It’s elimination day here at the 20th Annual Spring Break Shootout, and StangTV is on-site to bring you all of the happenings. Yesterday we saw records set in a number of classes, breakage all over the place due to the NMRA’s new track-prep crew, and have an overall awesome day of racing.
Eliminations for the heads-up classes are scheduled to start at noon – we’ll be on-track shooting photos and will bring an update as soon as is possible after that, so stay tuned to the coverage all day!
As always, thanks to our great event sponsor, COMP Cams. For more information on their complete lineup of products, check out their website.
Image/s missing.
Yesterday Chris Holbrook earned the Cobra Jet Showdown title here against a field full of experienced competitors. Today, he earned a spot in front of the StangTV cameras - we shot a folder full of gorgeous photos that you'll get to see in an upcoming feature on Chris' record-setting machine. It’s not NMRA-related, but we just had to show these off. Wheelie bars are wheelie bars, right? Not so in the case of one Billy Glidden – he’s got a set of MVM carbon-fiber wheelie bars hanging off the back of his Pro Mod Mustang. Every ounce counts in Pro Mod and it looks like Billy’s exploiting each one.There are no words – we just wonder how long this takes to groom every day. He seemed to be having an awesome time watching the event yesterday.John Leslie, Jr.’s had his share of issues this weekend. The team spun an engine bearing on Friday night, worked to get it repaired, then had more issues yesterday. It’s been a tough weekend for the Indiana racer.It takes the whole team to get a Street Outlaw program down the track, and John Urist couldn’t do it without the help of (L-R) Big Mike King, John’s wife, Missy, and Scotty Regalia. Urist put down a monster hit on Friday but struggled to get down the track in the last two sessions, blowing the tires off each time. We’ll see if he can get back on track during Street Outlaw eliminations this afternoon.We can tell Chalie Rankin’s having a blast running in Coyote Stock this weekend. He promised his grandson Lucas that he’d hang the hoops – we think Lucas has to be pretty happy with this picture. Chalie broke a transmission yesterday, but we saw him driving around the pits this morning, so he appears to have the car fixed up and ready to go for today.Chris Jones of Blow-By Racing is trying to get down the track in Coyote Modified. However, the race engine wasn’t ready in time, so he pulled an engine out of another car to get the points. He hasn’t had much luck and is qualified fifth with an 11.38 at only 90 MPH. The nitrous-injected car hasn’t sounded right all weekend – we hope he gets it tuned up for today.
Andy Manson moved on in the first round of Street Outlaw eliminations with a strong 7.11 over James Urban. Manson’s machine has been super-consistent all weekend.John Urist put together the quickest run in Street Outlaw’s short history, taking out Ronnie Diaz with a 7.03 at 197 MPH in round one. Urist faces Tony Alm in the second round, who moved on over Mike Alwardt with a super-strong 7.26 at 191 MPH from his 88mm turbo-boosted small-block.Filthy Phil put together a 7.10/194MPH blast in his win over Mike DeMayo,Jr. There were no major upsets in round one of SSO. Phil will face Dan Pachar in round two.Val Clements ended up out of action today – her car was not repairable, and brother Alton damaged his machine in yesterday’s qualifying rounds. She managed to take the beams for the points, but the car was down two holes in the process.Also earning a push back in round one was Craig Baldwin – no report on what the problem was,but he didn’t even make it to the tree.John Leslie’s machine was rattling and clanking away as he took the tree – from what we understand his bearing repairs didn’t work out so well.
Image/s missing.
Matt Williams (L) and Jay Dold (R) will face off in a battle of number-one and -two qualifiers in Factory Stock. In the first round, Williams clicked off a 10.89 to Dold's 10.92 elimination of Sondra Leslie. We spoke with Dold in the lanes prior to the run and he thought there was something wrong with the rear in the car as it was making some noise, but it looks like it's held together this far. Charlie Cooper took out AJ Wyce in the first round of Renegade – Cooper’s Cobra Jet hangs ’em high and was good for an 8.52 to Wyce’s 10.96 shutdown pass.Beefcake took out Elisa Coon in the first round of Coyote Modified despite giving away three hundredths of a second on the three.Elisa told us that she wasn’t happy that her car wouldn’t run the number – it’s been in the 9’s before and is a Muscle Mustangs magazine project car. Beefcake subsequently took out Lelsz on a holeshot in the second round – the final round will be blower versus turbo, with Beefcake facing off against Varela.
