Sunday is eliminations day here at the 2016 NMRA World Finals and there has been record setting performance in several classes with the cooler weather and great track conditions. We will see if any are backed up to official status. Stay tuned to Stang TV for the latest updates with our same day coverage.
Joel Greathouse was the number one qualifier in VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw, running .08 under the current record and looking to re-set the record here with his first round bye. He is driving Charles Hull’s car this weekend. “I want to thank Charles Hull and his whole program for letting me drive this weekend: the KBX, Pressurized Solutions, Bennett Racing, Justin McChesney my tuner on my car and Charles’ car this weekend, John Kolivas and all the guys,” said Greathouse.We stopped by Jacky McCarty in the pits this morning. He focused on the NMCA this year and locked up the season championship in addition to running three NMRA events, including a win in Atlanta. He struggled with qualifying yesterday with the car shutting off in the final qualifying session and landed thirteenth with a 4.81. For 2017 he plans to focus on the NMRA and run both series along with a few X275 races. Plans for the rest of 2016 include Lights Out in Georgia and a trip to Vegas for the Street Car Super Nationals to defend his 2015 championship.Nate Stymiest was able to repair his Race Pages Coyote Stock entry with a new rod bearing and made the final qualifying session, landing eighth with a 10.37 at 127 in the top half of the field. He will face off with Drew Lyons in round one eliminations.We spoke with Dwayne James in John Urist’s crew to see how their day went. They have struggeld a bit with the new car but got two full passes and have a baseline to go from. They will be looking to step it up every run they get today and have a borrowed engine from Haley’s car this weekend. They will have a long week getting prepared for Lights Out next weekend at SGMP and are awaiting some parts to prepare the new car for that.Vince Palazzolo landed fifth on the ladder and will face off with his friend Dwayne Barbaree in round one, which both racers feel is an unfortunate situation. Barbaree had the oil pan off yesterday and wheelied the next round, he played it safe and pedaled the car to qualify fourteenth.Aaron Bates was top qualifier in Edelbrock Renegade despite having a few hiccups yesterday. He has won three NMRA events this year and is number one in points currently. He won Atlanta this year setting the class record and earned the win over Terry Reeves.Darin Hendricks qualified number one in the Race Pages Coyote Stock class, making a blistering pass of 10.217 at 130.23 MPH. Hendricks said that he’s super stoked to be number one currently; and after a disappointing season more than a year ago, he’s looking to close out this weekend strong for the top spot – so long as he can overcome the suspension gremlins, and keep the car down for a solid pass.
Round One Elimination Results
Joel Greathouse did back up his record with a 4.370 at 171.16 on his earned round one single.Rich Bruder landed sixth in class, driving Manny Buginga’s old car this weekend. He faced off with Jacky McCarty in round one of VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw, taking a loss after spinning the tires at the hit. McCarty put down a 4.47 at 173, scoring high MPH for the round.Dwayne Barbaree came away with the win over his friend Vince Palazzolo with a holeshot .021 reaction and near identical ET’s. A 4.441 for Barbaree and a 4.440 for Palazzolo.In Edelbrock Renegade, Adam Arndt set the low ET with a 7.509 at 182.08 in eliminations against Bart Tobener, earning his way to round two.In the Henchman Racing Turbo Coyote Shootout, Brent Stabler put the BBR GT500 in the 4’s today with a 4.955 at 146.89. He earned his second 4.9 pass this weekend.Justin Jordan had a scare in his MPBR sponsored ride as it shut off after the burnout. The crew helped push it back, he got it fired up and was able to make the pass which an opponent broke bye. He laid down a 5.046 at 142 and will face off with Dasan Holloway in round two later today.
