Cruising through the pits we came across a face we haven’t seen in a while – Jay Dold. We thought he might be here to compete in Nitto Tire Factory Stock after reading some internet banter, and sure enough, he’s here with his familiar black New Edge car. He’s sporting a brand new Four-Valve powerplant under the hood. “These guys are running 10.80s now. It wouldn’t have made sense to show up and run 11.0s,” said Dold of his new engine.
When we stopped by the pits of Jacob Lamb, we were surprised to not only see a Coyote under the hood (in place of his usual Four-Valve) but to see him applying Strange Engineering Coyote Stock numbers. He mentioned doing the swap, but we had no idea that he was going to complete it so quickly. He will be making his first passes on the new combination this weekend.
Adam Arndt has his new Blow-By Racing Renegade combination on the property. After crewing for Brian Mitchell in Florida, he decided he wanted to build a car for the class. Between the parts he had in his garage, Brian Mitchell’s garage and other Renegade racers, he only needed to purchase three items new. The car went together in three months, and we’re excited to see what his supercharged 309-inch combination runs in class-trim.
Trick Flow Specialties Open Comp racer Wade Vincent hauled his super-clean ’92 Mustang from Kentucky to Michigan for this weekend’s race. The SRS Machine-built, naturally-aspirated 347 cubic-inch engine propels the car to 10.40s in the quarter mile. Vincent, who currently sits seventh in points, drove to the quarterfinal at the Maryland and Georgia races in his street-legal 98,000-mile car. “I definitely want to finish in the top five in points, but this is one tough field of drivers,” said Vincent.
Tom Motycka, the 2008 Modular Muscle champion, says he dug his car, “out of the weeds – literally,” for this weekend’s race. It’s hard to tell whether he was joking or serious, but regardless, he has picked up right where he left off last season, with an 11.87 in his first test hit in his familiar grey and black Mustang powered by a naturally-aspirated Livernois Motorsports-built 5.4.
With weather typical of an NMRA Milan race here this weekend (warm) racers have learned to come prepared, as evidenced by Carlos Sobrino’s solution. Apparently, he bought the largest fan he could find, and then wired in a voltage regulator, since originally that bad boy was wired to run on 220 volts. His engine was ice-cold, though!
After the first round of qualifying, Don Bowles is siting pretty in Edelbrock Hot Street, with an 8.63 at over 157 mph. We’re guessing that the class’ elapsed times will drop in the cooler air in the second qualifying session this evening.
Justin Burcham busted off a 10.88 in the first round of Strange Engineering Coyote Stock qualifying, setting the bar for the class’ performance in the heat. Of course, with two more rounds of qualifying left it’s still anyone’s game.
Valerie Clements, who has ten years of experience driving a junior dragster, is making her Blow-By Racing Renegade debut this weekend. Her ’05 Mustang is the former championship-winning Sutton car, powered by a Four-Valve engine built by her brother and father. With assistance in the pits from them, as well as Brent Weston and Devin DeAngelis, she appears confident as she gets accustomed to the new car and class.She posted a 9.33 at 148 in the first round of qualifying, which is good for the fifth spot. “It’s awesome, but it’s a lot different than a junior dragster,” said Clements. “We’re purposely holding back this weekend since it’s my first race in the car, but we’ll test more and I plan to stay in the class and run the rest of the races.”