FINAL LADDERS – ALL HEADS-UP CLASSES ARE COMPLETE, NOTES BELOW
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
It was a day of wire-to-wire wins here at the Spring Break Shootout. Shane Stymiest topped the Coyote Stock ladder heading into eliminations and proceeded to run through the field. He met up with number-two qualifier Drew Lyons in the final round, where Lyons spun the tires on the hit and Stymiest never looked back.A win for Matt Williams almost didn’t happen this afternoon in Factory Stock – Jay Dold actually ran one hundredth quicker than he did in the final – it was only on the strength of the seven-hundredths advantage he earned on the starting line. This is Williams’ first-ever win in the class after four years of competition – and he did it on the same weekend he set the class elapsed time record.Teddy Weaver also went wire-to-wire, completely outclassing the rest of the Pure Street field this weekend. Teddy’s new Roush bullet seems to be on-point. He told us there are a number of new tricks in the engine, most notably the use of gas-ported pistons that are now permitted by the rules. He feels that those were the single biggest performance gain he found this past offseason.
Coyote Mod event champion car owner Dwayne James stands behind his creation as Frank Varela drives it to the Coyote Modified win. Terry Reeves attempted to double-bulb Varela to throw him off his game, and in fact recorded the quicker reaction time. But on the top end, it was all turbo, all the time, as Varela took the easy win with a 9.15 at only 140MPH to Beefcake’s 9.78/151 MPH hit. We’re told that Beefcake’s torque converter is giving him fits and he’s trying to get up on it as soon as possible. The Renegade Master, Brian Mitchell, also went wire-to-wire with the Wizard II car. In the final round he met up with Johnny Lightning in the badass black Cobra Jet, but it was over just about as soon as it got started, as JL spun the tires hard and couldn’t recover, while Mitchell cruised to an easy 9.04 shutdown pass for the win. The final class of the day saw longtime rivals John Urist and Phil Hines lined up in Street Outlaw. After a short staging battle, Hines rolled in first, Urist brought up the boost, and the tree dropped. Urist took a one-hundredth advantage on the tree then rolled out to a 7.10 at a whopping 202MPH to Hines’ equally-impressive 7.15/197MPH blast. Urist brought his A-game this weekend, performing his best when the pressure was on.
It’s the kickoff to the 2014 racing season, and one of the oldest Ford only races in the world, the NMRA Spring Break Shootout in Bradenton, Florida. Familiar faces are returning, and newcomers will be here to challenge the old guard as well. Pure Street makes a return after a one year hiatus, with some revised rules, and a host of familiar faces. Coyote Modified will make it’s debut, and 8-second ETs are predicted from these high powered machines, running street oriented superchargers, turbos, and nitrous systems.
It’s Saturday morning, the air is crisp, the sun is out, and we’re about to hit the track with the second round of heads-up qualifying in just a few minutes.
Thanks to our event sponsor, COMP Cams. For more information on the complete lineup of COMP products, check out their website.
We caught up with Street Outlaw racer Chip Pike this morning – Chip’s dealing with some oiling system issues that caused a little bit of a leak yesterday. He’s on the hunt to track them down and excited to put the power he found over the winter down on the track.Andy Mason currently sits second on the qualifying sheet in Street Outlaw with a 7.08. Noted tuner Jason Lee is tickling the keys on the laptop this weekend, and the team is looking for a substantial improvement over yesterday’s performance. Could we see the first six-second pass in Street Outlaw today? it’s very possible…between Urist, Manson, and last year’s champ Phil Hines, each of the racers has a very good chance to do it.Coyote Stock racer James Meredith made the long-haul from San Antonio to be here this weekend. He’s the only competitor using an automatic transmission and ran a 10.78 yesterday afternoon, but feels there’s still more left in the combo with another torque converter change.Valerie Clements is having a tough weekend so far – her Renegade racer has oil on two spark plugs and is done in competition. However, we hear she may be taking over the seat in brother Alton Jr.’s blue