NMRA/NMCA zMax Charlotte 2009 Coverage

[mark@stangtv]

Pete Johnson is one of the many struggling with the tough track this weekend. The team was pulling the converter in favor for a looser one so the tires don't bite as hard on the hit. Pete sits in seventh with a 8.802 @ 163.93 mph. This is the first race back with the Mustang since its crash during a Pinks episode.



We watched Drag Radial racer Matt Bell back his Mustang back off the line during qualifying round one. The cause of that was Matt's broken transmission that he was inspecting to see what the cause was. Matt sits in ninth with a 9.003 @ 170.90 mph.





More driveline problems go to Mark Anderson's 5-speed Pure Street Mustang. Mark hasn't had a successful qualifying pass, though during his second attempt, left well but quickly shut it off due to the transmission failure.

[mark@stangtv]

[Tom@StangTV]

In Factory Stock, Tommy Godfrey stays on top and Jay Dold remains in second, but improves his time. John Leslie Jr moves up one spot to third, even though Brian Marr was able to improve his time.

Factory Stock

1) Tommy Godfrey: 11.180@119.87
2) Jay Dold: 11.250@118.32
3) Jim St Charles: 11.496@119.57
4) John Leslie Jr: 11.648@101.35
5) Brian Marr: 11.875@114.58
6) Zane Reed: 12.256@110.72
Jeremy Taylor: 12.472@105.22



Big shake up in Pure Street. Ryan Hecox moves up two positions to the number one spot while Steve Gifford fails to improve his time and drops to third. Teddy Weaver got a better handle on his car and he proved it with his number two qualifying spot heading into the third round.

Pure Street

1) Ryan Hecox: 10.269@131.38
2) Teddy Weaver: 10.275@131.06
3) Steve Gifford: 10.288@132.21
4) Brandon Alsept: 10.350@130.32
5) Brad Meadows: 10.395@130.18
6) Shawn Johnson: 10.439@125.29
7) Eric Burkhart: 10.507@129.98
Jimmy Wilson: 10.653@102.76



Tim Matherly and Paul Wiley swap spots in Real Street as Bruce Hemminger and Jim Breese improve their times, but remain in the same positions.

Real Street

1) Bruce Hemminger: 9.603@140.68
2) Tim Matherly: 9.730@142.12
3) Paul Wiley : 9.872@138.94
4) Jim Breese: 10.067@137.26
5) Matthew Johnson: 10.426@106.35
Dave Ginter: 11.563@119.33



Almost everyone in Hot Street improves their times in the now cool air. Jim Sutterlin is the only one to improve enough to advance his position. He now currently sits 4th, bumping Richard Preiser down to 6th.

Hot Street

1) Robbie Blankenship: 8.767@154.37
2) Charlie Booze JR.: 8.776@154.65
3) Don Bowles: 8.867@148.48
4) Jim Sutterlin: 8.958@149.20
5) Max Gross: 9.006@147.79
6) Richard Preiser: 9.228@129.64
Rick Riccardi: 9.301@147.78



Adam Jude went for a wild ride when his car took off and brought the front wheels way up, landing with a little pan scrape. The biggest mover in the Drag Radial class is Enzo Pecchini. Enzo finds another second and-a-half on his way to taking the 4th spot, moving up from 9th. Another big mover was Sean Lyon. He picks up almost a second as jumps from 7th, to 2nd.

Drag Radial

1) David Guy: 8.123@181.35
2) Sean Lyon : 8.167@175.66
3) Jason Lee: 8.368@172.36
4) Enzo Pecchini: 8.527@171.55
5) Ken Ewer: 8.696@163.53
6) Jeff Lorch: 8.711@164.19
7) Pete Johnson: 8.802@163.93
8) Steve Thompson: 8.985@157.30
9) Matt Bell: 9.003@170.90
10) Steven Biggs: 9.883@134.73
11) Marvin Bridge: 10.201@124.68
Adam Jude: 12.540@70.14



Bart Tobener knocks the Modular powered ride of Alton Clements into second after he picked up two seconds in the moon light. A sold run for Larry Hourcle moves him from 4th into 3rd.

Renegade

1) Bart Tobener: 8.511@161.79
2) Alton Clements: 8.784@159.42
3) Larry Hourcle: 8.795@155.72
4) Chris VanGilder: 8.884@156.08
5) Chad Almandinger: 8.903@155.04
6) Dan Rawls: 9.382@120.58
7) Brian Mitchell: 10.465@85.37
Brian Tuten: 14.114@61.07



Everyone picked up at least a tenth in Super Street Outlaw. Most notably was Don Burton. He makes his first good pass of qualifying and takes the second spot away from Chris Tuten.