Brandon Aslept had a monster wheelstand in his match with 'Shiftin' Shane Stymiest in Race Pages Coyote Stock, who went on to a round win with a 10.27 at 128. The first pair out in the VMP Superchargers GT 500 Shootout was Lawrence Thomas and Dwayne Hickman. Both cars spun at the hit, turning the match into a pedal fest with Thomas coming out on top with a 10.20 at 152 MPH.Mat Brunette faced off with Kenneth Woody from Leesville, Lousiana in an interesting race. Woody was dead late on the tree. Luck went his way, however, as Brunette’s car failed to shift, allowing Woody to get by with a 10.40 at 136 to Brunette’s 11.15 at 95.GT500 Shootout top qualifier Brian Devilbiss struggled with traction in his match with Brian Hartlage who was late on the tree with a .501 reaction, inadvertantly saving Devilbiss’ day. Hartlage scored a nice 9.96 at 135 MPH pass but was not enough to stay in front of the hard charging 2013 GT500 out of Evolution Performance.
Final Results
Troy Messamore was the QA1 True Street winner this weekend in a field of 135 cars. Bowling Green always brings a good True Street contingent. He put up an 8.210 and a 7.900 scoring an 8.055 average for his efforts.The VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw class sure had some excitement this weekend with Joel Greathouse setting a new class record with a 4.347 and making it to the finals to meet Phil Hines. Greathouse had a single in the semis but slowed to a 5.20 at 106 on the pass. For his part Phil Hines qualified fourth and put up a 4.488 at 163 against Charlie Cooper, who had just pulled a long wheelstand and lost his door after coming down hard near the 330 mark in the quarterfinals. He went red against Hines, setting up the final with Greathouse. Hines and Greathouse were the last two pairs down tonight in what turned out to be an anticlimactic final with Greathouse rolling the beams in Charlie Hull’s car, as the transbrake would not hold the car. Hines wheelied himself in the final, slowing to a 6.62 at 71 MPH and earning the season championship with the event win.Edelbrock Renegade had some great racing today with a fourteen car field. Adam Arndt was the number two qualifier behind Aaron Bates. Both entries were consistent all day in eliminations, though Bates would have lane choice in the final round with a 7.94. Arndt would leave first with an .054 reaction time. Bates scored a .099 and that was enough with his ET advantage to score the win with a 7.447 at 179 to Arndt’s 7.519 at 184.04.The Procharger Coyote Modified final came down to number two qualifier Joe Guertin and number four Haley James with Haley having lane choice with her earlier 7.888 at 173. Guertin was late on the tree giving up just over .08 to James .032 reaction. Chet Camanita upped the tune for more power, improving to his best of eliminations (7.872 at 172). But it just wasn’t enough to catch James’ 7.85 at 173, earning her the event win.Race Pages Coyote Stock had an eighteen car field. Darin Hendricks earned top qualifier and his final round opponent, Shane Stymiest, earned the fourth spot. Hendricks ran a pair of 10.31’s in round two and three eliminations with Stymiest having the ET advantage in eliminations, running a string of 10.20’s. He had lane choice going into the final. Hendricks would get away first with a .032 light but couldn’t quite hold off Stymiest’s 10.236 with his 10.341, even with a slightly better MPH.Livernois Ecoboost had an eight car field with Bill Putnam as top qualifier thanks to an astounding 10.245. Gusler had the high MPH at 137.53. Angel Fruggiereo landed third in class and made it through to the final round to meet with Gusler. Both racers where late on the tree. Fruggiereo got away first, but there were clearly issues with her car. Gusler went on to a 10.55 at 137 for the event win.American Racing Headers had a good field this weekend with James Merideth earning number one qualifier with a 10.46. He also earned top MPH in eliminations with a 125.76 MPH blast on a round two single. He met with Matt Amrine in the final who was number three qualifer and ran 10.60’s all day to get there. Amrine gave it up with a -.006 red light, pushing the tree to Merideth’s .129. Both racers ran it out with Merideth running a 10.68 at 125.11 in his Triangle Speed-built ride to earn the event win.
