Racing is underway this morning – we started out with all of the index classes, bracket time trials, and some of the NMCA’s classes. The NMRA portion of the event will be getting underway soon, so stay tuned to the coverage we’ll be bringing to you all day!
Necessity is the mother of invention – at the Maryland race, John Urist found himself in need of a new shift light, so a trip to the store was in order and he’s got this awesome LED trailer brake light wired into the circuit. Doesn’t look like he can explain away why any reason he might have missed a shift to the crew chief anymore! Urist raced Brad Medlock in the second round this morning and went up in smoke at halftrack. He’ll be making the long trip back to New Mexico without a win – a very uncommon feeling for him after this event.Caught up with Sean Ashe this morning,and the Street Outlaw record holder told us he was going for it all last night on the teams’ first-round bye hit. ‘The conditions were close to what we had when we ran real well in Maryland, but the track just wasn’t there for us to be able to duplicate that performance,’ he said. Ashe won over Dan Pharris in this morning’s second round of Street Outlaw competition.Larry Prykucki expected to come here this weekend and hang out – instead Jason Lee had him hard at work on his Street Outlaw machine. The team has swapped head gaskets twice in the last four days and had a couple of other durability issues rear their ugly head. Dwayne Barbaree put Jason out in the second round of competition this morning with a strong 7.36 ET to Lee’s slowing 7.86 at 161.
Despite getting hammered on the tree by Swill Scott, Brian Mitchell won the chase to the stripe on the big end, defeating the one-time champ with an 8.49 to Lovell’s 8.64. Lovell, to his credit, kept the supercharger together and the belt on the cogs.Jim Breese’s struggles in Renegade continue. The longtime racer was paired up with engine builder Tim Matherly in their second-round pairing, but he couldn’t hold the car back and left before the tree was activated, giving Tim the win. In the third pairing of the round, Adam Arndt easily advanced when Charlie Cooper redlit. The semifinal round will see Arndt face Mitchell while Matherly gets a bye straight into the finals.Jacob Lamb’s running like a bracket car in Coyote Stock this weekend. In the first round he took out Brandon Alsept with a 10.88, and in the second round he put Kermit Buffington on the trailer with a 10.87 to Buff’s 11.03. Jacob will have a bye run straight into the final round.Shifty Shane Stymiest continued his run in the second round of Coyote Stock, easily picking off Joe Marini with a 10.61 to Marini’s 11.02. He’ll go up against Drew Lyons in the next round, who had the bye in round two and eased down the track.John Leslie, Jr. was on the receiving end of a gift in the second round of Factory Stock eliminations – Alan Cann became Alan Can’t – get down to the end of the track, that is. Cann broke about 100 feet out, handing Leslie the easy win. He’ll face Matt Amrine in one semifinal. Amrine advanced easily in round two over Carlos Sobrino, whose struggles continue.Also moving on to the semifinal round in Factory Stock is Matt Williams – he took out Jay Dold in a close race, 11.28 to Dold’s 11.32 hit. Williams will receive a bye straight into the final round.Phil Hines continues his solid season by moving on to the final round in Street Outlaw competition. He faced off against Brad Medlock in the semi and rolled straight as a string through the traps with a strong 7.37. Medlock never came up on boost after the hit. In the other pairing, Sean Ashe ran his quickest elapsed time of the weekend and broke his own record by turning in a 7.25 at 192 mph to eliminate Dwayne Barbaree, who got out of shape around the 300-foot mark.
The semifinal rounds were a doozy, with a couple of upsets.
In Renegade, Brian Mitchell upset friend and number-one qualifier Adam Arndt with a strong 8.78 to Arndt’s slowing 8.78 hit. On the other side of the ladder, Tim Matherly took a leisurely ride downtrack to save his equipment for the final round against the always-tough Mitchell.
Factory Stock saw another upset – John Leslie, Jr. knocking number-one-qualifier Matt Amrine off his dominant perch with a .010 holeshot and 11.37 to Amrine’s 11.36 pass. Matt Williams also chose to save his equipment, easing it down the 1320′ and heading back to the pits to prepare for the matchup with Leslie.
No upsets in Coyote Stock, as Shane Stymiest performed up to expectations, putting a 10.66 on the board in the heat of the day to send Drew Lyons packing. Lyons has to be happy with his performance, as he made it to the semifinal round in only his second appearance in the class. Jacob Lamb ran his bye pass to a 10.98.
