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 2001 Modular Muscle champion...  2001 Modular Muscle champion Robert Hindman took his brand new silver bullet to the final round late Sunday. Great reaction times allowed Hindman to take out key player and number one qualifier Reggie Burnette in round 4. Richard Lelsz was able to defeat Scott Baumgartner's PHP Drag Pack Mustang in round 5 and then face Hindman in the final. Two red lights later, Hindman took the win as Lelsz had left first. |
 2001 Modular Muscle champion...  2001 Modular Muscle champion Robert Hindman took his brand new silver bullet to the final round late Sunday. Great reaction times allowed Hindman to take out key player and number one qualifier Reggie Burnette in round 4. Richard Lelsz was able to defeat Scott Baumgartner's PHP Drag Pack Mustang in round 5 and then face Hindman in the final. Two red lights later, Hindman took the win as Lelsz had left first. |
 Mark Morales, who finished...  Mark Morales, who finished ninth in the Nitto Tires Truck class last year, came to Florida ready for a fight.His brightly colored, A&W Performance-built, 306 cubic-inch Ranger qualified No.1 with a 9.79 at 134 pass. |
 There seems to be something...  There seems to be something about Lime Green paint that lets it slip through the air faster than most cars. Aside from the bright paint color, Chris Little's 1988 coupe wields 347 inches of Ford power backed by a Performance Automatic Powerglide. He used this combination to set the pace in BFGoodrich Drag Radials with a track-scorching 8.98 at 157 mph pass. The nearest competitor was Spence Hart, who qualified second with a 9.37 ET. Little, who is also the 2001 Drag Radial champ, usedconsistent 8-second runs and a little juice from his Wilson Pro Flow nitrous system to pick apart the Drag Radial contingent, and would eventually pair up with Hart in the final. In the cool night air, Chris's LX left the tree with a .504 reaction time, and there was no looking back. At the top end, it was Little with an 8.91 to Spence Hart's 9.42. With class restrictions ranging from cubic-inch limits to a single power adder and D.O.T. radial tires, it's amazing these cars run as fast as they do. |
In the distance, you hear a rumble. A stab of the throttle and the sound comes ablaze. Rippling waves assault your inner senses and go quiet with a quick whoosh. Wisps of white smoke fill the air and obscure your vision of the brightly-colored mechanical marvel. A few more stabs of the throttle and the sound builds once more. Now the whoosh becomes a burly whistle and suddenly, there are repeated pops that sound like gunfire. They increase in frequency and the attack is unleashed in a blur as the machines rocket down this side of the earth.This is Pro 5.0. Whereas the nitrous-injected rides have a distinctly smooth and calming rasp, the current turbocharged Pro 5.0 cars sound like the internal combustion is occurring outside of the engine. But these are the heavy horsepower hitters. They are rolling explosions that when firmly planted to the pavement, are capable of 6-second ETs and speeds well over 200 mph. Where we once thought low 9s were amazing, the latest offerings can spank your average factory-backed Pro Stock doorslammer. These days, Super Street Outlaw has already passed the 9-second zone, which is now home to EFI Renegade and Hot Street muscle, but even these classes are looking to dip into the 8s. Mustangs are quicker than they have ever been, and racing sanctions like the NMRA provide the stage for these horsepower junkies to act on their tuning prowess.
The National Mustang Racers Association's 2002 Spring Ford Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida was a sun-drenched weekend overflowing with quarter-mile fury. Hundreds of Mustang racers from all over the country and even Canada were dropping the hammer.
The fields were full of new cars, from Modular to Real Street competitors. In Super Street Outlaw, the bold blue and white 2002 Mustang of True Blue Performance tempts the class with a turbocharged 5.4-liter engine and 9-second time slips. Former EFI Renegade racer Chip Havermann stepped up his racing program to join the Outlaw ranks and fared rather well at the Spring Ford Nationals.
Pro 5.0 was remodeled for 2002 with a host of new cars. The Xtreme Paint'd and turbocharged Mustang of Victor Sierra certainly has the power to be competitive. As the crew gets a handle on the new car, you can be sure that their performance will improve as the season progresses. Derrick Smith's beautiful Holcomb Motorsports-sponsored Pro 5.0 entry packs a powerplant straight from Glidden Racing Engines.
