Dirt
Bluegrass Nationals
NMCA’s street-legal stars shine at Beech Bend Raceway Park
By Ainsley Jacobs
34 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Super Cars qualifying with his ’16 Mustang Cobra
Jet. Ultimately, it was the big man on campus, No.
2 qualifier and driver of a ’15 COPO Camaro, Scott
Libersher, who pushed past the group. In the final
round, Libersher outran Chuck Watson II with a
nice holeshot and a quicker 8.146 at 168.56 trip
against Watson’s 8.364 at 165.66 foray.
The nitrous huffing entries in ARP Nitrous Pro
Street saw 11 cars show up for qualifying, while
Tricia Musi not only scored the No. 1 honors with
her 4.537 at 151.75 hit in her father’s former ’00
Pontiac Firebird and scored a new husband-to-
be when Mike Bankston proposed at the top end
of the track and the two were engaged. It was a
pedal fest in the finals between Musi and No. 2
qualifier Matt Salminen. Both drivers struggled
to find traction, but Salminen found salvation
when his ’69 Camaro crossed the beams in front
and tripped the clocks in 4.676 seconds at 143.84.
Meanwhile, in ARP NA 10.5, David Theisen
was the quickest of the all-motor group when
he clicked off a 7.896 at 172.25 during qualifying
in his ’69 Firebird. Theisen stayed in the game
until the finals, but a -0.001 foul start ended the
round before it started and Dwight Ausmus, who
had qualified third, took home the Victor trophy
with an 8.148 at 168.24 making it his second year
in a row at Beech Bend.
It was no surprise to see the 2017 season cham-
pion earn the No. 1 qualifying position in Edel-
brock Xtreme Street, and Jessie Coulter’s 4.791
at 148.94 effort in his turbocharged ’91 Camaro
set the bar for the rest of the weekend. Coulter
continued his domination of the class straight
through eliminations, taking five round wins in
a row and sending No. 4 qualifier Nick McGrath
packing by a big margin in the finals.
The Coan Engineering Stock/Super Stoc k cat-
egory saw the best of the best stockers go all out
but only one man was left standing when the
weekend wrapped up. Like a déjà vu of last year’s
race, once again it was Ricky Pennington who
got to take a trip to the Aerospace Components
Winner’s Circle with his ’71 Nova after a double
break-out situation put Scott Libersher in the
runner-up spot.
Issue 134
B
ack for another great ren-
dition, the 17th Annual NMCA
Quick Fuel Technologies Blue-
grass Nationals presented by
Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center
featuring the Chevrolet Perfor-
mance Challenge Series blew into Beech Bend
Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, over
the weekend of May 18-20, 2018. With a wet fore-
cast dimming racers’ hopes initially, the weekend
took a turn for the better and sunshine was more
prevalent. The race was run to completion, and
competitors went home with points, prizes, pay-
outs, records, and many more reasons to celebrate.
Additionally, the Grudge RACE TV show filmed
several episodes on-site over the weekend and
was an added source of excitement for race fans.
Turbocharged, supercharged, and nitrous
oxide-powered machines came to battle it out
in VP Racing Fuels Xtreme Pro Mod and it was
Jason Hamstra who topped the qualifying list
with an insanely quick 3.695 at 207.91 mph pass
from his blown ’69 Camaro. It was a battle of the
Chevys on Sunday as No. 5 qualifier, Jackie Slone
Jr, and his nitrous-oxide-injected ’69 Camaro
went up against the twin–turbo ’15 Corvette of
No. 2 qualifier, Don Walsh Jr, and ran 3.819 at
199.88 mph to surpass Walsh’s 3.989 at 167.03.
The highly competitive Mickey Thompson
Radial Wars category saw DeWayne Mills and
his twin-turbo ’68 Camaro go 3.885 at 201.85 to
lead the pack after qualifying had been finalized.
Number-three qualifier James Lawrence popped
an engine in his ProCharger and DragZine.com-
backed Corvette in round one of eliminations,
but his crew hustled hard and had the spare in
place in time for the finals against Marty Stinnett
who qualified fourth in his Garrett-turbocharged
Fox-body Mustang. When the tree came down,
Stinnett had Lawrence at the start, but had to
get out of the throttle right after the hit and left
the door wide open for Lawrence’s determination
to be rewarded with a win going 4.056 at 188.52
to make it official.
In Vortech Superchargers Street Outlaw,
Shawn Ayers in Fletcher Cox’s ProCharged ’93
Fox body was the No. 1 qualified driver thanks
to a 4.328 at 164.63 blast. Ayers advanced to the
finals, where he met with Daniel Pharris, who
had qualified third with his boosted ’95 Mustang.
Pharris was on a mission to honor his grandfa-
ther, Jimmie C. Pharris, as the inspirational man
passed away on Friday. Pharris got the holeshot
advantage and never trailed as he crossed the
stripe ahead of Ayers with a 4.353 at 175.98 to
take the win in his grandpa’s memory and to close
out a bittersweet weekend.
Carl Tasca was slotted into the leader’s position
when he ran 8.121 at 164.41 in Holley EFI Factory