To check out elimination results as we receive them, click ELIMINATION RESULTS
To check out qualifying results click QUALIFYING RESULTS
Veteran Xtreme Pro Mod racer Andrew Handras showed up at the NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem event with a new-to-him Camaro chassis. The Jerry Bickel-built machine is packing a Scotty’s Racing Engines 959ci engine backed by a Lenco transmission, which he had to pull out of his old car after the previous transmission let go earlier in the weekend. John and Brian at JW Motorsports handles the tuning on the nitrous combination, and Chris Chin is the crew chief with Dan Ferguson helping out. And, of course, Andrew’s father, George, is the car owner.
Alex Taylor is hanging at the Red Line Synthetic Oil NMCA Muscle Car Nationals this weekend as part of the special Sick the Magazine Drag & Drive Invitational Presented by Gear Vendors. Her and the team have been pecking away at the tune-up as Taylor seeks her first 6-second run. The task hasn’t been without adversity with a transmission rebuild on Thursday but they got it rolling strong on Friday. Famed radial racer Patrick Miller of the Bumblebee Racing group is lending a hand in managing the twin turbocharged 512ci big-block Chevy.
Michael Pryka’s 1972 Nova is among the fan-favorites at NMCA events across the country. In addition to a beautiful paintjob, the classic car which he has owned for more than fourteen years features a 408 cubic-inch LS2 engine which recently helped him run a personal best of 10.301. A very unfortunate off-track incident during the recent Sick Week resulted in some damage to the front of the car, which Pryka will have repaired soon. The former Detroit Truetrac Nostalgia Muscle racer who now competes in LME Street King is currently qualified in the ninth spot with a 10.62 on a 10.50 index, with two more rounds of qualifying to go today before eliminations. “Everything is going good so far this weekend, and I hope to be able to win,” said Pryka.
The Dodge//Mopar HEMI Shootout filled all of its complimentary entries well before the start of this weekend’s NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem event, and over a dozen more have purchased race entries, putting the tally for the class at over 80 cars. The quickest 8 cars today will race again in tomorrow’s HHP Racing HEMI Quick 8 eliminator, and we know of at least two 9-second capable cars that are on the property.
Holley EFI Factory Super Cars champion Bill Skillman is having a rough go of it so far here in Bradenton. He’s currently qualified in 18th place with an off-pace 8.83, and the second round of qualifying resulted in the front of the crankshaft breaking off during the run. The incident took out the radiator as well, but the championship-winning team was hard at work replacing the engine on Friday night for the next two rounds of qualifying today.
Steve Cagle has run a few different classes in the NMCA with his versatile Chevy Nova. This weekend he’s competing in ARP Nitrous Pro Street and this is the first event with his freshened up BES Racing Engines powerplant. Cagle relies on a Induction Solutions direct-port nitrous system to boost power output, and said BES picked up 60-70 horsepower in the 632ci big-block Chevy engine over the winter.
Grant Martin has owned his 1986 Buick Gran National since 1999, and the Florida native is an avid TorqStorm Superchargers True Street competitor, having won the 12-second class with the turbocharged machine on 4 occasions. Martin uses Alky Controls Methanol injection to keep the 25psi of boost pressure on the cooler side, and a custom Bison-built 6264 turbocharger to provide the airflow. The GN has gone as quick as 11.06, but Martin keeps plenty of data to stay in the sweet spot for the 12-second category in True Street.
This 1966 Fairlane 500 has been in Kurt Neighbor’s family since 1970. Originally purchased by his brother Ricky, the car got a paint makeover by Nolan Brothers early on in 1972 and was raced at Sunshine Speedway here in Florida. Not long after that, the original 429ci Super Cobra Jet engine was replaced with a 390 and a BDS 6-71 supercharger, backed by a C6 automatic transmission, both of which remain today. Ricky and Kurt’s nephew, Denny Neighbor Jr. is driving it this weekend in MagnaFuel Open Comp, and the Fairlane has run as quick as 11.20 at just 4 lbs of boost.
Hudson, Florida-based Robbie Blankenship needed to swap out the engine in his Dart NA 10.5 Mustang, but he had left his spare at home. But Blankenship didn’t sweat it, and pressed one of his Bayonet Plumbing-Cooling-Heating trucks into overtime service to deliver the new powerplant to Bradenton Motorsports Park. Bayonet serves all of Florida.
Multi-time Chevrolet Performance Stock champion Glenn Pushis is leading qualifying this weekend with a 9.92 from his 2020 CRC Camaro. Scott Brown is right behind him with a 9.94 followed by Shawn Calabrese. Pushis was runner up in the 2021 championship chase, and looks poised to start off the 2022 season well.
