2009 NMRA Milan Coverage

[Tom@StangTV]

The weather is oddly cool here for June, but that only makes for better racing! We will be covering today's and tomorrow's action with plenty of editorial updates and photos as well as video highlights coming later in the days. All of our coverage is brought to you by SCT Flash, check them out at www.sctflash.com



Friday Coverage - Here
Saturday Coverage - Here

Galleries Updated Throughout the Day

Friday Photo Gallery - Click Here
Saturday Photo Gallery - Click Here

Ford Racing Media Invitational

Ford Racing is on hand here in Milan, putting on the 3rd annual Media Invitational. Ford invites the editors form the top magazines in the industry to drive some really sweet Mustangs including the famous Cobra Jet - that's right, StangTV drove the Cobra Jet.

You can check out all the action on this event here.

[Tom@StangTV]

Ben Mens is here with a slightly different set up. The team decided to change the exhaust on the car to one that dumps it just in front of the wheels to make changing the converter in the car much easier. And in the Hot Street class changing the converter happens often.



Bob Kurgan is on hand and is always at the top of the run lists. Fresh off his win in the True Street Drag Racing race last month, Bob decided to add a gear drive to his Mustang saying he "...needed it to keep up with the other guys." He likes the weather and is going to make it to the finials before turning up the heat.



Back from his 'hot' incident at Atco, Max Gross is back. He had to replace pretty much all the electronics and of course most of the body on the front end. He managed to get it all buttoned up and ready for today's action and it looks nice.

[Andrew Casselberry]

StangTV.com’s James Lawrence got his shot at the Ford Media day with a quarter-mile pass in the 2008 Ford Cobra Jet. Slightly detuned from the race trim it was in, this is the much “sought after” Ford Cobra Jet with the 5.4L Supercharged Engine. After getting instructions from the Ford Racing Engineers, the launching procedure was simple.



1) Do a nice healthy burnout using the FRPP-supplied line lock with the engine revving about 5,000 rpm.
2) Clear the engine out a few times. (Wicked fun.)
3) Rev to 5,000 RPM.
4) Drop Clutch
5) Smile
6) Run 10.60 at 138 mph.

We did all of the above. The problem? Excessively high tire pressure (13 psi warm) caused some serious wheel spin. James lifted and then jammed second gear after a half-second delay. The result was a 11.31 at 136 mph.

Will James get another shot at the CJ? He hopes so. He claims 10.60s are a cinch if he can convince FRPP to give him another shot. We’ll find out.

[Andrew Casselberry]

One more pass, please

[Andrew Casselberry]

Results from Round 1 Qualifying of the Ford Media invitation are now live. StangTV.com's James Lawrence is #5 in the field with a .187 light and a 12.44 @ 119 mph.

[Andrew Casselberry]

The Milan event is presented by Aeromotive, and the team is out in full force, with both the Pro 5.0/Pro Street Mustang and the all-new 5.4L Cobra Jet-powered Dragster seen here. Although the team had a few gremlins today, hopefully tomorrow we'll see some 8 or 7-second runs.

It's a pretty incredible sight to see, with the supercharged CJ engine actually sounding mild at idle, but all-out nasty when Steve rasps the throttle.



Livernois-Motorsports was working with the owner of this 2010 Mustang that was setup with a number of really sweet FRPP parts for the 3-valve. Although he had never been down the dragstrip before, the blue GT was running low 11s at over 120 mph.

[Andrew Casselberry]

Second Round Qualifying - Milan

Pro 10.5



Mike Murillo continued on his streak of being back at the top of the NMRA, with a 6.86 qualifying effort to edge out Keith Neal who also ran a 6.95.



Dan Millen has a new loop and some new parts, but is also chasing some suspension/new-car gremlins and is having to lift at half track.



Super Street Outlaw



In a seven car field, there were three really strong runs in Super Street Outlaw to end the second round. Urist usually finds his way to the top of the qualifying ladder, and today was no exception, with a 7.40, backed by SSO newcomer and former NMRA champion Chris Tuten, who ran an extremely impressive 7.46 with his LX Fox coupe.


Drag Radial

Jason Lee continues to take the BFG Drag Radial class by storm, with an "oh so close" 8.01 at 175 mph to top the 10-car field. Dave Guy and Ken Ewer are in the #2 and #3 positions, and we took note of Sean Lyon's 179.91 mph blast.


Renegade

Dan Rawls continues his lock on the Renegade field, with a 8.50 to beat out Alton Clements close 8.51 and Brian Mitchells 8.57.


Hot Street



Hot Street was a little light through two rounds, and Blankenship was in a familar position, qualified in the #1 slot with a 8.69. Hanlon's 160.13 mph was high for the round and 5 mph over any other E.T.



The Maverick of Don Bowles is all fixed up and tripped a 8.83.




Pure Street

Mark Anderson made a nice return to Pure Street, with a 10.29 to lead the dueling Modulars of Steve Gifford and Shawn Johnson. His Kuntz-built, Carb 311 only ran 130.70 mph through to Johnson and Gifford's matching 135-mph blasts. Modular power is astounding.

