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David Woodside to Return to NMRA Open Comp After 11 Years Away

Posted By: Ainsley Jacobs
Having raced in NMRA Open Comp from 2009 through 2011, David Woodside stepped away from driving to focus on growing his business, Woodside Motorsports, and helping his customers achieve their own competition dreams instead.
 
“Being that I build race cars and tune, 90% of my customer base are heads up, no time guys. I have done some local heads up racing, driving for different customers over the past couple years,” explained Woodside, who previously raced a 1984 Ford Thunderbird in Open Comp with his father, Greg Woodside, pitching in. “I went to the NMRA/NMCA race at Rockingham [North Carolina] in 2022 and it made me miss being a part of the big racing family.”
 
So, after eleven years away from the NMRA, Woodside wisely chose to get back to his roots with NMRA ARP Open Comp for 2023.
 
Given that his T-bird was already in the process of being rebuilt, and Woodside knew the end was nowhere near enough to make the NMRA Holley Ford Nationals series season opener event in Florida at Orlando Speed World in March of 2023, he hatched a plan and pivoted to a different pony car… his father’s 1979 Mercury Capri.
 
“My dad built it back in ’99 for my mom, Jane, to bracket race locally but she didn’t have the time,” explained Woodside, who estimates he has only run the car less than two dozen times in as many years. “Dad’s car will be a lot easier for me to update and get going for now.”
 
During the winter off-season and in between welding roll cages and doing chassis fabrication on customer cars at his North Carolina-based shop, Woodside will stay busy preparing his pop’s Capri.
 
To facilitate the process, the Thunderbird’s powertrain will be fitted into the Mercury; it includes a 466 cubic inch big block Ford engine that the men have refreshed themselves several times over. Ford Cobra Jet heads top the bullet, which Woodside claims is “nothing spectacular but rungs dang good.”
 
A three-speed C4 transmission, also done in-house, will be mated to the big block so that power can be transferred out through the 9” rear end of the ladder-bar equipped car. The suspension setup is surprisingly simple, as Menscer Motorsports shocks sit front and back along with UPR Products components up front.
 
Given that the last time the car ran, it was clocking 9.20-second quarter-mile times, Woodside will also work to update the roll cage to ensure it can certify for 8.50-second timeslips instead as he’s hoping to hit the 8.90 mark sooner rather than later.
 
Thanks to the inspiration from his Ford-loving family, including his parents and his girlfriend, Crystal Barnes, Woodside feels ready to return to racing and is excitedly anticipating the start of the new year. His friends and customers, too, including NMRA Exedy Clutch Modular Muscle master Matt Harget who also races a 1979 Capri, have also been instrumental in helping him prepare.
 
And, considering that Woodside is contemplating racing his Thunderbird in NMCA Edelbrock Xtreme Street in addition to running the Capri in NMRA ARP Open Comp, he will certainly welcome the extra help with open arms when crunch time comes.

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