VMP Superchargers GT500 Shootout had some fast rides in the class and a twenty four car field this weekend for the 2016 Finals. Brian Devilbiss was number one qualifier running a 7.386 at 189. He met with H. Horton in the final giving up lane choice to Horton who put down a 7.78 in the semis. Neother driver was good on the tree in the final but Devilbiss did have the slight advantage however. Horton slowed from that to a 9.106 at 109 with a lot of smoke on the top end requireing a short cleanup with Devilbiss running a 7.461 at 188 to earn the win. G-Force Trans Pure Street had eight entries here at the NMRA Finals with Teddy Weaver earning top qualifier and low ET of eliminations with a second round win over Ron Cullember with a 9.619 at 138.87 MPH on the run. Shawn Johnson would be the other racer in the final after qualifying second in class. Johnson was away first by just over a tenth but he fell to Teddy Weaver who ran the table this week and and scored the 2016 Championship as well.In the Henchman Racing Turbo Coyote Shootout it would be Bret Stabler and Justin Jordan in the finals. Stabler was number one qualifier and set low ET in eliminations with a 4.931 at 147 in a round two win over Jacobs. Jordan slipped the tires a bit on his semi final single giving up lane choice to Stabler who had run a 4.946 at 148. When the tree went green in the final it would Jordan away first when he needed it the most with an .060 reaction,his best against an opponent on the day, to Stabler’s .122. At the stripe it was Jordan in the MPBR sponsored car scoring his first four second pass with a 4.994 at 145.88 to Stabler’s game 5.008 at 145.97.The inaugural ididit Outlaw True Street class was a hit with some very fast cars on the property. The final came down to Tim Oswalt and Raul Torres with Oswalt going A to B earning the win after Raul moved to the rights and approached the center and getting out of the groove on the run after being out front early.
We had a little rain delay this morning so the qualifying is a bit behind schedule. We are set to head into heads up qualifying here shortly and will be here all weekend providing same day coverage through to the end here at Stang TV.
Number two in Pure Street points going into the NMRA finals is Derek Downs who was runner up in Ohio earlier this year. He does his own work on the car with some help from Vamp Racing with dyno time at their shop in Green Valley Missouri and is based out of Kansas City. He runs a G-Force 101A transmission behind a 4.6L 2 valve engine.
Travis Akins is running the Turbo Coyote Shootout this weekend with a 2012 5.0 powered by a built MPS short block with stock heads tuned by Justin Jordan remotely at Bear Lynch's Dyno Pro and a single front mount Borg Warner from Forced Induction turbo backed by a TH 400 trans and PTC Converter. The hot and cold side of the turbo system was fabricated by PTS Fab Performance Systems. The car sits on Weld 77 series wheels with full UPR Suspension with QA1 Coilover shocks out front and Vikings out back. He is active duty Airforce stationed in and formerly had the car set up for road course racing and took two year built to make the conversion. This is the first race for the car which was just finished and his first NMRA event and showed up with no testing coming in but ran an 9.8 at 155 on Thursday.
Justin Jordan from Jordan Performance and Racing down in Riverview, Florida runs the Turbo Coyote Shootout and is also planning to run in the debut of Outlaw True Street class this evening. He runs an MPR built 302 with twin Precision 64 MM turbos with a Hellion kit backed by a Trans Specialties trans and converter. Sponsors include MBPR Exhaust, Helion Turbo, AEM Infinity, Mustang Parts Fast, and Gulf Fuels who sponsored the E90 fuls this weekend. The car runs out of the Pro Fab Performance Plus show who just installed MMR carbon fiber wing and a carbon decklid. He has run 7.70's and made some changes since then so is looking for improvements in that departments this weekend.
Street Outlaw racer Alan Felts is her this weekend and has been to eight events between the NMRA and NMCA this year and also runs select events in X275. Power comes from a Jeff Burns Racing Engines 408 inch Windsor base engine with Brodix Neal heads and a Precision 85 MM turbo this weekend. The car was built by Jesse Coulter here in Bowling Green with assistance from Southern Speed in Tupelo, Mississippi. Felts runs RC Components wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson rubber. Troy Messamore out of Madisonville, Kentucky is back for some True Street action this year after a DQ in 2014. The car was purchased from Chris Gish just before the 2015 Finals and Troy has done a few changes since then. He is also planning to race the Outlaw True Street class tonight which should prove popular with the faster cars in True Street and bring other similar cars out of the shadows that don’t quite fit the True Street rules of No Prep Racing through the south.