We caught two old-school, Ohio-based racers chatting it up here at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Kurt Neighbor (at Right) is competing in Quick Fuel Technology Nostalgia Super Stock and FSC Super Stock, while former NHRA Pro Stock driver Mark Pawuk (at left) is racing his Dodge//Mopar Challenger Drag Pak in Holley EFI Factory Super Cars. Pawuk recently set the NHRA Factory Showdown record in his Don Schumacher Racing/Empaco Challenger in Gainesville, Florida with a 7.60-second elapsed time.
Known for his work in the turbocharger realm, Harry Hruska is expanding his horizons as part of the team at Advanced Fuel & Ignition Systems. The AFIS Fast Reaction Technology fuel injectors are the official injector of NMCA, and Hruska is proving them out behind the wheel of a familiar race car. His VP Racing Madditives Xtreme Pro Mod 2015 Corvette previously earned a championship with Don Walsh Jr. behind the wheel. With just a handful of full laps in the car, Hruska expects to learn the car and keep improving on its performance, but he says the Bickel-built platform is repeatable, which simplifies dialing things in. 
Mike Copeland of Arrington Performance is pursuing a zero-emissions internal combustion future for performance as exemplified by his 1948 Chevrolet pickup that’s powered by a supercharged 6.2-liter LS engine that runs on hydrogen. He already has a long list of customers ready to convert to the technology used in this truck. It debuted at the SEMA Show, and you can see it on the Manufacturer’s Midway this weekend at the 2022 NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem Presented by Holbrook Racing Engines as part of the Arrington Performance display that also hosts NMCA series sponsor Red Line Oil, along with 3030, Baer Brakes, Kooks Headers & Exhaust, Moser Engineering, QA1, and TorqStorm.
Running out of his father’s DPM Racing shop, Luis Delpino brought out his Camaro ZL1 1LE daily driver for some straight-line fun with the Red Line Oil NMCA Muscle Car Nationals. Running little more than a high-flow air filter, the factory supercharged corner carver belted out 652 horsepower on the DPM Racing dyno while burning E60 fuel. Delpino drove it over from South Florida and immediately started running consistent low-11s. He hopes that will pay off in the TorqStorm Superchargers True Street class. 
"I’ve been looking forward to this season," said Edelbrock Xtreme Street Racer Kirt Sanders. "NMCA is my thing. This is what I like." In the off-season, he upgraded the rear suspension of his Fox Mustang with new shocks and he added a nitrous controller. This is his first race out with the new controller, and he hopes it will help the car run the high-4.50-second elapsed times that he believes are needed to win in this class. He clicked off a 4.66 at 153 mph in qualifying, so he will be looking to squeeze more performance from his 588-cube big-block Chevy engine.
Hailing from nearby Marco Island, Florida, Marc Heidings picked up his 2021 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak last May and has put in a month of testing at Bradenton Motorsports Park leading up to this weekend. It is the first event for the car and the first time he has run with the Red Line Oil NMCA Muscle Car Nationals series, and he was inspired to participate by his friend and fellow Holley EFI Factory Super Cars competitor Dennis Chaisson. So far Heidings is happy with his Drag Pak’s performance as his initial qualifying hits delivered an 8.09 at 170.95 mph.
There isn’t just action on the Bradenton Motorsports Park drag strip this weekend. Kids of all ages can enjoy the first-person perspective of a blistering run in Matt Hagan’s Charger Widebody NHRA Funny Car courtesy of a simulator in the Mopar display on the Manufacturer’s Midway at the 2022 NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem Presented by Holbrook Racing Engines.
Prepped by Jeff Heintz at Heintz Racing, Terry Faust’s 2002 Corvette is running strong in LME Street King thanks to a Dart LS NXT-based, 388-cube engine topped by Brian Tooley Racing-prepped Trick Flow heads and boosted by a ProCharger F-1A94. Running a boost controller and a wastegate like a turbo setup, the ProCharger pushes the car to mid-8-second elapsed times with an RPM Transmissions Level 10 4L60 automatic in the tunnel. Faust hopes to eventually set the ET record for this transmission with his full-interior street machine.
We caught up with MagnaFuel Open Comp racer Dave Sheehan as he swapped out stickers on his 2010 Dodge Challenger, which previously competed in the Stock Eliminator class. An old-school 904 Torqueflite Transmission manages the 6.1-liter Hemi power, and Sheehan added new front skinnies in the off-season. He enjoys racing a relatively stock vehicle because his maintenance only consists of oil changes and detailing. 
Running under the Poole-Adams Racing umbrella, the 2022 572 Big-Block COPO Camaros driven by Steve Foley is one of the first such examples delivered to a customer and it is showcased on the Manufacturer’s Midway in the Scoggin Dickey Parts Center display at the 2022 NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem Presented by Holbrook Racing Engines.
2022 NMCA VP Racing Lubricants Xtreme Pro Mod champion Chip King is picking up right where he left off as he sits number one in qualifying with a 3.678, followed by Derek Ward with a 3.679 after two rounds. King woke up early this morning for a feature photo shoot for Fastest Street Car magazine and RacePagesDigital.com, but will now focus on the final two rounds of qualifying today.
