Ladies and gentlemen, the 2008 NMRA season is upon us. After some killer racing to end the 2007 season in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the racers headed home to work all winter and improve their programs. As the '07 season ended with some of the closest points chases in NMRA history, the racers who ended up just short of the title, jacket, and accolades have been burning the midnight oil to find that extra couple of horsepower and reverse their fortunes for 2008.
There are some new players in the Drag Radial field as well, but it will be tough to unseat reigning champion John Kolivas. Kolivas, never one to rest on his laurels, spent the offseason working his combination over on the dyno, even going so far as to purchase a ProCharger in an effort to see if it would make enough power for him to feel competitive. The turbocharged combination will remain on the car, but we have not been able to determine what size Kolivas will be using. 2007's number two points guy, Chris Tuten, dropped his car off at Team Z Motorsports in Michigan to get fully worked over with the Team Z treatment. Tuten has switched to a ProCharger after gaining sponsorship from the company at the end of 2007.
The Turbonetics Pro Outlaw 10.5W class has expanded to be run in the full NMRA series in 2008. Preliminary reports indicate that the class will have full fields at every event, and '07 Champ Tim Essick will have his hands full with racers like Keith Neal, Dan Millen, and Mike Murillo trying to take his crown. Essick had a new set of cylinder heads ported for this season in an effort to field the best racecar on the track. Murillo has stated that he will settle for nothing less than a championship, and you can guarantee that the racing action in this class will far surpass everyone's expectations!
After a successful season in Edelbrock Hot Street, Champion Ben Mens came across an opportunity to lease a racecar rather than driving for someone else. After winning the championship in the car owned by Mike DeMayo Sr., Mens and Robbie Blankenship struck a deal for Mens to campaign Blankenship's old car, newly wrapped by Phil at Rage Wraps, and featuring Mens' new sponsor, Lucas Oil. Will the Roush-powered rocket be good enough to defend the title? We smell another dynasty in the making, a la Charlie Booze Jr.
Don Burton needed to re-set the Super Street Outlaw record in Bowling Green and win the race, along with John Urist going out early, but as you all know, that didn't happen. Burton spent all winter working on his big-block nitrous combination in an effort to find more power, and from the rumors we've heard, he feels like he's on the right track to pose a serious threat to the chances of a Urist three-peat.
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