True Street Invasion in Bradenton
Mike Dibiaggio was back to True Street action at Bradenton. He hauled his new '03 Cobra clone from Connecticut to Florida, and we think he might have had the unofficial Long Distance Award for his efforts. DiBiaggio has long been a True Street enthusiast and took some time off before coming back in 2008. | 
He officially nicknamed the car Full Anarchy II when it ran in the 8s. | 
He ran a best of 8.72 during T/S competition and was the overall winner with an 8.91 average. |
Stephen Posenau gets the award for the Best Wheelie of True Street. His ProCharger-powered Stang features a Two-Valve engine and has graced the pages of this magazine many times, including once as a feature car when it was running 10s and had nitrous for a power adder. Posenau finished Fourth overall and won the 10-second bracket with a 10.001 average. | 
Lethal Performance's Derek Perez had a 10.89 average. The Shelby has mostly bolt-on parts, along with a Whipple 3.4L blower and tuning from VMP Tuning. The car ran a best of a 10.65 on Mickey Thompson 18-inch drag radials. The overall average was a 10.89. We were amazed with how few parts it took to get this Shelby to run in the 10s and achieve speeds in the 135-mph range. | 
Cory Penton ran 10.16 in the first round and got progressively slower. It wasn't because his wild '03 Cobra was broken; it was that the car was too fast and he needed to have an NHRA 9-second license. Penton runs a Four-Valve Cobra engine, built by MV Performance, with a ProCharger F1R blower. A chain broke on Friday during test and tune, so the guys at All-Stock Performance in Fort Meyers, Florida, fixed the problem and got him back to Bradenton in time for True Street on Saturday. The car is said to be 8-second capable--it made over 1,000 hp at the tires. |
T.J. Fox had a 13.43 average, but the real story is that the car normally runs high-10s/low-11s on the bottle. The juice system was malfunctioning, so he ran the his final two runs on straight motor. The car ran 12.80-12.90s without the bottle. | 
Scott Boda of Steeda won the nine-second category. You can read all about this sweet nitrous-injected LX on page 96 of the July 2008 issue. | 
The NMRA allows Fords of all makes and years to participate in True Street. |
The road tour is one of the best parts of True Street. Participants go on a 30-mile parade to prove the streetworthiness of their hot rod. Then they're cooled down, without lifting the hood, in the staging lanes. All contestants must make three consecutive runs down the track in order to complete the True Street Challenge. | 
Robert Abney ran 9.66 in Round 2 but was unable to make a third run. | 
Brian Blake would've had a 9-second average if he hadn't had problems during the first run. He recorded a 32-second run but then came back with a 9.79 and a 9.82--without using any nitrous. This is a certifiable 8-second street car once he hits the juice. |
Seeing 70 cars on the road is cool. The locals were digging it, too, as people stopped to watch everyone cruise through the 'hood. | 
Aramis Lugo of New Jersey made the long haul with his turbocharged SN-95 racer. The car features a 331ci engine with a huge turbo. It helped propel Lugo to a 9.45 average and Overall Runner-Up finish. | 
These two cars are complete sleepers. Justin Lohnes knocked down a 12.03 average with the ProCharger-blown Lincoln. Lohnes took home the 12-second index title. |
Tom Archambault ran 10.90 on his first run in his wild Marauder. Tech officials told him to slow it down due to lack of NHRA safety gear. He obliged and finished with a 12.07 average. |  |  |
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