Dirt
Hot sun and hotshots abound
at NMCA season-opener in Florida
By Mary Lendzion
T
he racing was incredibly intense
and impressive as drivers from across
the country threw everything they had
at the track for the 17th Annual NMCA
Muscle Car Mayhem, March 7-10 at Bradenton
Motorsports Park in Florida.
The first of six events on this year’s highly
anticipated NMCA tour featured side-by-side
passes, personal bests and records made by racers
dead-set on driving to the Aerospace Components
Winner’s Circle.
There were 19 drivers dedicated to making a
16-car field In VP Racing Fuels Xtreme Pro Mod,
and Joe Baker blasted to a 3.72 in his Corvette to
set the pace. Thirteen drivers behind him man-
aged 3-second passes, but thundering to the final
were Tom Blincoe and Jim Widener. After the
pair of Corvettes leaped off the line with almost
identical reaction times, Blincoe wheeled to the
win with a 3.75, while Widener was forced to get
out of the throttle.
Mickey Thompson Street Outlaw saw 2018
NMCA Radial Wars champion James Lawrence
lead qualifying with a 4.38 from his Mustang
Cobra in its series debut. He remained on a roll
through the final round, where he trapped a
4.44 and won a tight race against Shawn Pevlor,
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who was piloting Tony Bischoff ’s Mustang and
trapped a 4.48.
Showing up to shakedown in Holley EFI Fac-
tory Super Cars were 23 drivers in their Mustang
Cobra Jets, COPO Camaros, and Challenger Drag
Paks. Drew Skillman drove to a 7.70 in his Mus-
tang Cobra Jet to lead qualifying, and incred-
ibly 12 other drivers also posted 7s behind him.
Adding to the excitement in qualifying, Chuck
Watson Sr., Leonard Libersher, Scott Libersher
and Carl Tasca Sr. also laid down 7s to join Geoff
Turk in the Holley EFI 7-Second Club. Later in
the weekend, Bill Skillman secured the win with
a 7.82 in his Mustang Cobra Jet over Mark Pawuk,
who ran 8.01 in his Challenger.
There were nitrous purges all around in ARP
Nitrous Pro Street, where Jeff Ensslin drove to a
4.41 in his Camaro to lead qualifying, but on elimi-
nations day, Tricia Musi met Mark Hoagland in the
final. There, Musi, after being pushed back to the
starting line after presumably losing reverse after
a burnout, motored to the win and the Aerospace
Components Winner’s Circle with a 4.47 in her
Firebird to Hoagland’s 4.59 in his Camaro.
In the ever-energetic Edelbrock Xtreme Street,
Lou Iacopetti, who won the 2018 NMCA Finals
last year in Indy, landed a 4.65 to lead qualifying,
but the final round featured father and son Troy
Pirez Sr. and Troy Pirez Jr. and their Mustangs.
Son secured the win over father after a close 4.71-
to-4.74 fight.
Naturally aspirated engines were singing in
FST Carburetors NA 10.5, where Leonard Long
led qualifying with a 7.84 in his Mustang. Later,
he met John Langer and his just-rebuilt Trans
Am in the final, and Long lapped up the win with
a 7.89 to Langer’s 7.97.
In Chevrolet Performance Stock presented by
Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center, reigning class cham-
pion Jesse Wilson wheeled to a 10.11 in his Camaro
to lead qualifying, and he stayed strong through
the final, where he lined up alongside Scott Brown
and his Camaro. Wilson wrapped up another win
with a 10.16 to Brown’s 10.28, and took another
trip to the Aerospace Components Winners Circle.
Amy Faulk and her Firebird, which ran 9.42
on a 10.75 index, were at the top of the list of
qualified drivers in Coan Engineering Stock/Su-
per Stock, but making it to the final were Ricky
Pennington and George Cox. When the tree came
down, Pennington was all over it and won with
an off-the-throttle 11.62 on a 10.99 dial in his
Issue 143
Muscle Car Mayhem