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It's been all Sean Ashe, all the time in Street Outlaw this weekend. Not only did he set the NMCA class record with a 7.26, he put Phil Hines on the trailer in the final round in a sweet side-by-side race. Ashe streaked through the traps with a strong 7.33 to Hines' 7.38.
Tim Matherly was tasked with taking on reigning class champion Brian Mitchell in the Renegade final, and he gave it his all, getting a little out of the groove early but hanging with it all the way to the stripe. However, his 8.647 just wasn’t enough to stop the Mitchell juggernaut and the 8.48 at 159.14 mph in the other lane. Mitchell was talking before the race about how he made it into the final – by this much over Adam Arndt in the semi.Shane Stymiest has been dominant all season in Coyote Stock, appearing in every final round contested thus far. Stymiest was certainly the favorite here, and it played out just like that, as Stymiest drove away from Lamb for his fourth win, 10.644 at 123.13 mph to 10.933 at 123.61 mph.John Leslie, Jr. and NMRA official Gene Bergstrom talk before the final round re-run in Factory Stock. The first time around, Matt Williams’ red bulb went on before the tree came down. The second time around wasn’t any better for Williams as Leslie took the win light with an 11.42.
The Super Bowl
In the first pairing of the Super Bowl event, NMRA Truck and Lightning winner faced off against Nostalgia Muscle Car winner Jeremy Vizzo on a .500 Pro tree. Roberts had issues on the track and slowed up, but Vizzo broke out, and Roberts takes home the first point for the NMRA. The second pair out is the Open Comp champions – NMRA’s Shane Long and NMCA’s Tim Swisher. In the Ford versus Chevrolet battle, Long was faced with chasing Swisher down and does so in fine fashion, making it two points in a row for the NMRA.
NMRA Super Stang winner Terry “Beefcake” Reeves is up against EFI Rumble winner David Rickey. Rickey left first, and at the finish line, he put a point on the board for the NMCA team by taking out the veteran Ford racer. Modular Muscle winner Susan Roush-McClenaghan is up next against Nostalgia Super Stock winner Doug Duell in a battle of legendary racing names on the track. Duell has been on fire all weekend long and is looking to tie it up. As the tree drops, Doug goes wheels-up and runs right on the number on the big end, 9.52 at 137 mph – winning the race and tying it up – while Roush-McClenaghan breaks out with a 9.47 at 139 mph.
Factory Stock winner John Leslie, Jr. comes out next against Mean Street winner Brian Campbell, and on the launch Campbell goes sky-high, dragging the bumper, and he continues to chase down Leslie downtrack, dumping it at the big end and taking the stripe with a 10.13 at only 113 mph to Leslie’s off-pace 11.57 at 117 mph – edging things into the NMCA’s favor. Up next is Charlie Booze, Jr., who took home the NMCA NA 10.5 win this weekend, and NMRA Coyote Stock runner-up Jacob Lamb. Lamb has more than two seconds in the hole, and in the Freight Train of Booze runs true to form, running an 8.12 to Lamb’s 10.81, making the tally 4 to 2 with the quicker classes still in the lanes.
In another lopsided-start battle, NMCA Xtreme Street winner Bob Curran gives NMRA Coyote Stock’s winner Shane Stymiest a huge spot out of the hole, and Stymiest continues this advantage through the traps by edging out Spongebob with a 10.63 to Curran’s off-pace 8.10 at only 139 mph and closing the gap to 4-3 in the NMCA’s favor.
Next up is NMRA Renegade winner Brian Mitchell and NMCA Nostalgia Pro Street winner Skip Baskin. Big purges from the nitrous system on Baskin’s Camaro, while Mitchell sits and waits in his supercharged machine. Mitchell goes wheels up, and Baskin starts chasing him down, but Mitchell’s power takes him through the traps with an 8.43 at 160 MPH to tie things up.
Street Outlaw winner Sean Ashe takes on Steven Wardlow, who owns the quickest non-Ford that raced in Street Outlaw this weekend. Ashe has been on a string all weekend long, but gets loose at the 300-foot mark and has to get out of it, giving Wardlow the chance to come around him to take the win with a 7.77 and push things back towards NMCA’s favor, 5-4.
You can see the closing distance between Micke’s Malibu and Matherly’s Mustang in this shot.
