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We’re here at Day Two of the Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois, and the NMRA’s stars are in the lanes right now for their third round of qualifying. We’ll be back shortly after that round is complete to bring you some up-to-date information before they head back out late this afternoon and evening for the first round of eliminations. Stay tuned all day to our same-day coverage!
Left - Shane Stymiest retained the top spot in Coyote Stock in today's third round of qualifying. Although he didn't go any quicker than the 10.55 he ran last night, he did make a pass in the mid-.60's letting out of it early against last year's champ, Joe Charles. Stymiest will have the bye in the first round of competition. Right - Charles gave it his best shot at Stymiest in their pairing, but when we caught up with him in the pits he was a bit perturbed at the fact that he can't seem to catch Stymiest. 'We were about even in the 60-foot, but by the 330 he had put a couple of numbers on me and was just pulling away from me. He dumped it early...I guess we have to get back to work.' Charles thinks that he's got more changes to make in the clutch department to make up the difference, and freely admits that Stymiest has one of the best in the naturally-aspirated racing business (Charlie Booze, Jr.) in his corner. Charles faces the always-dangerous Drew Lyons in round one.
Joe Marini’s sitting in the fourth spot in Coyote Stock with a strong 10.79, just a couple of ticks behind Jacob Lamb’s 10.74. Marini will take on Joe Guertin in the first round.
In his first season of Coyote Stock competition, Joseph Jones of Woodbine Motorsports has been going through the new-car growing pains. He’s currently qualified eighth in the Coyote Stock field and has turned in a 11.10 at 117 MPH. Jones has an automatic transmission on board and has been working to find a setup that works with the Coyote Stock spec engine.
Louie Sylvester, Jr. is making a good showing in Factory Stock this weekend. He’s sitting in the second spot behind Matt Amrine with a 10.94 and will face New Jersey’s Matt Wiliams in round one.
John Leslie Jr. has had a season full of ups and downs. The modular-powered machine is running in the top half of the field this weekend. In a twist of fate, he’ll face little sister Sondra in the first round for the family bragging rights.
Matt Williams doesn’t make it to every NMRA event, but he showed well enough last year to place eighth in the class for 2012. Matt’s struggling to get hold of the track this weekend on the tricky radial tire but is qualified with an 11.34 at 119 MPH.Â
Valerie Clements went for a wild ride this afternoon during her final qualifying shot in Renegade. Something let go at the top end and sent her spinning ’round – luckily she only slightly tapped the wall and actual damage to the car is minimal, confined to the left quarter-panel. The mechanicals, though, are another story entirely. Scott Lovell, in the other lane, shut down early and managed to come to a complete stop and give Valerie the room she needed. A great job driving by both racers.
Swill Scott Lovell has had quite the trying weekend. From what we understand, the team has lunched three superchargers in the last seven days, Crewmembers Pat Carroll, Dale George, and ‘Lumpy’ Palonis must be feeling a bit like this weekend is their version of Groundhog Day. Thanks to some loaner parts from the Clements Racing gang and Brian Mitchell, they are back in business and will be making their first-ever hit with a cog-style supercharger belt in the first round – with supercharger number four.
Brian Mitchell is used to looking down at the Renegade field from the top qualified spot, but this weekend he’s sitting in third with an 8.51, behind Valerie Clements and Adam Arndt, who’s making a hard charge to make a name for himself in the second half of the season.
You might remember Michael Harris as the Cobra Jet owner who went for a wild ride into both walls at the end of last year at Cecil County Dragway in one of the most-viewed StangTV posts of the year. Harris is taking his shot at Renegade this year in the Johnny Lightning Performance-tuned CJ and is 10th on the Renegade ladder heading into eliminations. He’ll face Tim Matherly in the first round of competition.
This morning, Sean Ashe managed to back up his big hit from last night and now owns the Street Outlaw class record with a stout 7.26 at over 195 MPH. He’s got the first-round bye heading into eliminations and will face either Dan Pharris or Steven Wardlow in the second round.
Way back in the day (2002) Dwayne Barbaree ran in the NMRA’s now-defunct Pure Street class. This weekend, he’s torching the track in a turbocharged ride in the Street Outlaw class. Barbaree wrapped qualifying in the number three spot with a stout 7.32 at 193 MPH and will face Chris Groves in round one.
We caught up to Andy Manson this morning to talk with him about his Vortech-supercharged Street Outlaw ride. Manson is working the bugs out of the combination, conferring with noted tuner Dave Guy, who’s providing remote tunes this weekend from his Pennsylvania race compound. The beauty of Al Gore’s internet has Manson in the ninth spot with a 7.58 at 187 MPH.
This video, run by the team at SCT Performance from a video camera placed on the side of Swill Scott Lovell’s Renegade machine, shows the carnage in real-time, from the opposing lane. You can see just when the engine lets go, as the huge plume of smoke trails the car, and then Val goes for the ride of her life. From what we understand, one of the pistons decided it didn’t want to remain in one piece, sending plenty of synthetic oil underneath the tires and removing all control from the steering wheel for a few moments.
Valerie recovered quickly, managing to keep the car pointed in the right direction most of the time before sliding across the track and ending up pointing at the wall. Luckily (and unluckily) for Lovell, his supercharger gave up the ghost in the middle of the run, slowing him down and giving him a solid chance to get stopped before T-boning the SCT-sponsored machine. A great driving job by both competitors, and from what we understand Valerie will attempt to take the beams for her first round pass to gain the points – she’s currently sitting in second place behind Brian Mitchell. Make sure to watch in HD!
Factory Stock top qualifier Matt Amrine was the only competitor to break into the ten-second zone in the first round of competition during his bye run with a 10.98 at only 108 MPH – showing that he’s got plenty more in store for all comers on Sunday. Since Bowling Green is a double-points event, his title run is still in jeopardy, as John Leslie Jr. still has an outside chance to catch him.
In the upset of the first round, Matt Williams took out Louie Sylvester, Jr. with an 11.40 to Sylvester’s 11.47 to move on to the second round.
A huge upset occurred in the first round of Coyote Stock competition when class newcomer (and former Pure Streeter) Drew Lyons upset 2012 class champ HiPo Joe Charles with a 10.80 to Charles’ 10.81 – a .024-second margin of victory at the stripe.
In the battle of the Joes, Marini took a holeshot win over Guertin in the first round of Coyote Stock competition. Margin of victory? .005-second – now that’s the close racing Coyote Stock was designed to provide.
Brian Mitchell rocked it in the first round of eliminations against AJ Wyce. Despite giving up .053 on the tree, Mitchell blasted to an 8.48 at nearly 160 MPH to put Wyce on the trailer.
Swill Scott finally found his mojo in the first round of competition – it looks like that cog-belt swap worked out for him. He eliminated Alton Clements with a strong 8.71 at 157 MPH hit and moves on to face Mitchell in round two.
John Urist turned it up a notch in his first-round battle with Nicole Priola. Urist, who qualified with a 7.49, found a little something extra and turned up the wick on his turbocharged machine to a 7.362 at over 191 MPH. He’ll face off against Brad Medlock, who eliminated Georgina Buckley in the first round.
