NMRA/NMCA Allstar Race Wrap

8th Annual Borla Exhaust NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals Presented by Miller Welders Race Wrap

Well to say that it was an interesting weekend full of surprises, amazing performances and terrible weather would be an understatement.

You would think that the second stop for both the NMRA and NMCA this season would provide us with comfortable weather given the fact that we were in Georgia in April. Well, unfortunately that wasn’t the case and the weather played a big role in how this race proceeded.

We rolled through the gates of Atlanta Dragway on Thursday as we were not only going to try and provide some coverage, but our boss Ellen was also crewing on the DPR (Dina Parise Racing) Cadillac Pro Mod. You would think that we walked into a wind tunnel this weekend though.

Thursday was just a setup day at the track so we took the time just to wander around the track and talk to some of the racers and check out the facility. Some big news was announced just before we rolled through the gates on Thursday morning though, as it was announced that NMRA Racer Hailey James would be gracing the cover of the upcoming Drag Illustrated issue. The excitement buzzing around the facility was electric with knowing that in the offseason the NHRA owned track had taken the time to resurface the first 400’ or so. The other thing that a lot were looking forward to was that Tyler Crossnoe was there for the last couple of days doing pre-race track prep. For those that don’t know, Tyler is consider by most to be one of the most talented track prep people in the country.

Friday rolled around and rigs were stacked up for as far as the eye could see. Everyone could see at this point that this would be one heck of a weekend for all the fans, racers, crew, and both organizations. The plan was to have testing from 9-1 and then go into first round of qualifying. For those that don’t know about these events, they run all the NMRA & NMCA classes, so you can imagine that there are a lot of cars to get through every round.

The objective was to get two rounds of qualifying in on Friday and then one round of qualifying on Saturday morning while then moving into first round of eliminations Saturday evening. This is where the weather did not cooperate though.

The first heads up class out of the gate on Friday was Pro Mod. This was a class chalked full of heavy hitters like IHRA World Champion Dina Parise, along with fellow IHRA Pro Mod racer Adam Flamholc from Sweden. It was the Bankston Boys and Tim Savell that captured the #1 qualifier (though at one point the sheets showed DQ’d, by E1 they were listed at #1)

We managed to get through most of Q1 with no real issues and we even saw new personal bests from the likes of Val Clements in Renegade. There was a large amount of wind and it certainly wasn’t all that warm out. This was an issue that came to fruition later on Friday.

With Q1 out of the way we moved into Q2 Pro Mod. We were able to get through Q2 of Pro Mod without any major disasters, with the exception of what may have been one of the most amazing non accidents I have ever seen. Once Pro Mod was done, it was time to roll out Radial Wars class. This is the premier radial class in NMCA with some of the biggest drivers in the radial world, including 2x World Champion Keith Berry, Daniel Pharris, Dwayne Mills, Josh Klugger, Nick Yarber, & many more. What was supposed to be part of an amazing show, turned into the last few cars to run on Friday night. We got to about the third pair of radial cars when Tommy TDR Rainer was on a pass when I heard a boom, saw some flames out of the horns and then Tommy’s car took a hard right into the wall across track. Once the car came to a stop, Tommy’s fuel cell has started a fire (which appeared much worse from my view). Tommy was ok, though from the looks of it the car will have to be front halved.

It wasn’t long after the accident that Promedia official Rollie Miller gather all the drivers that were waiting in the lanes to let everyone know that due to the temperature, they were no longer going to run anymore cars on Friday night. Free for All to Applebee’s at that point. All the drivers packed up and the plan was to continue Q2 Saturday Morning. We were now about 4 hours behind the eight ball.

Saturday morning, it certainly still felt like we were in a wind tunnel and to compound that issue, the time frame was in turmoil because of the weather on Friday night. As most know, NMRA and NMCA are really good at staying on schedule with their events and finishing by Sunday late afternoon. This was not going to be one of those times. Another issue that we heard throughout the pits on Saturday was the track surface itself. And when we say track surface we aren’t talking about traction or prep, we are talking about the surface itself. Some racers were saying that it felt very bumpy and that the transition was also an issue as there appeared to be a bump that was causing fits for a lot of racers.

Another issue not related to the NMRA/NMCA race that was going on Saturday was the tragic accident at the PDRA race in Rockingham, NC. All the talk in the pits was about what was going on with that. Even Brian from Bangshift.com who was the race announcer this weekend addressed it over the PA system. There was little information, and everyone in the pits had their own “information” coming in.

As some waited around for Q3, especially Pro Mod since they finished Q2 Friday night, there wasn’t much to do except your maintenance and maybe catching some other qualifying. It must have been around 5:30 pm before Pro Mod was able to get up there and start the heads up Q3. Again, it was cold, and it was still windy. We got through Q3 of Pro Mod and Radial Wars, before we stepped to Street Outlaw. Again, like Friday night worked out, the same was for Saturday as well when Street Outlaw racer D.J. Loiacano of Louisiana got out of shape and struck both walls. After this occurred, they made the announcement that the rest of qualifying was done. So for two nights in a row we were not able to get through more than 3 classes of heads up qualifying.

Finally…we have arrived at Sunday and it’s race day for the heads up classes. Along with continuing the index style class eliminations. There were some absolutely amazing and close passes during eliminations in almost all classes.

NMRA Finals

Wiseco/VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw

Winner: Jarod Wenrick  

R/U: Ronnie “ModFather” Diaz

Edelbrock Renegade

Winner: Aaron Bates

R/U: Terry “Beefcake” Reeves

Procharger Coyote Modified

Winner: Jeff Polivka

R/U: Johnny Lightning

G-Force Transmissions Pure Street

Winner: Teddy Weaver

R/U: Jimmy Wilson

Race Pages Coyote Stock

Winner: Jacob Lamb

R/U: “Farmer” Steve Gifford

American Racing Headers Factory Stock

Winner: James Meredith

R/U: Louis Sylvester

Flex A Lite Open Comp

Winner: Wade Trammell

R/U: Richard Belcher

Exedy Modular Muscle

Winner: Charlie McCulloch

R/U: Shane Williams

Detroit Locker Truck & Lightning

Winner: Amanda Saad

R/U: Nina Gusler

Race Pages Ford Muscle

Winner: Chris Parisi

R/U: Miles Wagoner

Roush Super Stang

Winner: Darrell Bye

R/U: Larry Firestone

NMCA Finals

ARP Nitrous Pro Street

Winner: Don Baskin

R/U: Jennifer Brooke Rice

Holley EFI Factory Super Car

Winner: Randy Eakins

R/U:  K. Skinner

Quick Lane 10.5 N/A

Winner: Dwight Ausmus

R/U: Mike Demayo

ATI Performance NSS

Winner: Brian Merrick

R/U: T. Vise

Detroit Tru Trac NMC

Winner: Steve Wilson

R/U: T. Carter

MagnaFuel Open Comp

Winner: Chuck Hockenberry

R/U: D. Fenlon

VP Racing Fuels Pro Mod

Winner: Tim Savell

R/U: Michael Biehle

Mickey Thompson Radial Wars

To Be Finished in Bowling Green between Berry and Pharris

Wiseco Performance Products/VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw

Winner: Jarod Wenrick

R/U: Ronnie Diaz

Edelbrock Xtreme Street

Winner: Scott Guiler

R/U: Eric Kenward