NMRA/NMCA Joliet Super Bowl 2012 Same Day Coverage

It’s that time of the year for the NMCA and NMRA to join forces and race in the Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing at the Route 66 Raceway in Joliet. Stay tuned all weekend for the race coverage.

Special thanks to our event coverage sponsor SCT Performance. Check out their fine line of tuners, including the new iTSX, at www.sctflash.com.

For our NMCA coverage thread, please click here.

DSC_7752-640x412 — The warm weather hasn't kept the crowd away, as the car show continues to fill up and eager muscle car fanatics fill the pit area and the vast Manufacturer's Midway.

DSC_7758-640x425 — It's hot here in Joliet. 88 degrees hot, with a forecasted high of 90 degrees and a relentless sun beating down on the crowd and the racing surface. The heat played a role in some interesting stories in the first round of eliminations, and it should once again play a role as round two takes to the Route 66 quarter-mile this afternoon.

Eliminations Round 2 Notes

Pro Outlaw 10.5W

Lane	Name	Number	Dial In	R/T	ET	MPH
L	Tim Essick	1003	0.00	-.003	6.834	207.18
R	David DeMarco	2012	0.00	.263	7.365	156.75

L	Eric LaFerraiere	2001	0.00	.058	6.709	222.99
R	Willard Kinzer	2605	0.00	.264	6.714	220.44

L	Steve Summers	2918	0.00	1.148	6.930	195.96
R	Tony Nesbitt	2999	0.00		0.000	0.00

L	Mike Murillo	1	0.00	.060	6.730	219.40
R	Mikey Rees	2025	0.00	.118	7.007	204.35

Drag Radial

Relentless is the best term to describe Jason Lee's performance this weekend. In the heat of the day, Lee cracked off another 7.4-second lap -- a 7.47 -- to defeat Dan Kroll. Lee will meet Ronnie Diaz, who advanced when Aaron Stapleton had a small fire at the line, in the final round later this afternoon.

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There was no backfire through Aaron Stapleton's Mustang, though something caught on fire under the engine bay which scrapped his semi final run.

Lane	Name	Number	Dial In	R/T	ET	MPH
L	Jason Lee	1	0.00	.104	7.478	189.39
R	Dan Kroll	6116	0.00	.086	12.316	86.59

L	Aaron Stapleton	6102	0.00		0.000	0.00
R	Ronnie Diaz	6	0.00	.688	18.125	53.20

Renegade

Lane	Name	Number	Dial In	R/T	ET	MPH
L	Alton Clements	4126	0.00	.054	8.684	157.58
R	Brian Mitchell	1	0.00	.269	8.458	162.51

L	Scott Grove	4000	0.00	.086	8.569	159.61
R	Adam Arndt	4004	0.00	.287	8.703	159.04

L
R	Bob Cook	3	0.00	.343	8.723	159.10

Hot Street

Lane	Name	Number	Dial In	R/T	ET	MPH
L	Andy Schmidt	5088	0.00	.020	8.624	158.13
R	Greg Delaney	8G	0.00	.065	8.654	161.44

L	Charlie Booze JR.	3398	0.00	.039	8.516	153.89
R	Don Baskin	3B	0.00	.060	8.504	157.12

Factory Stock

Lane	Name	Number	Dial In	R/T	ET	MPH
L	Michael Washington	6116	0.00	.264	11.248	120.55
R	Alan Cann	6	0.00	.157	11.147	119.52

L	Louis Sylvester	2	0.00	.105	11.426	122.13
R	Carlos Sobrino	1	0.00	.151	10.954	123.68

L	John Leslie Jr	4	0.00	.096	13.233	74.90
R	Matt Amrine	6000	0.00	.101	11.186	111.76

Mike Murillo suffered from a broken shaft on his shaft mount rocker in the semi finals. Since he is the representative for NMRA's Pro Outlaw 10.5W class, the team is trying to get the car back together for the Super Bowl race.

Final Round Eliminations

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Super Bowl – NMRA Wins!

Truck & Lightning winner Johnny Lightning had quite a wait, but chased down the Duster of Nostalgia Muscle Car winner Jerry Stamps, 9.24 to 11.95, to put one on the board for the NMRA team.

The two Open Comp representatives, Les Bigelow in his ’73 Camaro and Rodney Ward in his ’65 Mustang, squared off in the third matchup. Bigelow got the advantage out of the gate and ran dead-on his 10.21 dial to turn back Ward.

