Battle Of The Heavyweights: 2017 NMRA World Finals

In the first round of eliminations, Val Clements had to face off with brother Alton in Renegade, which meant she had to heat up the tune in an attempt to get by. Although she didn’t beat him to the finish line, she did beat him to the 100-foot mark where I was standing. The car carried the wheels another 100 feet before it came down hard, which allowed Alton to get around her for the win.

Matt Amrine and Dan Ryntz are locked in a battle in the Factory Stock class. Amrine lucked out in round one of eliminations as Rob Chandler didn’t make the call; Amrine mangled the transmission downtrack and had to pull it out and swap it after the round. He has a competition bye through round two, while Ryntz is up against number-two qualifier Bart Welte. The championship battle with Ryntz will come down to who progresses further during eliminations.

Kent Nine has been on a roll in the Limited Street class. His Brenspeed-prepped Saleen blasted to a 9.73 in the first round, while opponent Matt Williams redlit his chances away. Kent faces Shawn Johnson in round two. Johnson’s car is also seriously impressive: 285 cubic inches of two-valve Modular engine and a 2,650-pound race weight equals 9.50s all weekend. Johnson says he can run at 2,350 pounds, but can’t get the car that light.

Speaking of Alton Clements, he is your 2017 Renegade champion. By outlasting Frank Varela (who went out in round two to Robert Rodgers), Clements has finally secured his second Renegade championship after three runner-up seasons in a row–and five second-place finishes overall–since he last won the class title in 2008. Congratulations!

Dom DiDonato and Chuck Wrzesniewski of C&D Autotech are rockin’ it in Coyote Modified competition and running personal bests all weekend long. His 7.43 at 187-plus put Shawn King on the trailer in round one.

Kelly Shotwell is the man to beat in the Limited Street class–he’s the only racer in the 8s and has eliminated Scott Barker to move into the semifinals.

You never know who you’re going to run into in Bowling Green. Older NMRA fans will remember Swill Scott Lovell, who won a Renegade championship in 2005? 2006? I can’t remember, as I’m almost as old as he is. But he did hint at a possible return, as he owns a car (the 1966 Mustang formerly owned by Nick Bacalis) which can fit into the Limited Street class with minimal modifications.

In the Street Outlaw final, Rich Bruder capped off a successful inaugural season in the class by taking out none other than his teammate, class Champion–and car owner–Manny Buginga, when Buginga got loose and had to lift. It’s a win for the team regardless, and sure was fun to watch!

Bart Tobener was on a roll all weekend long; not only did he set the class record, he took out the Champ in the final round. His Bullseye Power-boosted S550 is a nasty machine.

It’s been a real treat to watch Tommy Annunziata’s run in Coyote Modified. With the assistance of longtime Ford tuning guru Jim LaRocca, Annunziata cruised to an easy win over Haley James when James redlit and left before the tree came down. Annunziata has a super-successful weekend, as he re-set the class record in the process of earning his win.

Certain racers are just winners, no matter what class, what type of combination, and what type of car. Charlie Booze, Jr. is one of those. We chatted with him on Friday and he mentioned that the team felt like they were still in left field with the clutch, but after qualifying at the top of the Coyote Stock field and running through some stiff competition, Booze found himself against former class champ Jacob Lamb in the final round. So how did he win? On a holeshot, naturally.

I was here early this morning to hang out with new Coyote Stock racer Jim Webb and shoot his car for an upcoming feature. Webb’s Fox-based machine was built by Tim Lyons at Lyons Custom Motorsports and is a complete work of art.

There is a massive field of True Street cars here this weekend. At last count there were 141 cars, which is extremely close to the NMRA’s record of 145 cars from a few years ago. Everywhere you look, there are True Street cars in the pits.

Lots of carnage in the Street Outlaw pits this weekend–Urist had to overnight a new transmission in to be ready for today, Manny Buginga used the liftgate on his trailer as an engine hoist to swap powerplants, and Leroy Nabors Jr. has the heads off his bright-red Fox today. These guys are letting it all hang out this weekend. Urist made the qualifying round this morning but didn’t run anything special as he was just validating the transmission’s performance, while Buginga cranked off a stout 4.37 blast.

