The entire 2020 Holley NMRA Ford Nationals season comes down to today. Since last year, racers prepared and competed with the hope of earning enough points to earn a spot in the coveted Top 10 in the season's points standings and a shot at a championship . Today is the day to make those dreams come true and every round counts at the 22nd Annual NMRA World Finals & Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
While some championships are nearly a lock, others are still in play, as are trips to the Aerospace Components Winner's Circle in every class today. That includes the GForce Performance Engineering King of the Street class, which pits the JLT Performance Spring Break Shootout winner, QA1 True Street winners from each event, and the top True Street performers at the NMRA World Finals & Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival against one another to crown the baddest street car in Ford drag racing.
After a crazy Saturday of crashed Crown Vics and terrorized tires on the oval, the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival action rages on with the Bigfoot Monster Truck Parade, 3S Challenge (speed, steering, and stop), and Drift Exhibition today.
Keep your eyes on this page and our social channels for highlights of all the Blue Oval action in Bowling Green.
FOR ELIMINATION RESULTS, CLICK HERE [gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="16603,16604"] Here is how everything goes down today on as the 22nd Annual NMRA World Finals & Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival brings the 2020 NMRA Ford Nationals season to a close.
Mickey Thompson Cobra/Terminator vs. GT500 competitor Dwayne Hickman recently swapped out his turbo kit for a VMP 2.65 Gen III R supercharger, and with a tuneup from London Chassis Dyno's Chad Epperson, logged a 7.75-second pass (4.95 1/8-mile), which they claim are records for the VMP supercharger. Hickman is qualified 2nd in the class right behind Ryan Aycock who clocked a 7.56 in his Shelby GT500.
QA1 True Street often claims many victims throughout the course of its 30-mile cruise and three back-to-back runs. This SN95 Mustang adorned with Cobra Jet graphics belongs to Tyler Garlock of Michigan and if the colors and snake on the side of the car didn't get your attention, the big Whipple supercharger and air inlet sticking out of the hood should. The drivetrain is an interesting combination consisting of a 5.4-liter Two-Valve Lightning Modular engine wearing a Shelby Whipple supercharger upgrade. It's backed by a G-Force Transmissions-modified Tremec 3650 five-speed, which Garlock has shifted to a best elapsed time of 9.0 seconds. The normally dead reliable car unfortunately encountered a lean condition and Garlock had to pull out of True Street competition.
Normally he's tuning his teammate Eric Bardekoff's Edelbrock Renegade Mustang at the track, but Nicky Notch as he's known in the Mustang world finally resurrected his 1979 Mustang coupe and managed to qualify 4th with a 4.42 in the VP Racing Madditives Street Outlaw category this weekend. The Fox is packing a 400ci small-block Ford engine based on an old Bennett Racing short-block, and Notch added a set of Al Neal-ported Brodix Neal cylinder heads and an 88mm turbo. The powertrain is backed by a Rossler Turbo 400 with a Greg Slack torque converter.
It was a special night last night. Not only did a slew of Fords slay tires during the Torqstorm Superchargers Burnout Challenge, but there was a marriage proposal. Albian Sadriji, who earned $500 in Holley bucks for winning the tire-slaying competition planned for a month to ask his lady Desera Thomason to marry him. After winning the Burnout Challenge, he popped the question, and she said yes! Congrats to the happy couple who might want to put new tires on their wedding gift registry.
With 142 cars registered in QA1 True Street, the competition was fierce on Saturday. Jason Wagoner climbed to the top of the mountain with the overall win in his 2013 Shelby GT500 thanks to an 8.96 average across his three back-to-back passes on Saturday. His efforts earned a trip to the Aerospace Components Winner's Circle. He previously earned an entry into today's GForce Performance Engineering King of the Street competition, which opened the door for other competitors from this weekend to join in the KOTS class.
The second round of Cleetus McFarland's Ford Festival 50 resulted in a mirth, mayhem, and several wounded Crown Victorias.
