Extended Stay in Bowling Green, KY

The epic conclusion to the Nitto Tire NMRA All-Ford World Finals as weather pushed it into Monday, October 5

Santa Ana, CA – The 17th Annual Nitto Tire NMRA All-Ford World Finals started with rainy weather as over 800 racers and show participants converged on Beech Bend Raceway at the end of September to begin four days of drag racing, car showing, and overall Mustang and Ford utopia. NMRA officials tried to finish on Sunday, however, water seeping through the track and broken racecars forced the program into Monday. It was the second time in three years that the racers stayed a day later to finish what they started and this year the performances were epic. NMRA KY car show.

VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw had the fans on the edge of their seats all weekend long. The most powerful class in the heads-up line-up, these 275 radial tire cars run mid-fours at speeds over 160 mph in just 660 feet. The 12-car field was whittled down to the two most dominant Street Outlaw racers over the past three years. Phil Hines once again took the lane against his rival, John Urist of Hellion Racing, for what was a pedal-fest as both racers blew the tires away at the hit of the throttle. When the smoke cleared it was Hines as the victor. The Edelbrock Renegade class began eliminations with a bunch of wheelies and 7.70 runs at 180 mph speeds. The red-hot Alton Clements grabbed his third straight victory with consistency as a 7.74 at 177 mph performance topped Brian Devilbiss, who turned on the red light when he bumped through the staging beams in the final round.

The ProCharger Coyote Modified field saw Johnny “Lightning” Wiker take his second win of the season with the Kenne Bell supercharged combination in his Cobra Jet. Haley James scored a runner-up finish, her sixth final round with the Hellion Racing B-Team entry. The quickest naturally-aspirated class, ACT Pure Street, concluded with Jimmy Wilson claiming his fifth straight victory over Teddy Weaver, 9.68 at 137 mph to Weaver’s 9.73 at 137 mph.

The Coyote 5.0L crate engine class dubbed Strange Engineering Coyote Stock is perhaps the most intriguing category in drag racing with the sealed engine requirement. Locking down the engine output forces racers to focus on chassis, drivetrain, and driver mods with mere tenths separating the 17-car field in qualifying. By the end of Monday, one of the category’s brain trusts Steve Gifford would roll into the Aerospace Component Winner’s Circle with a victory over two-time champion Shane Stymiest. Gifford used a hole-shot in order to win as he ran 10.51 at 127 mph to top Stymiest who ran 10.49 at 124 mph.

The other stock class is American Racing Headers Factory Stock that sees a wide range of powerplants from the original 302 High Output to the latest Coyote engines. The last race of the season saw two similar combinations make the finals; both racecars were equipped with Coyote engines and backed by a C4 automatic transmission. James Meredith picked up his second win of 2015 as he bested Sondra Leslie, 10.89 at 121 mph to an 11.09 at 119 mph.

The index side of the NMRA world is perhaps some of the most competitive and tight drag racing that you can find anywhere and there are four different niche markets reached-the catchall Flex-a-lite Open Comp, the modular-based Exedy Modular Muscle, the truck-only category of Detroit Locker Truck & Lightning, and finally a class for only S197 and S550 based Mustangs, Roush Performance Super Stang. A longtime Modular racer took the win in Exedy Modular Muscle as Shane Williams dusted off his 1999 Mustang GT and proceeded to weave his way through the field and ultimately takedown Jason Steamer. The last 2015 race in Flex-a-lite Open Comp was between a couple of veterans-Brent Blacker nailed the tree with a .025 reaction time in his familiar Fox-body Mustang and got to the stripe first over Jon H. Pickering in his 1970 Maverick.

The Detroit Locker Truck & Lightning class never disappoints with his diversity from light-duty Rangers to the latest F-150 and there is also a huge presence of Gen II Lightnings. Robert Chuhran had his moment in the sun with his low ten-second Gen II Lightning, overtaking Jim Roberts in the process. Roush Performance Super Stang featured the late model Mustangs of Kent Nine and John Mummery in the finals with Nine taking the win.

The NMRA All-Ford World Finals featured several specialty categories including VMP Superchargers Terminator/GT500 Shootout, Henchmen Racing Turbo Coyote Shootout, the Livernois Motorsports EcoBoost Battle, and the N/A 10.5 Shootout. Randy Thomas scored a win for the Shelby GT500 crowd by beating the top qualifier, Frank Yee, in the finals. Kenny Rice of Henchmen Racing ran a string of low eights to claim the title in the Turbo Coyote Shootout; he beat out Tony Hubson in the finals. UPR Products’ Bill Putnam drove the company hot rod into the Aerospace Component’s Winner Circle over class favorite Brad Gusler with a 12.04 at 112 mph. Longtime NMRA racer and supporter Ricky Riccardi of Downs Ford Motorsport pushed his rebuilt 1980 Mercury Capri past Don Bowles in just 8.10 seconds at 167 mph to Bowles’ 8.30 at 165 mph.

HP Tuners True Street saw a record number of entries as it swelled to 142 vehicles passing through technical inspections. A rainout on Saturday forced it to be run on Sunday, thus backing off the number of competitors to 119 taking a first round pass. Time-constraints also forced NMRA officials to back off the drag strip action to just two rounds of competition. The changes in the program didn’t seem to affect the excitement and enthusiasm. Jeremiah McGreevy took the Overall win with an 8.53 average while Joshua Savering was runner-up with an 8.57 average. Other winners included Chuck Watson (9-second), Kevin Leese (10-second), Gary Johnson (11-second), Jordan Grubb (12-second), Jason Epstein (13-second), Mike Baker (14-second), and Belinda Moore (15-second).

The Nitto Tire NMRA All-Ford World Finals put a stamp on the 2015-racing season as the tour began in Florida, worked its way up the east coast and finally moved into the mid-west to conclude in Kentucky with a record-breaking turnout. Stay tuned to the NMRA website for information on the 2016 NMRA drag racing series.