After a successful test session yesterday, the on-track action takes on greater meaning today at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Testing turns into qualifying in the heads-up, index, and specialty classes at the 24th Annual Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented By Competition Clutch Featuring The Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival.
Qualifying rounds take on extra meaning as several classes from the rain-delayed 2nd Annual Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA Power Festival Presented by TorqStorm held at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, back in July wrap up eliminations. The Richmond Gear Factory Stock, JDM Engineering Limited Street, EXEDY Racing Clutch Modular Muscle, ARP Open Comp, and HP Tuners Super Stang classes will all crown champions today before moving on with this weekend’s business.
Meanwhile, the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival action heats up on the circle track and the Off-Road Experience course, as Autocross, Drifting, and Dyno Challenge action gets underway. Plus, the UPR Products Car Show is already brimming with stunning Blue Oval machines.
If you can’t make it this weekend, you are missing out, but stay tuned to this page and our social channels for updates on today’s action throughout the day.
CHECK OUT THE QUALIFYING RESULTS HERE.
CHECK OUT THE QUALIFYING RESULTS HERE.
Here’s a look at how today’s action unfolds at the 24th Annual Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented By Competition Clutch Featuring The Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival.
Sondra Leslie fought a transmission issue in her VP Racing Madditives Renegade Fox Mustang, as it wanted to pressurize and puke fluid. It turns out a clogged vent tube was the culprit, so her team opened up the tube, replaced the transmission filter, and got the car ready for action. She was glad it was an easy fix and joked that "it is the only GM part on the whole car" that caused the issue.
UPR Products doesn’t just sponsor the enormous car show at the 24th Annual Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented By Competition Clutch Featuring The Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival, but the company is onsite with a full lineup of gear on the massive Manufacturer’s Midway at Beech Bend Raceway.
Tim Donathen used the last two NMCA races as test sessions for his G-Force Racing Transmissions Coyote Stock Draggin’ Wagon. Unfortunately, things went awry at Indy last week. He launched hard, banged into second gear and the car began a turn to the right. The result of the spin was a brief meeting with the wall that scuffed the Fairmont’s fenders, but it is back in action this weekend in Bowling Green. He added some used Jimmy Vogel shocks in place of the wagon’s worn-out dampers and ran its quickest pass at Indy, so he looks to continue that trend this weekend.
VP Racing Fuels is on the property ensuring that racers have plenty of high-octane go-juice to go rounds at the final event of the 2022 Holley NMRA Ford Nationals series season.
A broken rearend back at Martin kept John Leslie Jr. out of Richmond Gear Factory Stock competition, but he had a 9-inch rear at the ready for more than a year. Prepped with ceramic bearings and rugged Strange internals acquired from his sister Sondra, the rear was prepped by Steve Higgins. With it, in place, the car ran its quickest runs this season in testing on Thursday. Leslie hopes to finish the season strong, but he already has big plans for next season, as he placed an order with Cale Aronson for a Ford Performance-sealed Gen 3 Coyote in preparation for a jump to G-Force Racing Transmissions Coyote Stock in 2023.
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If you are on the property this weekend at the 24th Annual Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented By Competition Clutch Featuring The Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival, don’t forget to stop by the Power Mall to pick up an event shirt or other Holley NMRA Ford Nationals series gear so you can represent the World’s Fastest Fords in the off-season.
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Photo Extra From The Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Featuring The Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival
It’s not too often that you see a limousine signed up for competition, but this 2005 Lincoln luxury hauler is ready for action. Kyle Delfel and his father, Brian, flew from Seattle to Illinois last weekend to pick up the limo and they immediately tore into it with modifications. They bolted on a ProCharger centrifugal supercharger and welded up the limited-slip differential. They have fought some gremlins, but Kyle is shredding tires in the TorqStorm Superchargers/Motor Life Burnout Challenge and his dad is autocrossing the super-size Lincoln before they drive it back to the Pacific Northwest.
While it doesn’t yet have a drivetrain, this stunning 1972 F-250 pickup is drawing a crowd in the UPR Products car show. Niel Mattek and his brother are the driving force behind Brothers Composites, soon to be Brothers Carbon, reimagined this truck with a complete carbon-fiber makeover. The cab is steel with the roof and door skins bonded on and the other panels replaced with carbon fiber panels created by the company. The entire body only weighs 800 pounds. Look for the finished truck, complete with a Godzilla swap underhood, to debut at the Grand National Roadster Show next January.