Round One Qualifying Results
Manny Buginga leads VP Racing Street Outlaw after one qualifying session with a 4.39 at 168 MPH.Phil Hines is sporting a new car this weekend and he sits third in class with a 4.46 at 164.Brad Medlock from North Little Rock, Arkansas landed seventh in the seventeen car field with a 4.70 at 162.John Urist’s first pass on the new Turn 14 sponsored S550 landed him in fourteenth position with a 5.38 at 104 MPH and is sporting a Mod Motor for his new combination.Adam Arndt leads Edelbrock Renegade with a 7.52 at 178 with fourteen cars showing for round one qualifying.Wilmington, Delaware based Dom DiDonato pulled a 7.65 at 177 earning second place in Edelbrock Renegade.Valerie Clements sits third in Renegade with a 7.70 at 177 MPH.The Henchman Racing Turbo Coyote Shootout number one qualifier so far is Bret Stabler out of Royal Palm Beach, Florida and the only car to run in the four second zone so far. He put up a 4.96 at 145 MPH for this round.Ronnie Reynolds brought his 2014 Mustang from Baltimore and landed second in TCS with a 5.04 at 146 MPH.John Kauderer took the top qualifier this round in Procharger Coyote Modified with a 7.81 at 170 MPG in his SCT sponsored 2014 Cobra Jet.American Racing Headers Factory Stock racer Dan Ryntz pulled a nice wheel stand on his way to a 10.71 at 122 landing third in class so far.Michael Washington broke his Factory Stock car and it’s doubtful he will return after getting towed off the track by the flatbed.Stephanie Davies’ and mentor Brent White, owner of Brenspeed, were out at this year’s event racing her ROUSH Performance supercharged Coyote swapped Fox body in the Ford Muscle class. After a great first half of the season with Brent mentoring Davies, she was able to make her first ever pass in the car, qualifying with a 10.70 at 128 MPH – and that was only on 7 pounds of boost, too. The car has tons of potential, and we can’t wait to see how fast she goes this weekend.TJ Lapinski was able to put down a clean first pass down the track here at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He clocked in a 9.232 at 145.59 MPH. Not bad for the first hit of the weekend! Remember, Lapinski is shooting for 9s in his nearly 1,000 RWHP turbocharged Coyote swapped New Edge Mustang GT. We have full confidence in him!Brad and Nina Gusler came out to compete in the Livernois EcoBoost class at this year’s event. They’re currently number one in the lineup with a solid pass of 10.833 at 122.62 MPH. Not a bad run for making their first pass of the day if you ask us! We hope to see them in the mid-to-low 10s tomorrow.
Final Qualifying Results
It’s time for the 2016 NMRA Finals here at Bowling Green and we are all set to crown this years champions. It’s time for the racers to go all out this weekend and lay it on the line and we will be bringing you all of the action, all weekend long from Route 66. Due to the inclement weather today and the air and track temps the NMRA decided to cancel today’s session for safety reasons. The track is scheduled to be hot at 8:45 AM starting with Truck and Lightning with the first qualifying round of the heads up classes at 11AM.
John Urist was set to debut his new Coyote powered Street Outlaw car in Joliet at the NMRA/NMCA Superbowl but fought issues with the car there and was unable to make any passes. "We actually had the car in Chicago," Urist said. "We had some issues there, and we weren't able to run the car. We're here at Bowling Green to run the car, then we're going to head to South Georgia next week. If this weekend, if we could get into the 4s, and run that consistently, we'd be very happy. It will go faster than that, but the amount of runs will depend on the weather." Manny Buginga got here early and made a couple of test hits on Thursday with the second one being a bit off pace. The team set to work going over the car and did and R&R on the transmission and converter. The crew was putting the car back together when we dropped by. Hopefully they have got it sorted out and will be set for round two qualifying on Saturday after today was cancelled to due uncooperative weather.Larry Barringer from Stretched Out Customs in Texas runs this clean 1986 Fox Body with a mild build Coyote swap and a single 80 MM turbo in True Street. This is the debut event for the new car which he tested to an easy 8.94 here during Thursday’s test session. Last year here at the finals he was the center of some controversy in the class due to his exhaust but this car is legal front to back and designed more as a driver than a race car.
