“The Fireball” John Urist is looking to continue his Street Outlaw reign in 2015.

The snow hasn’t quite melted, but it’s time to head south for some NMRA Racing. Spring break is right around the corner, and you know what that means; it’s time for the 21st Annual Nitto Tire NMRA Spring Break Shootout. Every year the Keystone Automotive NMRA drag racing series starts its racing season at Bradenton Motorsports Park, in Bradenton, FL, about 40 miles south of Tampa, FL.
Here is what you need to know about your favorite NMRA class and racers. The NMRA’s line-up ranges from 6-second Street Outlaw cars to 13- and 14-second Modular Muscle index cars. That means there are several classes in between to fill everyone’s desire for fast cars. And let’s not forget about True Street, which draws over 100 cars, and mixed in with that crowd is the Tremec Stick Shift Shootout. Then you have the Turbo Shootout, and the VMP Shelby GT500/Terminator Shootout. So, as you can see, you will not be bored at Bradenton Motorsports Park come March 5th – 8th.

Dwayne Barbaree was the first Street Outlaw competitor in the sixes, but in 2015 we think it’ll consistent 6-second times to win the class at Bradenton.

Outlaw

Let’s start with the fastest NMRA class, VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw. Last year we saw the first 6-second pass by Dwayne Barbaree, and for 2015, 6.90s might be the norm. Of course, a lot is going to depend on weather conditions, but it’s probably going to take 6.80s to win Street Outlaw at the faster tracks. This weekend at Bradenton, with it being the first race of the year, look for times in the 6.90s.

Of course, the racer to watch is perennial champion John Urist. Urist, who comes back to Street Outlaw after winning yet another championship, and the Hellion Power Systems’ Fox coupe will once again have a Precision 94mm single turbo on board to continue making Ford drag racing history.

Renegade
After Street Outlaw we have the Edelbrock Renegade class. This class has been a constant in Mustang drag racing for almost 20 years. Rules consistency is one reason it has enjoyed such a long run. To perhaps garner more cars in the class from the X275 craze, a front air source, or hole in the front bumper, is now legal in Renegade. Plus, to make the front air source pay off, supercharger gear drives are legal now, as well as, turbochargers. If the class was good for 7.90s in 2014, with these changes, we won’t be surprised if the class is running 7.70s in Bradenton, maybe quicker.

Bad Bart Tobener won the championship in 2014, and he is definitely one to watch, but Frank Varela is moving over from Coyote Modified with a turbocharged combination, and after having a down year, never count out past Renegade champion Brian Mitchell. But let’s not forget the long-lost DeMarco brother Adam Arndt. Arndt has had success in Renegade in the past, and he could be the class’ dark horse. There’s also a pair of GT500s coming to the class, Mark “BirdDoc” Duber, and Brian Devilbiss will both be bringing their Grabber blue cars to Renegade this year. Devilbiss is already on his way to Bradenton, and while Duber won’t make that race, we look for his car to be a contender as well in the Renegade mix this season.

Coyote Modified

Joe Cram will be looking to build on a solid 2014 in Coyote Modified, bringing a Holbrook Racing combination with a ProCharger F-1A supercharger on board.

A relatively new class within the NMRA is ProCharger Coyote Modified. It’s pretty simple, drop a turbocharged, supercharged, or nitrous Coyote engine under the hood of your Ford race car, and hope it runs mid-8s.

Last year, Frank Varela pretty much dominated the class, and took the championship, but as aforementioned, Varela has moved up to Renegade. Therefore, this class is open for someone to make their own. Joe Cram is looking to take over the class with a Holbrook Racing Engines/ProCharger combination, and then a new name, Haley James is looking to carve her way through the class in her Hellion Power Systems-backed coupe that Varela won with last year. After attending Frank Hawley’s drag racing school, growing up at the drag strip with her dad Dwayne James, and driving a championship car, she is not one to be taken lightly.

Our Coyote Modified dark horse is Joe Guertin, and his square-eye Fox coupe. Guertin moves up into Coyote Modified, and has been able to do some testing since he lives in south Florida. He will be one to watch. However, there are 5.0 Cobra Jets that fit into the Coyote Modified class, as well, and Johnny Lightning will look to put his tuning prowess, and racing experience on display in the class. You also can’t forget Terry “Beefcake” Reeves. Reeves was in a tight battle for the championship last season with Varela. Reeves has been hard at work in the off season updating his car, and we won’t be one to take lightly on race day.

