NMRA World Finals 2015

Inside The 2015 NMRA World Finals At Beech Bend Raceway

Don Creason
October 5, 2015

The weather has finally cleared and we’re racing at last here at the NMRA World Finals in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Sunday has brought with it action in every NMRA category. We’ve been entertained with some incredible action on the track, and some great exhibition runs by some of the stars of Street Outlws including Boosted GT and Mike Murillo.

It’s little surprise that after the only round of qualifying in Factory Stock Matt Amrine once again sits atop the ladder. Amrine was able to run a 10.77 et at 124.75 mph during his only qualifying attempt.
Teddy Weaver qualified number one in Pure Street with a 9.683 just ahead of Jimmy Wilson and Shawn Johnson.
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Shawn Johnson (left) and Jimmy Wilson (right) are qualified close enough to Weaver to make tonight's Pure Street elimination rounds extremely interesting.
While he’s not standing his car on the bumper and ripping through the first three gears at this year’s World Finals, Coyote Stock Racer Drew Lyons is looking to close out his season with a win at Bowling Green, and the Coyote Stock championship.
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'Farmer' Steve Gifford (left) and Michael Washington (right) are close enough in ET and points to ruin Lyons' weekend and his run at the Coyote Stock points championship. We'll see how this plays out in eliminations later tonight.

A fresh face to the NMRA this year, Haley James has had a storybook season in Coyote Modified. Her Hellion powered Fox body rocketed the teenage drag racing phenom to a 8.296 et at 162.63 mph. James is looking to close out the World Finals with a win and secure the Coyote Modified points championship in her rookie season. Such an effort would also (in our opinion) make her the most likely candidate for NMRA Rookie of the Year.
Fast Frank Varela and the Hellion ‘B Team’ sit atop the Renegade ladder. Not far behind however, are Alton Clements and Aaron Bates. Varela nailed the number one spot with a 7.784/180.81effort just edging out Clements who ran a 7.796/178.10
The title of number one qualifier in Street Outlaw belongs to Mr Phil Hines and his ProCharger powered machine. Hines ran a 4.54 at 168.72 to take the top spot.

There was plenty of additional action as well. With Dan Wilm’s Street Outlaw machine making the biggest show of the afternoon, standing on the bumper for 300 feet. While this put Wilm second to last on the qualifying ladder it quite likely made him a favorite of the ans and a viral video caught by us today.

Then of course there’s the grudge racing. Mike Murillo and Chris Hamilton aka Boosted GT, both of Street Outlaws fame (and Murillo a multi-time NMRA champion). These two are here to sign autographs and put on an entertaining show for the fans. A grudge race is said to be lined up between the pair, but most of the fans will have left before that match can happen as oil-downs and breakage takes it toll on the trackand sends us late into the night.

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Friday and Saturday rain has plagued the NMRA World Finals. There were limited runs during Friday’s test session before rain started coming down, cancelling the evening qualifying session.

Open Comp and Truck and Lightning were the only two classes to get a qualifying run in today.

Saturday hasn’t proved much better. Scattered rain showers have thwarted efforts by the Beech Bend staff to keep the track dry. NMRA managed to get one round of qualifying in for Truck and Lightning and Open Comp. With Super Stang and Modular Muscle in the lanes the skies have opened up once again, and the radar doesn’t look promising.

The forecast for tomorrow however, is sunny and temps in the mid-70s. We should get the full day of racing in with no problems, and a lot of great racing action.  Headsup qualifying will kick off at 10:30am Sunday morning. We’ll be back here with videos, photos and more then.

There’s a chill in the Kentucky air as the rumble of Ford horsepower shakes the bluegrass state. That can mean only one thing, the NMRA World Finals is rolling back into Beech Bend Raceway Park for the 2015 season. We’ll be there all weekend long shooting photos and video, interviewing racers, and car owners, and bringing you complete coverage of this event from the inside, as only StangTV can. So buckle up, stay tuned, and get ready. It’s World Finals time, and with a first-ever Grudge Night, EcoBoost shootout, and even more high powered action in store, this promises to be the biggest weekend of racing Bowling Green, Kentucky has ever seen.

Melissa Urist is making her debut in NMRA competition this weekend. Piloting the Hellion Power Systems twin turbo equipped Mustang GT, the fairer Urist showed she’s no slouch behind the wheel running a 9.95 during Thursday’s test ‘n tune session. We’ll be talking with Melissa and John Urist about this big racing career move later this weekend. For now, we can tell you that following that pass John told us there’s more in the combination, and that all of the parts on this car are straight from the Hellion catalog, meaning anyone can replicate this performance with their own ’15.

Racing for a special cause to support the family of a fallen police officer, Adam Cox brought his Modular Muscle powered Mustang out for a quick hit at test n tune. Bearing the Ponder 954 sticker on the hood, Cox pulled off a personal best ET during testing.

Terry “Beefcake” Reeves has two cars for Team Beefcake Racing here at the World Finals. We caught a quick video of his car making a pass during Thursday’s Test n Tune.

The EcoBoost shootout is this weekend, and Brad Gusler is the man everyone is gunning for. Gusler told us Thursday he has some new tricks up his sleeve for the competition. We watched him make a pass on Thursday afternoon and he’s currently working out a few tuning bugs.