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PBMracing
11-26-2002, 10:30 AM
Four years is not a long period of time. I was at the NMRA's first event held at Maple Grove Raceway in 1999. It was a good turnout for the first time the Motorsport Nationals had several heads up classes. I am amazed as I look at how this organization has grown, and how we have grown as racers and fans within it. In every aspect, the people that populate this series are driven to improve.

While other sanctioning bodies have struggled with decreasing car counts, the NMRA has held steady and even grown. Not all classes are flourishing, but the ones that are doing well, are doing so in a big way.

We absolutely LOVE heads up racing. It doesn’t matter if it is our cars we are playing with or another class's cars that we are watching. We would like to thank the NMRA for providing a place for us to play with our hotrods. No, it may not be as cost effective as bracket racing, but none the less, it is heads up racing and the NMRA provides us with a highly anticipated magazine, publicity, forums to voice our opinions, a set of reasonable rules, open ears, and the desire to put on a good show. I am proud to say that we have many friends that work for the NMRA who truly enjoy the people that participate in the organization.

As utterly frustrating as what each and every one of our cars can be from time to time, the racers that compete with the NMRA are the best of any organization I have ever been involved with. Bowling Green was an absolutely fantastic turnout. 25 cars in each of our classes!

We know many of our fellow racers as friends. My sweetie Mary and Steph have contributed greatly to our getting to know many of these people with the wonderful cookouts they do Saturday night at the races. We could never thank them enough for taking care of all of us, and providing an environment that allows everyone to relax and unwind from a stressful day of racing. Thanks girls!

I could never tell the fans how much we appreciate all of their support. The longer we race, the more we hear stories of people traveling great distances to come attend these races. They come to meet the crazy folks they read about in the magazines. To all the folks that cruise on through our pits and give us a friendly hello and appreciate what we do, you are definitely first class people that really make it all worthwhile!

The competition in all of the NMRA’s classes gets tougher with every event! We came to the NMRA because of our desire to race a heads up format. We would like to offer our congratulations to all of the Hot Street racers who competed in 2002. Sometimes just getting everything together to go to the races is an accomplishment in itself! The competitiveness of the cars and people that populate this class never ceases to amaze me. Special congratulations to Brian Booze and team. You ran your butts off to win your first championship!

Congratulations also to the Real Street competitors. This class was bound to be a success with the vision of Steve Turner and James Lawrence laying the foundation for the class. Who would have thought these cars would be capable of the amazing performances they have attained since the classes inception? Special congratulations to Freddy Felts who was forced to change cars; and despite the adversity, he showed us that consistent performances win championships. Great Job Freddy!

Billy and I would like to thank all of the people that helped to complete the construction of our 2002 H/S car in an amazing 4 weeks time (after rollcage work was completed). Jim “NUG” McNaull, Pete Bilharz, Allen “Bud” Heath, my sweetie Mary, Mike Heath, Todd “Stangfireman” Savidge, and Josh “Slim91GT” Flynn.

We have created wonderful friendships with many different people and companies throughout the Performance Industry. These people have shared in our victories, and supported us during the times when we were lost. We would like to thank each and every one of them! Jason Smith and Vern House of Performance Automotive thanks for being involved in every facet of our cars performances, and building an absolutely killer car. Tony Bischoff and Gary Rohe of BES Racing Engines for top notch performance. Dominick and Dee Acquilante thanks for your support, use of the shop, and allowing Billy time off to go to the races. Rick Roberts and Vic Edelbrock of Edelbrock for your support of the Hot Street class, awesome cylinder heads and your involvement in our operation. Lenny, Harold and JR from Dynamic Transmissions/TCT Converters for front running reliable transmissions and torque converters. Bud Porter, Carl Zach, Mike Tritle and Ron Piasecki of Autometer for quality gauges and Data Logger equipment. Jr and Sr of Kooks Headers, Jimmy LaRocca and Andrew of LaRocca’s Performance. Linda and Bangin Bobby Hanlon of Hanlon Motorsports for the fast shifting Tremec. Bob Mylar of Weldon Fuel Pumps top quality fuel system components. Lucky of Lucky’s Race Cars for anything and everything. Will Baty of Centerforce Clutches for wonderful clutches. Ken and Dan Jones of ProCharger for your support, and excellent products. Chris Crecelius, Zach Baker and Steve Johnson of Holley for many different cutting edge products. Brian Carner and Jason Reiss of www.hardcore50.com for your vision of a racing community and your support of our racing program, Mark Wilkerson of Racecraft Inc. Dave Lanman of H.O.Fibertrends, Patrick James of Pro Systems, the worlds fastest carburetors. Larry Geddes of Geddex, Big Bob McDonald and Danny Jesel of Jesel Directè. Brian Downard of Mickey Thompson, Ricky Best of Vortech/Paxton, Artie Kaikou of Trick Flow Specialties, Ed Curtis of FlowTech Induction, Ronnie and Adam Manchester of R&D Manchester,

So what will 2003 hold for PBMracing? Hot Street is absolutely over the top and we are going to invest a maximum effort into every facet of the new car to regain the big number 1 on its window and make that car the first H/s car into the coveted 8 second zone.

We will continue to support the Evil Twin as it takes on a new mission of being a front running P/s car at the capable hands of owner Steve Moberley and hotshoe Darin Hendricks. We are very honored that these gentlemen chose to make the Evil Twin their weapon of choice. The enthusiasm they share and the people and companies that are behind them will definitely make this car a feared competitor and championship contender.

Stay tuned, something else might be just around the corner by way of another car!

We hope that everyone has wonderful holidays and a safe offseason, see ya at the NMRA races!

