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Thursday Coverage | Scoggin Dickey NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem

With the long off-season in the rear-view mirror Red Line Oil NMCA Muscle Car Nationals racers converge in the sunshine state to kick off another season of drag racing at the Scoggin Dickey NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem Presented by Holbrook Racing Engines. For the first time, the NMCA season opener launches at Orlando Speed World, setting the stage for an exciting weekend.

 

Today the action gets underway with a test and tune session where racers can shake off the rust and dial in their combinations before qualifying kicks off tomorrow.

 

This weekend will see everything from heads-up championship action in the likes of VP Racing Lubricants Xtreme Pro Mod and Holley EFI Factory Super Cars to index excitement in Micro Strategies Stock Eliminator and MagnaFuel Open Comp. Moreover, there will be a massive field of TorqStorm Superchargers True Street and Dodge // Mopar Hemi Shootout competitors vying for wins across a wide range of elapsed-time categories on Saturday.

 

Several specialty categories will run at OSW as well, including the Sick the Magazine Drag & Drive Invitational and a rare clash between Erson Cams Nostalgia Muscle presented by World Products and Quick Fuel Technology Nostalgia Super Stock racers in the All-Star Nostalgia Muscle Car Shootout.

 

Additionally, jet-racing superstar, Elaine Larsen, and her team are on the property with their jet dragsters. These fire-breathing machines are on a mission to break the Florida land speed record in Orlando. 

 

If that weren’t enough, the original Big Foot Monster Truck is on the property, which makes for some great photo opportunities. So get over to Orlando Speed World this weekend to check it out, and stay tuned to this site and our social channels for updates throughout the weekend.

 

Here’s how the action goes down at the 21st Annual Scoggin Dickey NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem Presented by Holbrook Racing Engines today.

Fresh off a successful 2022 campaign in VP Racing Lubricants Xtreme Pro Mod, defending champ Randy Merick is back in action this weekend with a freshened combo and a couple of tweaks. He swapped to eighth-mile gears in the rearend and swapped the car over to FuelTech engine management. He wanted to make the latter swap during the 2022 season, but the car was running consistently, so he waited till the off-season. He too competed at last weekend’s World Series event and struggled in qualifying but he hopes to return to the same form he had at the NMCA World Finals last season in Indy this weekend.


Another defending champ back on the property is Holley EFI Factory Super Cars regular Chuck Watson Jr. He is back at it with a freshened combo but no major changes to the car. It was safety first for Watson as he adjusted his fresh harnessbelts in anticipation of making test hits today. He says he is happy with the apparent parity in the class to begin the season, and he is running alongside a full stable of Watson-backed machines at the Scoggin Dickey NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem Presented by Holbrook Racing Engines.


With success in both PDRA and the Qatar series under his belt, VP Racing Lubricants Pro Mod pilot Ty Tutterow is excited to run the full NMCA season in 2023 behind the wheel of this sharp ’56 Buick. Powered by WYO Motorsports 4.9 Noonan engine topped by a big blower, the car competed in last week’s Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod, but trouble in qualifying kept them out of the field. He is hoping for a much better result this weekend at OSW.


Dart NA 10.5 racer Joe Clemente was all smiles in the pits. His 1993 Mustang LX is cleaned up, freshened up, and ready to go. Other than a gear change, he left the combination be, but after fighting a series of bad spark plugs Clemente went back to trusty NGK units and was firing on all cylinders resulting in a 7.67-second rip in testing yesterday. He is still dialing in the clutch to get the car where he wants, but he feels good about it moving forward. While his familiar car will compete through St. Louis, but on the lookout for a more modern machine to appear for the back half of the season.


Returning NMCA Micro Strategies Stock Eliminator champ Dave Swanson is back in action this weekend at the Scoggin Dickey NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem Presented by Holbrook Racing Engines. Because of the superb Florida weather today, he was dialing in the tune-up to get his freshened 2019 Mustang Cobra Jet running consistently, which he said was the key to last season’s successful run.


Making the move to two carburetors this season after running a single unit, Dart NA 10.5 racer David Theisen hadn’t made a pass in the car leading up to this weekend. He freshened the engine over the off-season and installed the new induction, but when we stopped by he was waiting on fresh rear tires in anticipation of his first runs of the season. 


Always a popular category thanks to support from the factory, the Dodge // Mopar HEMI Shootout will crown winners in elapsed-time categories ranging from 15 to 8 seconds on Saturday. The eight quickest from that group will move onto Sunday’s HHP Racing HEMI Quick 8 on Sunday, but there is already a strong contingent of modern Mopars on the property making test hits to get ready for this weekend’s eliminations.


 


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