notchback by the third round of qualifying. In a bit of surprising news, Alton Jr. told us that he’ll be taking over the driver’s seat in Ed Rice’s Super Street Mustang when the NMCA comes to town in just a few weeks.Brian Mitchell was doing some pre-race maintenance this morning. He clicked it off at the 900-foot mark yesterday afternoon and still ran an 8.41 in Renegade. Is it possible we’ll see an 8.2x today? It’ll be a battle between Mitchell and current number-one-qualifier Bart Tobener to see who gets there first.Richard Lelsz’s Coyote Modified machine is packing two sets of Speedtech nitrous foggers plumbed into the manifold. As the team hasn’t had any testing time with this combo, yesterday’s first round was the first time down the track where he clicked it off at the eighth-mile. We’ll be looking for big things from him today – especially if he hits the button on both stages.Louisiana’s Gregory Herbert barely made it here with his Coyote Stock entry – they are still assembling the car in the pits as we type this and will make it to the track for the final round of qualifying.This is never a sight you want to see – the LifeFlight helicopter showing up to take a racer out. Chip Pike took a wild ride into the wall in round two of qualifying and was taken out to a local medical facility. Thankfully, he will be just fine. NMRA National Event Director Rollie Miller said, “Update on Chip Pike, the Street Outlaw driver involved in the racing accident earlier this afternoon here at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Chip was taken to a local medical facility and completely checked out with no serious injuries other than bruising and soreness. He will be held overnight for observation and most likely released tomorrow afternoon.”Filthy Phil Hines became the third Street Outlaw racer into the 0’s today during the second session of qualifying. We spoke with him this morning and he explained that the car was real fat on the tuneup yesterday – it looks like he’s starting to figure that out.Andy Manson improved on his qualifying time, as promised this morning – he’s down to a 7.05 at 193MPH in his PTP Racing-tuned, Vortech XB-105-boosted machine. Urist did not improve, so the chase for the 6’s is still very much alive.JD Coon’s Whipple-blown machine is a new entrant into Renegade this season. JD didn’t have much time to test this winter as his home state of Louisiana has seen a brutal winter for the area. Even so, JD’s managed to run an 8.83 at 153 MPH in the 5.4L GT500.As promised, Richard Lelsz lowered his qualified time in the Coyote Modified nitrous-injected 2011 Mustang down to a 9.33 at only 139 MPH on a shutdown pass.Frank Varela remains at the top of the heap in Coyote Modified – he lowered his qualifying time down to an 8.87 at nearly 155MPH. Lelsz remains in the second position entering the final round of qualifying.Elisa Coon is taking a chance running in Coyote Modified with her blown street car. Although she’s not on the pace set by Varela, she’s having a great time and is qualified fourth of six cars with a 10.12.Teddy Weaver continued to raise the bar in Pure Street this morning, turning in a stout 9.67 during round two. From what we understand, the air quality this morning measured around -400 feet, and the barometer was up around 30.01. Dem’s horsepower-makin’ numbers, folks.Scotty Barker took his Pure Street machine into the 9’s this morning, becoming the second competitor to do so. The Four-Valve Modular pounded out a 9.95 at 135-plus MPH. Jimmy Wilson got oh-so-close, carding a 10.009, also at 135-plus.
Image/s missing.
It's a whole new ballgame in Factory Stock this year, with offseason changes including the addition of the Mickey Thompson ET Street Radial, real anti-roll bars, and tube K-members and race brakes throwing the competition for a loop. L-R, Jay Dold (#2 qualifier), John Leslie, Jr. (#4), Sondra Leslie (#3), and Matt Williams (#1) all struggled, with Williams on top of the field at a 10.85 elapsed time.
Joe Charles ran the quickest time of the Coyote Stock field in round two, clicking off a 10.61 at 125MPH and going from #10 to #3 in the process. Neither #1 qualifier Shane Stymiest nor #2 Drew Lyons could improve on their elapsed times.Jacob Lamb also improved in round two this morning, scoring the #5 spot entering the last round. His 10.621 betters his previous effort by four hundredths – this class is so close that’s a major victory.
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
The final round of qualifying was a hell of a show – records were set and parts were broken, and at the end of the day Brian Mitchell sat atop the Renegade ladder with an unreal 8.211 at 167.47 MPH – the quickest pass in Renegade history, with what he calls “a slow 60 foot at that.” We can’t wait to see what the ET looks like when he puts up a sub 1.20 short time like he’s capable of doing.Matt Williams also claimed his earlier 10.85 as the Factory Stock record, then proceeded to back it up with a final round 10.96. Looks like he’s getting the new parts and pieces sorted out just fine. Jay Dold is hot on his heels, though – he’s qualified with a 10.87 to take the second spot.Shane Stymiest also claimed the record in Coyote Stock. He’s picked up right where he left off last season, topping the ladder with a 10.43 at 125 MPH, over a tenth quicker than number-two qualifier Drew Lyons heading into eliminations tomorrow. Stymiest seems to have something figured out that the rest of the class hasn’t caught onto yet – or maybe he’s just that much better of a driver than everyone else? We’ll be watching closely to see if he can repeat as champion.“The Modfather”, Ronnie Diaz made it to Street Outlaw – but his car didn’t. He’s here using a loaner car from a friend to score the points. “All we needed was three more days, man – it’s so close. I can’t wait until Georgia,” he says.Daniel Pachar’s insane Modular machine jumped up in the Street Outlaw standings, clipping off an outstanding 7.16 at 191MPH in the final session. Pachar’s Triangle Speed Shop-built monster runs a turbocharger on top of the tiny 281-cube mill and carries the wheels on nearly every pass.Jim Breese got bit by parts issues in the second round of Renegade qualifying – the clutch fork decided to give up, causing him to lose a qualifying shot. His best pass during qualifying was a 9.12. Things have to turn around soon for the Pennsylvania-based racer.Bad Bart also pushed his way into the 8.20’s today, busting out with an 8.26 during the third round of qualifying. As far as we know, this leaves Tobener and Mitchell as the only inhabitants of the Renegade 8.20 club. A fitting tribute to two of the long-standing competitors in the class.Filthy Phil also entered the Street Outlaw ‘0’s Club’ with his 7.09 blast at over 197 MPH. The race for the 6’s continues..lots of competitors with a good shot at doing it.How about Johnny Lightning acquitting himself well in the heads-up realm? JL is qualified third in Renegade with an 8.43 out of his awesome Cobra Jet machine.Local Florida X275 racer Tony Alm is out this weekend doing battle in his incredibly-pristine white notch. The car is still in X275 trim including the small 88mm turbo, but he’s acquitted himself well by landing sixth on the ladder with a 7.37. Although his business takes up too much of his time to travel the series, he was having a ball at this event and mentioned possibly coming back to compete in Street Outlaw again in a few weeks when NMCA comes to Bradenton.Frank Varela’s run on the Coyote Modified class continues – he lowered the bar yet again today by running an 8.70 in the final round of qualifying. Simply amazing for a car that was completed in the span of four days, with a driver that hadn’t been on the track in three years.
It’s the kickoff to the 2014 racing season, and one of the oldest Ford only races in the world, the NMRA Spring Break Shootout in Bradenton, Florida. Familiar faces are returning, and newcomers will be here to challenge the old guard as well. Pure Street makes a return after a one year hiatus, with some revised rules, and a host of familiar faces. Coyote Modified will make it’s debut, and 8-second ETs are predicted from these high powered machines, running street oriented superchargers, turbos, and nitrous systems.
It promises to be an exciting, and fast-paced weekend, with records on the line, and everyone looking for the momentum of a win to set the tone for their 2014 season. Keep checking here all weekend long as we bring you regular updates with all the racing action from Bradenton.