[Andrew Casselberry]

Max Gross is driving the former "Demayo" ride, and went on a Wild Ass Ride in the second round of qualifying. As shot by James check out this radical wheelstand sequence.



Nice shoot with the wheels a foot in the air.



Man, this is getting hairy....



Wow, is that the parachute or the shock bracket scraping on the ground?



Another Wild Ride was Orson Johnson's '99 Cobra from House Springs, MO. Single turbo, qualified in the #6 position with a 8.42. Not on this run.



Up and up.



Ok, now he can't see diddly. Time to lift.



Ow....



Matt Johnson's '93 Mustang went up in the air in 5.0 Mustang Real Street. He felt the car not going straight and, with the front end in the air, turned the wheels. This is dangerous, and something that is really hard not to do.



Here's the landing with the wheels turned pretty good.



We thought we'd share another Urist action photo. This is what 197+ mph looks like about 100 feet from the starting line of the World's Quickest and Fastest 10.5 Tire SSO car in the World.



Don Burton's SSO ride leaving the line of Round 2.



Check out those truly bad ass flames from the big block Ford. Poetry.

[Andrew Casselberry]

Notes from the Pits



After hitting the wall and damaging the right side of the car at the last NMRA event at Atco, Don Bowles has the Coal Digger Maverick fixed and ready to race. Here he and the Roush crew adjust the valves after the final qualifying pass on friday.



It was good to see Conrad Scarry and the Kenny Seeger Motorsports crew on the property at Milan. After totaling the old car at Bradenton, Scarry and crew thrashed to have the new car togather in record time. With help from friends, strangers and supporters like Proline, UPR, Kooks, Mickey Thompson, and Precision Turbo the car is running and they are getting it dialed in. The team tested at Valdosta, Georgia on Tuesday and headed to Milan locked and loaded. The first run during Friday qualifying was a 7.20 shut off pass. On the second qualifying run, a boost tube came loose and Scarry shut off and coasted. The crew feels like they can dial it in for Saturday and be competitive.



Tim Matherly was the number one qualifier in Real Street with a 9.682 e.t. @ 145.63 mph. After the last past on Friday the MV Performance crew relaxed for the evening and are ready to race come Saturday.



Jim Breese was the number 2 qualifier behind Matherly in Real Street. Jim was checking the spark plugs on the Superchargerd 2-Valve Modular engine before Saturday's last qualifying round and eliminations.



Chris Vangilder was swapping converters in his Renegade convertible Mustang. His second pass was a 8.55 et and then the car fell off with a 8.70 et. To stay competitive in Renegade at Milan converter switch was the call.



Local Milan Dragway Heads Up regular Junior Southwell entered the NMRA Super Street Outlaw class at Milan. They had not made a pass on Friday but were thrashing to get the car ready for Saturday. With only 7 cars entered in Super Street Outlaw they plan to give it a shot. The car has a stock rear suspension and they added ladder bars for the weekend.

[Tom@StangTV]

Dan Millen was having a tough day, currently sitting 6th in the running order, his first run ended when the car would go into 3rd gear and on his second run he noted excessive shaking of the shifter while in second gear. The team is already on their second transmission of the weekend and could be looking for a third. Thankfully for them, Liberty Gears is just a short drive away!



Tim Hidspen is having a blast here this weekend. While currently qualified in the number five spot, the team is looking forward to tomorrow. They are looking into a small transmission issues that could be coming from the trans-cooler. Tim is still getting used to the car, and to turbos, but he says that Supernatural Turbos has been kind to him, helping him through the switch from . But he still decided to stick with CNS Specialties for one of their blow-through carburetors. Lucky for him, Team Z set him up with a great chassis to hold all the power!



Bob Kurgan has a rough couple of passes. After a misdiagnosis of a leaking fuel line, they had to pull the car off the track before they were able to get a run in. With the correct fuel line replaced, Bob decided to strap the car on the dyno tonight just to be 100% sure the problem is fixed before the final rounds of qualifying.



David Powell is currently sitting on top of the Renagade class and they are going to try stay there - by not beating themselves. The team says that all too many times they try to fix something that isn't broken and it comes back to bit them later. So for this weekend, the plan is to do nothing. Only time will tell if it works out.



Currently sitting fifth on the Drag Radial sheets so far is Sean Lyon. Which is pretty good when you factor in the problems the team has been having. They are chasing an electrical problem that they think is somewhere in the ignition system. All they know for sure is that the car isn't spooling up like they would want it to, but they pull like hell on the top end. In addition to running through the wires on the car, the team has also decided to swap turbos, electing to go to a smaller one for the final rounds tomorrow.



Matt Bell will be getting acquainted with the night crawlers tonight. He lost the torque converter on his last pass before the car left the line. He said that he brought the RPMs up on the trans-brake and when he let go of the button - the car didn't move an inch. They have a spare and a lift to do the work on so they should be ready to run by tomorrow.