3rd ANNUAL NMCA WEST STREET CAR NATIONALS

The NMCA West 3rd Annual Street Car Nationals was held March 28-30, 2014 at the Fontana Dragway.  This is the first major event to be held at the Fontana drag strip since it reopened the end of February 2014.

Sunday morning the event opened at 8:00 a.m. with Chapel Service with bracket time trials starting at 9:00 a.m.  Round 1 of the Index eliminations started about 10:00 a.m.  After the opening ceremony which included the invocation and singing of the national anthem, the pro mods took to the lanes to kick off round 1 of eliminations in the heads-up classes.

SUNDAY RACING

The heads-up classes included Garrett Turbo Pro Mod, Mickey Thompson TT5, Procharger Street Outlaw, Lucas Oil N/A 10.5, and ARP Outlaw.  ARP Outlaw is an 8^th mile class, all the others are quarter mile.  However, while typically a quarter mile class, this week-end the pro mods ran to 1,000 feet to ensure they had enough track to stop before hitting the sand.

Garrett Turbo Pro Mod:  This class went through two elimination rounds and the finals.  Scott Oksas ran the fastest time travelling at 234.61 mph.  In the final round the No. 1 qualifier John Mihovetz , sat next  to the No. 7 qualifier, Robert Costa.  Even though Costa was first off the line with a reaction time of .071 to Mihovetz’ time of .177, Mihovetz crossed the finish line first with an ET of 6.535 going 219.61 mph.  Unfortunately, in the second elimination round, Rick Snavely crossed the center line and went head on into the wall.  Costa was in the opposite lane when Snavely crossed over and fortunately the two didn’t collide. Snavely appeared to be unhurt.

John Mihovetz, above, the Garrett Turbo Pro Mod winner.

After crossing the center line Snavely tried to straighten out, but couldn’t.

Mickey Thompson TT5:  Only 4 cars raced in this class.  The No. 1 qualifier Mark Luton ended up in the sand at the end of the track on Saturday, but was back for round 1 of eliminations on Sunday.  Luton met Dana Cook in the final round.  Cook went red and Luton coasted across the finish line at 111.20 mph.  Luton ran 197.94 mph in round 1 and was the fastest and quickest car in this class with his Saturday ET of 6.750 at 219.79 mph.  Below Luton is doing a burnout.

Procharger Street Outlaw:  Only two rounds of elimination and a final were required in this class.  James Lawrence went into the sand at the end of the track in Round 1 but came back for round 2.  When he left the line in round 2, Lawrence left a coating of sand spread over the first 30+ feet of track. In Round 2 Lawrence was sent home by the ’57 Chevy of Armen Maghdessian.  Maghdessian and Kevin Young sat side by side in the final round.  Young’s ’86 Camaro was quicker and faster than Maghdessian’s Chevy running an ET of 7.454 at 193.24 mph to Maghdessian’s ET of 8.296 at 179.85 mph.  Below Kevin Young is shown leaving the line.

Lucas Oil N/A 10.5:  This class was decided after 2 rounds of elimination and the finals.  The final round was a dual between the ’68 Camaro of “Gypsy Mike” Valentino and the ’68 Camaro of Tony Aneian.  Valentino came out on top with an ET of 8.312 at 167.12 mph to Aneian’s ET of 13.284 and 97.93 mph.  Aneian couldn’t get off the line posting a reaction time of 1.069.

ARP Outlaw 8.5:  Again 2 rounds of elimination and the final determined the winner.  The No. 1 qualifier George Raygoza and the No. 2 qualifier Dan Hale ran through the ladder and met in the finals.  The final round of this race was incredibly close, but Raygoza lost the match-up at the start line with a reaction time of .124 while Hale left with a .094 reaction time.  Hale had an ET of 5.271 and Raygoza’s ET was 5.279.  Hale’s mph was 142.04 while Raygoza’s was 142.03.  A good race.

NMCA West Pro Comp:  This is an index class running cars in A on a 7.90 index, B on an 8.90 index and C on a 9.90 index.  Twenty-one racers took to the lanes for the first round of elimination.  After 4 rounds of elimination, Bob Harris in a ’02 Pontiac sat next to Paul Wiechamnn’s ’00 Corvette.  Both of these cars ran in C on a 9.90 index.  Harris with a reaction time of .017, an ET of 9.914 and mph of 157.80 took the win.  Wiechmann had a reaction time of .030, ET of 9.988 and mph of 129.43 mph.