Photo Extra From The Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Featuring The Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival
Kelly Shotwell has had a tough season in 2022, with lots of parts breakage. Unfortunately, he had to conclude his NMRA season after a test run on Thursday resulted in a burned up piston in his Coyote engine. He’ll be supporting his brothers, however, as Cary Shotwell will be competing in Exedy Racing Clutch Mod Muscle and Casey Shotwell is racing in the Suncoast Performance 8.60 Street Race class. After Casey’s test run on Thursday, they determined he had a front timing cover seal leaking a bit, but were planning on repairing that before qualifying begins on Friday. Casey’s daily driven, 2016 Mustang packs a BES Racing Engines Coyote with a Gen II R VMP supercharger, and they were planning on fitting it with a larger blower pulley as the 8.65—shutting it off at the 1,000-ft mark—was a little too quick for the 8.60 index for the class.
Kelly Shotwell has had a tough season in 2022, with lots of parts breakage. Unfortunately, he had to conclude his NMRA season after a test run on Thursday resulted in a burned up piston in his Coyote engine. He’ll be supporting his brothers, however, as Cary Shotwell will be competing in Exedy Racing Clutch Mod Muscle and Casey Shotwell is racing in the Suncoast Performance 8.60 Street Race class. After Casey’s test run on Thursday, they determined he had a front timing cover seal leaking a bit, but were planning on repairing that before qualifying begins on Friday. Casey’s daily driven, 2016 Mustang packs a BES Racing Engines Coyote with a Gen II R VMP supercharger, and they were planning on fitting it with a larger blower pulley as the 8.65—shutting it off at the 1,000-ft mark—was a little too quick for the 8.60 index for the class.
JDM Engineering Limited Street racer Del Holbrook and his father Chris made some changes to their nitrous-assisted Mustang after the NMRA/NMCA Power Festival race in Michigan. At a test test session just prior to the World Finals here in Bowling Green, Del clicked off a 5.05 eighth-mile time, which was a tenth of a second improvement over his previous best. Today, he clocked an 8.01 through the quarter-mile, side-by side with points leader Samantha Moore, who had posted two 7-second passes in testing on Thursday, and matched Holbrook’s 8.01 on that run.
Though Hurricane Ian did a fair amount of damage to southern Florida, Lakeland, Florida, resident Tony Ogle managed to escape any major damage to his central Florida property, and also got a good look at the hundreds of line trucks headed south, as he proceeded north to Beech Bend Raceway. Ogle has been competing in HP Tuners Super Stang with his ProCharger D-1X blown, 2012 Coyote-powered Mustang that has run a best of 8.53 at 162 mph.
William Stipes and Dakota Arnold of Bristol, Tennessee, brought out their 2006 P71 Crown Vic and are making hits in the Mickey Thompson Grudge class. The Boost and Bad Habits YouTubers have built a number of wild project vehicles, and this Crown Vic is a perfect example. Originally fitted with a supercharged Modular engine, Stipes swapped that out for a Ford Raptor 6.2-liter engine that had already been fitted with a dealer-installed, Eaton-based supercharger. Seeing as that wasn’t enough, the guys fitted mirror image VS Racing 7875 turbochargers and an air-to-air intercooler, and fueled it with a full Fuelab fuel system. But they didn’t stop there, as the car had already been manual transmission swapped with a 3650 Tremec transmission. Stipes runs the Panther on a Holley EFI system and this weekend will be the car’s first hits down a drag strip with an estimated 600 horsepower on tap.
Competing in the Hurst and Grassroots Motorsports Autocross this weekend, Zach Straits has called it a weekend as his 1963 Ford Falcon is pushing water out of its relatively new water pump. Straits, of Staunton, Virginia, had a lot of fun autocrossing his Ford Focus RS, but wanted a more analog experience and purchased this Falcon to do get that. It has been fitted with a 306ci small-block Ford, a suspension from Total Cost Involved, a Currie 8-inch rearend, and disc brakes at all four corners. It’s currently fitted with an AOD transmission, but he’s swapping in a 4R70W electronically controlled unit after this event.
Robert Miller entered his S550 Mustang in the Mickey Thompson Grudge class this weekend as he’s working on the tuneup to go after the H-pattern stick shift record. The car was previously campaigned by Bart Tobener in the NMRA Renegade class, and Miller has kept it Coyote-powered with a built engine from TKM, but has added a 98mm turbo from Forced Inductions as well as a Tick Performance T-56 Magnum transmission and Advanced Clutches clutch setup. The Holley EFI-managed machine went 8.14 on Thursday shutting it off early, and Miller is expecting a full pass to net 7.30-7.40s.
Stick-shift racer Mike Niehaus is ready to rumble in the TorqStorm Superchargers True Street class. His twin-turbo, small-block Ford-powered Mustang makes around 1,000 horsepower and Niehaus uses a TREMEC T-56 Magnum to change gears. Niehaus clocked a high 8-second pass in testing and if all goes well, will qualify for the TREMEC Transmission Stick Shift Shootout on Sunday.