After nearly a month-and-a-half layoff, the NMRA and all of the cars and stars returned to all-Ford drag racing action, as the well-seasoned 1320’ racing surface of Atco Raceway in Atco, New Jersey hosted the 9th Annual Nitto Tire Ford Nationals presented by Downs Ford Motorsport.  The weather forecast heading into the weekend didn’t look terribly promising, but it was beautiful on Friday and Saturday for qualifying, and after a brief rain session on Sunday morning, settled into a brisk 60-degree day with nearly zero humidity.  As a result, records were set with surprising regularity through the course of the day during eliminations.

After nearly a month-and-a-half layoff, the NMRA and all of the cars and stars returned to all-Ford drag racing action, as the

well-seasoned 1320’ racing surface of Atco Raceway in Atco, New Jersey hosted the 9th Annual Nitto Tire Ford Nationals presented by Downs Ford Motorsport.  The weather forecast heading into the weekend didn’t look terribly promising, but it was beautiful on Friday and Saturday for qualifying, and after a brief rain session on Sunday morning, settled into a brisk 60-degree day with nearly zero humidity.  As a result, records were set with surprising regularity through the course of the day during eliminations.

Once qualifying was complete, four racers populated the NMRA’s big-dog class, Turbonetics Pro Outlaw 10.5, capped by Dan Millen’s 6.88 at 202.21mph.  Just behind him sat the Bradenton event winner, Keith Neal, whose 6.99 was his first six-second pass in competition.  Tim Essick and Mike Murillo rounded out the field, setting the table for Sunday’s elimination rounds.  In the first round, 2007 class champion Essick took out Neal out with a 7.07 at 206.45mph to Neal’s out-of-shape 7.42 at only 171.49.  The other pairing was not to happen, as Millen had destroyed his engine during Saturday’s final qualifying session, handing Mike Murillo a freebie into the final.  Murillo was not without troubles of his own, as the team had discovered a broken four-link suspension bracket during an inspection on Saturday night, and chassis builder Bill Buck of Bill Buck Race Cars spent the wee hours of the evening repairing it.  Their single hit was the first with the repaired pieces, and the car laid down a super-fast 6.81 at a whopping 217.56mph, showing all was well and setting up the final with Essick.  In that final stanza, the tree dropped, and Essick pushed it into Murillo’s lap, getting out with a .133 advantage.  It was all for naught, however, as Essick went up on the wheelie bars hard, getting slightly out of shape.  All he could do was watch as Murillo streaked by to a stellar 6.77 at 216.48, earning himself his first-ever NMRA Pro Outlaw win!

ProCharger’s Super Street Outlaw class, the craziest ride on true 10.5’s anywhere in the country, boasted an eight car field at this event.  The previous race winner, John Urist, called the number-one qualifier position his after all three rounds were complete, with an outstanding 7.39 wild ride during Saturday night’s qualifying session.  However, once eliminations began, Urist lost on a holeshot to Chris Tuten, with the pair running identical 7.51 elapsed times, with the tree being the difference.  Tuten subsequently lost to Don Burton in the second round after Burton had moved past Jamie Sarver in the first.  Yanni Papakosmas, the ‘Supergreek’, took out the nitrous machine of Ozzy Ucer in the first rounf, then ended John Macdonald’s weekend to move onto the final round, setting up the final between Papakosmas and Burton.  As the pair moved into the beams, Papakosmas got away first with a .062 reaction time, besting Burton’s .090.  Downtrack, the nitrous-powered entry of Burton came running for Papakosmas’ turbocharged beast, but didn’t have enough to get around the reaction time advantage.  Although Burton posted the quicker elapsed time, Papakosmas’ surgical tree skills won him the race and the event, 7.61 to Burton’s 7.59.

In the Diablosport EFI Renegade class, local racer Larry Hourcle turned up the wick on his Vortech-boosted machine to take the top qualifying spot over eight other racers.  His 8.52, on a radial tire no less, proved to not be the magic elixir that he was searching for.  Three-time class champion Brian Mitchell took out the up-and-coming Alton Clements to earn the second round bye.  After that, he came up against Chris VanGilder, who had been having wheelstand problems all weekend long.  Mitchell nonchalantly uncorked the fastest pass in EFI Renegade history with an 8.38 at a whopping 162mph on that pass, sending him to the final.  On the other side of the ladder, Georgia’s Bart Tobener ran through Dan Rawls before taking a bye straight into the final round.  Despite having nearly identical reaction times, Mitchell streaked to the win as Tobener shut down early.  

