After a booming start to the Inaugural Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA Power Festival Presented by Force Engineering, things get real today as testing wraps up and racers move into qualifying in all the heads-up and index classes. While the morning weather called for schedule adjustments, test passes will wrap up today as racers in all categories move into qualifying at The Fastest Track In Michigan. Unfortunately the new schedule necessitated the cancelation of the NMRA vs. NMCA battle in the Open Comp All-Start Shootout, but is shining bright and all the other classes keep running. To keep tabs on all today's action, follow this page and our social channels.
GET UP TO DATE QUALIFYING RESULTS HERE
This is the updated schedule for today's action at the Inaugural Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA Power Festival Presented by Force Engineering.
In addition to running hard in his own Renegade car, Eric Bardekoff is helping his dad, Jeff, run in JDM Engineering Limited Street. Racing in the name of science, they are competing with the first 3.0-liter Whipple Supercharger in the class. Running an E85-burning modular engine and controlled by a Gen 4 Big Stuff 3 engine controller, the 3,700-pound car made about 700 horsepower on 7 psi with this combo. They may switch blowers after collecting enough data, but they have committed enough that Nicky Notch cut a hole in the hood, but if they stick with the combo, the car will need a cowl hood.
We caught up with Larry Starost as he battled a sticker calling out the new combination the hood of his JDM Engineering Limited Street racer. He just moved over to a VMP Performance Gen2R supercharger under the hood and changed the stator in his Pro Torque torque converter. With the tune being applied at the track, he will make his first passes with the new combo in qualifying.
To get an S197 down to weight, you have to be cruel, Don Jones Jr. told us while describing the interior of his 2007 Mustang. His first new Mustang, the car's combo evolved from street to all-out race car. Along the way, it featured an 8-second Three-Valve. These days it sports an RGR-built Coyote bolted to an overmatched C4 automatic. Running it in Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle he sprays it with 100-shot in qualifying and moves to 150 in competition to run his index. What really made us stop was the ergonomic setup of his stripped interior. His cousin fabbed the mount for his switch panel and Holley EFI touchscreen, which keeps the controls at his fingertips.
Though Marvin Knack hasn't enjoyed the success this year that he is accustomed to in HP Tuners Super Stang, he changed the rear gear ratio before testing commenced at the Inaugural Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA Power Festival Presented by Force Engineering. He is still seeking the sweet spot on the starting line, but he cut a .001 in testing, so he is on the right track.
John Urist is making plenty of power in his dual-fuel S550 Mustang, so he was fortifying the driveline with an eye toward gaining ground in the championship chase in VP Racing Madditives Street Outlaw this weekend at the Inaugural Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA Power Festival Presented by Force Engineering.
Things don't always go as planned at the race track, so you have to roll with the punches. Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle racer Peter Blosser lost first gear in his Kenne Bell-supercharged New Edge. He borrowed a set of clutch bands from the ROUSH Performance team, and so his team got to work in the pits, dropped the tranny, and swapped the bands with the goal of getting it back to action.
Back in action after an extended absence, Edelbrock Renegade/Xtreme Street racer Bob Cook was held hostage by parts delays for his new engine. The 9.5-deck, 427-cube small-block Ford makes use of a Bullet camshaft, Crowder shaft rockers, Trick Flow High Port heads, and a Holley Hi-Ram intake. He stuck with his tried and true ProCharger D-1X to enjoy the weight break, but the combo made great power on the hub dyno at Redline Motorsports. Burning VP Racing Fuels M1 Methanol, the engine is controlled by the Holley Dominator EFI system, and ignited by a MSD Pro 600.
John Gambill Jr. converted his Fox Mustang over to Mesncer Motorsports suspension and rescaled the car to correct its prior tendency to pull to the right. With the car going straight he is looking to make moves in ARP Open Comp this weekend at the Inaugural Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA Power Festival Presented by Force Engineering.
Silent Lloyd Mikeska is a busy man here at US131 Motorsports Park, but his cars are getting even more of a workout. He is racing his 2016 Mustang GT in HP Tuners Super Stang, and his 2006 Mustang GT in Ford Muscle. Mikeska is 2nd in points as of right now, so a win in either class this weekend will be big. His 2016 boasts a 2018 GT intake, a Magnaflow axle-back exhaust, a Circle D converter and a Triangle Speed Shop custom tune, while the 2006's biggest mod is a Saleen supercharger. Speaking of the 2006 GT, Maci Belcher (Joe and Becki Cram's daughter) is also running that car in QA1 True Street. She already has wins in the 12.00 class, and just recently went to Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School, so she will be looking to improve her skills, and add to her win total, this weekend at US131 Motorsports Park.
Another G-Force Transmissions Coyote Stock racer looking to best take advantage of the Gen3 Coyote engine, Jacob Lamb changed a lot with his car, including transmission gearing and rear overall gear. He still relies on a Ram clutch and a G-Force G101A transmission, and he is hoping the work pays off today in qualifying.
Speaking of Coyotes, Chris Hammon from Hopewell, Pennsylvania has a Gen1 Coyote under the hood of his 1993 LX coupe, and runs out of the Powerhouse Automotive camp. With Mike Bowen tuning the car, and taking advantage of the added power from a Vortech V-3 supercharger, the car usually runs around the 10.0 range. At US131 Motorsports Park this weekend, Hammon is running the Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle class.
