Pro Mod – Timing Tower

3rd ANNUAL NMCA WEST STREET CAR NATIONALS

admin — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 18:59:18 +0000

The NMCA West 3rd Annual Street Car Nationals was held March 28-30, 2014 at the Fontana Dragway. This is the first major event to be held at the Fontana drag strip since it reopened the end of February 2014. Sunday morning the event opened at 8:00 a.m. with Chapel Service with bracket time trials starting at 9:00 a.m. Round 1 of the Index eliminations started about 10:00 a.m. After the opening ceremony which included the invocation and singing of the national anthem, the pro mods took to the lanes to kick off round 1 of eliminations in the heads-up classes. SUNDAY RACING The heads-up classes included Garrett Turbo Pro Mod, Mickey Thompson TT5, Procharger Street Outlaw, Lucas Oil N/A 10.5, and ARP Outlaw. ARP Outlaw is an 8th mile class, all the others are quarter mile. However, while typically a quarter mile class, this week-end the pro mods ran to 1,000 feet to ensure they had enough track to stop before hitting the sand. Garrett Turbo Pro Mod: This class went through two elimination rounds and the finals. Scott Oksas ran the fastest time travelling at 234.61 mph. In the final round the No. 1 qualifier John Mihovetz , sat next to the No. 7 qualifier, Robert Costa. Even though Costa was first off the line with a reaction time of .071 to Mihovetz’ time of .177, Mihovetz crossed the finish line first with an ET of 6.535 going 219.61 mph. Unfortunately, in the second elimination round, Rick Snavely crossed the center line and went head on into the wall. Costa was in the opposite lane when Snavely crossed over and fortunately the two didn’t collide. Snavely appeared to be unhurt. John Mihovetz, above, the Garrett Turbo Pro Mod winner. After crossing the center line Snavely tried to straighten out, but couldn’t. Mickey Thompson TT5: Only 4 cars raced in this class. The No. 1 qualifier Mark Luton ended up in the sand at the end of the track on Saturday, but was back for round 1 of eliminations on Sunday. Luton met Dana Cook in the final round. Cook went red and Luton coasted across the finish line at 111.20 mph. Luton ran 197.94 mph in round 1 and was the fastest and quickest car in this class with his Saturday ET of 6.750 at 219.79 mph. Below Luton is doing a burnout. Procharger Street Outlaw: Only two rounds of elimination and a final were required in this class. James Lawrence went into the sand at the end of the track in Round 1 but came back for round 2. When he left the line in round 2, Lawrence left a coating of sand spread over the first 30+ feet of track. In Round 2 Lawrence was sent home by the ’57 Chevy of Armen Maghdessian. Maghdessian and Kevin Young sat side by side in the final round. Young’s ’86 Camaro was quicker and faster than Maghdessian’s Chevy running an ET of 7.454 at 193.24 mph to Maghdessian’s ET of 8.296 at 179.85 mph. Below Kevin Young is shown leaving the line. Lucas Oil N/A 10.5: This class was decided after 2 rounds of elimination and the finals. The final round was a dual between the ’68 Camaro of “Gypsy Mike” Valentino and the ’68 Camaro of Tony Aneian. Valentino came out on top with an ET of 8.312 at 167.12 mph to Aneian’s ET of 13.284 and 97.93 mph. Aneian couldn’t get off the line posting a reaction time of 1.069. ARP Outlaw 8.5: Again 2 rounds of elimination and the final determined the winner. The No. 1 qualifier George Raygoza and the No. 2 qualifier Dan Hale ran through the ladder and met in the finals. The final round of this race was incredibly close, but Raygoza lost the match-up at the start line with a reaction time of .124 while Hale left with a .094 reaction time. Hale had an ET of 5.271 and Raygoza’s ET was 5.279. Hale’s mph was 142.04 while Raygoza’s was 142.03. A good race. NMCA West Pro Comp: This is an index class running cars in A on a 7.90 index, B on an 8.90 index and C on a 9.90 index. Twenty-one racers took to the lanes for the first round of elimination. After 4 rounds of elimination, Bob Harris in a ’02 Pontiac sat next to Paul Wiechamnn’s ’00 Corvette. Both of these cars ran in C on a 9.90 index. Harris with a reaction time of .017, an ET of 9.914 and mph of 157.80 took the win. Wiechmann had a reaction time of .030, ET of 9.988 and mph of 129.43 mph. Currie Ent. Open Comp: This is another big class requiring 4 rounds of elimination and a final round. Mike Nordahl the No. 1 qualifier met Ryan Chesleigh the No. 21 qualifier in the finals. Nordahl ran on a dial-in of 10.52 and Chesliegh’s dial-in was 9.44. Nordahl took the win with an ET of 10.533 at 127.55 mph and Chesleigh broke out with an ET of 9.436. Granatelli Mustang Madness: 17 Mustangs created the madness in 4 rounds of eliminations plus the finals. Justin Spencer survived the 4 elimination rounds to meet Anna Marciano in the final. Marciano had a bye in round 4. Spencer ran on a dial-in of 9.65 and Marciano posted a dial-in of 10.16. Spencer had an ET of 9.647 and Marciano’s ET was 10.135 – a double break out. Because Spencer ‘broke out less’ he took the win. Justin Spencer in his winning ’00 Mustang is shown below. Hedman Hedders Nostalgia Street Car “NSC”: 32 cars ran in this index class on indexes ranging from 8.5 to 12.0 with AA running on an 8.5 index and H running a 12.0 index. The No. 15 and No. 30 qualifiers made it through 4 rounds of elimination to meet in the finals. In the final round Merle Williams and Paul Geis both running in F on an index of 11.0 were […]