Chris and Billy

Stangfireman
11-26-2002, 11:41 AM
Chris and Billy,
I wanted to thank you for allowing me to help out on the new girl. And if it weren't for Hardcore50.com I don't think we would have ever met.
Thanks for treating me like you knew me from the first moment we met at Maple Grove this year. With you and the crews help, I've met so many great racers and fans.
From a fans point of view, before I'd stand back and watch, afraid to get in the way. But from the races I attended this year, it seems as though every racer I met and talked to is as normal (Ok, that's stretching it a bit ;) ) as anyone else. They all had dreams and desires and put forth the effort to get out there and do it.
Thanks for all the great memories this year and I hope to have more with you and the crew next year!

Todd Savidge

fordgod
11-26-2002, 06:28 PM
Well it seems that this is probably a good time to bring this up. I have been attending NMRA events since they got started, and I have to admit, they were my instant favorite. I truely believe that the reason for their success,aside from their brilliant marketing skills, is because they decided to keep it real. Now they are going to be faced with a harsh reality. That is this, the further you progress a class the fewer cars you will have. it's inevitable. A good example is pro 5.0. There was a day when it was awesome to watch them run. Now i leave after outlaw becuase there's only 4 cars in the field and half break before they run. Don't get me wrong, this maybe an exagerration sometimes, but every one of you knows it's true. Another example is Renegade. Great class starting out."kinda like real street". Now look at it. Really look at it.I think everybody knows the progression of that class. If you ask the racers you'll always hear the same thing. "How are we supposed to break records if we can't change stuff". Or " We can't keep the car from breaking if we don't upgrade". You know in some forms of auto racing, if you are the class champion more than one year you are expected to move to the next class.
I think the answer is not to give into the racers all the time. Also think about the layout of the class before you start it. Example: factory stock; since when does an 86 and up mustang come with a trans. with no overdrive? Or a trans. brake for that matter. This is the entry level, bolt on class! You can't change the f****ing cam, but you can put in a $3500.00 trans. with no overdrive and a trans. brake! Not to mention that you can't even drive on the street with these trans. Now if you were a mustang owner wanting to go heads up racing, where would you start? That's crap!
So this is why the open comp. classes have full fields and the heads up classes do not. How can this be so obvious, yet every body ignores it? Anyhow, just some words to think about in these long winter months.

SuperLX
11-27-2002, 12:07 AM
Chris

you stated at the end of your post about another car.There have been rumblings that the 'new' car you guys run is 'illegal' due the the rear frame rails or lack there of,can you please elaborate,thanks.

Stangfireman
11-27-2002, 12:10 AM
Originally posted by SuperLX
Chris

you stated at the end of your post about another car.There have been rumblings that the 'new' car you guys run is 'illegal' due the the rear frame rails or lack there of,can you please elaborate,thanks.


Hmmmm, I helped work on the car and if I'm not mistaken, the factory frame rails were there. But Chris can answer this better then I can.

PBMracing
11-27-2002, 07:15 AM
SuperLX,
No problem bud. Despite the notch for tire clearence (which is allowed as long as the cut is not thru the inner wall) the rails are completely uncut. Our new car is legal.... I love these rumors.

Steve purchased the Evil Twin car and will compete in the P/s class with it....

That leaves the Old Girl 85 h/s car..... and some decisions of what we are going to do with that car, or perhaps another car....

Chris

EL CID
11-28-2002, 07:45 AM
hey Chris how bout helpin me out for 04 in P/S? since I don't see it happenin this year:mad: (unless you can help me out now LOL) anyway it was a BLAST hangin with you guys this year at ATCO & E-TOWN! & GOOD LUCK next year in H/S & that other class(where I think you're headed that we talked about at ATCO)!!!!!!!!

FlashBack
12-13-2002, 09:24 PM
Congrats again to the PBM gang on a great season...

We had more than a few "issues" with our machine shop that kept us out of commission for the better part of the season...lining up the pieces to put something back together now, hope to hit the Joliet race in '03 as well as some PRO races and the WFC event too...gotta get this stuff turned around and soon!

See you guys in '03!!!!!

G.

PBMracing
12-14-2002, 07:28 AM
Oscar,

Pleasure finally getting to meet up with you this year. Glad you enjoyed yourself and thank you for your kind words!

Gene,

Sorry to see your program struggle so badly this year. Hope ya give Tony a shout to see about helping you next year. Reputable shops with front running cars cant be beat!

Chris

FlashBack
12-14-2002, 09:05 AM
We've got our wish list of parts figured out...some solid pieces anyway, nothing exotic though. H/S or O/C...we'll see. At this point it doesn't much matter, just want to get to a majority of the races (PRO or NMRA) and put the FUN back into this deal!!!
Gotta get to some of these wild parties in the Chris/Billy pit area!!

Good Luck to you guys in the SSO ranks, Im SURE you folks will do just fine!!!

G.

RMS Racing
12-14-2002, 07:27 PM
You're shooting for the 8's in H/S next year? I thought that you guys were moving to SSO, or are you maybe thinking of running both? Whatever you decide, good luck. Matt Wirt is my chassis guy and he always has the best things to say about you and Billy. If you are running H/S next year, I look forward to racing with you.

Matt Rogers
Rogers Motorsports

PBMracing
12-15-2002, 01:08 PM
RMS,
The move to SSO was only a matter of time. Our initial plans were to redo the h/s combo but things fell in place to make the transition in classes now. Once we have a bit more in place with the outlaw program, I will post an announcement.

The H/s guys are an awesome bunch and I can assure you we will be around the class for some time although not with our own car.

Our combination will be posted for sale shortly!

You should do well working with Matt!
Chris