EVENT NOTEBOOK   EVENT PHOTO GALLERY

Gillig, Ulsch, Berney, and Keenan Collect Championships in Orlando

300 cars, 21,000 spectators, and the best - bar none - heads-up, street-legal doorslammer racing in the world. That in a nutshell is a recap of the just-completed event simply known as “Orlando.”

Technically it’s called the Real World Street Nationals, and this year’s version, the 14^th annual, was an unqualified success. Well, the racers who crashed, broke, or failed to qualify may have a problem with that assessment, but the vast majority of fans and racers who jammed the tight confines of Orlando Speed World Dragway likely have a positive response if asked to evaluate the event.

The number of race vehicles on hand is even more impressive considering that there are only four classes – Super Pro Street, Outlaw 10.5, Heavy Street, and Radial Tires.

In Super Pro Street, the premier class of the RWSN, 2003 winner Tony Gillig returned to the winner’s circle at the expense of fellow Illinois resident Chuck Samuel, himself a former winner in Orlando.

Gillig, who is stepping away from his team’s 2004 Mustang after this weekend, took the win when Samuel got out of the groove and lifted.  

In Outlaw 10.5, consistency won the weekend for Maryland’s Chuck Ulsch, who parlayed a string of 6.90s into a trip to the final and a classic Ford versus Chevy confrontation with Brad Brand.

Ulsch lined his 2002 Camaro up beside Brand’s 1992 Mustang in the final stanza, which came to a sudden end when Brand pulled the trigger way too early and left a glowing red bulb in his wake.

EVENT PHOTO GALLERY      EVENT NOTEBOOK

Gillig, Ulsch, Berney, and Keenan Collect Championships in Orlando

300 cars, 21,000 spectators, and the best - bar none - heads-up, street-legal doorslammer racing in the world. That in a nutshell is a recap of the just-completed event simply known as “Orlando.”

Technically it’s called the Real World Street Nationals, and this year’s version, the 14^th annual, was an unqualified success. Well, the racers who crashed, broke, or failed to qualify may have a problem with that assessment, but the vast majority of fans and racers who jammed the tight confines of Orlando Speed World Dragway likely have a positive response if asked to evaluate the event.

The number of race vehicles on hand is even more impressive considering that there are only four classes – Super Pro Street, Outlaw 10.5, Heavy Street, and Radial Tires.

In Super Pro Street, the premier class of the RWSN, 2003 winner Tony Gillig returned to the winner’s circle at the expense of fellow Illinois resident Chuck Samuel, himself a former winner in Orlando.

Gillig, who is stepping away from his team’s 2004 Mustang after this weekend, took the win when Samuel got out of the groove and lifted.  

In Outlaw 10.5, consistency won the weekend for Maryland’s Chuck Ulsch, who parlayed a string of 6.90s into a trip to the final and a classic Ford versus Chevy confrontation with Brad Brand.

Ulsch lined his 2002 Camaro up beside Brand’s 1992 Mustang in the final stanza, which came to a sudden end when Brand pulled the trigger way too early and left a glowing red bulb in his wake.

The Heavy Street battle was a true classic, and in the end it was the all-steel, 3,500-pound ’55 Chevy of California’s Monty Berney taking a very popular win over Philadelphia’s Marino Cintron.

Berney’s “shoebox” Chevy put on an amazing show all weekend, running a jaw-dropping 7.177, 199.95 in the semifinals. In the final, Cintron’s ’68 Camaro lurched, lit the red light and then died at the line, allowing Berney to collect his first Orlando victory. He took an easy 7.984, 197.10 jaunt to the finish line.

The last of the four showdowns took place in Radial Tires, where another Ford versus Chevy battle was waged between New Mexico’s Mike Keenan and Floridian Tim Murray. Keenan, who paced his 1999 Ford Mustang to the No. 1 qualifying spot on Saturday, completed the weekend sweep by taking out Murray and his 2000 Camaro 7.861, 191.61 to 7.934, 176.09.