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WEST COAST HOT RODS & SUMMIT RACING Sept. 14-15, 2013

admin — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 18:39:37 +0000

WEST COAST HOT RODS – FINAL RACE OF THE SEASON. With the West Coast Hot Rod Association/Summit season finale off to a good start, gremlins suddenly struck the track computers mid-afternoon Saturday and shut down the 1/8th mile timing lights in the AutoClub lane. While this is an inconvenience to quarter mile racers it makes racing impossible for the three classes of cars that run heads-up for an 1/8th mile. After repeated attempts to exorcise the gremlins and a 1-1/2 hour delay, the decision was made to run 1/8th mile classes down the Budweiser lane and determine qualifying based on times. Unfortunately the shutdown occurred as a large contingent of heads-up cars were in the lanes and the delay and subsequent rearrangements pushed racing well into Saturday night. By Sunday the Famoso crew had repaired the computers and with the gremlins sent elsewhere the event finished nearly on time Sunday afternoon. West Coast Hot Rods raced three heads-up classes on the 1/8th mile: Outlaw 8.5, True 10.5 and Limited 10.5; with quarter mile classes running in Open Comp (a dial-in class) and B, C, D, and E Gas, (index classes). For the first time a Top Doorslammer class was added running on dial-ins of 6:60 to 7:59 with qualifying on reaction time. The heads-up, Open Comp and the Top Doorslammer classes ran qualifying on Saturday and finals on Sunday. The Gassers ran qualifying and eliminations both days. B and C Gas classes were combined and D and E classes were combined. Summit ran dial-in classes: Sportsman, Pro, Super Pro and Motorcycle. Summit ran qualifying and eliminations both days. On Saturday WCHRA racer Mike Williams took home the trophy in B/C Gas and Sabrina Capps was the runner up; and, in D/E Gas Steve Barta finished first with Josh Conrad in second. Summit Sportsman racers Pam Hulse and CW Hoefer went to the finals with Hulse winning; in Super Pro Steve White the #1 qualifer won over Greg Tremain the #6 qualifier; in Pro James Kirkman took the win after James Alexander red-lighted; on the Motorcycles Anthony Delatorre came in ahead of Terry Rollin. Sunday started with an early morning non-denominational service and the cars began filling the lanes at 8:30 a.m. About 200 racers were in the pits racing in 11 classes including the new Top Doorslammer class fielding 10 cars. Below are all the Sunday winners. SUNDAY FINALS – West Coast Hot Rods: B/C Gas: Two B Gas Camaros met in the final round which pitted #3 qualifier Ashley Deuschle against #2 qualifier Tom Fowler. Fowler had a reaction time of .003 to Deuschle’s reaction time of .015 but, Deuschle took the win when Fowler ran a 8.598 on an 8.6 index. Deuschle