Super Street Outlaw

1) John Urist: 7.406@191.46
2) Don Burton: 7.575@187.44
3) Chris Tuten: 7.662@188.75
John MacDonald: 8.069@179.47



The Pro Outlaw 10.5 cars finally drop into the 6s thanks to the track and air cooling down. Dan Millen and Conrad Scarry go sub-seven seconds and qualify in that order. Keith Neal makes his first qualifying pass of the weekend. He ends up third.

Pro Outlaw 10.5

1) Dan Millen: 6.856 @209.01
2) Conrad Scarry: 6.969@208.97
3) Keith Neal: 7.018@210.47
4) Mike Murillo: 8.353@124.83
Dwayne James: 9.757@102.41

[Tom@StangTV]

Max Gross is knocking on the 8 second door and he is making a big change to the car to try and get himself there. They decided to swap transmissions, opting for one with a little different gear ratio in it to get the last little bit to put him in the 8s.

[Tom@StangTV]

The local time is only 9:30 and it is already warm outside. The teams are all busy prepping their cars for Qualifying Round 3.





The index classes are about half way done with their third round, look for the heads up guys in a little while.

[Tom@StangTV]

Photos for the first four classes are uploaded, check them out in the Saturday Photo Gallery.

Factory Stock



Tommy Godfrey enjoyed a bye run in the final round of qualifying. He wasn’t able to improve his time, but he remains number one in Factory Stock.

Position Car # Driver Name ET MPH
1 1 Tommy Godfrey 11.180 119.87 119.87
2 4 Jay Dold 11.250 118.32 118.55
3 2 John Leslie Jr 11.381 118.71 118.71
4 6852 Jim St Charles 11.496 119.57 119.57
5 6117 Brian Marr 11.875 114.58 114.90
6 6002 Zane Reed 12.111 112.39 112.39
7 6158 Jeremy Taylor 12.472 105.22 105.22

Pure Street



Position Car # Driver Name ET MPH Fastest MPH
1 2 Ryan Hecox 10.256 132.28 132.28
2 7 Teddy Weaver 10.271 132.14 132.14
3 5007 Steve Gifford 10.288 132.21 132.21
4 1 Brandon Alsept 10.301 131.61 131.61
5 5119 Jimmy Wilson 10.364 131.73 131.73
6 5 Brad Meadows 10.393 129.67 130.59
7 5300 Shawn Johnson 10.439 125.29 129.72
8 8 Eric Burkhart 10.507 129.98 129.98
9 6 Mark Anderson 12.785 64.84 64.84

Real Street





Bruce Hemminger put his number one qualifying Mustang on the bumper right off the line. By the time it came down hard on the front tires, he was already out of it.

Position Car # Driver Name ET MPH Fastest MPH
1 1 Bruce Hemminger 9.431 143.54 143.54
2 2 Tim Matherly 9.552 144.18 144.18
3 8910 Paul Wiley 9.872 138.94 139.65
4 3 Jim Breese 10.067 137.26 140.55
5 8036 Matthew Johnson 10.426 106.35 106.35
6 6 Dave Ginter 11.563 119.33 119.33

Hot Street



Robbie Blankenship was ready to to give Charlie Booze a run for the number one spot, but he spun the tires off the line and will have to settle for 2nd.

Position Car # Driver Name ET MPH Fastest MPH
1 3398 Charlie Booze JR. 8.732 151.58 154.65
2 1 Robbie Blankenship 8.767 154.37 154.37
3 3671 Don Bowles 8.822 153.26 153.26
4 3072 Max Gross 8.859 157.78 157.78
5 3145 Jim Sutterlin 8.894 153.04 153.04
6 3161 Richard Preiser 9.148 127.35 129.64
7 3707 Rick Riccardi 9.301 147.78 147.78

[Tom@StangTV]

Drag Radial



Sean Lyon moves on top of Drag Radial, bumping David Guy to the number two qualifier spot. Guy has been in this position before, we heard this is the fifth time in his NMRA career that he has gone into the final round of qualifying on top and was bumped off the top spot.

Position Car # Driver Name ET MPH Fastest MPH
1 10000 Sean Lyon 8.087 176.28 176.28
2 10015 David Guy 8.123 181.35 181.35
3 5 Jason Lee 8.158 173.54 173.54
4 10136 Matt Bell 8.212 174.19 174.19
5 10115 Steven Biggs 8.288 173.85 173.85
6 10366 Adam Jude 8.397 171.95 171.95
7 9 Enzo Pecchini 8.527 171.55 174.14
8 10030 Steve Thompson 8.539 167.72 167.72
9 10407 Jeff Lorch 8.569 164.25 164.25
10 10012 Ken Ewer 8.696 163.53 164.91
11 7 Pete Johnson 8.727 159.61 163.93
12 10111 Marvin Bridge 9.803 138.00 138.00

Renegade



Bart Tobener stays on top without improving his time, but the real mover on the round was Dan Rawls. He picked up over a second from his time yesterday to move him from 6th into 2nd.

