The first race of the season gets real today as qualifying in the heads-up and index classes wrap up and roll into the early rounds of eliminations. Meanwhile, both the Circle D Specialties True Street and TREMEC All-Female True Street classes endure 30-mile cruises and three back-to-back laps to send racers to the Winner’s Circle in a wide range of ET categories.
Likewise, the eliminations in the Street and Unlimited divisions of the 2020+ GT500 Shootout presented by Coastal Dyno, Palm Beach Dyno, Beefcake Racing, and ZPE GripTec wrap today with more racers headed to the Winner’s Circle.
Meanwhile, the UPR Products Car Show and Transtec Fox-Body Reunion are in full swing, as is all the action over on the OSW Drift Pad. There the inaugural Competition Clutch Ford Drift Invitational brought out more than 30 Ford and Ford-powered drifters. Today Funhavers Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Chelsea Denofa join in on the tire-shredding action.
The RYNO Classifieds NMRA Spring Break Shootout Presented by Nitto Tire is action-packed, to say the least, so stay tuned to this page and our social channels for updates throughout the day.
Here’s the schedule for today’s action at the RYNO Classifieds NMRA Spring Break Shootout Presented by Nitto Tire.
.jpg)
Here’s the schedule for today’s action at the RYNO Classifieds NMRA Spring Break Shootout Presented by Nitto Tire.
Richmond Gear Factory Stock racer Matt Williams uses old school pushrod power in his 2003 Mustang Mach 1. With a Zapp Racing Engines 306, the engine uses a Ford Performance Boss block and GT40X heads with a Holley SysteMAX intake. Allowing the small block to rev to the moon is a Flowtech Induction (Ed Curtis) valvetrain and camshaft. Williams uses a G-Force G101A transmission with an 8.8 rear filled with Moser axles and a Richmond gear set. Williams is able to weigh in at 2,750 pounds, but he’s been struggling with the clutch set-up so far. Williams has Mustang royalty with him here at Orlando in Chris Beningo, so if anyone can figure it out, Williams and Beningo have tons of experience to get the job done.
The National Parts Depot booth is always filled with cool Mustangs, but at Orlando HP Tuners’ own Tony Gonyon had his pristine 1985 Capri in attendance. Though Gonyon is known for his tuning prowess on the latest Mustangs, he cut his tuning teeth on carbureted versions just like his Capri.
Usually when a racer earns the lead trophy, it is done to equalize the class. In Richmond Gear Factory Stock, Mark Anderson’s Two-Valve combination gained 200 pounds during the off-season, but Anderson went to work to make sure the car’s performance wouldn’t fall off. Weighing in at 2,750 pounds, Anderson utilizes Jon Carls for his engines, and Matt Bell for the car’s tune. Anderson tells us Bell did a lot of work on the tune to keep him out front, but suspension improvements via his dad Ron and the crew have paid dividends, as well. Of course, having Holley’s Rick Anderson for an uncle helps quite a bit, too. The Anderson family has been fast for years, and Mark is continuing the family tradition.
The tires are on fire over on the OSW Drift Pad as Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Chelsea Denofa joined the Competition Clutch Ford Drift Invitational fun at the NMRA season opener. The Funhavers from Team RTR turned up the action a notch by drifting around the Sheer Insanity Monster Truck as it rumbled around the drift pad. The duo also ran hosted an autograph signing on the Manufacturer's Midway and are set to race their Fox Mustangs on the drag strip as well.
Just two years into his drifting career, Cash Staub is having a blast at the Competition Clutch Ford Drift Invitational as he slays tires in his 1988 Mustang LX coupe. Cash started slaying tires at 14 and now he’s old enough to drive on the streets legally in the Fox he built up from a shell into a drift machine in just two months.
Getting slideways isn’t just for the young. Kenneth Sween is 65 years young and in his third year of drifting. He picked up this 1996 Mustang GT and swapped in an ’04 Mach 1 Four-Valve engine before bringing it out to slay tires. He used to barrel-race horses and he has always said the one animal would like to ride is a cheetah, hence the graphic theme of his Senior Citizen Drifting machine. He has traveled all over the Southeast drifting and he is loving it.
