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Sunday Coverage Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing Presented by HPJ Performance

Posted By: Mike Galimi
Despite repeated rainfall on Saturday, drivers were relentless as they rocketed down track during abbreviated qualifying sessions at the Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing presented by HPJ Performance at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. There's a lot at stake for those who are able to cut through the competition, as the Aerospace Components Winner's Circle, Super Bowl runoff between NMCA and NMRA winners and Nitto Diamond Tree rings await. Qualifying was off the charts on the well-prepped World Wide Technology Raceway track surface yesterday, with some racers recording personal bests. To check out final qualifying results, click HERE Very carefully and cleverly designed, the Nitto Diamond Tree Rings have served as inspiration to many racers competing in the Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing presented by HPJ Performance through the years, and seeing the rings on the fingers of the runoff winners in the weeks, months and years that follow the event is always meaningful. We're currently on track under blue skies. Here's how today's action is playing out. While ARP Nitrous Pro Street driver Tony Gillig has been focused on his family's restaurant business and hadn't been able to race, he's back in action this weekend, and his Cutlass is poised to be even more potent than it had been. Gaby Labiosa of EIC Motorsports recently went through his naturally aspirated 622 cubic-inch Chevy engine on a Dart block, increased the displacement to 628 cubic-inches, massaged its MBE 9-degree heads and topped them with a new Wilson intake manifold and two Braswell carburetors finessed by Dale Cubic of CFM Carburetors. In the first round of qualifying, Gillig touched the rev limiter on the one-two shift and as a result, revved the engine to 9,200 rpm and kicked a pushrod, but he went on to lead qualifying with a 4.38 and is preparing for today's first round of eliminations.There's even more power under this hood, said Gillig. I'm pleased about that. [gallery size="full" ids="18245,18246,18247"] Keith Egan has been driving his wife, Amanda Egan's beautiful 1970 Buick GS455 in Detroit Truetrac Nostalgia Muscle for many years, and she's fine with it, because she gets to see the stock-appearing and clean classic cruise down track. Egan, who entered the category's 12.00 index this weekend at the Nitto Tire USA NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing presented by HPJ Performance at World Wide Technology Raceway, ran a bit over and then a bit under that in qualifying, and had made some adjustments to his car's weight to help him get to where he needed be for the first round of eliminations, but unfortunately, he turned on the red light.   Kyle Salminen has been crushing it this year in his father Matt Salminen's Camaro packing a 632 cubic-inch Chevy engine by Nelson Competition, two Quick Fuel Technology carburetors, a nitrous system by Induction Solutions and a Turbo 400 by M&M Transmission. He came to this event with the same tune-up he had for the NMCA/NMRA event at Atlanta Dragway last month, and while he had a bit of trouble in ARP Nitrous Pro Street qualifying as the car has been hooking but then spinning at the hit, he's confident that he and his crew can make some changes to the tune-up to help him get down track when eliminations roll around. The QA1/TorqStorm Superchargers True Street category was contested on Saturday, and Randy Thomas traveled to the overall win with an 8.74 average, while Mike Niehaus nailed the runner-up finish with an 8.87 average. Daniel Rosner was the 9-second winner, Scott Oshinski was the 10-second winner, Cody Poston was the 11-second winner, Bryan Newburn was the 12-second winner, Paul Lewis was the 13-second winner and Edwin Schoenfeld was the 14-second winner. Rodney Ward rounded out the category as the 15-second winner. Dodge // Mopar HEMI Shootout drivers were also in race mode on Saturday, and Wade Atchison was the overall winner with a 10.21 average, while James Kiddy was the runner-up with a 10.28 average. John Ridings took the 11-second win, Charlie Hallum emerged as the 12-second winner, Alan Scanlan secured the 13-second win and Ken Mason motored to the 14-second win. Putting the exclamation mark on the category was Champ Wert, who was the 15-second winner. In the Chevrolet Performance Street Car Challenge on Saturday, Terry Faust took the overall win with an 8.99 average, while Don Dixon wrapped up the runner-up finish with a 9.55 average. Other winners included Norm Jensen in the 10-second category, Kevin Rowand in the 11-second category, Greg Carlos in the 12-second category and James Walter in the 14-second category. Alyssa Pett picked up the win in the 15-second category. The EATON TVS Supercharger Throwdown, in competition on Saturday, was open to all TVS-supercharged street cars, Jason Wagoner was the winner with a 9.08 average, while Chad Walter was the runner-up with a 10.06 average. Oscar Morin earned the 10-second win and Kevin McKenna earned the 11-second win. A Quick 4 Shootout is on tap for today. [gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="18272,18273"] Bill Trovato has been around Edelbrock Performance Xtreme Street long enough to know how to be competitive in the category, and when we talked with him, and his carburetor expert, Dale Cubic of CFM, before qualifying yesterday, Trovato said he has enough power to lead qualifying, and that he just needed to be able to put it down. He did just that with a 4.69 in his Camaro powered by a 440 cubic-inch LS engine on a cast aluminum Dart block which he built at his shop, BTR Performance, and topped with Chevrolet Performance LSX-LS7 heads, a Mast Motorsports intake massaged by EIC Motorsports and a CFM carburetor before enhancing with an Edelbrock nitrous system. The New York-based driver, whose crew includes John Costello and David Mitchell, is now preparing for eliminations, as are fellow racers Joel Greathouse, Tim Knieriem and a host of other drivers who were hot on his heels in qualifying. Chad Walter of Jacksonville, Missouri, took home the runner up spot in the Saturday portion of the Eaton TVS Supercharger Throwdown and he's going into the finals with his 2016 Camaro SS. Walter has his girlfriend, Amanda, and niece and nephew Emmory and Bentley cheering him on for Sunday's Heads-up portion of the Throwdown. The third-member under VP Racing Lubricants Xtreme Pro Mod driver Adam Flamholc's Corvette let go in the second round of eliminations when he was competing against Craig Sullivan, but Flamholc still pulled off the win. Back in the pit area, Flamholc's crew finished the swap just in time for the call to the lanes moments ago, and he's preparing to line up against Eric Gustafson.

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