And as you might have guessed, they have copious amounts of nitrous on board. The car had only been finished three weeks prior to the event before the Cartersville, Ga., native brought it to sunny Florida and blasted the quarter-mile in a mere 6.94 seconds. It was the car's second pass ever. Smith and crew obviously have a handle on things.
Kevin Marsh and Chuck Samuel debuted their new Mustang, a flashy and brightly-hued horse that replaced the sedate burgundy coupe of last year. Another team leaving the old Fox body behind was John Gullett and Brent Frazier. Their purple and white pony ran straight as an arrow in Fun Ford competition a week earlier, but could not plant the crazy turbocharged horsepower in Bradenton.
Bad luck unfortunately plagued the weekend with breakdowns and oildowns. Even so, over 400 cars from Open Comp to Pro 5.0 let it all hang out at the 2002 NMRA Spring Board nationals.
 Bradenton always has a good...  Bradenton always has a good bracket showing and the 2002 Spring Ford Nationals did not disappoint. Certainly one of the highlights--at least for spectators--was this nitrous backfire. After belching the gas, it caught fire and the track workers had to give it a little gas of their own to put it out. |  |  Justin Burcham's coupe donned...  Justin Burcham's coupe donned a brilliant blue paint job and firepower that put him at the top of the heap in BF Goodrich Factory Stock qualifying. A scant 12.05 seconds set the pace for the class, but Burcham had problems in round 2 and fell to Tim Dunlan. The Factory Stock class is, as its name implies, very close to what Ford gave us. Extremely tight limits on everything from frame rails to camshaft profiles really make the contingent work for their speed and power. |
 This Bassani Xhaust-sponsored...  This Bassani Xhaust-sponsored Ford Focus wagon made quite an impression. The turbocharged people transport made several 9-second passes and the sight of this rear-wheel-drive smoking the tires is surely something we won't soon forget. |  Big Daddy Dwayne Gutridge,...  Big Daddy Dwayne Gutridge, one of New Jersey's hometown heroes, made the trek from the Garden State to the NMRA season opener. The Outrageous Mustangs entry was off the pace and bowed out in the first round. |  2001 TTC Tremec Pure Street...  2001 TTC Tremec Pure Street champion John McGowan made the trek from the Empire State to begin his quest for a second championship. Qualifying second, the P&J Speed Shop-prepared Mustang hung in until the third round when Jarrod Richards cut the holeshot for the win. |
 The red coupe of Robin Lawrence...  The red coupe of Robin Lawrence (near lane) qualified second but fell to Troy Carter in round 3 action. Carter was set to meet Mike Washington and his 1988 Bright Red Saleen replica in the final but could not make it, leaving Washington to blast a single for the prize money. |  To enter the Vortech Modular...  To enter the Vortech Modular Muscle gang, simply slap a 4.6 or 5.4-liter engine into any Ford vehicle and go racing. It's as easy as that. These days, modular performance has excelled as Saturday's qualifying showed cars running in the 9s. Reggie Burnette made his mark with a 9.52 at 139 mph, while the LaMotta Performance entry of Christina Eldert (far lane) was hot on the trail with a 9.97 ET. Eldert's rather quiet faux-SVO packs a twin-turbocharged Cobra motor and a ton of power, but Christina lost the second round to Richard Lelsz who had chopped the tree down with a .528 light. |  Centerforce Clutches sponsored...  Centerforce Clutches sponsored the burnout contest, which had several interesting entries. From cars and trucks clad with scantily clad women to gas-powered scooters, there was a little bit of everything. The eventual winner (pictured here) did not generate the most smoke, but was given the sympathy vote after his high compression motor puked several quarts of petroleum. Later inspections could not diagnose where exactly the oil came from, but his racing was over for the weekend. |
 As if his Modular racing wasn't...  As if his Modular racing wasn't enough, Robert Hindman was helping out brother Gene, who was competing in TTC Tremec Pure Street. The beautiful orange-metallic Mustang was unfortunately defeated in the third round by Dwayne Barbaree. |  | |