ran 156.84 mph and Fowler topped out at 151.78 mph. D/E Gas: #1 qualifier Josh Conrad and #6 qualifier Steve Barta, both running on the D Gas index of 10.60, staged for the finals. These two were also in the finals on Saturday when Barta prevailed. Sunday, Conrad came out on top with a reaction time of .018 running a near perfect ET of 10.605 at 129.65 mph. Barta broke-out with a too quick 10.573 ET. Top Doorslammer: This first-time-ever WCHRA class qualified on Saturday with Keith Morovich qualifying #1, Brenden Frye #2, Frank Merenda #3, Scott Loomis #4, Steve “Flattop” Faller #5, Jim Data #6, Tom Huggins #7, Gary Wake #8, Tom Mettler #9 and Ray Padgott #10. In the semi-finals on Sunday, Tom Mettler in his 2001 Dakota P/U got the bye while Steve Faller in his 1963 Corvette ran against Keith Morovich in a ’67 Nova. Morovich took the win to meet Metler in the finals. In the finals, Metler took home the money with a reaction time of .026, ET of 7.522 on a 7.45 dial-in going 181.62 mph. Morovich had a reaction time of .059 and ran an ET of 7.601 on a 7.56 dial-in going 174.08 mph. Open Comp: Dustin Lee in a ’53 Ford won the race over Lori Dodes in her 1997 Chevy S10. Lee had a reaction time of .084 to Dodes’ reaction time of .427. Lee ran on a dial-in of 11.60 and an ET of 11.645 going 102.17. Dodes had a dial-in of 10.46 but her ET was 10.446. Limited 10.5: This heads-up class pitted Mike Salki the #3 qualifier against #1 qualifier Allen Gadberry. Salki in a Camaro ran the ladder to sit at the lights in the finals. Salki posted a reaction time of .091, ET of 5.279 and mph of 133.08 to take the win. Gadberry ran an ET of 5.242 and mph of 134.56 on a reaction time of .133. Although he didn’t win the finals Gadberry was the #1 qualifier, had low ET of 4.564 and top speed of 134.56 for the race. Outlaw 8.5: The finals found DJ Reid and Ryan “Toaster” Jones side-by-side at the lights. Reid’s ’68 Camaro crossed the finish line first to take the win. Reid with a reaction time of .097 ran an ET of 5.383 at 133.07 mph. Toaster Jones came in second with a reaction time of .048 an ET of 5.514 at 147.37 mph. Toaster was the #1 qualifier, ran the race low ET of 4.945 and top speed of 155.38 mph. True 10.5: Norman Chang and Jeff Kyle, the #1 and #4 qualifiers respectively, were in the finals. Kyle broke at the line giving Chang the win. Chang had an ET of 9.486 on at reaction time of .256 traveling at 68.85 mph. SUNDAY FINALS – Summit Pro: After 5 rounds of elimination CW Heofer, the #1 qualifier met Mike Beckwith, the #5 qualifier, at the line. Hoefer was first off the line with a reaction time of .027 to Beckwith’s .208. Hoefer running a dial-in of 12.38 ran an ET of 12.509 at 100.08 mph to Beckwith’s 115.51 mph and an ET of 11.708 […]

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