Tim Boggs is a successful Detroit Truetrac Nostalgia Muscle racer who likes to celebrate the success of his fellow Nostalgia Muscle racers. That’s why last year, he came up with an idea to have signs made by Brenda Blair to present to the racer who leads qualifying in the category at each of the six events on the series’ annual tour. He pairs that with a $100.
There are a wide variety of beautiful muscle machines on display in the car show at the 2022 NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem Presented by Holbrook Racing Engines. From rare Oldsmobiles and modern Mopars to hot rods and pickups, there is something for any enthusiast to appreciate.
During VP Racing Madditives Xtreme Pro Mod qualifying, Randy Adler took out a piston in his ’57 Chevy Bel Air. There wasn’t any other damage, so his team was able to swap in fresh slugs in time for today’s final remaining runs. Though he was confident the team sourced the culprit for the damaged piston, he couldn’t be certain until the car made more passes. It had, however, run well in qualifying before the issue. 
Pro Mod racer Felix Garcia and his father not only brought their race car, but also these two rare 1963 Oldsmobile F-85 Jetfires. The red one is an even more rare stick-shift model, while the blue one has a number of power options. Both are equipped with their original 215ci, all-aluminum V-8 engines and draw-through turbocharger systems. Garcia’s pro mod Camaro is a relatively new car to the team, and this is the first NMCA race for them. They’re currently trying to get a handle on the 832ci nitrous combination and chassis setup.
Lindsay Wheelock’s Dodge//Mopar Challenger Drag Pak hasn’t been performing as expected and her husband Dustin Wheelock, as well as her tuner, Patrick Barnhill, narrowed the problem down to some wiring and ignition coils. After overnighting replacement parts, the Mopar is back up to snuff and is currently qualified 16th out of the 19 Holley EFI Factory Super Cars in attendance with 8.505 at 154 mph.
Edelbrock Xtreme Street veteran Bill Trovato was surprised when his Camaro clicked off a 4.63 early in the weekend, and even more surprised when it went 4.60 in the second round of qualifying to take the top spot. He brought the carbureted and nitrous-assisted combination to the event a little heavy on fuel delivery, and Dale Cubic of CFM Carburetors was on hand making the necessary changes to lean it out a bit.
Orlando, Florida’s Shawn Calabrese (at left) is competing in Chevrolet Performance Stock in his Firebird, but before he entered the heads-up, crate engine class, he used to race in the LME Street King with his blue Firehawk (pictured). Friend Matt Schlein, (at right) often helps out Calabrese and his father with mechanical work, so Calabrese offered the driver’s seat in his Firehawk as Schlein’s Mustang is more focused on no-time racing. Schlein is competing in both Street King and Open Comp in the Pontiac, and has already set some impressive reaction times during the test runs earlier today.
Taking part in this weekend’s Sick the Magazine Drag and Drive event, Nick Taylor has been fighting with his Third-Gen Camaro as it ate a turbocharger yesterday, and was showing off some wiring issues this morning that Taylor was able to remedy just before his test run.
Bowling Green, Florida’s Robert Abbott dropped the hammer in the third round of Xtreme Pro Mod qualifying and took the number one spot from Chip King with a 3.669 at 207 mph. King remains second in the 15-car field with one more qualifier to go this afternoon.
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Derek Ward made the trip from Maryland to race in VP Racing Lubricants Xtreme Pro Mod, and he’s having a very successful weekend so far. He ripped off a 3.701 to lead qualifying in the first session, followed by a 3.679 to take the second spot the second session in his Camaro packing a Noonan Hemi and a screw blower. He and his team members had to work quickly to replace a pulley that got scarred from his blower as he went through the traps during that second session, but his American Pride Golf Cart/Racing-backed car was ready for the third round of qualifying. There, he spun the tires at the hit and moved down just one spot to third in qualifying, but he will be one to keep an eye on this weekend.
Don Lamana of Hudson, Florida, is here with the first Pro Mod machine to come out of his ProFab Performance Plus fabrication and performance shop. After completing the chassis and covering it with a cool 1963 Corvette body, Lamana and his team dropped in an F3X-140 ProCharger that is attached to a CN billet block and Frankenstein Engine Dynamics cylinder heads and intake. The powerplant is backed by an M&M Transmission three-speed automatic, and the radial racer is still getting a feel for his first Pro Mod drive.
Storied NMCA racer Al Corda is doing double duty this weekend, as he’s racing his 2015 Camaro in LME Street King and the new Fastest Street Car Stock Eliminator. He definitely has a handle on things, as he is qualified in the first spot with a 10.01 on a 10.00 index in LME Street King, and in the fourteenth spot with a 10.03 on an 11.00 index in FSC Stock Eliminator. Soon, Corda will debut the 1962 Dodge he purchased last year in Quick Fuel Technology Nostalgia Super Stock. To read our recent story about him and his plans for this race season, click HERE