Currie Ent. Open Comp:  This is another big class requiring 4 rounds of elimination and a final round.  Mike Nordahl the No. 1 qualifier met Ryan Chesleigh the No. 21 qualifier in the finals.  Nordahl ran on a dial-in of 10.52 and Chesliegh’s dial-in was 9.44.  Nordahl took the win with an ET of 10.533 at 127.55 mph and Chesleigh broke out with an ET of 9.436.

Granatelli Mustang Madness:  17 Mustangs created the madness in 4 rounds of eliminations plus the finals.  Justin Spencer  survived the 4 elimination rounds to meet Anna Marciano in the final. Marciano had a bye in round 4.  Spencer ran on a dial-in of 9.65 and Marciano posted a dial-in of 10.16.  Spencer had an ET of 9.647 and Marciano’s ET was 10.135 – a double break out.  Because Spencer ‘broke out less’ he took the win.  Justin Spencer in his winning ’00 Mustang is shown below.

Hedman Hedders Nostalgia Street Car “NSC”:  32 cars ran in this index class on indexes ranging from 8.5 to 12.0 with AA running on an 8.5 index and H running a 12.0 index.  The No. 15 and No. 30 qualifiers made it through 4 rounds of elimination to meet in the finals.  In the final round Merle Williams and Paul Geis both running in F on an index of 11.0 were at the start line – which is where this race was won.  Geis turned in a reaction time of .057 to Williams’ .267.  Williams ran quicker and faster that Geis but couldn’t make up for slow start and Geis took home the Wally.  Paul Geis in his ’52 Chevy Pickup in the final round.

Edelbrock Super Quick:  This is a dial-in class allowing all types of vehicles. The lowest dial-in in the class, 6.69, was on Tony Jardino’s .’05 Sitzer and the highest of 10.45 was on Branko Sindicich’s ’80 Chevy.  The pair at the line in the finals, Dave Gotts and Ed Krzywicki had dial-ins of 9.90 and 7.75 respectively.  Both racers were fast off the line – Gotts with a reaction time of .001 and Krzywicki with a reaction time of .007, but Gotts was right on his dial-in with an ET of 9.946 while Krzywicki ran an ET of 8.237.

Calvert Quick Street:  This also is a dial-in class and includes all door-type vehicles. Thirty-nine cars qualified in this class.  The lowest dial-in was 8.26 on Rick Reynolds’ ’77 Pinto and the highest of 15.54 was on a ’72 Buick driven by Tommy Bartlett.  Jeff Paulin and Courtney Glover went through 5 rounds of elimination to get to the finals.  Glover in a ’68 Camaro met Paulin in a ’72 Chevelle.  Paulin had a dial-in of 10.18 with Glover’s dial-in set at 10.17.  Paulin ran an ET of 10.191 and Gover broke-out running  an ET of 10.168.  The No. 1 qualifier in this class, Rick Reynolds, was sent home by the No. 39 qualifier, Tommy Bartlett, in the first round of elimination. Below is a photo of Jeff Paulin in the finals.

This year NMCA West added the Fontana Championship Bracket Series.  This series includes 6 races to be run in the three NMCA West events held at Fontana.  This week-end the first 2 races in this Series were run.  The first of the 6 events in the Series concluded on Saturday and the second race in the Series was run on Sunday.  There were three bracket classes. FSC Super Pro with dial-ins between 7.0 and 11.99 (B1), FSC Pro with dial-ins between 8.0 and 13.99 (B2) and FSC Sportsman with dial-ins between 12.0 and 19.99 (B3).  A number of racers raced in both B1 or B2 and Quick Street.  The results of Sunday bracket racing follows.

B1:  In the final round Rob Strong with a dial in of 10.52 met Kevin Crandall with an 8.46 dial-in.  Strong broke out running an ET of 10.451 but Crandall went red giving the win to Strong.

B2:  36 racers turned out to race in B2.  After 5 rounds of elimination Paul Aglio met Robert Ratcliffe in the finals.  Aglio in a ’68 Camero ran on a dial-in of 11.20 and Ratcliffe in a ’66 Chevy El Camino ran a dial-in of 10.47.  Ratcliffe broke out with an ET of 10.456 while Aglio ran 11.214 to take the win.  Below Paul Aglio does a burnout in the final round.