Clocking in as the top qualifier in VP Racing Madditives Street Outlaw heading into today's eliminations, Tony Hobson felt good about his car's performance. His team recently changed the torque converter to take advantage of the fall air in Bowling Green. He is also collecting valuable data on the car before heading to the upcoming Sweet 16 race.
Action on the Beech Bend oval wraps up today with Bigfoot Monster Truck Parade, 3S Challenge (speed, steering, and stop), and Drift Exhibitions, and we already can't wait to see what next year's event has in store at the NMRA World Finals & Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival at Beech Bend Raceway.
Michael Ciborowski made the move up to Edelbrock Renegade with his former Limited Street machine, and boy is it pretty. Powered by a VMP Performance-supercharged, RGR-built Coyote 5.0-liter engine under the sway of a Holley Dominator EFI system, the revamped ride ran 4.90s on its second pass off the trailer to qualify in the ninth spot. Ciborowski believes it can be competitive in the class after he gets a handle on what the new combo wants, and there is still one smaller pulley size available to pump up the boost if need be...
Running a real 2004 Mustang Mach 1 in VP Racing Madditives Street Outlaw, Donovan Simpson is dialing in his combination for the good air this weekend. The New Edge machine yanked the front wheels earlier in the weekend, so he was working to dial in the tune on the Big Stuff EFI system, but he needed to dial in that tune-up today, as he qualified in the 14th spot heading into today's eliminations.
Today is the last day for the UPR Products car show, which has seen a huge number of vehicle on display at Beech Bend Raceway, including this sharp Fox coupe with centrifugal blower and polished intake manifold.
Bob Cosby hasn't raced on track in over 16 years, but after attending the NMRA World Finals as a spectator, the 2004 NMRA Factory Stock champion decided to fire up his old Fox-Body Mustang and bang some gears once again. The pushrod 5.0 is long gone, though, replaced with a Coyote Stock-spec crate engine and G101A transmission. Cosby plans to hit more races in 2021, maybe dipping into the Coyote Stock ranks to bang gears, but this weekend he is competing in Ford Muscle.
When he's not running his axe throwing bar, The Flippin' Axe, Bowling Green, Kentucky, resident Joe Steele likes to party with his 2012 Boss 302 Mustang, which is packing an MPR-built Coyote with twin 7684 turbochargers. Steele shifts a Tick Performance upgraded T56 Magnum transmission and currently holds the Coyote stick-shift record with a 7.73. With help from Holley's Matt Lundsford on the tuning and Xiled Drag Cars, he plans to shoot for the H-pattern transmission record currently held by Joel Grannas.
Bob Myer has won numerous QA1 True Street awards behind the wheel of his 1984 Capri Turbo RS. Myers has fine-tuned his Capri's 2.3-liter turbo powerplant to the tune of 550 rewhip and we noticed him clicking off a 9-second ET yesterday during True Street. Myers says the car will run that all day long on slicks, and often competes in 6.50 index races when he's not running with the NMRA.
John Hagan of Owensboro, Kentucky, wasn't racing this weekend, but we caught him chatting it up with fellow 2.3-liter turbo owner Bob Myers. Hagan drives this cool Ford Courier with a 2.3 swap, which is backed by the original stick-shift transmission. He said it's making about 360 horsepower at the wheels, and looks the part after he performed a five-lug swap so he could mount some drag wheels.
After seeing the Intergalactic autocross action last year, Wesley Matthews decided to join the fun with his 1993 Mustang LX. A former four-banger, the car's been his garage since 2003. With a 331 stroker under the hood, it runs a combination of factory parts from various model years, including 2002 Mustang GT brakes and a 2004 Mustang rearend. Matthews used to drag race, so his car has lowering springs in the front and drag springs out back, making for some tail-wagging runs through the cones. However, he enjoyed running at the 22nd Annual NMRA World Finals & Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival that he might turn his Fox into a dedicated autocross machine.
Another competitor with limited autocrossing experience, Corey VanBruggen carved up the cones for just the third time, but he was having a blast wheeling his 1968 Ford F100. With a Crown Vic front suspension in front and a Thunderbird independent rear suspension out back, it runs Viking dampers all around and is powered by 392 small-block with. Healthy head/cam/intake setup.