After yesterday Dwayne Barbaree sat atop the qualifying ladder in Street Outlaw, but at the conclusion of qualifying tonight Manny Buginga took his spot with a wicked pass. Remember, Buginga replaced the engine at the end of the day yesterday. It looks like his efforts paid off, and Buginga goes into the first round of eliminations tomorrow as the man to beat.

Lots of drama in Coyote Modified tonight. Joe Cram qualified number six on the ladder and toasted his Turbo 400 transmission in the process. So Cram borrowed a Powerglide from Haley James and was in the process of making the swap when we caught up with him.

Sometimes racing breaks parts, and in the case of Street Outlaw racer Leroy Nabors, Jr., it breaks them beyond repair. Nabors torched a head gasket, and in the process damaged a cylinder head and was unable to repair the car. He spent the day interacting with fans and says the car will be repaired this week so he can make another event next weekend.

Open Comp racer Brent Carver led the crowd in a rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

I’m a sucker for a clean four-eye, and Jason Holbert’s super-clean turbocharged ’85 caught my eye while walking through the show field.

After qualifying third in Renegade with a 7.38–the car’s quickest pass in Renegade trim–Brian Mitchell (left) and crew chief Joey Finan made the executive decision to swap the head gaskets for preventative maintenance. “It’s a 12-hour ride home, and we didn’t want to have to think what if,” he said. “I was going to leave it, but Joey pushed me to change them.”

Is there anything better than a racecar covered in a Grabber Blue hue? Clint Bates’ Modular Xtreme machine is the one to beat tomorrow.

Donnie Bowles and Susan Roush-McClenaghan continue to prove that propane power is the fuel to beat in Modular Muscle–Susan sits at the top of the championship chase with Bowles in the second spot entering the final day of competition in 2017. By his unofficial calculations, Donnie says Jason Henson can catch him, and he can catch Susan, but Jason can’t catch Susan, so it’s very possible the Roush team ends up 1-2 in Modular Muscle for 2017.

Bill Tumas has one goal for the 2017 season–to win a round of racing in his first season as a heads-up racer. He goes up against number-three qualifier Mike Bowen in round one tomorrow, so he’ll have his work cut out for him.

Justin Jordan didn’t have a good day today–on his pass during qualifying tonight, the car popped a head gasket beyond repair, and the resulting water leak sent him from the left lane to the right lane at nearly 175 mph. He said he was just happy he could get the car stopped without incident, and will take it home to make repairs. He was checking out the data when I stopped by.

We’ll close today’s coverage with a simple statement: If you’re a Ford racer, you need to be where the big dogs run!

John Kolivas is overseeing the efforts of Street Outlaw racer Alan Felts this weekend. Felts, whose Fox was built by Jessie Coulter at Jessie’s Garage right here in Bowling Green, just recently swapped to a Holley engine management system and ran a personal best of 4.55 at 161 mph at the recent Yellow Bullet Nationals in Maryland. He’s been slowly creeping up on the car, which is powered by a Jeff Burns Racing Engines small-block Ford and Precision 85 mm turbocharger. They are looking to get into the 4.40s or better in the eighth-mile here.

Lots of new Coyote Stock racers here this weekend, including Jim Webb and his crew chief, son Cru. Webb, who hasn’t been in a racecar in 18 years, picked up this immaculate 27,000-mile ’87 hatch and dropped it off at Lyons Custom Motorsports for a complete build. I can say it is without a doubt one of the nicest Fox race cars I’ve ever seen. Webb, who sold his last Mustang 18 years ago when Cru was born, is looking to make his mark in Coyote Stock . They are just trying to dial the car in at this point as he only has a few passes down the track behind the wheel. “My wife pushed me to do this as a father-and-son project. She kept us on budget throughout the whole build,” he says.

Crew chief Eric Holliday (left) and Renegade racer Tony Hobson were hard at work poring over converter data when I stopped by Hobson’s pit. Holiday thinks the car will go 190 mph once they have it sorted out, which would put Hobson toward the top of the heap in the class.