E delbrock’s Hot Street class is the pinnacle of naturally-aspirated Ford performance, and the racecars in this class are superbly-refined machines.  Seven racers showed up on the property, and when the smoke cleared, 2008 Hot Street champ Robbie Blankenship had qualified number one over some stout competition.  Blankenship took advantage of his first round bye to run the first-ever Hot Street pass in the 8.50’s, with an 8.59 at nearly 156mph, before taking out Max Gross in round two.  Don Bowles, who had qualified second behind Blankenship, took out Richard Preiser in the first round, then stick-shift racer Bob Hanlon in round two before meeting up with Blankenship for the final.  As the tree came down, Bowles reacted first and streaked to an 8.66 over Blankenship’s shutdown pass.

A diverse field of BFGoodrich Tires Drag Radial racers showed up to race in New Jersey.  This class offers fans their choice of three different power-adders, along with a multitude of engine combinations, so there’s something for everyone.  Bradenton winner Jason Lee uncorked a stout 8.10 to take the top qualifying spot and earning the first round bye.  Lee used that advantage to test out the track surface, then continued on with wins against Enzo Pecchini and Chip Provenza on his way to the final round.  Ken Ewer, a relative newcomer to the class, took out Dave Guy in round one, and by virtue of the nine-car ladder, had a bye straight through the next two rounds of competition into the finals.  Lee, one of the best in the world on the BFGoodrich tire, used that experience to run a bracket car-like 8.10, straight as a string, to take the win over Ewer.

5.0 Mustang Magazine puts up the bucks to sponsor the Real Street class, and this weekend saw five cars in competition.  Longtime racer Tim Matherly qualified atop the ladder with a stellar 9.56 to set the pace for the weekend.  As eliminations progressed, Matherly made a bye run, then defeated teammate Jim Breese before meeting up with another teammate, Dave Ginter, in the final round.  As the tree came down, Ginter left just a touch early, turning on the red bulb and ending his weekend prematurely, and handing the win to Matherly.

Eibach Springs Pure Street is the NMRA’s mid-level naturally aspirated class.  Five racers showed up on the property ready to give it their all, and Steve Gifford did just that, running his Modular-powered ’98 Mustang.  He managed to get into the final round against Ryan Hecox, where he just didn’t have enough to get by the ‘Silver Bullet’ of Hecox.

The most limited class in the entire NMRA lineup is the ACT Clutch Factory Stock class.  Tommy Godfrey has been dominating over the last couple of seasons, and this year is no exception.  An 11.02 at 121.05 mph put him atop the ladder, followed closely by John Leslie, Jr.  Godfrey took out Jim St. Charles and then had a bye run before beating Matt Amrine and making his way to the finals.  On the other side of the ladder, John Leslie, Jr. made some wicked passes to take out Chalie Rankin and Zane Reed before taking his bye run straight into the final round.  Leslie earned the holeshot, but Godfrey got it done on the top end, pulling away to take home the win.

In the Open Comp-style classes, consistency was king as always.  In the ROUSH Performance Modular Muscle class, Reggie Burnette, Jr. took his second win of the young season with a win over Zak Harty after running through the field of sixteen cars.  Steeda’s Open Comp class had 31 entries, and after the smoke cleared, David Woodside earned the win over Philadelphia’s Tom DeMalto after running closer to his 10.00 dial-in.  Detroit Locker sponsors the Truck and Lightning class, and Bob Cochran outlasted the rest of the heavy hitters, showing how to do it with his cool 1948 F1 pickup truck.  And in JDM Engineering Super Stang, Chris Parisi took the win home in his 2007 six-cylinder Mustang over Don Justus.  Parisi is dedicated enough that he drove the car all the way to Atco from his Jacksonville, Florida home.

 

 

 

 

 

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