NMCA Florida 08 - Sunday Coverage

[powerjames]

Mean Street Semi-Finals



• Jeff Swanson has been one of the long-time royalty of Mean Street, and in comparison, Gillam has been charging hard finishing just behind Swanson in 2007. Now, after qualifying, the tables had turned with Gillam qualifying at #1 with a 9.99. Then.. comes this semi-finals match up, which couldn't have gone worse for Gillam, because he red-lit, then smoked the tires. Swanson's run was slightly slower than normal, but he would have had no chance if Gillam lit him up with another 10.0 run.

Although Swanson escaped with the victory at Bradenton, we think Gillam has what it takes to seize the #1 come Memphis. Don Baskin took a single to go to the finals.

Street Race

• It was the end of the road for Kenward's Malibu Wagon, as his 9.17 at 146.3 mph wasn't nearly enough against #1 qualifier Macaluso's Mustang - Macaluso would move on to the finals.



• Semi-finals match up posted Brian Edwards against Brad Schehr. Schehr won the race - a 9.10/147.6 mph victory. However, he was disqualified by the NMCA tech department for having a Racepak Digital Dash Data Logger. We will get more information on this. As such, Brian Edwards (see above) went to the finals.

[powerjames]

Xtreme Street



• Bob Kurgan got a single to move into the finals of XS, but Coble and Shemwell had to dance together to see who could be Kurgan's soul mate. It was one of the best and closely races of the year, as Coble ran a 8.09 / 175 to Shemwell's 8.08 at 169.4. It would be Kurgan and Shemwell in the finals.

Pro Stock



• All the stars did not align for Butch Kemp. Despite the potential for world domination, a bad run and a crisp pass by Mike Demayo ended the small block Chevy II's weekend, 8.65 to 9.29. Maichle would break the beams and would meet Demayo's small-block Ford for the Bradenton NMCA Championship.

[powerjames]

• Team Demayo getting ready for the Pro Stock finals - check out that wicked cloud reflection in their hood.



• Brian Edwards did not expect to be in the finals - but a D.Q. of his previous round opponent for data logging equipment was all the push he needed.



• The weather was warm and slightly sticky as the finalists got ready in the lanes.

[powerjames]

Pro Street





• Newcomer Mark Micke would take his big-block supercharged Camaro to the Pro Street's winner's circle over Steve King who lost traction getting WAY out of the groove, just clipping the 330' marker on an8.94 shut down run. Not only with a centrifigual blower, but Micke's ride is powered by the world's fastest Turbo 400, the team says.

Pro Stock







• It's a shame to waste matching 8.65's with a red light - but it happened in the Pro Stock finals, as both Demayo and Maichle would run 8.65 (one with a '7' and the other with a '6'.) Didn't matter - Maichle went red.

Mean Street



• Baskin's clean Nova was no match for Swanson's 10.11 to 10.30 victory.

Street Race



• John Macaluso went 9.086 @ 153.08 to beat Brian Edwards 9.330 @ 148.83

Xtreme Street



The flyin' Hawaiian Bob Kurgan would streak to his first X/S victory of 2008 with a 8.237 @ 168.72 over Danny Shemwell's off-pace 9.104 @ 121.1.

NPS



• It seemed like it was Widener's race to lose, but then he did just that with a curse-filled -.003 redlight that negated his faster 7.62 to 7.63 possible victory. It was Colletta that took the win this weekend.

Super Street



• It wasn't hard to call Spiro as the favorite this weekend based on his clock-work like 7.0s. Once Blair gets to the next race and Millen figures out his chassis, this is going to be an ugly competition every race. At Bradenton Spiro earned his trip to the winner's circle courtesy a 7.0 to Bligh's 19.3 shut-down pass with his first win in ten years. After five trips to the finals in 2007 this has to be one sweet victory.

[powerjames]

All the video links you could ever want...

Eliminations Round 1 - Part 1 of 2
Nostalgia Pro Street, Xtreme Street Watch the video here.

Comp Cams Wild Ride of the Event
Jeremy Gillam had a hard time keeping his bumper off the ground Watch the video here

Eliminations Round 1 - Part 2 of 2
Pro Street, Super Street, Nostalgia Pro Street, Street Race, Mean Street.Watch the video here

Semi-Final Eliminations: Heads up classes.Watch the video here

Final Round Eliminations all heads up classes.Watch the video here

Winners Circle Interviews: We hang with 7 winners from today's final elimination racing.Watch the video here

[Big Kahuna]

Once the Roots of Drag racing -- now the Red-headed Step Child. There were quite a few wheel-standing 9-second passes. But you had to be there to ever see it.

[Chevelle Rob]

Originally Posted by Big Kahuna

Once the Roots of Drag racing -- now the Red-headed Step Child. There were quite a few wheel-standing 9-second passes. But you had to be there to ever see it.

Sorry it's very hard to get everything covered throughout the day, see if we can get a more broad coverage with future events. Also had to break in a new guy at this event.

[powerjames]

We almost broke you didn't we Rob! I heard about the trash can...

[Rick P]

No NMC or NSS coverage??

[powerjames]

Rick we covered the finals race action in video form, but just didn't have the resources to do the round by round coverage since our staff is so small. Do you know anyone within the NSS or NMC ranks who might be interested in helping?