The heat, percussion, and...
The heat, percussion, and speed were an awesome experience firsthand. Next year, the timing system should be operable to allow all four lanes to be utilized for NMRA and NMCA drag racing categories.
It was a phenomenon that hadn't been seen since the '60s-we're talking about four-wide drag racing, and with jet cars to boot. That was the scene at the inaugural Nitto Tires All-Star Nationals, the fifth stop on the 2009 NMRA-Keystone Drag Racing and Car Show schedule. The event included both NMRA and NMCA programs running together.
ZMax Dragway is the latest in the Bruton Smith empire of world-class racing facilities, and it's located in the heart of NASCAR country near Charlotte, North Carolina. The timing system, unfortunately, wasn't yet set up to run four-lane eliminations, but the jet cars put on a nice, four-wide show for the full house of NMRA and NMCA racers and fans.
The ProMedia officials kept both series separate, unlike the Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing a month earlier at Route 66 Raceway (Joliet, Illinois). But just like the Super Bowl event, the True Street field was paraded around the NASCAR track for its 30-mile cruise. The nearby Lowes Motor Speedway gates had opened up to the 43 True Street entries (31 Fords and 12 Brand-X), so they could make left turns and barrel down the straights like the NASCAR stars. And like the Route 66 True Street cruise, it was fun to watch drag racing-oriented machines humming through steep embankments while rolling on skinny front tires and DOT-slicks and drag radials in the back.
The heads-up and index-racing classes that make up the Keystone Automotive Drag Racing division of the NMRA was full of familiar faces. The extreme heat-over 100 degrees-certainly slowed down the cars and trucks, but it didn't hurt the close competition. Challenging track conditions also threw a curveball to the racers with soaring surface temperatures (140 degrees). Nevertheless, racers adapted and overcame the conditions to snag valuable points in the Nitto-sponsored Race for the Ring championship shootout.
Evolution Performance rolled...
Evolution Performance rolled out its brand-new '10 Shelby GT500 for a special Hot Rod magazine event. The gorgeous '10 features every bolt-on in the Evolution catalog and ran low 11s at 130 mph. Nelson Whitlock Jr. was hampered by a faulty transmission and vowed 10s by the time you read this issue.
Dan Millen of Livernois Motorsports...
Dan Millen of Livernois Motorsports is on a roll and won his second straight event in the Pro Outlaw 10.5 category. The newly built Skinny Kid Race Cars entry ran a best of 6.83 at 211, despite the extreme heat.
The naturally aspirated Pure...
The naturally aspirated Pure Street final round between Ryan Hecox (right) and Mark Anderson (left) was a tight match up. Both racers left with the wheels up, but Anderson got loose and was forced to lift. Hecox won with a 10.27 at 131 mph.
One of the deadliest sleepers...
One of the deadliest sleepers belongs to Mike Rousch of Virginia. The daily-driven coupe features a Four-Valve with a Turbonetics.....
.....88mm turbo and goes mid-9s!...
.....88mm turbo and goes mid-9s! The car wasn't in competition and was parked in the Hellion Power Systems pit all weekend long.
It is easy to smoke the hides...
It is easy to smoke the hides when you have over 1,400 hp on tap. Enzo Pecchini relies on a Panhandle Performance-built 342ci engine with a ProCharger F1R supercharger for his low-8-second Drag Radial racer.
The biggest sleeper in competition...
The biggest sleeper in competition belonged to Scott Brady, who finished as the True Street Overall Runner-Up with a 9.19 average. It is surprisingly silent, with a smooth idle from its nitrous-injected 442ci engine. We would have mistaken it for a car running low 10s; it looks and sounds that sedate.
JPC Racing's Tommy Godfrey...
JPC Racing's Tommy Godfrey showed off his new set of Nitto 555R drag radials on his Factory Stocker. He ran low-11s and Godfrey hopes to compete full-time on the Nitto tires in 2010.
Pete Esput broke his Super...
Pete Esput broke his Super Stang entry on Friday, so he had his wife pick up their brand-new '10 Shelby GT500 from the dealer on Saturday for the True Street competition on Sunday! They hadn't even taken the window sticker off of it yet. He finished with a 13.06 average.