B3:  26 cars took to the lanes in B3 for 5 rounds of elimination before the finals.  In the final Dustin Braun  in a ’99 Z28 Camaro sat beside Vincent Lazorich in a ’10 Camaro. The Z28 had a dial-in of 12.34 and ran an ET of 12.381.  Lazorich’s Camaro had a dial-in of 13.31 and ran an ET of 13.338.  Each car ran super close to its dial-in, but Braun’s faster reaction time of .044 to Lazorich’s reaction time of .110 made the difference.  Dustin Braun and his winning Z28 below.

The bracket racing was extremely popular as indicated by the large classes.  The next two races in the 6 race bracket series will be on June 21 and 22, 2014.

Here are some of the cars that provided the great racing this week-end.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The race had some delays on Sunday with 2 oil downs, a car in the sand, and a pro mod hitting the wall.  However, most importantly no one was hurt and racing quickly got underway after each event.  By 7:00 p.m. Sunday night it was over.

THE EVENT

NMCA West hosted True Street racing on Saturday.  This is an event designed for street cars that are licensed and insured and capable of driving a reasonable distance on the street.   For this class racing starts with a timed run and moves on to a 30 mile cruise around town escorted by an NMCA West official.  Cars are divided into index classes based on their run time – i.e. 9 sec., 10 sec. and on through 15 sec.  After the cruise, the cars return to the dragway and take the staging lanes when called.  Once the cruise is over, drivers are not allowed to make any modifications or changes to their cars – other than add air to the tires.  Each car makes 3 back-to-back passes and the 3 times are averaged.  This averaged number is then compared to that racer’s index.  The winner is the racer whose average number is closest to his/her index.  This was a popular class with a large number of cars participating.  This class provides anyone thinking of buying a particular car as a daily driver a chance to see how it performs.  The photo below is what the staging lanes looked like when True Street reported to the lanes.

There was a lot to do if you just wanted to get up and wander around.  As always racing events provide an arena to run into old friends at the track, in the stands, or in the pits. The pits were available and drivers and crew were working on cars day and night.  Everyone in the pits welcomed visitors and was willing to stop and talk shop or rehash the day’s racing.  Visiting the pits provided a good opportunity to really find out what’s going on and what it takes to go racing.  Below Joe Keurjikian’s ’69 Pontiac gets some tuning between rounds of qualifying.

Running concurrently with the racing throughout the week-end was an autocross sponsored by Hotchkis Sport Suspensions.  This was an interesting event and it was fun to watch the cars running through the twisting line-up of cones.  The course offered few straightaways and several tight corners. Since the object was to drive the course as fast as possible, some spinouts were inevitable.  Participating cars had to be street legal and licensed.  Five classes were set up: Modern Muscle 1993-present, Street Machine 1973-1992, Muscle Machine 1955-1972,  Street Rod 1954 and older, and Truck class included any currently registered truck.  Vehicles stage, start on a light, finish through a timing beam, and then come to a complete stop.  There were a lot of cars participating in the autocross each day.

Below is a photo of some of the cars waiting to run the autocross.

There was a car show also which offered a chance to wander around and look at a variety of cars and stop and talk to the owners.  A group of gassers from back in the day were there on Saturday which reminded us how drag racing has progressed.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Here are a few of the car show participants.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There was a vendors mid-way with a lot of vendors, both car related and food.  We saw Edelbrock, Chassisworks, Hedman Hedders, Mickey Thompson, Brandt Racing Enterprises, and a lot more.  And when hunger hit, some really awesome Louisiana sausages and corn on the cob were among the many things available for lunch.

The NMCA West at Fontana Dragway was one of the better ways to spend the week-end.  The racing included a wide variety of classes from the really fast pro mods to the wheels-up launches by the 10 second cars, to the smoky burnouts from just about everyone.  This was a great week-end.

The next NMCA West event will be held in Pomona, CA on May 15-18.  For info see the NMCA West website .

SUNDAY RECAP

A complete article with photos including the race results in all classes will be posted by Monday evening.  More car show participants were there today and the racing was awesome.

To see more photos of the race and Saturday’s car show, check out the Saturday and Friday Recaps below.

