2006 NMRA Bradenton Drag Racing & Mustang Car Show - Guns Blazing

Outlaw 10.5 champion Jim Briante was behind the wheel of the Sorby Brothers' SSO ride. The nitrous-inhaling small-block cranked out 7.60s at 180 mph. Briante advanced to the semifinals in the 17-car field before going down to event winner Sam Vincent. Briante will be back behind the wheel of his 200-mph Stang in the Outlaw 10.5 ranks at the next event.

The Swill Racing team returned to EFI-Renegade competition to defend their championship. With backing from Sticker Dude Designs, Vortech, Stang Gear, and Advanced Airflow Engineering, the team snagged top qualifying honors and drove to victory on Sunday.

One of the more unique cars in the Vortech Modular Muscle field was Al Papitto's '98 Cobra. He has made a name for himself by running in the mid-10s with a naturally aspirated 5.4-liter engine. Over the winter, he went inside of the mod motor and found even more horsepower. The red Stang covered the quarter-mile in the 9.90 range-still sans power adder.

Our May '06 cover car, owned by Manny Buginga, did not start the weekend off well. During Thursday's test and tune, Buginga lost the engine in the SSO ride. Thanks to Nelson Racing Engines and Buginga's crew, the 362 was rebuilt in time for Saturday's qualifying sessions. The team overcame adversity and went to the final round. Buginga lost when he got loose in the middle of the track, but he did a miraculous job of keeping the car off the guardrails.

Open Comp's format changed this year, and the racers were qualified according to their best reaction time. That didn't matter to defending series champion Bruce Parker-he was number two in the field with a 0.001 reaction time. His red-hot streak from 2006 continued at Bradenton with a runner-up finish to Jim Brown.

Don Burton came loaded for bear with 500 cubes of angry big-block power. Fulton Racing Engines built it and engineered a top-secret nitrous system, one that Burton had covered with a sheetmetal cover. Matukas Motorsports updated the chassis in an effort to harness the sick horsepower under the hoodscoop.

Super Street Outlaw cars are temperamental on the tiny 28x10.5-inch slicks. Some racers, like Billy Laskowsky, chose to take it easy on their stuff in Bradenton. With an entire season of racing ahead of them, Laskowsky and crew chief Mark McKeon made only partial passes down the track. They did record a 1.23 60-foot time, which was the quickest short time from the blower contingent that weekend.

John Kolivas of Mississippi proved you needn't be the quickest car in the Drag Radial class. But he was in the top five for performances, and relied on his lightning-quick reaction times to win the event. He wheeled the turbocharged Mustang to three holeshot victories-he destroyed the competition in the first round, and each additional round of racing required him to nail the Tree for the victory as he faced some quick competition. He beat Mauro Vitale in the final.

The Motive Gear Pro 5.0 entry, driven by Joe Morgan, qualified 10th in Pro 5.0 with a stellar 6.93 on only one of the three stages of Edelbrock nitrous.

Eric Laferriere lit up the Drag Radial field with an 8.18, the quickest pass in class history. The 3,300-pound ride rolls on a set of BFGoodrich drag radials and runs a 347 with a ProCharger F1R supercharger under the hood. A little tidbit about this '98 Cobra is that Jimmy LaRocca drove it to the EFI-Renegade championship in 2003. The chassis has since been redone by DMC Racing and carries a 25.2 SFI certification.

Shane Jennings raced a real '93 Cobra R in Drag Radial. It is one of only 107 ever produced. A 331 with a Vortech X-Trim supercharger helped produce 8.70 performances.