Today the heads-up and index classes transition from testing to qualifying at the NMRA Spring Break Shootout & Saturday Thrill Festival, so each pass becomes more meaningful. Meanwhile, the Circle D Specialties True Street and TREMEC All-Female True Street classes run eliminations today, where racers vie for trips to the NMRA Winner’s Circle in a range of elapsed-time categories.
The quickest cars from Circle D Specialties True Street competition move on to the BBK Performance Spring Break Shootout on Sunday, while the quickest manual-transmission machines graduate to tomorrow’s TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout. We will also see action today in the BMR Suspension S650 Shootout and 2020+ GT500 Shootout Presented by Coastal Dyno, TREMEC, VMP Performance, and ZPE GripTec, where drivers will compete for Shelby supremacy.
Meanwhile, the Saturday Thrill Festival revs up the action on and off the drag strip with the featuring RTR Pro Drifters Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Chelsea DeNofa shredding tires, the CJ Pony Parts Ford Drift Invitational, World’s Largest BIGFOOT Monster Truck, Larsen Motorsports Jet Car Exhibitions, FMX Freestyle Motocross Stunt Shows, and the NMRA Fan Experience featuring TV Personality & DJ Clarence Barnes and Miss NMRA.
The weather is beautiful and the action is hot at Gainesville Raceway, so stay tuned to this page and our social channels for updates on all the Blue Oval action throughout the weekend.
After dominating in the dearly departed Limited Street class, Samantha Moore spent the last three months completely revamping her Vector Motorsports-backed 2014 Mustang. She showed up with a lot of loose ends, fixed some transmission issues, and got ready to roll in VP Racing Lubricants Renegade this weekend. She says time and money were her biggest foes, but she might not have made it this weekend if she didn’t receive extra motivation as the subject for a future episode of Top Gear American Tuned, some of which was filmed this weekend. Filming for the episode is set to continue at the 16th Annual NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals Presented by Sipple’s Speed & Performance next month at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina.
For those seeking bargains or rare hardware, there is a robust Swap Meet on the property at the NMRA Spring Break Shootout & Saturday Thrill Festival. There were plenty of parts that we wanted to take home, including this 8.8-inch rearend with the classic Ford Motorsport SVO girdle/cover installed.
Fans of ’79-’93 Mustangs rejoiced this weekend at Gainesville Raceway as the Fox-Body Reunion returned en force this weekend with a wide range of four-eye and aero-nose beauties vying for awards. Our favorite was Kyle Lee’s 1990 Mustang GT powered by a Coyote swap boosted by a Predator blower from the most recent Shelby GT500. Lee cleaned up at the UPR Products Car Show awards, including earning the Fastest Street Car Editor’s Choice Best Classic Award.
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While Andrew Pierce of Tampa has taken part in NMRA Circle D Specialties True Street in his gorgeous 2018 Mustang GT, he had his eye on SunCoast Performance 8.60 Street Race, made upgrades to his car so it would be class-legal and is debuting those upgrades this weekend at the 30th Annual NMRA Spring Break Shootout. His Coyote engine by MPR is now complemented by a ProCharger F1A-94, and it is backed by a RSA 10-speed transmission. TigVision fabricated a new 8.50-certified cage and parachute mount, and Coastal Dyno lays the tunes with an HP Tuners system. Pierce, who made an 8.72 hit in testing this week, was looking forward to qualifying today. “I’m excited about racing in SunCoast Performance 8.60 Street Race,” said Pierce. “I’ve been wanting to run heads-up, and I have a consistent car, so I think this will be a good class for me.”
Chad Stephens was all smiles as he wrenched on his Vengeance Clutch Coyote Stock Thunderbird at Gainesville Raceway. He always wanted to upgrade the car’s rear suspension, and he did so in the off-season, adding a Team Z 9-inch rear and moving to 26-inch rear tires. He also added a new Advanced clutch disc and upgraded his fuel system with a Weldon pump and a 3-gallon cell that he bought from fellow racer Andy Johnson. Right off the trailer the car ran a 9.75 in testing, and he was still dialing in the combination by swapping gear ratios.
Colin Smith is taking part in SunCoast Performance 8.60 Street Race for the second time this weekend at the NMRA Spring Break Shootout, and has some goals for himself and his 2003 Mustang Cobra. He clocked an 8.63 last year, followed by an 8.56 in pre-event testing this week with his Gen I Coyote engine, Kenne Bell 3.6L supercharger and Turbo 400 by Transmission Specialties, and the West Chester, Pennsylvania resident is focused on good reaction times and going rounds with an assist in the tuning department from JPC Racing. His eye-catching, and extremely clean, Mustang Cobra is commanding a lot of attention in the pit area alongside his friend Andrew Pierce’s Mustang GT, which also flies down track in SunCoast Performance 8.60 Street Race.
After dominating in the dearly departed Limited Street class, Samantha Moore spent the last three months completely revamping her Vector Motorsports-backed 2014 Mustang. She showed up with a lot of loose ends, fixed some transmission issues, and got ready to roll in VP Racing Lubricants Renegade this weekend. She says time and money were her biggest foes, but she might not have made it this weekend if she didn’t receive extra motivation as the subject for a future episode of Top Gear American Tuned, some of which was filmed this weekend. Filming for the episode is set to continue at the 16th Annual NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals Presented by Sipple’s Speed & Performance next month at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina.
