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The NMRA’s Coyote Stock class offers (in our opinion) some of the best racing anywhere. The tight rules of this sealed crate engine class create incredible parity and competition often not seen in other forms of heads up racing. We can’t get enough of the 7,500-plus RPM launches, and still find ourselves awe-struck at a stock Mustang GT engine propelling cars deep into the 10-second zone. While TV shows and media often play up the drama angle of drag racing these days we find the camaraderie and friendships among the Coyote Stock racers refreshing.
Coyote Stock racers came out to Thornhill for an unsanctioned Coyote Pro Stock race this past weekend.
A long break in the NMRA season this year left all NMRA racers looking for a format to test and race in for the months of August and September. Thornhill Dragway has stepped up for the Coyote Stock racers and this past weekend held the first ever Coyote Pro Stock race. Following the basic rules and intention behind the Coyote Stock class with a sealed crate engine, 3,000 pounds weight, NMRA spec tune and fuel, as well as no power adders, racers needed only load their Coyote Stock cars up and head to the track.
Drivers meet with promoter Tom Borgia prior to eliminations.
Five of the class’ racers made the trek to Morning View, KY and found themselves at Thornhill Dragway. Brandon Alsept, Steve Gifford, Jacob Lamb, Drew Lyons, and Steve Moberly all showed up. A few others were trying to make the trip but other obligations got in the way this time.
The Thornhill crowd was treated to big wheel stands and high RPM action as the Coyote Stockers made two qualifying passes. When it was all said and done the top three were separated by .006 seconds, showing how close all of the cars were. Mixing things up even more was the fact that the cars were running eighth-mile passes for the weekend. If you’ve never watched heads up racing on an eighth-mile it can be quite exciting. There is little room for error correction, one mistake typically leads to a loss as there’s no time to correct and rundown the guy who just passed you.
Top Left: Coyote Stock racer and Thornhill regular Jacob Lamb. Top Right: The Finish Line Performance sponsored machine of Steve Gifford points the nose towards the sky. Bottom Left: Moberly's Scram Speed Fairmont was a crowd favorite drawing spectators all afternoon in the pits. Unfortunately the transmission bit the dust in the second round of qualifying. Bottom Right: Drew Lyons qualified number four but would drive his way to the finals where he won the event.
In eliminations it was Jacob Lamb vs Drew Lyons in round one. Lamb spun the tires and told us later he was using an older set of slicks. This gave Lyons the win, in spite of the fact that he says he was off his game on the shifts. Steve Gifford and Brandon Alsept both received by-runs after C4 in Steve Moberly’s Fairmont gave up during round two of qualifying.
In the sem-finals Gifford had a bye-run, while Lyons and Alsept faced off. Lyons managed to catch the Dnyojet sponsored machine of Alsept before the stripe putting him into the finals against Gifford. Clearly the suggestion someone made Lyons to chug a Mt Dew to get his shifting game back together was working for Lyons, we might have to start calling him Mt Dew Drew.
Brandon Alsept takes a single in the first round of eliminations behind the wheel of his Dynojet sponsored Mystichrome Cobra.
The finals came down to Lyons (far lane) vs Gifford (near lane)
In the finals it was Lyons vs the Finish Line Performance sponsored machine of Steve Gifford. Both cars had pulled monster wheel stands in the semis, and the fans were lining the fences at Thornhill to see who would come out on top. With huge wheel stands on both lanes the race was incredibly close. It came down to the end of the track where it was Lyons pulling off the win over Gifford. You can watch on-car video of that pass from Lyons’ car at the top of this story.
The icing on the cake for the night was also the Finish Line Performance reaction time challenge. Finish Line put up an additional $250 for the racer with the best average reaction time. Lyons was deadly on the tree all night netting him both the class win and the RT bonus.
Lyons and Gifford compare timeslips inside Lyons' trailer after the final round. Right: Drew and Kristen Lyons taking home the win after a day at the races.
The fans at Thornhill seemed to thoroughly enjoy some of NMRA’s best coming in to their small track for a heads up race. Thornhill is looking into doing a second Coyote Pro Stock race before the NMRA World Finals.No word yet on when that race will be held, but we plan to be there if at all possible.
We’d like to thank the Coyote Stock racers who came out for this race, and Thornhill Dragway for putting on a great show. We’re looking forward to more racing like this in the future.
