It was a long day Sunday for NMCA officials as they tried to complete the 7th Annual Ross Pistons Hot Rod Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
After a morning, which saw heavy rains, it wasn’t until mid-afternoon before the first cars took to the track.

Despite gaining the upper hand late in the evening, it was decided to postpone several class finals after the Camaro of Spiro Pappas made hard contact with the wall during the Mickey Thompson Super Street 10.5W final against Jim Blair. Long Weekend For NMCA at Bradenton

It was a long day Sunday for NMCA officials as they tried to complete the 7th Annual Ross Pistons Hot Rod Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park.
After a morning, which saw heavy rains, it wasn’t until mid-afternoon before the first cars took to the track.

Despite gaining the upper hand late in the evening, it was decided to postpone several class finals after the Camaro of Spiro Pappas made hard contact with the wall during the Mickey Thompson Super Street 10.5W final against Jim Blair.

That contact and resulting fireball made a mess of his Skinny Kid Race Cars built ’69 Camaro, but Pappas was able to exit the car, apparently uninjured. With a very long clean-up looming, it was decided to carry over the remaining final rounds to the association’s next event in Bowling Green, Ky., May 1-3.

Eliminators which were completed included: Scorpion Performance Pro Street, the aforementioned Super Street, ARP Nostalgia Pro Street, Hedman Hedders Nostalgia Super Street, Nostalgia Muscle Car, McLeod Open Comp, and Eaton Posi Late Model EFI.

In Pro Street, Vinny Budano was to have faced Tony Christian, in the final after he beat Chris RIni in the semis, but Christian, who was making a return to a class he helped to define a decade earlier, made hard contact with the wall in his Grand Am. That run was actually a single but Christian, shooting or lane  choice in the final, had his hands full by the 330-foot mark and was unable to recover the car before it shot across the track, backing into the wall in the opposite lane. Although the veteran racer said the damage was minimal, he was unable to return for the final.

Blair started his trip to the final in Super Street with a 6.98 effort at 198 mph. In eliminations he was able to beat the likes of Frank Mewshaw, Mark Kyger and Mike Yedgarian before facing Pappas in the final.

In ARP Nostalgia Pro Street Joe Bucaro grabbed his first series victory after beating defending class champion, Jim Widener, in the final (7.40 at 183 mph to Widener’s losing 7.50 at 182 mph.) Bucaro, driving a small-block powered 2004 Mustang, qualified on the pole with a 7.525.

In Nostalgia Super Stock Skip Koester and his ’64 Thunderbolt, bested  Stephanie DiMino and her ’66 Impala. In Nostalgia Muscle Car Robert Berkebile defeated Andy Warren in a double breakout race, while Frankie Radake won his second series event in Open Comp after Greg Bagnell redlit in the final. In Late Model EFI, Bobby Barrick and his 2007 Mustang took out Brian Bogan.

Final races yet to be contested include: Vortech Xtreme Street,  Comp Cams Pro Stock, BFGoodrich Tires Street Radial and Drag Racer Magazine Mean Street.

In Extreme Street Bob Kurgan and his supercharged Mustang, will face Tim Hendricks and his nitrous-assisted Camaro. Kurgan advanced after round wins over, Bart Tobner and Steve Cagle, while Hendicks, defeated Mark Mahowski and Haskell Mackowski.

In Pro Stock Skip Baskin, and his big-block powered ’67 Nova will face last years season champion, Mike DeMayo Jr. Baskin, who qualified on top of the field with an 8.55, had a first round bye and then defeated Don Bowles. DeMayo, whose small-block Mustang qualified second with a 8.62, defeated Greg Delaney inj round one and Max Gross in the second.

Squaring off in the final of BFGoodrich Tires Street Radial will be defending series champ John Macaluso and his nitrous-assisted ’93 Mustang, who received a round one bye and then put Tim Hendricks on the trailer.  Macaluso will race Heath Shemwell in his ’94 Camaro, which defeated Jay Canella and Brad Scher.