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Friday Coverage—2022 NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing presented by Fuelab

Posted By: Steve Baur
Testing kicks off the Friday action here at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and we roll right into the first round of qualifying before noon. Keep checking back here for coninuous updates from the 2022 NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing presented by Fuelab.


Flyin’ Ryan Bell brought his 1976 Corvette to St. Louis all the way from Phoenix, Arizona to do battle in Dart NA 10.5, where naturally aspirated horsepower reigns supreme. Bell runs an FPS small block 416 with Dart Little Chief heads and a Dart intake, a Weldon fuel system, a Braswell carb massaged by Dale Cubic from CFM Performance Carburetors, an A-1 Pro Flite transmission and a Strange Engineering 12-bolt built by Scott Parks from Neil and Parks Racing. Bell’s Corvette still has power windows and much of the factory interior, save for the required race equipment. Because of that, the car is about 40 pounds heavy than required by the rules. However, the thought is removing any weight would have very minimal effect on ET. As it sits, Bell’s Corvette ran a pair of 8.0s in the heat during Thursday’s test and tune.


Back in NMCA action is Georgina Buckley and her 2005 Mustang. Georgina, and her husband Dave, have a new 588ci big-block Chevy engine with a Fast Lane nitrous plate on board. Perhaps the most notable change was switching from carburetion to FuelTech EFI. Georgina told us that while she has been a diehard proponent of the carburetor, the capabilities of EFI have take their program to a new level. A recent dyno session at FuelTech netted 1,789 horsepower on the company’s hub dyno. Buckley ran her personal best of 4.67 at a recent race just a few weeks ago, and is hoping to improve further this weekend.
 
While Jeff Borcier is mostly known for his wildly painted, Arnie Beswick-tribute 1963 Pontiac Tempest called The Untamed Tiger that he competes with in Quick Fuel Nostalgia Super Stock, but this weekend he’s re-debuting his 1962 Pontiac Catalina. Borcier has owned the car for two years, but the engine let go during the NMCA race in Norwalk, Ohio, last year and Borcier has been working towards getting it repaired ever since. Under the custom carbon fiber hood is a 455-based, 535ci engine that propels the Big Wampum to 9.40s at 140 mph.


Edelbrock Xtreme Street racer Paul Smith, who had been running a small-block Chevrolet under the hood of his Camaro, replaced it with a big-block Chevrolet by TRE Racing Engines toward the end of the last year, and is gathering a lot of good data for it. Smith, who enhances it with a PKRE nitrous system and backs it with a Turbo 400 by RPM Transmission, decided to make some stator changes in his PTC converter over winter, along with some transmission gear changes, in an effort to pick up at 330 feet. He made a soft pass in testing yesterday, and is preparing for qualifying today.


Bruce Lang, who drove his grey Barracuda powered by a 440 Six Pack to a win in Fastest Street Car Super Stock Eliminator at the Scoggin Dickey Parts Center NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals presented by MAHLE Motorsport last month at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina, is hoping to back that up at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing presented by Fuelab this weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois. He would be even happier if he could also haul to a win in Quick Fuel Technology Nostalgia Super Stock in his other car, a  green Barracuda packing a 470 cubic-inch engine. “I actually had the engine out of the green Barracuda last week since it lost a thrust bearing, but it’s okay now, and I made some good test passes yesterday,” said Lang. The racer from Wisconsin added that he will try to run close to 9.65 in Fastest Street Car Super Stock Eliminator and close to 9.75 in Quick Fuel Technology Nostalgia Super Stock.


Originally planning to bring two cars to race this weekend, Ricky Pennington had some electrical issues with his Chevelle, so he’s just piloting Ronnie Booth’s G-Body Malibu this weekend in the Super Stock Eliminator class. The Malibu is a 283ci/stick-shift combination that both Ricky and his father Rick have raced successfully.
 

