Dirt
The biggest class of the weekend with 50 entries, ATI Performance Products Nostalgia Super Stock kept things interested during qualifying as Doug Harrison, Jimmy Ray, and Clay Kossuth all ran within 0.02-seconds of their dial-ins and filled the top three spots, respectively. The final pair consisted of Doug Wright with his’ 64 Belvedere in the left lane and Tom Hoffman with his’ 63 Plymouth in the right. Hoffman had Wright on the tree, but Wright reeled him in with a top-end charge and although it was a double-breakout situation, Wright was awarded the win.
The incredible classic muscle cars of Detroit True Trac Nostalgia Muscle Car showed off that they run just as good as they look. Last year’ s winner here, Jerry Stamps, put on the best show in qualifying when he went 12.001 on his 12.00 index fielding his’ 73 Duster. Ken Weilbrenner and his’ 70 Chevelle, however, brought home the big win with a killer 0.006-second reaction time and a 9.771 at 129.07 run on a 9.75 dial-in over Audrey Baize at the end of eliminations.
Mel White’ s perfect 0.000-second reaction time in his’ 66 Mustang while qualifying for MagnaFuel Open Comp meant he had the right to sit atop the list of 33 driver names. Five rounds whittled the field down to William Jones and Kurt Anderson as the last two men standing. Both men broke out and ran below their dials, but the lesser of two evils went to Jones and his’ 68 Falcon.
The Dave Duell Nostalgia Super Stock eliminator special event this weekend offered four separate classes for drivers to contest and winning the quick 9-second FX category sponsored by Goodwin Competition was Doug Wright as he ran 9.246 at 144.46 over runner-up Jeffrey Frees, who took himself out on a red light. Victory Performance helped make the three other races possible, and, in the A-group for 10-second cars, Randy Stansbury was successful going 11.135 at 93.28 to Justin Geary’ s 11.395 at 119.85 runner-up effort. In the 11-second B-group, Shawn Johnston ran almost dead-on the money with a winning 11.005 at 121.88 hit to defeat Brent Wheeler in the finals. Last, but not least, in the 12- and 13-second C-group, winner Butch Cassary put Al Wilson on the trailer.
Three separate True Street-style classes were offered at this event, with the tried-and-true traditional Gear Vendors True Street taking center stage. Running a 7.861-second overall average was Jeff Knox and he was awarded the top honors as a result. In the runner-up spot was Troy Eaton on an 8.487-second average, while Casey Flora won the 10-second category with a 10.192-second average. For the 11-second group, John Combs was named the winner while Chris Cowles took the title for the 12-second group and Matt Johnson rounded things out with his win in the 13-second section.
Running this weekend in the Chevrolet Performance Street Car Challenge, Jeff Brady had the quickest Chevy of all, as his’ 10 Camaro SS averaged 10.043-seconds through three passes to take the win outright. Hot on his heels with an 11.105-second average was Kevin Rowand and his’ 08 Corvette. Brandon Cardwell won the 11-second average, Dennis Pett won the 12-second title, and Jeremy Britt went home victorious in the 13-second group.
Similarly, in the Dodge // Mopar Hemi Shootout, Steve Best’ s’ 18 Dodge Demon was devilishly quick when it was the only car in the 10-second zone and averaged 10.442-seconds in the quartermile for the big win. J Orrand’ s’ 16 Hellcat was crowned the runner-up as it averaged 11.209-seconds, Jenny McClain went home a winner for the 11-second bunch, Trenton Smith won the 12-second honors, Travis McKenne won for the 13-second drivers, Michael Oellrich walked away on top for the 14-second group a and Don Fielder finished the weekend on a high note in the 15-second pack.
In the True Street Bracket 3, the final round paired Chris Cowles in his Chevy Nova on a 12.12 dial in against Dietrich Bollinger in his Chevy Camaro on a 10.48 dial. When the final numbers were posted on the scoreboard, it was Cowles in the left lane who lit the win light.
Mark your calendar for the next stop on the NMCA E3 Spark Plugs Drag Racing tour, the 13th Annual Nitto Tire NMRA / NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois on July 27-29, 2018! DI
PHOTOS: KEVIN DIOSSI
36 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 134