NMCA Florida 08 - Sunday Coverage

[mark@streetlegaltv]

Eliminations started off with Pro Stock and unfortunately a wreck. Andy Schmidt hung the tires high then came down hard. The way it looks, the oil pan split on landing which caused the oil from the pan to soak the rear tires. The Mustang then pitched to the right, smacking the right rear tail light into the wall. The force of the hit then caused the front quarter panel to sling shot into the wall. Andy then spun the wheels too the left to bring it off the wall and finally stopped the Mustang in the middle of the track.



Check out a few photos below, but click here for the complete sequence!

[mark@streetlegaltv]

This is a typical picture of the powerTV staff working on our hotel rooms all night. 2am is not an uncommon time to be up for us. We sleep between video encoding and about 4 hours a night during a race weekend. If we space out at the end of the race weekend, now you know.

[mark@streetlegaltv]

Sunday morning is off to a nice start with Sunshine and blue skies and a light breeze blowing west across the track.





Steve Matusek drives a Mustang in Pro Street and he sits in the number 10 spot, drawing Steve Miller for round one who has top speed during qualifying. Matusek has a unique engine combination in his Aeromotive sponsered entry utilizing a turbocharged mod motor for power. This morning all thats needed is a clutch adjustment and normal maintinence.



Another Pro Street competitor Tony Puglese had some trans issues and a bit of head gasket leakage on Saturday. They had to remove the intake manifold last night and retorque the cylinder heads as well as do some mainenance on the trans in preparation for Sunday eliminations. Tony was somewhat disapointed with their qualifying performance running only a 6.64 @ 212 putting them at number thirteen. He feels the car should run .50's today and he will need all of that and a good tree to get by Mark Micke who is in the number 4 position with a 6.47 @ 215.





Steve King debuts his new car at the NMCA season opener here in Bradenton Florida. He had only two 60' foot hits on it before coming to this event and he keeps getting faster every pass, taking the number three spot in the Scorpion Performance Pro Street field with a 6.47. He faces number fourteen qualifier Chris Rini in round one.

[powerjames]

[mark@streetlegaltv]

• Shawn Zubler burned a piston against Mike Yedgarian in Nitto Tires 10.5 Super Street this morning. Pensylvania based Zubler plans to run the whole series for 2008 with his 1999 Trans Am. He qualified in the second spot with a 7.14 @ 199, Yedgarian was number seven.



• In mean street Jeremy Gillam had some wheelie issues on Friday and Saturday and made some adjustments to the car Saturday night, coming back Sunday morning to set the Mean Street class record and first nine second pass with a 9.99 @ 133.



• Here at the NMCA Bradenton opener they had the fastest Pro Street field in the history of the class. What a great way to start the 20th anniversary season.





• Jimmy Marino won round one on a red light start by number one qualifier Vinny Budano, coasting to his victory after shaking the tires.



• NPS drive Jim Widener is on a roll this weekend, running two 7.56's in qualifying, then in first round came out strong with a 7.55 which is the quickest pass since the rule change for 2008, restricting the nitrous jet sizes in an effort to keep the class in check.

[powerjames]

Pro Stock



• Although it appeared it was going to be the Butch Kemp show in Pro Stock, the truth is that NMRA Hot Street driver Mike DeMayo unleashed a major run in the first round of Pro Stock against another Hot Street Driver David Murray. Can you say 1.25 60', 5.501 in the 1/8, and a 8.603 in the quarter mile at 159.06 mph? Of course, Kemp's incrementals blows away DeMayo's, but at last another small block is a player.



• Kemp for his part ran a 8.57 at 146.69 (again lifting) but with a 5.42 1/8 mile. That is .08 quicker than Demayo in the 1/8 - basically meaning Kemp has an 8.40ish car. Crazy also was the 1.23 60-foot! Langer's 8.63 win wasn't even close.

Xtreme Street



• Bill Travato made a nice run in X/S taking out Henry Schneider with a 8.14 at 171.46 mph and a 1.31 60-foot. Travato's really got the Olds cooking and if he can keep up the low teen performances he could take his first win at Bradenton.

• Cameron Coble made a bold statement with a 8.048 at 175.60 mph single against a would-be Steve Cagle in the first round. Cagle was unable to make the first round call. A .090 reaction time and 1.29 60 foot went along with the package.



• Bob Curran also was a no-show in Rd 1, giving the win to Aaron Stapleton who only managed a 8.99 single. Curran was in the lanes but gremlins kept him from getting the start to his NMCA season as he anticipated.



• The only other 8.0 in the round would be Danny Shemwell who had a competition bye and ran a 8.094 at 174.79. Kurgan would also advance in a victory against Mark Mahowski. One thing we noticed was Shemwell's use of the Goodyear tires which supposedly are a taller tire than the Mickey Thompson but still fit the tire tape...

[powerjames]

Super Street

• Some were surprised by the turnout of Super Street cars than anticipated in contrast to the awesome turnout of the Pro Street cars, especially with the growth of 10.5W racing. Most were predicting a full field at the next event as a few more NMCA cars got completed.



