With the NMRA All-Star Nationals in Atlanta next weekend, several racers have been testing to make sure their cars are ready to go. At the Spring Break Shootout, some didn’t have the greatest outing so they want to make corrections, and get on the right track before falling too far behind in points.

HiPo’s Top Secret Testing

Always willing to stir the pot, here is one of Joe Charles’ time slips from his test session. He says it wasn’t the quickest pass he made that day, but this is the one he would share with us.

Coyote Stock racer HiPo Joe Charles hurt the rear gear at Bradenton, but it wasn’t discovered until after he returned home. Charles and the crew thought the rear gear was a little louder than usual so a simple fluid change was on the list of things to do when they got home. However, when metal shavings were found in the fluid, “We knew something was up.” We asked if he changed ratios, but he was a little tight-lipped, saying “This is G14 classified stuff.” Whatever, Hippo.

Charles’ pre-season testing showed promise with a new Kooks exhaust and Ram clutch set-up, but the gear issue kept him from going rounds. To prep the car for the day of testing at Alabama International Dragway in Steele, Alabama, MV Performance’s Bart Tobener replaced the gear, and Charles made some clutch adjustments, as well.

The test session showed promise, as attested by the posted time slip, but Charles also almost put the car car in the wall during one of the passes. On the 3-4 shift, Charles says he thinks the car hit some fluid or condensation, causing the car to take a hard right. Thankfully he was in the left lane, and he was able to gather it in, but not before taking out the 1/8-mile timing cone. “It acted like an axle broke,” Charles said, and they even walked the track to look for fluid, but none was found.

Krista and JPC Look To Go To Front of the Field

Factory Stock newcomer Krista Elyse had the JPC/HP Tuners Fox coupe out testing this past weekend at Maryland International Raceway. JPC’s Eric Holliday tested the car a couple weekends ago at Capitol Raceway to see what the car was doing, and what improvements could be made to get it quicker. Holliday made several 1/8-mile passes in the car, and was able to move some weight around to help starting line traction. “It’s a badass wheelie machine now,” Holliday says.

The rest of the JPC crew, including Super Alf, Kevin MacDonald, Justin Burcham, and Elyse all went to MIR to get Elyse more seat time under her belt. They were able to datalog a few runs, make some tuning adjustments, and get Elyse used to the newfound power. The crew inched up on the tune-up until she ran a 10.72 at 122.80 mph, at legal weight. If Elyse is able to consistently run in that elapsed time range, she will be one of the Factory Stock front runners.

Shiftin’ Shane

Last on this list, but perhaps saving the best for last, Coyote Stock defending champion Shiftin’ Shane Stymiest didn’t have the greatest outing at Bradenton. His car shut off just after the launch during Sunday’s eliminations. That’s definitely not the ending he was looking for at Bradenton. He traced that issue to a short in the power wire feeding the MSD Two-Step and Line-Loc, which fried the Two-Step. “So it blew the fuse in the control pack,” Stymiest adds.

For his test session at Mason Dixon Dragway in Hagerstown, Maryland, Stymiest says he equaled his Bradenton times, but the racing conditions weren’t as good as they were at the NMRA opener. “No doubt in my mind we still have the quickest car in Coyote Stock, but we have had bad luck. If we can go some rounds we are going to be tough to beat,” Stymiest says.