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.

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.

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

Davd DeMarco benefited from Tim Essicks' scant -.003 red light in the second round of Super Street/Pro Outlaw 10.5W, as Essick ran a quicker 6.83 to his slowing 7.36. Mike Murillo would go on to beat Mikey Reese, who had a hard time keeping his Mustang straight down the track.
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.
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

Alton Clements knew he needed to pull some tricks out of the bag to beat Brian Mitchell in the Renegade quarter finals. Clements double bulbed Mitchell, which caused Mitchell to be late on his reaction time (.269). At the end of the track it was close, but Mitchell still managed to win by .011 of a second.
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

It was Charlie Booze's right foot (a .039 light to Baskin's .060) that gave him the win in the semi final matchup of Hot Street, as Booze would come away with the holeshot win with a 8.516 to a 8.504
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
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.
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!