• Spiro Pappas established early on, with the absence of Jim Blair, that he may be the man to beat in Super Street, challenged strongly by Dan Millen. The first round supported that theory, as Spiro took care of Jeff Shawver with a best-of-round 7.04 at only 199.02 mph.

• Millen did his part on the other side going 7.12 at an impresive 208.67 mph with a .136 reaction time to defeated Matt Bell who only managed an 8.666. Both Spiro and Millen are single turbo machines.



• Crowd favorite and "long-haul" winner Mike Yedgarian and his ProCharger boosted Firebird suffered heartbreak when a red light in Round 1 ended his day taking on Shawn Zubler, who burned up a piston on the run and was still faster.



• During the opening ceremonies NMCA's Chris Vopat came out to entertain the crowd and to get the attention of just a few of his adoring fans.

Nostalgia Pro Street



• Jeff Colletta ran best e.t. of the round in NPS with a 7.59 at 182.81 mph victory over Phil Swales, but Jim Widener and Barbara Nesbitt also won their rounds with impressive runs. Barb cut a .012 light against Pat Adams and went a 7.68 at 182.70 mph.

It might seem "odd" that these Nostalgia Pro Street cars can run late model bodies like Colletta's sleek Camaro, but remember - NPS equals the old "Pro Street rules" of the category and not the actual body styles and years.

[powerjames]

• Pro Street has been the "Vinny" show for the last three years in the NMCA. Invariably, Budano and Shafiroff shake hands in the winner's circle as they make a march toward the championship. This was the rare occurence that Budano beat himself against the #15 qualifier by relighting.

By a brutal .001...

And, to make matters even more of a pisser, Marino shook and smoked the tires coasting through the finish, Budano's 6.54 would have made easy work of his competitor. It will a long drive home for Budano because nobody knows better than him how excited he was to do battle with this tough and exciting Pro Street field.



• Team Motive Gear is REALLY getting their act together with Corky Markwart handling the driving duties and Steve Johnson and Scotty Guadagno tuning things up for Jimmy Barry's new edge Mustang. A former NMRA Pro 5.0 car, Markwart ran in the .50s in Round 1 at over 212 mph to defeat Dan Saitz.



• One of our favorite races of the day was when Steve Miller took on Steve Matusek in Round 1. Not only were they qualified close at #7 and #10, but these are two "different" combinations. The Truck is an aerodynamic brick and former 2X Pro Street champion, and the Mustang is a twin-turbocharged Modular. Drastically different weights, both with twins. Miller took the win with a when Matusek got out of shape after the 60' mark, and Miller went on to run a 6.50. Miller, who ran as fast as 227 mph, turned the power down to smartly get the win.



• Top Qualifier Tony Bischoff ran his best e.t. of the day with a stunning 6.37 at 222.22 mph with an absolutely sick 1.026 60-foot. The Pro Street teams were stunned by this package because of his .08 reaction time Kenny Voss didn't have a chance. With Bischoff's #1 qualified position and 222 mph from his all-Ford fat block BES-built nitrous motor he looked pretty tough.



• One last big MPH to talk about from Round 1 - new car wielding Steve King hammered Chris Rini with a 226.70 bomb and 6.43 e.t. from his nasty roots supercharged Camaro.

In other action, Mark Micke put together a 6.49 at 215.05 pass to defeat Tony Puglese.

[powerjames]

Street Race







• We love it when races go down in the first round like they did in Street Race at Bradenton. Here was John Macaluso the runner-up in 2007 taking on his arch nemesis Mike Fratena. However, this time the table (cloths) were turned, as Macaluso qualified #1 with a 9.12 @ 154 mph run, and he was more than ready for Fratena. The tree drops, and Macaluso left wheels up then lit the tires as Fratena went up in a cloud of tire smoke after a wierd, spin, bog, spin situation. Fratena would be on the trailer before noon.

Check out the round results below from their match up:





• Our favorite Street Racer of Bradenton - you guessed it - Eric Kenward and his bad to the bone Malibu Wagon kicked some arse in Round 1 by downing S/R regular Tim Hendricks. It was a very close race as Hendricks had Kenward beat on the tree, with a .042 to .077 reaction time, but he couldn't hold the nasty Wagon off as Kenward slipped by with a 9.13 at 146.53 mph. This would be Eric's best run of the weekend so far and we had our fingers crossed that the rough Malibu would make it to the finals...

How many Malibu wagon's have bead locks? We wonder...

Other Street Race Round 1 winners included Brian Edwards and Brad Schehr, who ran a round best of 9.10 at 152.56 mph.

[powerjames]

• Another angle from cross-track of Andy Schmidt's Pro Stock/Hot Street ride which hit the wall after splitting the oil pan (or the block) in half after a nasty wheel stand.



• Mark Mahowski did not find the "quick" way down the track next to Bob Kurgan. He put his Xtreme Street ride on the BACK bumper before lifting. The corresponding SMACK to the pavement did little for his ability to make it down the track and hit the finish line.