The NMCA returned to Milan, Michigan, this weekend for the Third Annual JE Pistons NMCA Muscle Car Nationals this weekend, just three short weeks after the Concord, North Carolina stop on the tour. After a difficult Friday that was rained out thanks to Mother Nature, the skies lightened up for Saturday and Sunday, and we got some great racing into the books.
In the Scorpion Performance Pro Street class, eight competitors showed up to take their shot at the Milan Dragway 1320, highlighted by Troy Coughlin’s 6.35 shot during qualifying. As racing action progressed, heavy favorite Coughlin went out in semifinal action, thanks to a starter that wouldn’t start in the burnout box, opening the door for Chris Rini and Noel Felton to do battle in the final round. In an anticlimactic final, Rini popped through the carburetor and didn’t re-fire the car, giving Felton a single pass. Felton took the run, turning in a 6.53 before the hood flew off through the traps, handing Felton his very first NMCA Pro Street class win.
Mickey Thompson Tires is the sponsor of the heavily-contested Super Street class, filled with names like Nick Scavo, Jim Robbins, and Tony Nesbitt. Robbins qualified number one with a stout 6.77 elapsed time, followed by Scavo’s 6.95, with Nesbitt the only other competitor to qualify in the 6-second zone. Eliminations saw Nesbitt slice through his side of the ladder, beating Jeff Andre in the first round before advancing to the final when Bill Lutz was waved off by the starter for a fluid leak. Scavo took out local-boy-made-good Jim Monson in the first round, 6.92 to Monson’s 7.15, then advanced to the final against Nesbitt when Frank Mewshaw left before the tree activated in the semifinal, setting up a final round between the two Illinois-based competitors. The final matchup between the nitrous-oxide-assisted Nesbitt and the twin-turbo-boosted Scavo was an incredible job of wheel-twisting by Nesbitt – he nearly crossed the centerline after smoking the tires, but managed to reel it back in and outrun Scavo for the win!
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