Sean Ashe and Team ATF are working with a brand-new engine for this season. Tuner Jason Gatlin says that last year they were experiencing issues with the piston rings, where they would lose tension very quickly. The team is working with new rings for this year and Gatlin has been very pleased with the performance of the car so far – we’ll see how well it runs this weekend.Terry “Beefcake” Reeves is sporting a new wrap on his Coyote Modified car this weekend to go along with his Vortech sponsorship for the brand-new class. Beef has a Vortech Ti supercharger on the car – they just finished it last week and have not been able to do any testing yet.The “Rhody Coyote” of Rhode Island’s Keith Calitri is brand-new for this season. Calitri enlisted Mike Dezotell and the Dez Racing team to assist in the program. Calitri is a three-time champ of a local stick-shift class in his area and is hoping to run at the front of the pack.Here testing this weekend? None other than the Glidden Machine. Billy and Shannon are taking advantage of the prepped track to put some laps on their Pro Mod Mustang – and put on a show for the diehard Ford fans at the same time.Another new Coyote Modified entry is in the hands of longtime Real Street racer Craig Baldwin. The Illinois competitor teamed up with Tim Matherly of MV Performance and spent the winter assembling parts and pieces. The car was just started for the first time a few days ago, so your guess is as good as Craig’s regarding the car’s performance. A ProCharger is on board for extra motivation.It’s nice to see Jim Breese back on the property with his stick-shifted Renegade car. Breese struggled last year with a ton of broken parts, going out in the first round at every event he attended, and is looking for a major improvement in this year’s program.Bad Bart Tobener is on the property with his machine, set up to compete in Renegade this season. Tobener switched to a ProCharger F-1C-10.5 supercharger and has been very pleased with its performance so far. “We made one hit on the dyno and made substantially more power, so we loaded it in the trailer and here we are,” he says.Scott Barker is happy to be back in the NMRA – the longtime Pure Street racer competed in NMCA Mean Street for a few seasons but is glad to be back where he got his start. The Four-Valve Modular combination will benefit this weekend from a new clutch Barker has in the trailer.HiPo Joe Charles made the decision to completely revamp his ride in the offseason – new paint, new trim, new wiring and more. About the only thing that stayed the same is the Coyote Stock engine. “Honey Badger 2.0” is poised to run at the top of the field this season – if Charles can drive it there over the rest of the large field in the class.MIke Alwardt’s badass DMC Racing-built machine bounced hard a few times off the launch – the track surface was definitely there during Street Outlaw qualifying. Alwardt still mustered an 8.07 hit, and if we know tuner Eric LaFerriere at all, this team will be ready to go for tomorrow.Also going up hard was the Triangle Speed Shop car of Dan Pachar. He slowed up to a 10.14, last of the round, but our reports say there is no damage to the car.An uncharacteristic 7.56 for Sean Ashe and Team ATF puts him in the fifth spot of nine cars, but we’ll go out on a limb and say he’ll improve on that immensely by the end of the day tomorrow.
Image/s missing.
Lots of secrets were given away in the staging lanes prior to round one of Coyote Stock qualifying. (Left) Drew Lyons and Darin Hendricks were deep in conversation, as were Joe Marini and Jacob Lamb (Middle) decided a staring contest might be best, while Mike Washington (Right) was just stylin' and profilin' for the camera.
How about a 7.042 at over 200 MPH straight off the trailer for the eight-time champ? John Urist showed up in Bradenton ready to rock this year and leads the class entering tomorrow’s final two sessions. Andy Manson also landed in the 0’s, turning in a 7.08 at 196MPH from his Vortech-powered machine. 2013 Champ Phil Hines sits in third with a 7.11.Bart Tobener was right on the money with his comments earlier, as he landed in the top spot in Renegade with an 8.34 at 168 MPH – but Brian Mitchell appears to be hot on his heels. Mitchell tripped the clocks with a stout 8.41 at only 145 MPH, showing that there’s quite a bit left inside the Wizard of Renegade.This is without a doubt the coolest car in Coyote Stock. Owned by Mike Bowen of Powerhouse Automotive in Girard, PA, the car was built over the winter and this was the first time he had even driven it other than to put it in the trailer. Unfortunately for him, the driveshaft didn’t seem to like the sticky track and he found himself being towed off the track. This was the fourth broken driveshaft of the day by our count.Teddy Weaver’s fresh Roush powerplant put him right at the top of the newly-resurrected ACT Pure Street class with a stout 9.72 at 138 MPH. Roush’s Ron Sharp worked his magic on the engine over the wintertime and the car responded – Teddy’s got a three-tenth lead over the next closest competitor, Jimmy Wilson.Jay Dold scored the top qualifier spot in Factory Stock, as the only competitor to sneak into the 10’s today. His Diablosport/MV Performance-sponsored machine runs a Modular engine and was good for a 10.94 at 122MPH.Shifty Shane Stymiest picked up right where he left off at the end of the 2013 season. The Coyote Stock champion is on top of the ladder with a 10.43, over a tenth quicker than #2 qualifier Drew Lyons, who ran a personal-best 10.56 today.The Dwayne James-owned, Frank Varela-driven Coyote Modified entry of the Hellion Racing team was built in just four days last week – yet Varela sits atop the CM qualifying sheet with an 8.99 at 152 MPH. He’s got more than half-a-second over the next closest competitor, Richard Lelsz, heading into Saturday. The car uses a 67mm turbocharger boosting an MMR Pro Mod Coyote engine. Other than Varela, each of the CM competitors struggled with their combinations during Friday’s session.