Both the UPR Products Car Show and the TransTec Fox-Body Reunion powered by Foxy Events attracted a huge number of beautiful machines at the RYNO Classifieds NMRA Spring Break Shootout Presented by Nitto Tire. Picking favorite rides is a difficult task with so many gorgeous cars on the property.
Drifting seriously for about a year and a half, Dylan Breton was happy to be out at his local track participating in the first-ever Competition Clutch Ford Drifting invitational at the NMRA season opener this weekend. Last night the factory intake on the Two-Valve 4.6 under the hood of his 1999 Mustang failed, so he grabbed a replacement from a friend who is drag racing and worked late into the night swapping it. He is ready to run and he and other drifters are offering ridealongs today, and Dylan says he would be happy to have his car as a tire-shredding taxi.
Drag racing’s future is bright with racers like Connor Fahey, who is racing in his first NMRA event here at the Spring Break Shootout. Participating in Ford Muscle, Fahey’s 2011 Mustang GT features a Steeda Autosports cold air and axle-back exhaust, a Bret at AFS ported intake, and MMR water pump pulley. The car’s Race Star Dark Star wheels wear Mickey Thompson Sportsman SR radials up front and Nitto NT555RII drag radials out back. The car’s suspension has been improved with Strange Engineering single adjustable shocks and struts, BMR Suspension springs, panhard bar and control arms. Fahey’s GT still features its stock rear gear, but headers are in the works for the car from Ultimate Headers to help improve on the car’s 12.24 best pass.
Richmond Gear Factory Stock racer Gary Windsor ran his quickest pass on Friday With a 10.33 at 128 mph, but it wasn’t without complications. The car’s sensors weren’t communicating with its Racepak IQ3, so Ron Turransky took a look at the car’s wiring Friday night, but wasn’t able to narrow down the issue. Windsor basically needs to chase the car’s wiring, but Windsor and Michael Washington both think the car can go quicker this weekend. The suspension has undergone a shock adjustment, but the rear tires will also receive a tire pressure adjustment, as well.
Circle D Specialties True Street racer Rob Thompson has his 2001 Mustang GT at Orlando Speed World with a new combination he’s been working on since February 1st. The new combination consists of a FFRE (Joe Irwin) Gen 3 Stage 3 short block, stock heads featuring PAC valve springs and Comp blower cams, and a Whipple Gen 3 2.9L supercharger. The car utilizes an Aeromotive fuel system with a Palm Beach Dyno custom tune, a Tremec T56 Magnum transmission with a McLeod RXT clutch, a Driveshaft Shop aluminum driveshaft, and a solid axle swap with a Detroit Truetrac differential, Strange Engineering axles, Wilwood brakes and 3.73 gears. The GT wears Forgestar wheels, with Mickey Thompson ET Street R radials. Thompson is using this weekend to work out the bugs, and has plenty of help to allow the car to reach its full potential. Those include Thomas Jenkins from Modular Head Shop, Joe Irwin from FFRE, Zach Smyth from Real Street, and his best friend Jason Johnson.
If you need a GT40 intake or Trick Flow heads, or any other Mustang parts, the swap meet has what you need. Just a quick run through the swap meet had us checking our bank account to see what we could take home with us.
Today is the second day of the TransTec Fox-Body Reunion powered by Foxy Events. Yesterday we selected Otniel Cruz’s beautiful, Calypso Green 1992 Mustang LX coupe as our Editor’s Choice in this category. The beautiful Fox is powered by a Kenne Bell-supercharged, Two-Valve 4.6-liter Modular engine and it sits just right on those Weld wheels.
Dennis Hilliard is back in action in Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle with a fresh Gen 3 Coyote from MMR based on a rugged, sleeved block. Displacing 340 cubes it rumbles with huge, MMR-spec COMP Cams and percolates with 14:1 compression through 2-inch headers. With the engine ready to spin to 9,800 rpm this 3,040-pound S550 runs a distinctly old-school transmission — a C4 from Joel’s on Joy. When he gets the 700-plus-horsepower combo dialed in, he’s hoping to eventually run a single-digit pass with the car.
Wondering why the speed of his beaming-yellow Coyote Stock machine was off, Randy Soper was busy after hours swapping out his experimental air horn induction in favor of his tried-and-true air filter to see if the top-end charge would return. He’s also dialing in the adjustment of a revamped rear suspension based on updated torque boxes.
