Written by Mary Lendzion
Photos by NMCA Staff
Kevin Lumsden of Royse City, Texas racks up a lot of miles to get to all of the races on the annual NMCA tour.
While he is on the road, he thinks about his 1969 Camaro, his combination and what he can do to be even more competitive in his chosen category, Chevrolet Performance Stock presented by Scoggin Dickey Parts Center.
He makes mental notes of what he wants to try with his suspension and his set-up, and he keeps track of what works and what doesn’t work.
All of the effort has paid off for Lumsden over the years, and after a good sixth-place finish in points last year, he turned his focus to preparing for the 2023 racing season.
Over winter, he looked over his car at his shop, Lumsden Racing in Royse City, Texas.
“We specifically paid attention to any adjustments we could make to optimize our SpeedTech suspension on the front of the car,” said Lumsden, who has a ladderbar set-up in the rear of the car. “We also had the car on our chassis dyno, and we learned a lot of little things, but in Chevrolet Performance Stock, where we are limited in what we can do to our cars, even small tweaks here and there add up.”
With a sealed Chevrolet Performance DR525 engine paired with an RPM Transmission-prepared Turbo 400 for power, Lumsden headed to the first race of 2023, the Scoggin Dickey Parts Center NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem presented by Holbrook Racing Engines, which was in mid-March at Orlando Speed World Dragway in Florida. The longtime racer led qualifying with a 9.77, and later went to the NMCA Winner’s Circle with an even quicker 9.62 over Keith Vaughn.
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“The 9.62 was definitely a personal best,” said Lumsden. “We attribute that to the work we did over winter and the temperatures and good air we had on race day in Florida.”
He went on to lead qualifying again, this time with a record-setting 9.73 at the NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals presented by MAHLE Motorsport in mid-April at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina, but his tires spun in the first round of eliminations and he lost.
“It was very frustrating to go from the number one qualifier to spinning tires in the first round of eliminations,” said Lumsden.
He was able to shake it off before arriving at the 18th Annual NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Muscle Car Drag Racing, in early May at World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois, and he had a very successful weekend. He led qualifying with a 9.68, and later faced multi-time winner Ronnie Hackelton in the final round of eliminations, where he wheeled to the always-welcoming NMCA Winner’s Circle with a 9.83. As icing on the cake, he set class elapsed time and mph records with a 9.688 and 135.39 mph.
“It really was a good weekend,” said Lumsden, who has so much support from his wife, Dionne, and son, Taylor, as well as Bryan Williams, Kurt Anderson, Shawn Calabrese and Paul Chalupa, among others. “We have worked hard, and it feels wonderful to see that work paying off and to accomplish what we have among such tough competition.”
Currently leading points in Chevrolet Performance Stock presented by Scoggin Dickey Parts Center, Lumsden will give it everything he has to hold onto his position at the upcoming TorqStorm Superchargers NMRA/NMCA Power Festival presented by Paul’s High Performance, July 20-23, at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan.
“I might not have the quickest car in the field, but I’m pretty close, and I’m just going to keep trying one thing at a time to keep going in the right direction,” said Lumsden. “This is special to me for sure.”
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Photos by NMCA Staff
Kevin Lumsden of Royse City, Texas racks up a lot of miles to get to all of the races on the annual NMCA tour.
While he is on the road, he thinks about his 1969 Camaro, his combination and what he can do to be even more competitive in his chosen category, Chevrolet Performance Stock presented by Scoggin Dickey Parts Center.
He makes mental notes of what he wants to try with his suspension and his set-up, and he keeps track of what works and what doesn’t work.
All of the effort has paid off for Lumsden over the years, and after a good sixth-place finish in points last year, he turned his focus to preparing for the 2023 racing season.
Over winter, he looked over his car at his shop, Lumsden Racing in Royse City, Texas.
“We specifically paid attention to any adjustments we could make to optimize our SpeedTech suspension on the front of the car,” said Lumsden, who has a ladderbar set-up in the rear of the car. “We also had the car on our chassis dyno, and we learned a lot of little things, but in Chevrolet Performance Stock, where we are limited in what we can do to our cars, even small tweaks here and there add up.”
With a sealed Chevrolet Performance DR525 engine paired with an RPM Transmission-prepared Turbo 400 for power, Lumsden headed to the first race of 2023, the Scoggin Dickey Parts Center NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem presented by Holbrook Racing Engines, which was in mid-March at Orlando Speed World Dragway in Florida. The longtime racer led qualifying with a 9.77, and later went to the NMCA Winner’s Circle with an even quicker 9.62 over Keith Vaughn.
“The 9.62 was definitely a personal best,” said Lumsden. “We attribute that to the work we did over winter and the temperatures and good air we had on race day in Florida.”
He went on to lead qualifying again, this time with a record-setting 9.73 at the NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals presented by MAHLE Motorsport in mid-April at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina, but his tires spun in the first round of eliminations and he lost.
“It was very frustrating to go from the number one qualifier to spinning tires in the first round of eliminations,” said Lumsden.
He was able to shake it off before arriving at the 18th Annual NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Muscle Car Drag Racing, in early May at World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois, and he had a very successful weekend. He led qualifying with a 9.68, and later faced multi-time winner Ronnie Hackelton in the final round of eliminations, where he wheeled to the always-welcoming NMCA Winner’s Circle with a 9.83. As icing on the cake, he set class elapsed time and mph records with a 9.688 and 135.39 mph.
“It really was a good weekend,” said Lumsden, who has so much support from his wife, Dionne, and son, Taylor, as well as Bryan Williams, Kurt Anderson, Shawn Calabrese and Paul Chalupa, among others. “We have worked hard, and it feels wonderful to see that work paying off and to accomplish what we have among such tough competition.”
Currently leading points in Chevrolet Performance Stock presented by Scoggin Dickey Parts Center, Lumsden will give it everything he has to hold onto his position at the upcoming TorqStorm Superchargers NMRA/NMCA Power Festival presented by Paul’s High Performance, July 20-23, at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan.
“I might not have the quickest car in the field, but I’m pretty close, and I’m just going to keep trying one thing at a time to keep going in the right direction,” said Lumsden. “This is special to me for sure.”