Normally, David Fuszner can be found competing in the Victory Nostalgia Super Stock series with his 1964 Thunderbolt Fairlane, but he decided to mix it up with the NMCA’s Quick Fuel Nostalgia Super Stock racers this weekend at WWT Raceway. Fuszner bought the car as a roller in 1968, sold it in 1970, and managed to buy it back in 1976. He bracket raced it from then on, and grabbed an AHRA B/Modified record with the car until he got hooked up with Nostalgia Super Stock racing. The 427 side oiler under the hood pushes the vintage Ford to high 9s and a 10.0 index.


Zach Schmitz of Troy, Missouri, is testing out a new pre-production centrifugal supercharger from American Forced Induction. His 2007 Z06 Corvette is packing a 434ci LSX-based engine with Mast Motorsports Black Label heads and previously ran 8.70s with another blower. The new AF1-94 supercharger currently works with the A&A Corvettes bracket kit and production is set for July of 2022. The company is developing 4 series to cover everything from entry level units to Pro Mod-capable blower. The Schmitz Performance-built Corvette, which uses an RPM Transmission Powerglide transmission, sips E85, is tuned on a Holley Dominator EFI system, and has the supercharger pulley’d for 18 psi of boost, clicked off an 8.14 at 170mph during this morning’s test session, and Schmitz thinks there is a 7-second timeslip in the car with better weather. Midwest Speed and Fab sorted out the charge piping and air-to-water intercooler. Schmitz will be putting the on-track and street capabilities of the 3,300-lb car to the test during TorqStorm Superchargers True Street this weekend.


Competing in the Dodge//Mopar HEMI Shootout this weekend are John Ridings and Jack Titone. Both of these drivers have 8- and 9-second race cars, but they love not having to work on and maintain their late-model Mopar machines. Ridings, of Springfield, Illinois, has competed at the Super Bowl event on five occasions and collected 3 wins with his Plum Crazy 2018 Dodge Demon. Titone, of Chesterfield, Missouri, normally runs the bracket program here at WWT Raceway with his 2014 Dodge Charger, which has been equipped with all of the bolt-ons and runs 12.0s consistently.


David Fallon Jr., who led qualifying in ARP Nitrous Pro Street and landed in the winner’s circle at the Scoggin Dickey Parts Center NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals presented by MAHLE Motorsport last month at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina, went for a wild ride while making a test pass yesterday at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing presented by Fuelab at World Wide Technology Raceway. When the racer from Michigan pulled the chutes at the traps, the brake pedal in his Camaro, powered by a Musi bullet and two systems of nitrous, went straight to the floor. “I didn’t have time to safely make the turn-off, so I went into the gravel at the top end of the track,” said Fallon Jr., who managed to very calmly tell his crew over the radio that he had no brakes. “I’m very fortunate.” Thankfully, Fallon Jr. was not injured, but he and his crew had their hands full when they got his car back to the pit area, as they had to remove gravel from the belly pan and headers, and straighten the hood, which was bent up a bit. He was good to go in time for the first round of qualifying, where he ripped off a 4.48 and 159 mph.

Mickey Thompson X275 racer Alan Felts has been working on different transmission combos with Dave Klaput at Proformance Transmissions. He’s been going back and forth between 2- and 3-speed transmissions to see what works best with his combo. Felts also has been working with Precision on different turbocharger configurations. One of the other large pieces to the puzzle, Felts is working with Bennett Racing on a new engine design. In round 1 of qualifying, Felts ran a 4.35 at 169 mph to put him in the top spot for the moment.  


Dwight Ausmus has the honor of having a fan-favorite car, and he spends a lot of time talking to fans about how long he has had it, how it has changed through the years and how he is currently campaigning it in Dart NA 10.5. He’s quite competitive, too, as he frequently finishes toward the top in points with the help of his 573 cubic-inch Pontiac engine built by BES Racing Engines. The Tennessean recently took things up a notch with a new custom BES cast intake manifold and new Warp 6 Pontiac cylinder heads. His car is also sporting a new carbon fiber scoop by Jerry Bickel Race Cars, which he needed in order to clear the taller intake manifold. Ausmus, who plans to paint the scoop satin black, ripped off a 8.14 in today’s extreme heat and humidity and is currently qualified in the sixth spot, but will work toward picking up to low 8s in upcoming qualifying.

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