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Hailing from Jackson, Michigan, which is just a short drive from US 131 Motorsports Park, Paul Svinicki is back in action with a Mustang Cobra Jet that always draws a crowd. The attraction is the Godzilla 7.3-liter engine underhood. Originally designed for Ford's latest Super Duty pickups, this engine is growing in popularity as a performance powerplant. Svinicki recently moved to a Fueltech powertrain controller, which offers complete control of the combination. He is still dialing in the calibration, but the stock engine is already benefitting from parts he developed, like an electric water pump, which does a better job cooling the engine and frees up 15 horsepower that the stock pump previously pulled away. It has run in the mid-nines, and he hopes to improve on that number this weekend.
Joel Greathouse and KBX's Justin McChesney are coming off of two event wins, taking home the big prize for the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl and the NMRA Ford Performance Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. Greathouse is currently leading the points chanse in Edelbrock Renegade, and while he looks to be on track to defend his 2020 championship, Eric Bardekoff is hot on his heels in second place.
Tampa, Florida's Don Cruz only has only made a handful of passes on his turbocharged 1993 Mustang in VP Madditives/Mickey Thompson Street Outlaw since January, and his hoping to get to the 4.30s that the car is capable of this weekend. Cruz built the 400ci small-block Ford engine in-house and Matt Lunsford is here tuning the Holley EFI this weekend. Cruz's company, Cruz Performance, manufactures turbo Buick components and Cruz noted that he won the GS Nationals last month with his own turbo Buick that has run as quick as 4.60s.
Jim Johnson has been driving his brother Craig Johnson's white Mustang since the first race of the season, as he was having a small-block Ford built by Roush for his own black Mustang. That engine is now ready, but because Johnson is currently holding down second place in NMRA ARP Open Comp points and wanted to stay in his brother's car for consistency reasons, he offered his Mustang, with his new engine in it, to Dart NA 10.5 racer Frank Hoffman, for NMCA MagnaFuel Open Comp this weekend. Hoffman happily accepted, and has already clocked a high 9-second pass in Johnson's Mustang this weekend.
Chad Creamer is running his 2004 Mystichrome Cobra in Exedy Racing Clutches Modular Muscle this weekend, and after a 9.45/145 mph test pass, he came back to the pits to belt residue on the engine, so belt slip could be an issue. With a Whipple Gen4 2.9L supercharger, Creamer's Cobra uses a Teksid aluminum block with an Apocalypse Performance short block and Fox Lake-ported heads. Todd Warren assembled the top end, while Bob Monks did the car's solid axle rear end and 4R70W transmission with a Circle D converter. Monks also handles the car's tuning duties, and we think he'll be busy helping with a new tune because after this race, Creamer is adding a Whipple Gen5 3.0L supercharger and MS3 Pro engine management system. For this weekend, though, Creamer will be focused on improving on the 9.45, and making consistent passes.
When you have a racing resume like Don Walsh, Jr., it is hard to come to a drag strip empty handed. These days he's having fun at the wheel of his 2020 GT500. The car is relatively stock, with recent additions being a new billet lid, and a smaller blower pulley. The car has made over 1,100 horsepower, but Walsh has it turned down because he wants to see how quick he can go on the car's Nitto 315/35R20 NT555RII drag radials. He just ripped off a 9.67 at 151 mph, so we'd say he's doing pretty well during the heat of the day.
JDM Engineering Limited Street driver Samantha Moore knows how to turn lemons into lemonade. When the rules committee upped the pulley size on the Magnuson supercharger combination for parity reasons, she took the opportunity to change her setup and prove something at the same time. A little over a week ago, the Vector Motorsports co-owner and ProCharger dealer took delivery of a new ProCharger supercharger and made the change to her California Special Mustang. Moore told us that the combination is not optimized just yet, but that didn't stop her from clicking off an 8.36, followed by an 8.39, using an off-the-shelf ProCharger P-1X street blower!
Billy Danforth knows he brought a knife to a gun fight by running his mint 1985 Mustang GT in Edelbrock Renegade, but he and his DLF Racing team have plans for a more competitive 440ci engine build in the future. In the meantime, he has Stephan Lacky driving the car, which is powered by a 347ci small-block Ford with an Induction Solutions nitrous system on it. Danforth said the Mustang went 5.80 at the previous event in Norwalk, and plans to bump the nitrous up a bit in qualifying. Danforth said his father bought the Mustang new in 1985, and Billy got behind the wheel of it shortly after around 1987 and has been making passes ever since.
Another member of the DLF Racing team is Casey Fyfe of Seymour, Indiana, who is piloting his 2019 Mustang GT Performance Pack 1 this weekend in QA1 True Street. Fyfe bought the pony a year ago from Skillman Ford, and they wasted no time bolting on a Paxton supercharger. The 10R80-equipped Mustang has been as quick as 9.91 in the quarter-mile, and Fyfe is planning on jumping into JDM Engineering Limited Street in the next year or so.
GET UP TO DATE QUALIFYING RESULTS HERE