Engineer Mick Procovich got hooked on True Street after making a full sweep of the weekend's activities at the Houston event by topping the qualifying ladder on Saturday and winning the bracket race on Sunday.
The Heartland Park facility in Topeka, Kansas, has been the home of many NHRA records through the years, most notably the monumental breach into both the 4-second and 300-mph barriers in the Funny Car class in 1993. Can you believe they did that 13 years ago? Awesome traction and a long, smooth half-mile of shutdown make the Kansas track a favorite of many of the top FFW shootout competitors, as well as their NHRA counterparts in speed.
Just before the Fun Ford Weekend series blew through Topeka last year, the asphalt was replaced on the big end of the racetrack, and a major $22 million renovation began after they exited. Nearly all of the monies, however, were spent in preparation of the '06-and-beyond SCCA National Championships. Nevertheless, the facility is nothing less than awe-inspiring, especially the couple-thousand-square-foot tech-inspection garage that houses the scales, room for about 20 vehicles, and new facility rest rooms and showers.
The Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords/Tremec Transmissions True Street cruisers took the traditional 30-mile road tour through the plains of Kansas crop country. Upon return, we had a hard time keeping them from "accidentally" steering onto the virgin 2.5-mile road course for a hot lap before the prerace cooldown period. | 
The True Street rules are simple: valid driver's license, vehicle registration, license plate, and insurance, obey normal traffic laws, and keep your hood closed at all times. After the cruise, a short, unassisted cooldown is your only preparation for three back-to-back-to-back qualifying drag passes. Let the competition begin! | 
Brent Hargadin built a mild AFR 185-headed 347 fuelie for his '87 LX and added a set of 3.73 gears and a 150 shot of nitrous oxide via an NX plate system. Quick e.t.'s required lightening the front suspension with a QA1 A-arm/K-member combo, and a complete set of UPR rear control arms guaranteed a solid launch. The Tremec TKO transmission and Spec Stage III clutch helped motivate this Pony deep into the 10-second zone, which necessitated the installation of a Maximum Motorsports NHRA-legal rollbar. Hargadin earned a runner-up spot in the class with a string of mid-10.40 passes. |
In late Summer 2006, FFW competitors came to play. It was an important race because after Topeka there would only be one event left in the championship points race. Mother Nature tried to dampen the racers' spirits, but the corn country sun gods chased the clouds away by noon on both Saturday and Sunday, allowing a complete event schedule.
Retired Steve Nichols runs his 349-stroker-motored, Tremec-rowed '89 GT at eighth-mile racetracks back home in Iowa, but he didn't have a clue what to expect on a track twice that length. At first he was worried that his 4.10 gearset would be a bit steep, but then again, he did the headwork on the Edelbrock Victor 5.0 heads himself in order to add higher rpm capability. | 
John Scott works as a product development engineer at a popular supercharger manufacturer to assist in designing kits for new applications-what a cool job. His '04 Cobra is stock except for a set of SLP headers and exhaust, a JLP cold-air kit, and an SCT BA2400 chip. Two 12-flat runs and a 12.20 averaged out to a 12.07 to claim the 12-second prize. In addition, John made it all the way to the final in Sunday's Tremec True Street Bracket race. | 
We see lots of beautiful hot rods in our MM&FF/True Street class, but rarely do we find a street car that could easily take top-class prizes at the local car show and offer such seamlessly consistent passes down the quarter-mile-now you know what Brent Hargadin's big smile is all about. |
Check out the results and hot photos we captured on our trip.