NMRA Drag Racing Series - Bust Out Bradenton

Defending Pure Street class champion, Brad Meadows, picked up where he left off-dominating the field of racers. He set new E.T. and mph records-10.31 and 129.4 mph-and took home the class win.

Drag Radial racer Chad Doyle boils his BFGoodrich drag radial tires so they become nice and sticky. He ran 8.15 in testing and as quick as 8.18 during competition. Doyle has a high-winding 347 with a ProCharger F1R blower.

Hot Street was perhaps the tightest class of the weekend. Almost the entire 14-car field posted runs in the 8-second zone, and drivers had to be sharp on the Tree in order to survive. Open Comp graduate Robert Blankenship stepped up last year, and his first class win came in Bradenton with an outstanding 8.79 performance in the final round.

Lately, it's not uncommon to attend a Ford race where someone shows up with a Hertz GT-H rental Mustang. This person, whose name is being withheld, took it to the extreme and added slicks and skinnies. The Rent-A-Racer ran mid-13s in that trim.

Rookie NMRA racer Tommy Godfrey is known on the internet for his accomplishments in the '03-'04 Cobra realm. This year he's driving JPC Racing's Factory Stock car. Godfrey ran 11.50s his first time out and took home the class victory. The car hooks nicely on the rather smallish 275/50 BFGoodrich drag radials.

Team Aruba sat on top of the Pro 5.0 qualifying ladder with an outstanding 6.60 run at 212 mph. An unfortunate red light in Round 1 ended their weekend, however. Driver Burt Kelkboom informed us that he hadn't raced the car since the NMRA World Finals last year and was a little rusty. Then he smiled and said he couldn't wait for the next race so he could redeem himself.

Joel Howard pushed his gorgeous '86 Mustang GT to the top of qualifying in the EFI-Renegade field. It marked the first time since 2003 that a nitrous-powered car set low elapsed time of the class. He went out in the second round to eventual class winner Bart Tobener.

The School of Automotive Machinists (S.A.M.) brought out its '95 Mustang Cobra for some fun in Hot Street. The class project was to build the engine and maintain the car at the races. The school hired Justin Curry to drive the eight-second machine. Curry is no stranger to 10.5-tire racing, and his skills helped the team make the final round and finish as the runner-up in the tough category.

Johnny Lightning set a new world record for Gen 2 Lightnings as his twin-turbocharged truck hauled to an 8.60 at 160 mph performance. He also qualified number one with a 0.038 reaction time in the Truck and Lightning eliminator. Unfortunately, a family emergency forced him to pull out of competition and head home early.

Jimmy Wilson gets a good look at the sky as his Pure Streeter leaps off the starting line. He finished runner-up in class eliminations.

Bart TobEner pushed his modular-powered Mustang to the top spot in the final round. A Vortech YSi-Trim pumps up the 5.4-liter combination. Each year, more modular cars are built for the EFI-Renegade class, and we think it's a trend that will continue to grow.