TJ Lapinski runs in the Coyote Modified class. He runs a 76mm turbocharged Coyote swapped New Edge mustang GT, backed by a built TH400 transmission. On E85, his fastest pass to-date was in the 8.60s at 160 MPH. With the new transmission and converter combination, he's looking to beat his previous record in the cooler, more crisp air in Bowling Green, Kentucky. That, and of course his C16 calibration, good for nearly 1,000 RWHP. Nate Stymiest is competitor in Coyote Stock and he found some bearing material in the oil doing a change here in Bowling Green. The crew is pulling the engine for a further inspection and potential repair. Barring that Stymiest has an option for a loaner for the weekend from another racer in class. We will check on Nate later to see if they are able to repair the engine and compete this weekend.
We've met up with Adam before and his '99 Mustang. Cox runs the Modular Muscle class, and his New Edge car is powered by a mostly-stock 5.0-liter Coyote engine swap. Utilizing a Quick Fuel Technologies carbureted setup, a set of COMP Cams, Ron Francis wiring setup, Glaser's Collision Center paint job, and a full Flowmaster exhaust setup. "We were getting ready to load the car up on Wednesday night, and the car started to develop some valve train noise," Cox said. "I had to tear the whole front of the engine apart, after a guide retention bolt sheared off causing some valvetrain noise which alerted me to the problem"
South Florida based Raul Torres is a True Street competitor and has completed a new car set up for grudge racing as well as keeping his purpose built True Street car. The new ride is a 1999 Mustang Terminator Cobra clone and goes by the name China WhiTTe. It has a Ronnie Crawford built motor tuned by Patrick Barnhill of PTP with a pair of Precision 67/66 turbos and is backed by a Rossler powerglide and PTC converter. AC Car Craft built the car and Torres gets a lot of help from the folks at Power by the Hour. He is competing in the Grudge Night set to match race with Justin Jordan who races in the Turbo Coyote Shootout and is looking for a match with Boosted GT who has not accepted the call out quite yet. He has been running this car at various events since late march this year getting some wins and runner ups in LS vs Mod Motor Shootouts.
Tradition Motorsports out of Port St Lucie, Florida has two cars here this weekend with one running in the Eco Boost Shootout which put up a 10.602 at 121.50, below the current class record which the team is looking to reset themselves this weekend. The car shown at bottom is driven by Alexis Fruggiero and features a Livernois Motorsports built engine with direct port injection and a PTE turbo with additional power coming from an NX Nitrous fogger system. An AEM piggy back engine management system is tuned in house. Suspension is UPR all around and a Levels inter-cooler cools things down to manage the air intake temps. The other car is not quite ready for competition and is here this weekend for display only but will also run in the Eco Boost Shootout next year and other select events. Wild Bill Devine will be here making exhibition runs in his Outlaw 10.5 Mustang this weekend. The car is a Twin Turbo set up from Bullseye Turbo and uses a manual transmission running low four second runs to the eighth mile. So far he hasn’t received any call outs for grudge night but here’s to hoping.John Kerr from Race Parts Solutions is here debuting his new car in Factory Stock. We happened by Kerr during a tech inspection for the class where Lonnie Grim is pumping the engines to check cubic inch. Kerr runs “The Brawler” 1992 Mustang prepped in house with a mild engine sourced from a from a low mileage 2013 truck and built by MPR Performance. To save weight Kerr fitted the car with a full aluminum exhaust with Kooks stainless headers.“This is my first event with the car and it hasn’t made a full pass down the track yet so it will be an experience tomorrow to see how it does.” Kerr said. Sponsors on the car include Heatshield Products, UPR Suspension, Frank Lupo’s Dynamic Transmissions and Converters, Mishimoto, and is equipped with Race Parts Solutions silicone hoses and a full MSD ignition. A Diablosport Trinity tuned is used to modify the factory ECM tunes.This evening we dropped back by Nate Stymiest pits to catch up and it looks like he is bowing out for the weekend and will take the car back home and Booze Brothers Racing and see if they can salvage this sealed Coyote crate engine without a full tear down, which would render the engine not legal for Coyote Stock any longer. Nate said that wouldn’t be a big deal as he has another car to put it to use in and make a nice street cruiser out of it.Some astute True Street fans may recognize this car, now with a new owner here to compete this weekend. Should be one to watch on Saturday.