The Mark Micke-driven, Jason Carter-owned twin-turbo NMCA Super Street Malibu winner comes up next against NMRA Renegade runner-up Tim Matherly. Matherly gets the leave and shifts the five-speed in his supercharged Mustang with all he’s got and turns in an 8.44 at 160 mph to take the win over Micke, to tie things back up with a 5-5 tally and only one pair left.
Street Outlaw racer Phil Hines represents the NMRA against NMCA Pro Street winner Jim Widener in the final round – it all comes down to this for the bragging rights – and the Nitto Tire Diamond Tree rings. Hines gets a 1.19-second spot on the starting line over Widener’s nitrous machine, and in dramatic fashion, Widener gets wildly out of shape, sending a couple of timing blocks across the track while Hines rolls straight and true to take the win – and earn the NMRA the Super Bowl win as a result!
Just after this shot was taken, we got to see both sides of Jim Widener’s Cougar as he got out of shape and knocked a couple of blocks across the track.
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!
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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.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.
Once a year the NMRA and NMCA converge simultaneously in Joliet, Illinois for their main event. More than just another points race, this race is known as the Super Bowl of street legal drag racing. This race not only pits competitors from each sanctioning body against one another, but also the fastest cars in four separate classes from each sanctioning body will face off for the title win, in a separate event Sunday. The weather is fair, the competition is fierce, and we’ll be here all weekend bringing you the latest coverage from the event.
You might remember this car, which was built by DynoJoe Performance in Texas for owner David Witt as a Cobra Jet clone. Witt purchased the body from another racer and proceeded to strip it and build it to Cobra Jet specs, right on down to the Cobra Jet engine (which was a factory leftover) and the Watson Racing-spec rollcage. The car sports wiring harnesses from Dunne-Rite Performance, who crafted the harnesses for the factory cars, and Witt is driving it for the first time this weekend. He was quick to credit the help from Joe Cram of DynoJoe and all of the folks at Ford Racing for the help in assembling his CJ clone. He’s running in Modular Muscle this weekend and has plans to hit the Renegade class with the car in 2013.
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Left - New Mexico's Chris Groves is here this weekend racing in the Street Outlaw class, which has been combined with both the NMRA and NMCA sides of the show. Groves has been in the 6.90's with this car on the West Coast and decided to caravan in with John Urist. He was swapping superchargers this morning after an on-track mishap. Right - The winner of the long-haul award has to go to the team from MMR. Driver Greg Seth-Hunter and MMR owner Mark Luton brought their Pro Street car in from Camarillo, California, and will be running in NMCA Pro Street competition. The twin-turbo machine has been 6.08 in California competition. It’s nice to see Factory Stock racer Alan Cann back in the class. He took the first few races off this year before showing up in Norwalk last month. The car has a fresh AOD transmission in it this year, and while it has become more consistent, Cann says he’s thinking of switching back to the stick, as while letting go of the transbrake on the AOD is fun, the car’s not nearly as much fun to drive down-track.Former NMRA Pure Street champion and current NMCA Mean Street champion Brandon Alsept is pulling double-duty this weekend. Not only is he behind the wheel of his Mean Street car (on the left), he’s also shaking down Derek Kernodle’s brand-new Coyote Stock machine (on the right). Kernodle, a longtime Modular Muscle competitor, made the switch to Coyote Stock and enlisted Brian Campbell’s Finish Line Automotive in Milford, Ohio (where Alsept is one of the technicians) to perform the swap. Part of the deal was that Alsept would be behind the wheel – for now. Knowing Derek, he won’t be able to sit on the sidelines for long.Michael Biehle has one of two Mike Moran-designed Ford Mustangs here competing in Pro Street – the other belonging to Jim Bell. The car you see here is the very one that Moran made headlines for developing in recent years.Brad Medlock hazed the tires early in his test hit but collected it up and sailed through the boards to a 7.83 in his turbocharged Street Outlaw Mustang.West coast racer Eric Gustafson, a regular on the NMCA WEST trail, recently purchased the Mustang formerly campaigned by Matt ‘Skinnyman’ Mungall in the X275 ranks, and came out to test the car on the 1/4-mile in Street Outlaw.Shifty Shane Stymiest has it goin’ on over the rest of the Coyote Stock field after the first round of qualifying. He tossed up a 10.55 in the second session to take the top spot over 2012 champ HiPo Joe Charles, who qualified with a 10.66 in the second session.