Position Car # Driver Name ET MPH Fastest MPH
1 4214 Bart Tobener 8.511 161.79 162.35
2 8 Dan Rawls 8.59O 160.77 160.77
3 4621 Larry Hourcle 8.704 157.89 157.89
4 3 Brian Tuten 8.706 156.86 156.86
5 4 Alton Clements 8.778 159.89 159.89
6 4401 Chris VanGilder 8.884 156.08 156.34
7 4049 Chad Almandinger 8.903 155.04 157.45
8 6 Brian Mitchell 9.034 151.15 151.15

We are still waiting for the final round of qualifying from the Super Street 10.5 and Super Street Outlaw.

[Tom@StangTV]

Round three of qualifying is in the books, here are the results from the final two rounds.

Super Street Outlaw



John MacDonald is the only one to improve his times as he moves from 4th up to 2nd, only a tenth behind Urist heading into the first round of eliminations.

Position Car # Driver Name ET MPH Fastest MPH
1 1 John Urist 7.406 191.46 194.07
2 2787 John MacDonald 7.544 188.96 188.96
3 2151 Don Burton 7.575 187.44 187.44
4 2023 Chris Tuten 7.662 188.75 188.75
5 2214 Brian Dalton 11.42O 87.20 87.20

Pro Outlaw 10.5



Everyone made clean runs down the track except Mike Murillo. He blew the tires off the car right off the line. The only one to improve their time was Dwayne James, but it wasn’t enough to improve his position.

Position Car # Driver Name ET MPH Fastest MPH
1 1010 Dan Millen 6.856 209.01 209.01
2 1 Conrad Scarry 6.969 208.97 208.97
3 8 Keith Neal 7.018 210.47 210.47
4 1069 Mike Murillo 8.353 124.83 124.83
5 1540 Dwayne James 9.704 99.60 102.41

Remember, there are more photos in the gallery. Check them out here!

[Tom@StangTV]

[Tom@StangTV]

Pure Street



Brandon Alsept lined up against Eric Burkhart for the first Eliminations match up. Alsept beat Burkhart off the line, and even though Burkhart made his fastest pass of the weekend, it was enough to beat Alsept who went a 10.308@126.93 to Burkhart’s 10.873@123.51.



Next up was the pair of Brad Meadows and Teddy Weaver. From the side of the track these car appeared to be neck-and-neck. The time sheets back this up, but it was Weaver who consistently pulled about a tenth ahead each timing cone. Meadows’ 10.538 was no match for Weaver’s 10.398.



Shawn Johnson cut a great .003 light against Steve Gifford to start off the next set of cars. But Gifford caught him by the eighth mile marker. Johnson ended up running a 10.537@130.40, but it was Gifford’s 10.172@133.01 that earns the advance to the next round.



Great race between Mark Anderson and Jimmy Wilson. The two car were almost even;y matched on the time sheet the entire way down the track, even swapping who was the fastest at each point. In the end Wilson ran a 10.377@131.39 to Anderson’s 10.408@130.02. But it the reaction times came into play as Anderson’s 10.450 package was enough to knock out Wilson’s 10.455.



Ryan Hecox enjoyed a bye run into the next round.

Drag Radial



David Guy fell asleep for a split second when the lights went green compared to Steve Thompson. But what mattered was the run down the track as Guy turned up the heat to make his best pass of the weekend with a 8.164@183.92 which beats out Thompson’s 8.643@163.22.



Marvin Bridge was sent packing by Adam Jude. Bridge ran a 9.321@126.05, but Jude was better at every cone down the track including the most important one, the 1320 foot mark as he took home a 8.239@173.16.



Jeff Lorch tried to give Jason Lee a run for a spot in the next round, but Lee ran a smooth 8.242@150.65 over Lorch’s 8.711@164.71.



In the biggest upset of the day, the number seven qualifier Enzo Pecchini knocks out the number one qualifier Sean Lyon in the first round of eliminations. Lyon gave it a good try as he beat Pecchini to the 330, but Pecchini made up and then some in the top end running a 8.354@174.03 to Lyon’s 8.575@165.56.



Great run for Matt Bell as he advances to the next round after running a 8.407@172.87 knocking out Ken Ewer who ran a 10.832@145.09.



Steven Biggs was set to face Pete Johnson in the last match up of Drag Radial, but Johnson never made it to the lights. At first it seemed that Biggs would make a full pass, but he shut it down before the 330 cone.


The rest of the heads up Eliminations will be run tomorrow, check back then for more updates!