Written by: Jason Reiss

The NMRA Keystone Automotive Ford Nationals series has completed the 11th season. After a year filled with wild crashes, new cars, new winners, and new stars, the mark has been made with an incredible weekend of competition featuring Championship chases in nearly every class. However, the rain rolled in on Sunday night, forcing semifinals and finals to be concluded on Monday morning in most classes.

In Turbonetics Pro Outlaw 10.5, Conrad Scarry finally put his new car atop the ladder with a stout 6.75 at over 218 mph, followed by Dan Millen’s 6.79 blast. Keith Neal turned in a 6.91, while Dennis Bailey’s 7.11 put him in the fourth spot. Jim Brown, who is finally getting a handle on his nitrous combination rounded out the top five. Once eliminations started, all hell broke loose. Brown took out Bailey, Scarry took out Radioactive Ed Rice, Millen beat Justin Burcham, and Keith Neal took out Dwayne James. In the second round, Neal and Millen staged as the first pair, and as they headed down the track, Millen got slightly out of shape, and Neal managed to sneak around him for the win – 7.03 to Millen’s 7.10. However, Millen managed to lock up Pro Outlaw 10.5 championship in the process! Next up, Jim Brown and Conrad Scarry lined up, but when the tree came down, Scarry timed out with a broken shifter, giving Brown a chance to get to his first final round after a rough season. However, in an anticlimactic finish, both Brown and Neal had to get home for work on Monday and couldn’t stay. They flipped a coin, and Brown took the win as a result, for his first after a tough season.

ProCharger’s Super Street Outlaw class saw a great turnout, with fourteen cars showing up to do battle, trying to prevent John Urist’s ‘Drive for Five’ championship run. Chris Tuten put his turbo car, sporting a brand-new turbocharger, atop the ladder with a stout 7.39 at over 190mph. John Macdonald, in the hunt for the championship along with Urist, put a 7.46 on the board to take the second spot, while Sammy Vincent made his return to the class with a nice 7.48 blast to take third. Don Burton clocked a 7.50 to take fourth, while Urist struggled to figure out the track during qualifying, turning in a 7.52 blast to round out the top five. During eliminations, Sammy Vincent turned in a 7.40 to take out Reggie Burnette Sr., Joel Greathouse (driving John Kolivas’ car) beat Chip Havemann, John Macdonald got a freebie when John Gotera didn’t show, and Chris Tuten took out Brad Medlock. Don Burton won over Angel Padilla, and AJ Powell moved on when Jarrett Halfacre didn’t make the call. Tuten could have advanced through the second round with a bye, but the car was leaking before he could ever take the tree, while Sam Vincent turned a stout 7.37 blast in to defeat Greathouse, and Burton moved on when AJ broke. In the most anticipated race of the weekend, Urist and Macdonald took the tree, with all the marbles on the line. Macdonald put half a tenth on the champ with a holeshot, but when Urist turned in a 7.36 blast, he clinched the 2009 ProCharger Super Street Outlaw championship! However, there was more racing to be done. Vincent had a bye into the final since Tuten didn’t make the tree in the previous round, while Urist had to face off against Burton. Urist cracked off a 7.36, sending Donnie back to Maryland to prepare for 2010. In the final, Vincent got loose while Urist cracked off an incredible 7.31 blast to seal up the event win!

Read more...