here as we’ll update as quickly as possible.
Round two of qualifying is in the books and here’s how it shook out for the headsup classes.
Teddy Weaver continues his dominance in Pure Street in round two qualifying with a blistering 9.73 at 137 MPHDrew Lyons pointed the nose towards the sky for our cameras in Coyote stock.
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Hi-Po Joe Charles Continues To Sit Atop The Coyote Stock Heap, backing up last night's performance with an even faster number today. He destroyed the class record in round two of qualifying. With temperatures dropping into the 40s this evening could we see a 10.2x pass for the first time in Coyote Stock? The VMP Tuning, GT500 vs Terminator Shootout continues to be hot with several cars deep into the 8-second zone.Our cameras can not get enough of Steve Moberly’s yellow Fairmont. Jay Dold continues to dominate the qualifying in the class, and all Factory Stock competitors face a grueling tear down tonight by NMRA Tech.
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Bad Bart Tobener (left) continues to be the man to beat in Renegade running an 8.10 in round two, however Alton Clemments Sr. (right) is right on his heels with an impressive 8.13 There are two big stories in Street Outlaw this afternoon. The first is Ronnie Diaz, The ModFather. In round two qualifying Diaz’s car got out of the left lane groove and crossed the center line somewhere past the 330 mark. The car struck the right side concrete barrier hard. Fortunately Ronnie walked away from the crash, and we’re fairly certain we’ll see the ModFather back in action next season.
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The other big story in Street Outlaw is the battle royale between points leader Phil HInes and the number two contender John Urist. Both have brought their A-game to Beech Bend. In dramatic fashion these two capped off Street Outlaw qualifying by going head to head in a match that dissapoint. When it was all said and done, it was Urist in the left lane with a 6.95 at 200.65 to Hines’s better 6.87 at 202. Hines sets a new record and is number one qualifier. We found out shortly after this pass that Hines’s car lost a head gasket and he won’t make round three in the cool evening air. Could Urist or Barbaree catch him?The 2015 Mustang made its NMRA and national drag racing event on-track debut today with some help from SCT.
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The S550 didn't dissapoint running a 12.56 at 107 MPH in its NMRA Debut. Charlie Cooper and crew were thrashing in the pits Saturday evening doing an engine swap.
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In spite of some awesome track prep efforts by the Beech Bend and NMRA crews, and excellent weather conditions. no one could catch Phil Hines in Street Outlaw. The picture didn’t change much in Renegade during round three. Johnny Lightning managed a quick pass down the track, but no one has been able to catch Bad Bart Tobener.Valerie Clements has been fighting issues all day long and her last qualifying pass was no different. Hopefully Val and her crew can sort out the issues before tomorrow’s eliminations.Coyote Stock continued to be a place where racers were finding a little more, thanks to the cool weather, and adjustments. Brandon Alsept went out and put Hi-Po Joe on notice, screaming through the gears to a 10.32, just a tick faster than Hi-Po’s 10.33 from the previous round.
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The cool autumn air in Beech Bend was making for one awesome night of racing. Hi-Po Joe Charles hung back to the end of the Coyote Stock group. After watching Alsept run a 10.32, Hi-Po brought his A-game to the line and clicked off a new class record, 10.29 ET, the first Coyote Stock competition pass in the 10.20s Terry Beefcake Reeves has been thrashing on his Coyote Modified ride since his win at Joliet back in July. The hard work of Beefcake and the FInish Line Performance crew paid off tonight with a record shattering 8.18 ET. Beef’s car hooked, pulled the wheels, and he drove it home to the number one qualifying spot by a long shot.
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That does it for us for Saturday, we’ll have the official ladders, the rest of the qualifying sheets and all the eliminations action tomorrow. The weather forecast is for another beautiful day in Beech Bend and we can’t wait for eliminations.
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It’s time for the 2014 NMRA World Finals from Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, KY. This is the oldest repeating venue on the NMRA schedule, and there’s a good reason that the Ford Racing juggernaut comes back here year after year. Beech Bend loves the Mustang crowd. The weekend forecast is calling for cool temps by Friday evening, and an even cooler Saturday and Sunday, ensuring that records will fall, and the crowds will be thick.