Pure Street

In ACT Pure Street, last year it was the Teddy Weaver show, with everyone else fighting for 2nd. Jimmy Wilson had his struggles last year, and occasionally there’s a Tommy Godfrey sighting. Teddy just had his engine freshened up by Roush Performance, so the rest of Pure Street might be in for more of the same in 2015. Look for 9.60s at Bradenton from Teddy, maybe 9.50s if the weather turns cool.

Coyote Stock

The class where you’re not allowed to modify your Coyote is called Coyote Stock, sponsored by Strange Engineering. This class is built around Ford Racing’s Sealed Coyote crate engine, but engine or tuning modifications are prohibited so it comes down to chassis, clutch, and most importantly, driver. This is a flip-a-coin class because there are so many great racers, and since you’re not allowed to tune, or modify the engine, it’s a driver’s class. Shiftin’ Shane Stymiest won the championship the last season, but not because of a lack of trying by HiPo Joe Charles, Jacob Lamb, Drew Lyons, Steve Gifford, or Darin Hendricks. Charles has been doing quite a bit of testing leading up to Bradenton, and thinks he has something for the rest of the class, but as we all know, you still have to line them up and race. Coyote Stock will be the most closely contested NMRA class from top to bottom. We won’t be surprised to have qualifying times within a half second, with the faster competitors in the very low 10s. Last fall at Beech Bend we saw records fall in the cool cold air, beyond what we ever thought possible in this class. Could this be the year we see a 10.0 or even a 9.9 in Coyote Stock?

Factory Stock

Matt Amrine will bring his little Two-Valve into Factory Stock to duke it out with the class’ Coyote-powered competitors.

And that brings us to the last, and the NMRA’s “entry-level” class, American Racing Headers‘ Factory Stock. This class pits pushrod, Two-Valve, Three-Valve, and Four-Valve engines against each other in heads-up competition. The biggest change in the last few years in Factory Stock is admission of the Coyote engine into the class. When it comes to Factory Stock, you either run a Coyote combination, or you don’t because you can’t afford one.

It seems, the racers believe the Coyote/C4 combination is the one to beat, and with James Meredith’s 2014 performance, it’s hard to argue against it. Gary Parker moves up from Modular Muscle with a Coyote/C4 combination, and with his background, he’s going to be tough. However, we know Matt Amrine is going to do everything in his power to keep the Coyotes from dominating. His Two-Valve/stick combination, up until last year, had been the one everyone was chasing, but the Coyote might be passing him by if the rules don’t equalize the class. Look for the faster cars in the class to be in the 10.70s at Bradenton this weekend. By the end of the year, we could see 10.50s at Bowling Green.

True Street

Chris Escobar has been a dominant force in True Street competition, but we’re sure the class will feature a few new heavy hitters looking for that 7-second average.

For the craziness that is HP Tuners‘ True Street, this is run-whatcha-brung, as long as it has a tag and insurance. The cars have to drive 30 miles, and then come back to Bradenton Motorsports Park for 3 back-to-back passes without popping the hood, or adding ice to the car’s intercooler tank.

True Street is a brutal class where only the strong survive the drive, and 3 back-to-back passes. Once the smoke clears after the 3 back-to-back classes, the fastest racers will line up on Sunday in the Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords Spring Break Shootout, presented by Blow-By Racing, a heads-up eliminator to arrive at a winner.
There are several smaller heads-up classes in Fluid Turbo Concepts‘ Turbo Coyote, the Tremec Stick Shift Shootout, and the VMP Superchargers Terminator/GT500 shootout. But don’t forget about the index classes of Flex-a-lite Open Comp, Detroit Locker Truck and Lightning, Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle, and Roush Performance Super Stang.
Even with all that, if you should need to get away from the drag racing, the NMRA Spring Break Shootout always has a large car show, sponsored by UPR Products. The car show usually has over 100 Fords and Mustangs of all shapes and sizes for you to check out.

If you can’t make it to Bradenton, or just want to check out what we caught that you might have missed, we’ll be there all weekend covering the event and you can check back here for same day coverage, each day.