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Left - Joe Charles changed a number of things leading up to the event including the clutch and a number of other things underneath his MV Performance-backed Coyote Stocker - and found more power in the process. Left Middle - The clutch appears to be the biggest struggle for the spec-engine Coyote Stock class, as Kermit Buffington's also made some changes leading up to this race. He's qualified fifth with a 10.92. Right Middle - Jacob Lamb is qualified third in Coyote Stock with a 10.74, one of six competitors in the ten-second zone. He improved two tenths in the night session. Right - Drew Lyons is also starting to get a handle on his CS car as he snuck into the 10's with a 10.88 in round two. There are nine competitors on the property including a trio of Joes - Guertin, Marini, Jones to go along with Alsept in Kernodle's machine. Matt Amrine’s stranglehold on Factory Stock continues – his Finish Line Performance-backed Modular-powered machine turned in a 10.82, over a tenth better than number-two qualifier Louis Sylvester, Jr. in the first session.The curse of the #1 continues to plague Carlos Sobrino – although he was atop the field all last season, he’s struggled this year with issues after issue. Today he mustered up a 11.09 in the first round of competition.We chatted with Sondra Leslie earlier this morning, and she mentioned that she and crew chief Sarah Asche have made a bunch of changes prior to the weekend, most notably a set of 275/50/15 BFG tires. rather than the taller 60’s she was running. Unfortunately the change has her running out of gear at the top end, and she’s not sure how much higher tuner Ken Bjonnes of Lund Racing can safely raise the rev limiter.During the first round of Renegade qualifying, Tim Matherly hammered the track in his 2010 Mustang to an 8.58 at 156 MPH to take the fifth spot heading into tomorrow.Charlie Cooper had a great showing in round one in his Cobra Jet. The Johnny Lightning Performance-tuned car cracked off a stout 8.53 at 161 MPH in the second session.AJ Wyce hammered the tires hard on the launch during his first-round qualifying attempt. The New Jersey resident is currently positioned eighth in the eleven-car field with an 8.82 in round one, and did not improve in round two.How about the return of the Swill Machine? Well, not the original Swill ride, as Alton Clements rolled that car to the number two finish last year, but former class champions Swill Racing – Scott Lovell, Pat Carroll, and Dale George – have assembled this new ride. A shakedown pass this afternoon netted a 10.69 shutdown number to get Lovell into the Renegade field.Little sister Valerie Clements bested big brother Alton in their Renegade efforts this afternoon. She clicked off an 8.50 in the second round to land the second spot, while Alton sits sixth with an 8.77.Adam Arndt rocked the field in round two with an awesome 8.45 at nearly 164 MPH to take the top spot heading into tomorrow’s last session of qualifying.Brad Medlock (L) topped the qualifying ladder in the single session of Street Outlaw today with a strong 7.41 at over 192 MPH. Nicole Priola (R) broke and shutdown just past the traps in the left lane before being towed off the track in her Camaro.
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Left - Dan Pharris is making his debut here with the NMRA and NMCA. The Missouri resident normally runs at Holly Springs in Mississippi and has his 427-cube turbo machine qualified seventh with a 7.69. Right - Former NMRA Renegade champ Aaron Stapleton put his Fast Forward Racecars-built Mustang into the field with an 8.27 to land 12th in the single session today. Jason Lee landed third in the qualifying sheet with a 7.51 from his Vortech-supercharged machine. Lee has his work cut out for him if he’s going to dethrone Medlock and Phil Hines during tomorrow’s two sessions.John Urist (L) and Sean Ashe (R) placed fourth and fifth during today’s lone Street Outlaw session. Urist scored a 7.52 at 194.07 MPH,while Ashe sits in the fifth spot with high MPH of the session at 194.72. Ashe has been in the 7.0’s and Urist in the 7.teens, so we expect to see both of them step it up big-time tomorrow.
In another lopsided-start battle, NMCA Xtreme Street winner Bob Curran gives NMRA Coyote Stock’s winner Shane Stymiest a huge spot out of the hole, and Stymiest continues this advantage through the traps by edging out Spongebob with a 10.63 to Curran’s off-pace 8.10 at only 139 mph and closing the gap to 4-3 in the NMCA’s favor. 
Once a year the NMRA and NMCA converge simultaneously in Joliet, Illinois for their main event. More than just another points race, this race is known as the Super Bowl of street legal drag racing. This race not only pits competitors from each sanctioning body against one another, but also the fastest cars in four separate classes from each sanctioning body will face off for the title win, in a separate event Sunday. The weather is fair, the competition is fierce, and we’ll be here all weekend bringing you the latest coverage from the event.