Nostalgia Super Stock champ Joe Ewing and Open Comp winner Donnie Bowles were split a half a second in elapsed time in this fourth match. Ewing got away first and was never headed, running dead-on his 10.50 index while Bowles encountered what appeared to be axle woes near half track and slowed. Ewing adds another point to the NMCA total with his win.

The racer known as "Beefcake," Terry Reeves, put a second point on the board for team NMRA by defeating EFI winner John McPartlin, who fouled away his chances with an -.023 red bulb. Reeves cruised on to a 9.69 winning elapsed time.

Mean Street winner Jeremy Gillam was wheels-up and charging to his quickest run of the weekend, a 9.86, to chase down Factory Stock champion Matt Amrine to make it 3-2 NMCA.

Coyote Stock champ Joe Charles was too early on the tree, and that instantly handed another point to team NMCA, as Bill Trovato cruised to the win to make it 4-2 NMCA.

With the Hot Street and Pro Stock categories combined this weekend, the finalists were brought back for a re-match for the team showdown -- Charlie Booze Jr. representing the NMRA and Schmidt the NMCA. Once again, Booze denied Schmidt in an exciting drag race with side-by-side 8.51's to add a point to the NMRA total.

Only two tenths separated this pair, with Lee locked in at 7.42 and Kroll at 7.63. Kroll was away first, .078 to .151, and was too much for Lee to chase down, blasting to a 7.54 to Lee's wheels-up and charging 7.47.

Brian Mitchell left first in this one and left first by a good margin as Joe Bucaro was dead-late with a .212 reaction time. Mitchell reeled off a great 8.47 and Bucaro's 7.29 wasn't enough to run the Renegade champ down.

This race brought down the house here at Route 66! With the NMCA ahead 5-4 and only one more match remaining, this was a decisive race for the NMRA. Hines way away away first and LaFerriere was dead-late, and that was all-she-wrote on this one. Hines knocked out his best run all weekend, a 7.19, to outrun the charging 6.80 of LaFerriere. With this, it was 5-4 NMCA.

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After breaking a valve in the semifinals of Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W, everyone thought they'd seen the last of Mike Murillo. That was, until he rolled out from underneath the Route 66 tower alongside Pro Street champ Don Walsh Jr. as the designated representative of the NMRA squad. Walsh had the quicker reaction time and was tracking down Murillo in a hurry, but the Precision turbo machine made one pass too many this weekend, letting go with a loud 'pop' at half track and trailing a long plume of smoke through the shutdown area as Murillo sailed to victory at 7.07-seconds, 189.23 mph to give the NMRA it's fifth overall title in seven editions of this exciting annual showdown. And the NMRA team, as they say, went wild!

Special thanks to our event coverage sponsor SCT Performance. Check out their fine line of tuners, including the new iTSX, at www.sctflash.com.

For our NMCA coverage thread, please click here.

Yesterday’s Highlight Videos

We talked to Don Walsh about his first return to the NMRA/NMCA since 2006

Qualifying Round 1 – All heads up classes

Final Qualifying Order

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It wasn't but two years ago when we saw John Kolivas show up in Super Street Outlaw with a set of drag radials on his Mustang in a slick tire dominated class...in turn to dominate the class himself. While initially Kolvias tried to run a set of 315 drag radials in Super Street Outlaw, he resorted to a set of 275s to meet the maximum tire width allowed. At the end of the 2010 season, 275 radials were banned from SSO. Now mid way through the 2012 season, they are now allowed again, and with a first round bye to the finals, John Urist equips his Mustang with a set of Mickey Thompson's new 275 PROs to see how the work with his combination.

Carlos Sobrino was able to step up his qualifying efforts in the last round of Factory Stock by taking over the number one spot from Matt Amrine with a 10.847 at 124.20 pass to Matt's close 10.957 @ 121.45.

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While number one qualifier Justin Burcham comfortably sat out the last round of qualifying in Coyote Stock, Joe Charles was able to step up to the second spot with the second 10-second run in the class - a 10.940 at 122.86 mph. Last night Charles would suffer from clutch problems that prompted a late night change.

