It is Sunday and that means it's race day! But first we need to get a final qualifying session completed for Advanced Fuel Dynamics Limited Street, G-Force Racing Transmissions Coyote Stock, and Richmond Gear Factory Stock after a storm whipped through in the late afternoon hours, ending our fun. Also added to today's schedule is the QA1 True Street challenge, which is a carryover from yesterday. The cars performed the cruise but came back to a wet drag strip. They are due to run after the first round of eliminations of the heads-up cars. Below is today's schedule, which is always subject to change.
At the Top The VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw number one qualifier Dom DiDonato of Wilmington, DE ran 4.530 at 168.58 mph. C&D Automotive thrashed to get the 2008 Shelby GT500 ready for this event, firing it up days before they made the short drive over Maple Grove Raceway. The car sports a 358ci powerplant that is tuned up by Triangle Speed Shop. NMRA Tech Director Roger Conley inspected the car following the second qualifying session, including the turbocharger, deeming it legal for NMRA competition. Eliminations kicks off today as he will face three-time NMRA champion Phil Hines in the opening round, due to kick off shortly.
Click <HERE> for the FINAL QUALIFYING Sheets, which includes the Sunday morning additions that we are simply calling Qualifying Round 3.5
Charlie Booze Jr., who is racing memory of his friend and highly-acclaimed engine builder Jim Kuntz, slipped the "Freight Train" into the 7s during qualifying. He is fourth with a 7.98 at 170.19 mph, coming from his 399ci small-block Ford that relies solely on natural aspiration. Making it more impressive is the fact that the weather was not favorable for that setup nor were track conditions given the 138 degree temperature of the surface.
The scene above was how Chris Hare spent his Saturday afternoon, fixing a couple of burnt exhaust valves as two injectors failed on his Edelbrock Renegade racecar. The team pulled the head off in near record time, removed and cleaned up the valves/head, and got it running this morning! Hare is facing Chip Provenza, a racer he knows well from their monthly competitions at a track down the road and it will be a classic nitrous vs. blower match-up!
Michael Ciborowski got the rear tire spin under control in round 3.5 of qualifying as the Advanced Limited Street category had to re-run their final qualifying hit when rain interrupted their final session last night. He posted an 8.726 at 154.37 mph to grab the second position on the ladder, a tick behind the new class leader Bill Putnam. Both cars utilize VMP Performance superchargers, Ciborowski uses the Gen2R that features EATON TVS 2300 rotors, while Putnam added the new Gen3R for this event and that unit is built by Magnusson for VMP and it has the TVS 2650 rotor package. The rule makers will have some work ahead of them as they analyze the data with some big speeds posted by a couple of other combinations.
Bitter-Sweet that is how it was yesterday as Mike Washington cracked open a beer to celebrate a career best time with Project Pure Evil when it ran 8.77 at 152 mph. That lowered his previous best NA Coyote time by .05-seconds from an 8.82 run last month. However the run wasn't officially counted as a qualifying hit because rain ended the action before Advanced Fuel Dynamics Limited Street could be completed. He came back this morning in qualifying round 3.5 and unleashed an 8.813 at 152.78 mph to place him solidly in third place. He faces Larry Starost in the opening round of competition.
They've struggled, they've worked hard, and they've persevered and posted a stellar 4.81 in the opening round of competition. It will be an uphill battle as the number one qualifier, Bob Zelenak posted an even quicker 4.78 right behind her. They won't meet until semifinals if James can beat her round two opponent.
Mike Jovanis secured his eighth QA1 True Street title today thanks to an 8.054 three-run average, earning him an invitation to the prestigious IDIDIT Performance King of the Street competition. Jovanis turned down the new Garrett GTX turbo to just 24 pounds of boost to accomplish the task. He dipped into the 7s on the first run with a 7.921 at 178 mph hit.
Eliminations are underway and you can follow along <HERE>