SATURDAY RECAP

Today offered up a lot of good non-stop racing.  Lots of smoking tires and wheels up launches.  There was very little down time with the main delay being toward the end of the day when Mark Luten in a TT5 GT500 went into the sand at the end of the track.  But after 10-15 minutes we were back racing.

Tom Kuenzi from Menifee, CA does a wheelstand in his ’71 Vega.

Racing started today at 9:00 a.m. with time trials for True Street.  True Street had two time trials today, the street cruise and eliminations.  True Street is a popular class and a large number of cars participated.  Below is a photo of the True Street cars lined up in the staging lanes.

Bracket racing in Bracket 1, Bracket 2 and Bracket 3 held two time trials and all rounds of eliminations.  Bracket racing will continue tomorrow with another round of time trials and eliminations in all three brackets.  This will let the brackets complete two races.

Round 1 of eliminations in the index classes will start at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow with NMCA Heads Up eliminations scheduled for Noon, 1:30, 3:00 and 4:30.  All rounds of elimination are scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m.  However, racing always proceeds at its own pace and rarely follows a pre-arranged schedule.

Mickey Thompson TT5: Mark Luten held onto the No. 1 qualifying spot while Dana Cook moved up to the No. 2 position bumping Johnny Coleman to No. 3.  Mark Luten ran low ET of 6.750 and top speed of 219.79 mph, both quicker and faster than yesterday.

Procharger Street Outlaw: Kevin Young took over as No.1 qualifier and Ryan “Toaster” Jones moved into the No. 2 spot.  Jeff Young who was the No. 1 qualifier going into to today’s session moved down to No. 3.  Jeff Young did set the low ET of 7.581.  Kevin Young ran top speed of 193.74 mph.  Below is Kevin Young in the final round of qualifying.

Lucas Oil N/A 10.5: Tony Aneian held  on as No. 1 qualifier and “Gypsie Mike” Valentino retained his No. 2 spot.  Aneian had low ET of 8.112 and top speed of 168.37 mph.  Today this class fielded 7 cars while only 4 raced yesterday.

ARP Outlaw 8.5: George Raygoza stayed in the No. 1 position but Dan Hale took the No. 2 position away from Erik Carlstedt.  Raygoza set low ET of 5.160 and top speed of 142.61 mph.  Seven racers ran today while only 5 ran yesterday in this class.  This is the only 1/8^th mile class running.

Garrett Turbo Pro Mod:  John Mihovetz qualified No. 1 yesterday and stayed there today.  John Scialpi is the No. 2 qualifier.  Mihovetz set low ET of 5.187 while Scott Oksus did the top speed of 232.43 mph.  Two pro mods joined the class today making an 8 car field.  Rather than the quarter mile, the pro mods are shutting down at the 1,000 foot mark.  This gives the fast cars a little extra distance to stop before they hit the sand at the end of the track.  This change seemed to work, because none of the pro mods hit the sand.  Below is the No. 1 qualifier John Mihovetz.

NSC:  Dan Ficher went into today as the No. 1 qualifier and retained his position.  Jan Vanderpool moved up from No. 8 to become the No. 2 qualifier.  The Low ET of 8.531 and the top speed of 161.23 mph were set by Brad Fisher who qualified No. 11. Today 32 cars ran in this class.

Currie Ent. Open Comp:  Mike Nordahl took over the No. 1 qualifiying position today bumping Greg Homan to No. 3.  Mark Rapp moved into the No.2 position.

Pro Comp: Doug Crumlich retained his No. 1 qualifying position but Ashley Deuschle moved from No. 4 into the No. 2 spot.  Crumlich set the low ET of 8.907 and Richard Okerman set top speed of 189.26 mph.

Granatelli Mustang Madness:  Brent Calvert went into today as the No. 1 qualifier and stayed in that position. Justen Spencer retained his No. 2 position.  Calvert set both low ET and top speed of 150.65 mph.

Calvert Quick Street:  Rick Reynolds is the No. 1 qualifier knocking Greg Peterson to the No. 2 spot.   Reynolds set both low ET of 8.298 and top speed of 157.82 mph. Yesterday 33 cars raced this class and today there were 39.