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Jason Lee maintained the number one spot in 275 drag radial with a 7.563 at 188.49 mph pass, though the guy to keep your eye on is Aaron Stapleton in his newly-built Fast Forward Race cars Mustang. On his first outing Stapleton managed to take second in qualifying with a 7.621 at 183.39 mph blast.

Eliminations Round 1

Factory Stock

L	Matthew Williams	10	0.00	.100	11.665	115.45
R	Michael Washington	6116	0.00	.131	11.296	120.62

L	Kermit Buffington	6385	0.00	.138	11.644	118.03
R	Louis Sylvester	2	0.00	.151	11.204	121.86

L	Sondra Leslie	6660	0.00	.249	12.949	73.34
R	Matt Amrine	6000	0.00	.185	10.959	121.35

L	John Leslie Jr	4	0.00	.144	11.468	119.36
R	John Leslie Sr	5	0.00	.496	11.953	114.68

L	Bart Welte	6378	0.00	.136	12.376	112.81
R	Alan Cann	6	0.00	.152	11.159	119.32

L	Carlos Sobrino	1	0.00	1.607	19.388	74.38
R

Coyote Stock

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Coyote Stock number one qualifier Justin Burcham was have some noticeable problems with his Coyote powerplant. While the actual problem is unknown, it looks like the fuel system was dumping excessive fuel into the motor and causing an extremely rich state. Burcham had to constantly rev the Mustang to keep it from dying. He ended up loosing to Coyote Stock new comer Jacob Lamb

Lane	Name	Number	Dial In	R/T	ET	MPH
L	Joe Charles	5001	0.00	.140	10.888	123.75
R	Joe Guertin	5143	0.00	.195	11.316	118.53

L	Jacob Lamb	5004	0.00	.092	11.126	121.88
R	Justin Burcham	5002	0.00	.010	11.649	114.35

Drag Radial

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Aaron Stapleton (left) advanced to round two in the debut of Fast Forward Race Cars' brand new 275 Radial machine, carding a very competitive 7.68 to down Mike Alwardt. Jason Lee, meanwhile, did what he does best, crushing the hopes and dreams of everyone else in the category with a best-of-the-event 7.42 on his first round solo.

Lane	Name	Number	Dial In	R/T	ET	MPH
L	Mike Alwardt	10097	0.00	.061	8.221	180.94
R	Aaron Stapleton	6102	0.00	.039	7.682	182.97

L	Andrew Burian	10143	0.00	1.981	9.484	151.31
R	Dan Kroll	6116	0.00	.106	7.634	184.67

L
R	Jason Lee	1	0.00	.040	7.428	190.70

L	Georgina Buckley	6015	0.00		0.000	0.00
R	Ronnie Diaz	6	0.00	1.112	33.371	0.00

Renegade

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The holeshot victory of the round in Renegade went to Bob Cook who muscled Chad Almandinger on the tree, .070 to Chad's .172. Margin of victory at the stripe was .042 of a second.

Lane	Name	Number	Dial In	R/T	ET	MPH
L	Alton Clements	4126	0.00	.054	8.596	157.08
R	Valerie Clements	4125	0.00	.028	9.057	151.53

L	Bob Cook	3	0.00	.070	8.579	159.42
R	Chad Almandinger	4049	0.00	.172	8.519	161.56

L	Scott Grove	4000	0.00	.134	8.539	158.45
R	Tim Matherly	4200	0.00	.040	9.063	147.05

L	John Keller	4084	0.00		0.000	0.00
R	Adam Arndt	4004	0.00	.431	8.662	159.32

L
R	Brian Mitchell	1	0.00	.908	17.154	56.61

Super Street Outlaw

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Jaws dropped on John Urist's Super Street Outlaw run where he reset the all-time low record on 275 drag radials with a 7.096 at 201.97 mph. As we reported earlier, Urist had equipped his New Edge Mustang with Mickey Thompson's latest 275 PRO tire. We are certain that Urist is completely capable of running the first 6-second Super Street Outlaw pass in better weather conditions.

Lane	Name	Number	Dial In	R/T	ET	MPH
L	Fred Whitcomb	2315	0.00	.547	8.938	112.26
R	Phil Hines	3	0.00	.103	7.167	202.42

L
R	John Urist	1	0.00	.093	7.096	201.97

Pro Outlaw 10.5W

Mike Murillo popped off the quickest lap of the opening round - a 6.64 - to defeat one-time Xtreme Street racer Enzo Pecchini.

