The weekend began with promise. Sunny skies paved the way to a huge field of race cars, a sprawling manufacturer’s midway, and a vibrant selection of beautiful muscle machines in the UPR Products Car Show on the property at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, for the 2nd Annual Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA Power Festival Presented by TorqStorm Superchargers. 

 

However, as racers rolled out of qualifying into eliminations on Saturday evening, the weather had other ideas. A storm with high winds and heavy rain rolled in, halting the action for the night. The rain persisted deep into Sunday, but the NMRA/NMCA track-prep team worked tirelessly to restore the racing action. 

 

Alas, the time and weather meant that every class couldn’t be completed and send all the victors to the Winner’s Circle. The remaining categories will wrap up at the World Finals in Bowling Green, Kentucky, making for an exciting championship points battle at the final race weekend of the year.

 

VP Racing Madditives Renegade ran in conjunction with Edelbrock Xtreme Street this weekend to the tune of 24 race cars. The quickest NMRA car in the bunch was Stephen Barnett’s beautiful Fox which laid down a 4.63 at 153mph pass to claim the third qualified spot. 

Samantha Moore put her ProCharged 2014 in the top qualified spot in JDM Engineering Limited Street with an 8.02 at 170.92. After Del Holbrook experienced breakage, Moore met up with Stacey Roby, who recently retooled the blower setup on his 2014 Mustang’s Coyote engine, in the final round. In the battle of the ProCharged S197 stallions, Roby got the jump off the tree and ran an 8.13, but he couldn’t hold of Moore who ran an 8.02 to beat him to the stripe and earn a trip to the winner’s circle.

 

Charlie Booze Jr. set the standard in G-Force Racing Transmissions Coyote Stock by qualifying with a 9.82 at 135.95 rip to claim top honors. He, along with Randy Soper and Shane Stymiest all had first-round bye runs and broke the beams to advance, just as rain began to fall. Ed Bennett ran the quickest time in eliminations, a 9.92 at 135.26, behind the wheel of Clair Stewart’s Stifflers-supported Mustang. 

 

Mark Anderson placed his eye-catching Richmond Gear Factory Stock Fox Mustang at the top of a qualifying sheet with a 10.13 at 127.84 hit. He won in the first round — including Mike Bowen who run the quickest and fastest run in the first round. They will move on to the World Finals with the rest of the first-round winners to wrap up the class eliminations.

John Rusch outdueled the Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle field to claim the number-one spot in qualifying on the merit of a .0007-second reaction time. Rusch exited in round three, but a trio of drivers, including Gary Parker, Shane Williams, and Mike Reid, will compete at the season finale to see who makes a trip to the winner’s circle.
 

A strong gathering of 31 ARP Open Comp racers gathered at US 131 Motorsports Park. Cameron Bowles chopped down the tree with a .0012 reaction time to top the qualifying charts. That field narrowed to four drivers who will square off in Bowling Green — including Woody Pack, Dennis Corn, Shane Williams, and Junior McKenzie — to see who earns the winning run. 
 

Since the timing system at US 131 Motorsport Park takes the fourth number into account, Amanda Saad had to adjust her technique to stay out of the red, but it paid off as she cut a perfect .0000 light to ascend to the top of the Detroit Locker Truck & Lightning qualifying sheet in her Ranger. She continued running strong through the third round, as did Mike Roup and his Ranchero. The two will clash in Bowling Green to decide who is the victor.

 

Dale Aldridge cut a .0069 reaction time to grab the number-one qualified spot in HP Tuners Super Stang. However, it was Kevin McKenna and Rodney Ward in their strikingly similar S197 Mustangs that moved on through the third round. The duo will face off at the World Final to determine this event’s winner.

 

Headlining the SCT Ford Muscle qualifying Danny Towe ran a 12.0043 on a 12.00 index. Towe went out in the second round, but several racers — including John Butsko, Bryan Parker, and Chad Neuenschwander — will soldier on in Bowling Green to determine the Michigan class winner.

In the combined NMRA/NMCA TorqStorm Superchargers True Street category Tony Karamitsos triumphed, but stalwart racer Randy Thomas represented the Holley NMRA Ford Nationals Series well by averaging an impressive 8.68 seconds across his three runs yesterday to earn the runner-up honors. Other winners flying the NMRA flag included David Diehl’s 1994 Mustang (9-Second), Mark Lewis’ 2019 Mustang (10-Second), Logan Day’s 2021 Mustang (11-Second), Katrina Wiggins’ 2014 Mustang GT (12-Second), Rodney Ward’s 2014 Mustang GT (13-Second), Makenna Oshinski’s 2006 Mustang GT (14-Second), and Ted Bailey’s 2018 Focus RS (15-Second).

 

The NMRA Holley Ford Nationals series returns to action for the final event of the season with the 24th Annual Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented by Competition Clutch Featuring the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival held from September 29-October 2 at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky.