Our friends at SCT Performance were again well-represented at last weekend’s NMRA Ford Nationals Series event at the Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Oh., with Renegade competitor Valerie Clements and Truck & Lightning racers Johnny Lightning and Kennady Jones carrying the SCT banner into race day.
Clements, behind the wheel of her 310-inch small block Ford-powered Mustang, qualified No. 5 in Renegade with a solid 8.551-second, 159.46 mph effort, earning her a date with Charlie Cooper in Sunday’s first round. Clements was better off the starting line and quicker on the race track in the opening stanza, running an 8.61 to Cooper’s trailing 9.02. The way the ladder stacked up, however, forced Clements to meet reigning series champion and class frontunner Brian Mitchell in the second round. Despite gaining a slight .041 to .061 advantage out of the gate, Mitchell was just able to run the SCT Performance machine down at the stripe, 8.51 to 8.55.
In Truck & Lightning, Johnny Lightning advanced to the second round on a foul start by first round opponent Jimmy Cantrell, then benefited from another red light by Joseph Matthews. In the semifinals, however, Lightning’s run came to an end, as Fred Wade was a killer .011 out of the gate and dead-on the dial, sending Johnny back home to Pennsylvania. Fellow SCT running mate Kennady Jones didn’t fare as well in the Truck competition, as she dropped her first round match with MJ Ranchero when her 2001 Ford Lightning pickup couldn’t run the number despite a big jump out of the starting gate.
The SCT gang will be back in action next month at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing, where they’ll be joined by Mike Murillo and his twin-turbo Ford Mustang in the Super Street 10.5W ranks. For more information on SCT Performance, their product, and the winning racers that use them, log on to sctflash.com.