Lane	Name	Number	Dial In	R/T	ET	MPH
L	Ted Pelech	2091	0.00	.013	11.869	135.71
R	Steve Summers	2918	0.00	.424	6.772	211.76

L	Frank Mewshaw	2840	0.00	.078	8.249	155.08
R	Mikey Rees	2025	0.00	.113	7.984	189.55

L	Eric LaFerraiere	2001	0.00	.024	6.777	221.60
R	Tommy Mauro	2810	0.00	.098	7.376	191.02

L	Tim Essick	1003	0.00	.033	7.250	201.94
R	Bill Houghton	2008	0.00		0.000	0.00

L	David DeMarco	2012	0.00	.322	9.678	96.19
R	David Laurer	2009	0.00		0.000	0.00

L	Brian Hicks	2930	0.00	.043	7.008	212.13
R	Tony Nesbitt	2999	0.00	.132	6.758	210.11

L	Joe Priola	2015	0.00		0.000	0.00
R	Willard Kinzer	2605	0.00	.231	7.459	188.23

L	Mike Murillo	1	0.00	.085	6.646	221.38
R	Enzo Pecchini	2521	0.00	.137	12.353	71.56

Hot Street

Lane	Name	Number	Dial In	R/T	ET	MPH
L	Charlie Booze JR.	3398	0.00	.077	8.536	152.57
R	Shane Long	8	0.00	.022	9.087	145.64

L	Andy Schmidt	5088	0.00	.151	8.608	157.21
R	David Purlee	3116	0.00	.105	9.539	141.50

L	Don Bowles	3	0.00	.178	10.353	119.00
R	Greg Delaney	8G	0.00	.088	8.677	152.14

L	Don Baskin	3B	0.00	.063	8.562	154.88
R	Michael DeMayo	5117	0.00	.048	8.581	154.49

Special thanks to our event coverage sponsor SCT Performance. Check out their fine line of tuners, including the new iTSX, at www.sctflash.com.

For our NMCA coverage thread, please click here.

Notes From The Pits

At the NMRA’s race in Milan, John Urist suffered from a parachute failure that resulted in his Fox body Mustang going off on the top end of the track.

While the four time championship winning Mustang wasn’t totaled, it did suffer a great deal of damage. Being the front runner if the Super Street Outlaw points standings and looking for his sixth championship in a row, Urist resulted to resurrecting the legendary ’01.

The New Edge Mustang was built by Mike Duffy Race Cars and known affectionately as “Big Red”. The vehicle was suppose to be campaigned by Dwayne James in Pro Outlaw 10.5 with a 417-inch, Edelbrock SC-1-headed powerplant, mated with a class-legal 123mm ProCharger. Urist had previously won the 2003, 2006, and 2007 championship with this Mustang.

For the many who live and breathe the sport of drag racing, the very thought of never being able to drive again is one they simply don’t wish to face or ponder. But in the fall of 2009, veteran NMRA competitor AJ Powell encountered a fear that went far beyond the scope of his drag racing future.

At the young age of five, Powell was diagnosed with diabetes and as the years progressed, so to did the degree of health concerns related to the metabolic disease. But despite the difficulties that such a situation presents to one in their daily lives, AJ pressed forward like a soldier and contended with the cards that he was dealt.

But after nearly getting his new combination completed, Powell has decided that it might be too great of a risk to go back racing and is taking a, “family first” approach by putting his Mustang up for sale.

What you see protruding from the hood is a nasty PSI “D” rotor screw supercharger, mounted atop a 500-cubic inch HEMI powerplant featuring Total Flow cylinder heads, destined for Outlaw 10.5 competition in 2011. The engine made over 3300hp on the dyno and he is currently asking $125,000 for the complete turn-key race car.

During the NMCA's last race at MIR, Super Street standout Tim Essick suffered some damage as he collided with the wall at mid-track. Essick is currently leading the Pro Outlaw 10.5 points with a narrow, 25-point margin over defending champion Mike Murillo. Word on the street is that Essick has fixed his Mustang and is in route to Joliet for the race.

The NMCA is also racing at Joliet this weekend. For their coverage thread, click the link at the top of the page.