The guys from VMP have their chassis dyno on the premises and stand ready and willing to spin the roller for anyone who dares.

Bad Bart Tobener lost his semifinal run in NMCA Xtreme Street last weekend by a mere seventeen-thousandths of a second while testing for this event. The car has been a 4.77 in the eighth-mile which equates to somewhere around a 7.37 in the quarter-mile. Tobener feels like he’s finally getting the car sorted out and where he wants it to be; with his history in this racing series, it’s always wise to keep an eye on him.

Rumor has it Clair Stewart turned in an insane short time in the 1.2x range, which is simply amazing when you consider that the Coyote Stock cars are 3,000 pounds and run factory sealed 5.0-liter Coyote engines. His 10.13 test pass this morning is evidence of the efforts put together by crew chief Eddie Bennett (center) and car builder Tim Donathen (right). The trio was discussing clutch settings and forced me to back away out of earshot.

The 2017 season has cost John Leslie 13 transmissions since his number-one-qualifier spot in Bradenton. Leslie finally has the problem sorted out; a loose engine mount was causing a misalignment that wrecked his season. He’s here to finish sorting out the car for 2018 — and move up in the points standings for 2017 in the process. The longtime racer feels confident that his program is back on track.

Charlie Booze, Jr. must always be in the middle of the conversation no matter which vehicle he’s driving. Behind the wheel of Justin Fogelsonger’s sweet Coyote Stock Fox, Booze has quietly put together a runner-up in Ohio and a win in Joliet so far this season. He and Fogelsonger were considering a clutch change if the car didn’t respond in its current configuration.

It’s been seven years since we’ve seen Orson Johnson at this race — the last time he was in Bowling Green was in 2010 for the old-school Drag Radial class. Johnson is sitting in X275 trim, which means an 85mm turbocharger in front of his SBF-powered ‘vert. This weekend is an experiment for him; if the car performs as he hopes, he may make a full run at the Street Outlaw class in 2018 with the big turbo.

That’s the face of a man who isn’t thrilled with his racecar at the moment. John Urist has had the transmission out of the car a number of times over the last several days trying to get it to behave; he told me they rented Memphis International Raceway and didn’t even get to make a pass. He didn’t run in tonight’s first session.

Sondra Leslie went for a wild ride tonight in the first round of Factory Stock. She had issues trying to get the car to weigh properly over the scales and had to add some weight to the car — it had the unintended effect of upsetting the chassis balance.

Matt Williams swapped over his Coyote-powered Fox to run in the NMRA’s new Limited Street class. Williams posted a shut-off 10.74, but number-one-qualifier Kelly Shotwell cranked out an 8.93 at over 153 mph.

Whatever changes Charlie Booze Jr. made worked as he was the long Coyote Stock racer to enter the teens with a 10.15 during tonight’s qualifying session.

We haven’t seen Dennis Merrow in forever – the New Englander made his return to Factory stock this weekend, carding an 11.01 in the first round. The former front-runner in the class knows what it takes to go fast in one of these cars, so we expect to see him turn up the wick.

The NMRA and Beech Bend’s staff have been on point with preparing the track surface for competition. Beech Bend always hooks hard, and they are going the extra mile this weekend to give the racers the best possible surface.

Bart Tobener also reached into the bag of tricks tonight during qualifying, cranking out an insane 7.36 in the first round to make a claim on the class record with his Race Part Solutions-backed S550.

Dwayne Barbaree rocked the house in Street Outlaw with a wicked 4.35 pass in his SN95. Perhaps the most encouraging part – he says he had to lift. The rest of the class is officially on notice. We can’t wait to see what he’s able to do tomorrow.

Haley James tried, and tried, and tried to do a burnout, and the car simply wouldn’t get up in the rpm band. Finally, after about six tries, she made it happen, rushed to the line, and stormed to the top qualifier spot in Coyote Modified with a 7.78 at over 175 mph. This girl simply has no quit, which is no surprise when you consider her heritage.

Justin Jordan’s MBRP-backed Turbo Coyote Shootout machine outclassed the field in the first round of qualifying with a 7.94 at nearly 180 mph. The next closest qualifier is Quintin Martin’s 8.37.