About 190 cars raced in these heads-up and index/dial-in classes.  All elimination rounds will be run tomorrow. Should be another great day of racing.  Below is a photo of Robert Costa’s pro mod with chutes out at the end of the track.

Today NMCA hosted a car show and many fine hot rods, classics, and muscle cars attended.  Also several ‘old time’ gassers were on display.  A few of the cars at the car show are below:

FRIDAY RECAP

NMCA racing started this afternoon at Fontana.  This was the first major drag race to be held at Fontana since the track re-opened.  The first rounds of qualifying were held today with more qualifying tomorrow. The number 1 and 2 qualifiers in each class are shown below (except for pro-mod for which no results were available):

Mickey Thompson TT5: Mark Luten in a GT 500 qualified No. 1 and Johnny Coleman in a ’69 Chevy was No. 2.  Luten had low ET 6.829 and top speed 216.45 mph.  Four cars qualified in this class today.

Pro Comp: Doug Crumlich in a ’96 Corvette qualified No. 1 and Chris McNicol qualified No. 2.  Crumlich also set low ET of 8.931 while Richard Okerman, the No. 11 qualifier, turned in top speed of 189.26 mph.  This class qualified 17 cars.

Procharger Street Outlaw: No. 1 qualifier was Jeff Young in an ’85 Camaro and Kevin Young in an ’86 Camaro qualified No. 2.   Jeff Young had low ET of 7.721 and Kevin Young set top speed of 193.74 mph. Five cars qualified in this class.

Lucas Oil N/A 10.5:  The No. 1 qualifier was Tony Aneian in a ’68 Camaro and No. 2 was “Gypsy Mike” Valentino also in a ’68 Camaro.  Aneian had low ET of 8.145 and top speed of 167.76 mph.  Four cars qualified today.

ARP Outlaw 8.5: George Raygoza in his ’68 Chevolet was the No. 1 qualifier and Erik Carlstedt qualified at No. 2 in a ’70 Camaro.  Raygoza set both low ET, 5.221, and top speed, 141.24 mph.  Five cars qualified in this class.

Granatelli Mustang Madness:  The No. 1 qualifier was Brent Calvert in a ’14 Mustang and Justen Spencer was No. 2 in an ’00 Ford.  Low ET, 9.141, and top speed, 150.10 mph, went to Calvert.  This class qualified 11 cars today.

Hedman Hedders NSC: Dan Ficher qualified at No. 1 in a ’64 Fairlane while Ron Dehoop in a ’67 Chevelle qualified at No. 2.  Low ET of 10.504 was set by Ficher, and top speed of 146.94 mph was set by the No. 3 qualifier Hank Pramov in a ’72 Vega. This was a large class with 28 cars qualifying.

Edelbrock Super Quick:  Tony Jardino was the No. 1 qualifier in an ’05 Spitzer while Bobby Cottrell was the No. 2 qualifier. Top speed, 201.37 mph, and low ET, 6.710, were both set by Jardino. This class qualified 18 cars today.

Calvert Quick Street: The No. 1 Qualifier Greg Peterson in a ’64 Chevy also set low ET of 8.890 and top speed of 151.92 mph. The No. 2 qualifier was Dave Budgett in a ’70 Mustang.  This was the biggest class with 33 cars qualifying.

Currie Ent. Open Comp: Greg Holman in a ’70 Mach 1 was the No. 1 qualifier and Mike Nordahl in a ’64 Chevy was the No. 2 qualifier.  Holman had low ET of 8.839 and the No. 5 qualifier, Brent Calvert, set top speed of 149.48 mph. This class had 21 cars qualify.

Below are a few of the other cars racing today.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Racing will continue tomorrow along with the car show. Check here tomorrow night for car show photos and a Saturday Race Recap.

The Flowmaster NMCA WEST season opens with a three-day event at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, Calif. The 3rd Annual NMCA WEST Street Car Nationals will run March 28-30. Racers from across the West will compete to take home a coveted Wally trophy, named for NHRA founder Wally Parks.  Competitors in 11 classes, including the six-second 240 mph Garrett Turbo Pro Mod cars, will chase points toward a year-end prize and the title of World Champion.  In addition to drag racing this event will have an autocross, a swap meet, a vendor midway, burnout contest and a car show. Going to be a busy week-end.

Just received new directions for entry to the Speedway:

EVENT SCHEDULE