We're here at scenic Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, KY for the annual Nitto Tire NMRA All-Ford World Finals. We have nearly perfect weather in the forecast for the weekend and with several class championships on the line, it should be an exciting weekend of racing action. The pit area and vendor row are filling up quickly and Test 'n Tune is set to get underway around 11 AM. Stay tuned for coverage throughout the day and all weekend here on StangTV.

Mike Curcio from Easton, PA is here competing in Hot Street for the first time with the NMRA. The car is owned by Joe Shober and is powered by a 358-inch small block Ford sporting Trick Flow cylinder heads, manually shifted at upwards of 10,400 RPM. The MCRP team has run as quick as 8.70's and should be a factor here this weekend.

Outlaw Drag Radial racer and former multi-time NMRA Drag Radial champion John Kolivas is here testing his twin turbo mount on the eighth mile and should put on a nice show for the fans with near mid 4-second laps.

A.J. Wyce is here all the way from Hammonton, NJ competing in the Renegade category with his new Mustang that he debuted at the recent event in Columbus. The car is powered by a 317-inch small block with a Vortech YSi-Trim supercharger. Myce crashed his Fox-body Mustang two years ago at Reynolds and has been out of action since that time rebuilding both the Fox and the constructing the new car.

John McDonald comes into the weekend with less than two round lead over John Urist in the Super Street Outlaw points chase, and is hoping to cement his great year with a championship as the weekend comes to a close.

Local racer Monty Golden from Beaver Dam, KY ran the Commerce event earlier this season and is back in action here in Real Street with his Procharged 4.6-liter modular-powered Mustang. The engine in the car was the very same run by Tim Matherly last season and has powered Golden to a best of 10.09 in testing. The team is looking for 9-second elapsed times here in the cool conditions at Bowling Green.

Enzo Pecchini ran a slightly off pace 8.560 at 172.14 MPH.

Mike Murillo blew the tires off right at the hit in his SCT Flash-sponsored Pro Outlaw 10.5 mount and coasted on through the quarter mile.

Sean Lyon made a statement early, running a nice and straight 8.020 at 181.40 off the trailer in his sharp Drag Radial Fox-body.

Dwayne James' Hellion Pro Outlaw 10.5 mount hooked hard left and headed straight for the centerline right out of the gate and Dwayne wisely lifted and coasted on through.

Drag Radial points leader Jason Lee was on a great pass, but his car nosed over around the 1000ft mark and rolled through to an 8.202 at 142.01 MPH.

Don Bowles made a great run on his first pass off the trailer with an 8.561 at 152.37 MPH.

Mike Curcio made a nice 8.785 at 154.35 MPH on his first pass down the Beech Bend quarter mile.

Sam Vincent (far lane) was on a great pass but began to drift toward the centerline just beyond half track, lifting a 7.98 at 121 MPH. Meanwhile, Enzo Pecchini made a stellar pass to lead all competitors thus far in Drag Radial with an 8.002 at 178.24.

On his second test hit, Sean Lyon cranked off a killer 7.92 at 179 MPH to make a statement before qualifying even begins.

John Kolivas made a nice hit to the eighth mile and clicked it off, coasting through to a 7.72 elapsed time.

Andrew Demarco has his new DMC-built Super Street Outlaw Fox-body here after making his debut the zMAX event. Andrew made a strong wheels up charge on his final testing pass but clicked it off just beyond the 330-foot marker and saved it for qualifying.

Tommy Godrey drove straight to the top of the leaderboard in Factory Stock with a nice 11.073 at 120.66.

Jay Dold finished the opening round of qualifying in the second spot with an 11.137 at 119.97 that closely trails Godfrey's class-leading effort.

Brandon Alsept closed out the first round of Pure Street with a nice wheels-up launch from his '98 Mustang and drove on through to a 10.028 at 133.01 lap.

Incoming points leader Steve Gifford sits in the third spot after the opening round with a 10.303. Gifford has just a 20-point lead over Shawn Johnson and needs a solid weekend to earn the championship.

Bruce Hemminger laid down the best run of the round with a 9.34 at 143.51, that leads second qualifier Tim Matherly by just .02 of a second. Matherly leads the points by just over two rounds depsite skipping the first two events of the season.

Jim Breese stood it up a little higher than he may have liked on his opening shot, throwing a shower of sparks as he crashed back to earth and pulling over to the side of the track as a precautionary measure.

Jason Lee earned a huge round of applause from the crowd here at Beech Bend, as his car continued to climb even after this shot, carrying the front end out just short of the 330-foot mark before heading for the guardrail, at which point Jason wisely lifted off the loud pedal.

Sean Lyon began qualifying right where he finished off Test 'n Tune, going low for the round with a great 7.933 at 178.87.

Enzo Pecchini is running like a bracket car thus far this weekend with an 8.00 and two 7.99's, including a 7.994 at 176.74 to hold down the second spot on the leaderboard.

Hot Street points leader Charlie Booze Jr. put a little distance between himself and the rest of the field in the opening round, with a great 8.450 at 158.93 that leads second place Max Gross' 8.538.

Don Bowles, who is hot on the trail of Booze in the points chase in an effort to win his second straight championship closed out the round in the third spot with an 8.567.

Here, you can see Chad Allmandinger and his '80 Capri standing it way up in the air before slamming back to the ground about 150-feet out. What you can't see is A.J. Wyce in the opposite lane performing a wheelstand of equal altitude, bringing the crowd to their feet.

Brian Mitchell leads after the first round of Renegade with an 8.458 at 162.14. Bart Tobner is slated second with an 8.544 and soon-to-be points champ Chris VanGilder is third at 8.672.

Johnny Mac laid down a stout 7.286 at 193.07 that put more than a tenth on the rest of the field to open qualifying, but trailed a little smoke as he went through the lights.

Sam Vincent was on a heck of a pass in his attempt to one-up McDonald, but his nitrous-assisted '88 Mustang nosed over at 1000ft and slowed to a 7.41 at just 161 MPH that still earned him the third spot in the order.

John Urist sits in the second spot after one round with a nice and smooth 7.392 at 189.55.

Conrad Scarry charged his way straight to the top of the qualifying order with a 6.773 at a slowing 188.46 MPH after taking a hairy ride in the lights that saw his car pointed every way but straight before the chutes righted the ship. Meanwhile, Jim Monson, in the near lane, made his first ever six-second pass with his small block combination with a 6.948 at 201.73 to hold down the third spot.

Jim Brown made a clean 7.062 at 192.74 lap for the fourth spot heading into tomorrow's eliminations.

Mike Murillo, who trails Scarry by less than one round in the points chase, made a great lap of his own to open qualifying with a 6.894 at 207.94 to earn the second spot.

Chip Havemann and crew were in the early stages of removing their transmission for the second time already this weekend. This team has a long night ahead of them in order to make tomorrows second round of qualifying.

John McDonald and crew were performing just a little more than typical routine maintenance following their opening shot of 7.28 seconds. A crew member indicated a possible issue with heated plugs as they removed the intake manifold.

The Allmandinger crew was busy using hammers and any tools at their disposal to straighten the headers and collectors after crashing back to the pavement following a massive first round wheelstand.