Nitto Tire All Star Nationals Wrap Up – NMRA
Courtesy of ProMedia
Commerce, GA – The 4th Annual Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals took place th weekend of April 12-15 at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, GA. The first combined NMRA and NMCA event of the season, the All-Star Nationals
provided some great racing for fans of every make, as well as the Blue Oval-faithful. Three of the series’ classes were combined due to rules similarities, providing for a little Ford-vs-Brand-X competition before the Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing.
SCT Pro Outlaw 10.5 was combined with the NMCA’s Mickey Thompson Super Street for this race and sitting at the top of the ladder at the end of qualifying was Mike Murillo with a blistering 6.496 at over 232 mph. Murillo worked his way through the field to meet Eric LaFerriere in the final, when Murillo was victorious, 6.70 to 6.73.
ProCharger Super Street Outlaw was a tough class this weekend with two drivers out due to breakage before eliminations started. Sitting in the catbird seat going into eliminations was John “The Fireball” Urist with a 7.099-second blast tripping the beams at over 204 miles per hour. Urist met Kenjo jelley in the final round, where a .004 redlight start by Kelley handed Urist the win.
Blow-By Racing Renegade was led into eliminations by four-time champion Brian Mitchell. Mitchell entered eliminations qualified a quarter-second ahead of the number-two qualifier with an 8.34 at over 162 mph. In the final round, Mitchell cut a killer .006 light, while Alton Clements never moved, allowing Mitchell the easy win.
Edelbrock Hot Street was combined with NMCA’s version of the class, Comp Cams Pro Stock. Robbie Blankenship topped the ladder with an impressive 8.40-second qualifying effort. Blankenship met Don Baskin in the final, where he fell to the non-Ford thanks to a -.029 light.
Another combined class for this event was the NMRA’s AFCO Drag Radial and NMCA’s Stainless Works Drag Radial class. Jason Lee topped the qualifying charts with a record-eclipsing 7.495 at over 189 miles per hour. Lee found Dan Kroll in the final round, and it was all over as soon as Kroll blew the tires off at the hit.
Strange Engineering Coyote Stock presented by 5.0 Mustang Magazine saw “HiPo Joe” Charles bettered his previous best as well as the official class record while taking the top qualifier spot with a 10.896 at 124.29 miles per hour. Charles raced Joe Guertin in the final, where he took the win, 11.04 to Geurtin’s 11.17.
Nitto Tire Factory Stock was a dogfight with half the class qualified in the ten-second zone. Leading the class was the reigning champion, Carlos Sobrino, with a 10.845 at 124.22 mph. In the Final round, Sobrino crossed the stripe first as Matt Amrine missed a shift, 11.14 to 12.03.
Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle was lead by the current class-champion Reggie Burnette, Jr. with a .001-second reaction time. In the final round, Gary “Hollywood” Parker fell to Randy Mounce on an extremely close double breakout.
“Rockin Al” Miller took the top qualifier honors in Roush Engineering Super Stang qualifying with a .045 light. He made his way to the final round, where he fell to Larry Firestone in a close race.
In Trick Flow Open Comp action, Brent Blacker sat atop the qualifying ladder with a .001-second light. The final saw Randy Conway take the win light when Saul Walker II ran a little too quickly out the back door, breaking out.
Paul Gamino led the Detroit Locker Truck and Lightning with a .001-second reaction time. However in the final, it was Fred Wade who took home the gold over Johnny Lightning with a 10.35 on a 10.33 index.
In Tremec True Street action, Jack Young edged our Beth Henderson to take the win after compiling a three-lap average of 11.24 to Henderson’s 11.64.
In bracket action, Mark Hancock defeated Hank Wilhelm in Super Pro, while David Hearn, who lost in Open Comp in the first round, beat Darryl Buckner in Pro.