Where else are you going to see RTR Pro drifters Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Chelsea Denofa drifting around the world’s largest BIGFOOT? With NMRA, of course. This was a sight to behold at the NMRA Spring Break Shootout & Saturday Thrill Festival today. Gittin and Denofa also showed up at the RTR Vehicles display on the Manufacturer’s Midway to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. BIGFOOT was happy to oblige as the backdrop to many fan photos as well.
For those seeking bargains or rare hardware, there is a robust Swap Meet on the property at the NMRA Spring Break Shootout & Saturday Thrill Festival. There were plenty of parts that we wanted to take home, including this 8.8-inch rearend with the classic Ford Motorsport SVO girdle/cover installed.
Fans of ’79-’93 Mustangs rejoiced this weekend at Gainesville Raceway as the Fox-Body Reunion returned en force this weekend with a wide range of four-eye and aero-nose beauties vying for awards. Our favorite was Kyle Lee’s 1990 Mustang GT powered by a Coyote swap boosted by a Predator blower from the most recent Shelby GT500. Lee cleaned up at the UPR Products Car Show awards, including earning the Fastest Street Car Editor’s Choice Best Classic Award.
Jim Johnson has been committed to NMRA ARP Open Comp for many years, and he continues to push his program to the next level and the payoffs have been plentiful. After finishing just outside of the Top 10 in points in 2023 in his Mustang powered by a 427 cubic-inch engine by Roush, Johnson, from Michigan, turned his focus to an even better finish in 2024, and delivered his car to friend and Dart NA 10.5 racer Rick Riccardi and Marc Poldino at Redeye Racecars in Florida. "My car was running well down track, but it was not hooking on the starting line last year,” said Johnson. “So Ricky and Marc reworked the suspension. They built a new 8.8 rearend. They narrowed the rearend so I could switch from 10-inch to 12-inch wheels, and they did it quickly and finished this week. We also got an axle from Moser on really short notice.” Johnson is already seeing results, as he went from a 1.27 to a 1.25 60-foot and a 9.42 to a 9.36 elapsed time in the quarter-mile this weekend at the 30th Annual NMRA Spring Break Shootout at Gainesville Raceway in Florida. “My car would not be here, or running as good as it is, without help from Ricky, Marc and my family and friends,” said Johnson. “It is rolling better than it ever has.”
While Andrew Pierce of Tampa has taken part in NMRA Circle D Specialties True Street in his gorgeous 2018 Mustang GT, he had his eye on SunCoast Performance 8.60 Street Race, made upgrades to his car so it would be class-legal and is debuting those upgrades this weekend at the 30th Annual NMRA Spring Break Shootout. His Coyote engine by MPR is now complemented by a ProCharger F1A-94, and it is backed by a RSA 10-speed transmission. TigVision fabricated a new 8.50-certified cage and parachute mount, and Coastal Dyno lays the tunes with an HP Tuners system. Pierce, who made an 8.72 hit in testing this week, was looking forward to qualifying today. “I’m excited about racing in SunCoast Performance 8.60 Street Race,” said Pierce. “I’ve been wanting to run heads-up, and I have a consistent car, so I think this will be a good class for me.”
Chad Stephens was all smiles as he wrenched on his Vengeance Clutch Coyote Stock Thunderbird at Gainesville Raceway. He always wanted to upgrade the car’s rear suspension, and he did so in the off-season, adding a Team Z 9-inch rear and moving to 26-inch rear tires. He also added a new Advanced clutch disc and upgraded his fuel system with a Weldon pump and a 3-gallon cell that he bought from fellow racer Andy Johnson. Right off the trailer the car ran a 9.75 in testing, and he was still dialing in the combination by swapping gear ratios.
Colin Smith is taking part in SunCoast Performance 8.60 Street Race for the second time this weekend at the NMRA Spring Break Shootout, and has some goals for himself and his 2003 Mustang Cobra. He clocked an 8.63 last year, followed by an 8.56 in pre-event testing this week with his Gen I Coyote engine, Kenne Bell 3.6L supercharger and Turbo 400 by Transmission Specialties, and the West Chester, Pennsylvania resident is focused on good reaction times and going rounds with an assist in the tuning department from JPC Racing. His eye-catching, and extremely clean, Mustang Cobra is commanding a lot of attention in the pit area alongside his friend Andrew Pierce’s Mustang GT, which also flies down track in SunCoast Performance 8.60 Street Race.
We haven’t seen too many electric cars in NMRA action, but Dale McClenaghan brought down the family’s Mustang Mach-E GT down from Michigan along with the other Roush team vehicles. Since they had the car here, he decided to put it to work this weekend in Circle D Specialties True Street. He says it launches hard and runs consistent, so it could be a player this weekend in a class where consistency is king.
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Here’s a look at today’s drag racing schedule for the 30th Annual NMRA Spring Break Shootout at Gainesville Raceway. For the full event schedule, click here.