Thousands of spectators, hundreds of racers, and car show fanatics are on hand to take part in this once a year extravaganza of all that is good about the Mustang scene. Of course we’ll be bringing you updates and photos all weekend long as the event progresses. So keep checking back here, it’s going to be one awesome weekend.
GT500 Six Speed World Record Holder Mark “Birddoc” Duber is here, with his revamped GT500. The car has been completely overhauled by London Chassis and Dyno since setting the GT500 six-speed record in Maryland this spring. Birddoc’s ride is making way more power, and he’s looking to go even faster at his home track in the cool Kentucky Autumn Air.Fresh off his win at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Drag Racing in Joliet, IL, Terry “Beefcake” Reeves has also been busy during the long, late season break. Our cameras caught Beefcake testing during a private track rental Wednesday. We’re looking for the Vortech Sponsored and Finish Line Performance built Mustang GT to stay in the hunt for a points title in a close battle with Frank Varela and the Hellion team.Also testing on Wednesday was the VMP Tuning Crew, and Mrs VMP herself, Rebecca Starkey. Ripping off some fast ET’s, Rebecca and her Husband, VMP Head Honcho Justin Starkey, were discussing which class the mother of four should race in this weekend.Birddoc is on the hunt for another six-speed record. Will the cool air, and major updates to the car do the trick?
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It's always good to see the Modfather smiling upon you. We caught up with Ronnie Diaz in the pits, just like everyone else in Street Outlaw, he's looking to lay down some big numbers this weekend.
Rain has kept the track wet for most of the day, but late day sunshine, combined with extra effort from the Beech Bend staff lead to some great passes in the evening qualifying session, this was before another rain storm surprised everyone with torrential rains ending qualifying for the night. Gates will open up early at 8am, with qualifying set for 9am.
After round one of qualifying, Jay Dold sits atop the Factory Stock field with a 10.76 ET at 123.88 MPH.Teddy Weaver is number one in Pure Street after round one, with a 9.72/137.95.
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Hot on Weaver's tail was Jimmy Wilson, who stood his car on the bumper on the way to an ET of 9.77 at over 138 MPH. Coyote Stock is featuring its biggest field ever with 18 cars making the call for first round qualifying.Hi-Po Joe Charles tested at Beech Bend just a few short weeks ago, and has been working on his combo prior to the world finals. That work has paid off. After round one qualifying Charles has the Coyote Stock field covered by over a half-tenth.Just four cars showed up for Coyote Modified. Frank Valera dominated round one in his Hellion powered machine running a first round qualifying pass of 8.54/163.87The VMP Tuning GT500 vs Terminator class is packed full of heavy hitters. This one will certainly be entertaining to watch this weekend.After switching to an automatic earlier this year, Adam Cox thrashed before the World Finals to put a Tremec back in the tunnel. Cox is still trying to sort the car back out, but we expect some fast times from his Carb’d DOHC combo this weekend in Modular Muscle.
It’s Sunday at the NMRA World Finals in Bowling Green, KY. What that means is it’s time for eliminations. Last night we saw temperatures fall into the 40s and with that drop, we also saw records fall in multiple classes. You can check out the ladders in our Saturday coverage. We are at the track waiting for eliminations to begin. Keep checking back here for the latest updates.
That does it for us for Saturday, we’ll have the official ladders, the rest of the qualifying sheets and all the eliminations action tomorrow. The weather forecast is for another beautiful day in Beech Bend and we can’t wait for eliminations.
It’s time for the 2014 NMRA World Finals from Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, KY. This is the oldest repeating venue on the NMRA schedule, and there’s a good reason that the Ford Racing juggernaut comes back here year after year. Beech Bend loves the Mustang crowd. The weekend forecast is calling for cool temps by Friday evening, and an even cooler Saturday and Sunday, ensuring that records will fall, and the crowds will be thick.