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It's a Leslie dominated Factory stock with father John Sr, son John Jr, and sister Sondra all race in the class. As reported on the NMRA blog, Sondra Leslie recently broke the 10-second barrier in Factory Stock trim. Her Coyote 5-liter powered S197 Mustang was recently tuned up by JPC Racing and immediately hit up the New England Dragway for testing. After a new best 60-foot time of 1.46, the numbers at the top end flashed 10.96 at 122 mph.

Speaking of Coyotes,we found current points leader Joe Charles pitted next to fellow class racer Joe Guertin. After Bradenton, Guertin switched his 5-speed backed four-eye over to an easier to drive C4. Also, Justin Burcham who joined the Coyote Stock class at the MIR race, has made his way to second place spot in short time. Believe it or not, the stock Coyote engine from the 2011 Mustang had to be swapped for a sealed Coyote Stock-legal engine from Ford Racing, which has been paired to pro-shifted Tremec TKO-600 transmission.

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The ageless Willard Kinzer, now 84 years of age, isn't slowing down any, but rather, is just finding ways to get quicker and faster. Kinzer has a brand new (to him) Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W machine here. David Wolfe, whom Kinzer purchased his familiar Super Street Fox body two years ago, did some work to this car before the Kentucky businessman purchased it last fall. Kinzer made a lap in the car last season, clocking a 6.74 in his very first pass down the race track. 'So far, I'm really enjoying the way this new car drives, but we're working to get me more comfortable with it, and that's our goal this weekend,' said Kinzer.

Qualifying Sheets After Round 2

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Qualifying Round 1 and 2 Highlights

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Down Bowles cruised right into the No. 2 slot with an 8.56, just a hundredth behind class elader andy Schmidt at 8.55. Perennial favorite Charlie Booze Jr. was quicker than Schmidt to each of the early intervals before slowing to just a 9.74.

DSC_7079-Edit — Don Walsh Jr. was one of several heads-up racers to take a crack at the blisteringly hot race track this afternoon prior to the lanes closing for test 'n tune. Walsh, like so many others today, danced around earlr in the run and wisely lifted, coasting to an 8.10 following a nice 1.01 short time.

DSC_7092-Edit-Edit — In the Midwest, heat and humidity often equates to rain and thunderstorms, and the forecast for this weekend certainly contains some of that. We've managed to avoid showers in the Chicago areas thus far, but the ominous clouds have overtaken the sunlight as the first round of qualifying for Truck/Lightning and EFI await in the staging lanes.

Mike Murillo encountered mechanical woes at the drop of the green and was towed off. The current national record holder at 6.49-seconds will no doubt be back in tonight's improved conditions for another shot at it.

Photo Jul 13, 7 41 26 PM — Don Walsh Jr. was all over the race track early on and pedaled his way to a 6.88 at 199 mph.

Steve Matusek made a hard move toward the centerline and made an impressive evasive move to keep from collectting the foam 330-foot timing block.

John Leslie Jr. created some fireworks during the second session of NMRA Factory Stock qualifying.

Jason Lee cruised to the top of the Drag Radial qualifying order with a 7.56 in the second session under the Route 66 lights.

Charlie Booze Jr. put together a full run this time around to the tune of an 8.54, but unfortunately, Andy Schmidt in the other lane put together a little bit better one, carding an 8.53 to lead the Hot Street/Pro Stock field into Saturday's final session.

Tim Essick has arrived! After a several week scramble following his crash in Maryland, the Essick team made the long haul to Chicago today and made it here in time to tech in and make a pass in the second session of Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W. Essick hopped and skated just of the starting line and slowed.

It was slim pickin's in Super Street Outlaw with only three cars currently qualified in the class. Sitting on top is none other than John Urist with a 7.250 at 199.70 mph. In the second spot is Phil Hines who lifted on his run after getting out of shape.

Brian Mitchell showed everyone in Renegade why he has the number one sticker on his New Edge by qualifying number one thus far with a 8.460 at 164.05 mph.

The lone wolf, or should we say, the only true Coyote in Coyote Stock currently sits number one in the class. If you don't get what we are throwing down, we are talking about Justin Burcham in the 2011 Mustang that managed a 10.891 at 122.61 mph qualifying pass, less than a tenth away from the Coyote stock record.

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Between a mid-day rain storm and an evening time crash, we had to call it quits partially through the second round of Pro Outlaw 10.5W. That means that Super Street Outlaw and Pro Street did not get a second round and tomorrow morning will start a fresh third round of qualifying.