BLOWN + INTERCOOLED AT NMCA EAST & WEST
Spring has sprung, and the ProCharger racers arrived in Bradenton, Florida for the 11th Annual NMCA Muscle Car Nationals to kick off the 2013 NMCA drag racing season.
One of the biggest highlights of the event was the record setting qualifying run of Sean Ashe in his ATF Speed sponsored ’85 Mustang running the ProCharger F-1X supercharger. He tripped the lights with a blistering 7.29@195
Ashe and the ATF Speed team ran strong all day, and in an ALL PROCHARGER final round, took the win over the ’68 Dodge Dart of Marty Robertson.
Marty Robertson in his ’68 Dart ran some impressive times for his first ever venture in NMCA Street outlaw, with his “under-gunned” F-1R model ProCharger against Ashe’s F-1X equipped Mustang.
In the Pro Street class, Chuck Demory Jr. made the trip down from the Chicago area to debut his beautiful 1968 Shelby Mustang to the Pro Street class. This was the first outing with the added power of the new ProCharger RaceDrive F-3R 136 on the fresh 640 ci Big Block Ford. This car and race team is no stranger to being a frontrunner in the NMCA ranks, racing the Nostalgia Pro Street class for several seasons with a naturally aspirated version of the “big inch” Big Block Ford.
The Demory race team is still working some bugs out of this completely new power plant, but still qualified #5 in a field of very quick cars. Unfortunately they did not make it past the second round of competition due to mechanical problems.
Chuck Jr and his ProCharged ’68 Shelby will be at the next NMCA race in Commerce, GA April 12-14. We are all very excited about the potential of this new combination, and it’s only a matter of time until the Demory race team returns to the NMCA winners circle!
In addition to being the first stop on the NMCA tour, the Chevrolet Performance LSX Challenge also kicked off in Bradenton.
Joe DeDona brought his 02 Z06 Vette to compete in the LSX Drag Radial class. This radical F-3R 131 ProCharger powered 427ci LS power plant makes well over 2000 HP! Their best run of the weekend was in qualifying with an 8.10 at only 135mph letting off the throttle early. This car has the potential to run in the low 7 second range, but unfortunate problems with the ignition box ended their hopes for a win in the first round.
Don Dixon and Terry Faust made the trip to Bradenton from North Carolina with their tuner Jeff Heintz of Heintz Racing to compete in the LSX Challenge “LSX Rumble” class.
Don’s 06 GTO street car runs an F-1R ProCharger with a serpentine belt system. He ran a very impressive 9.71 for his best pass of the weekend.
Terry’s 02 Z06 runs an F-1A ProCharger and ran a best of a 9.59 @ 147 in practice, but had to slow the car down into the 10.0’s for eliminations as the roll cage was not certified for 9 sec ET’s.
These NMCA events always have a great group of show cars that come to display their muscle.
Peter Delpino owns DPM Racing and is a ProCharger dealer in Miami Lakes, FL. He brought his shop car, a 2011 Mustang GT equipped with some of his custom touches and the F-1A ProCharger with a cog belt drive. Just because it was in the show doesn’t mean it can compete with the cars racing on the track that weekend. This car produces over 1000 HP to the rear wheels, and has ran deep into the 9 second zone in the ¼ mile.
This weekend Peter won the award of “Best of Show – Mustang” category!
The second annual Lucas Oil NMCA WEST Street Car Nationals bring heads up racers from all over the west coast to the world famous Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California track. The first weekend in April kicked off the start of the second race season of NMCA Flowmaster West Street Car Nationals heads up drag racing series. Several ProCharger racers brought out their hot rods to see how they stacked up against the best heads up racers on the west coast. Eric Gustafson, defending event champion in the 8.5 inch tire class, was driving a borrowed car but still managed to qualify with a 6.55, which landed him in the number 9 spot. Driving an unfamiliar car, Eric was able to go two rounds on Sunday. Next up was the ProCharger X275 class. James Lawrence in his F-1x powered 02 Camaro qualified 2nd with an 8.05. James made it all the way to the finals only to be edged out by the number one qualifier.
In the Mickey Thompson tire true ten five 2012 Champion, as well as last year’s inaugural event, Champion Al Jimenez came out swinging in his 1972 Camaro running a blistering 6.841 at over 211 mph to take the number one qualifying spot. This is the fastest drag radial car on leaf springs in the country. On Sunday Al went to work through four rounds of eliminations and came out on top to defend last year’s title as well as getting a great start to defending the series title.
Doug Sikora represented the ProCharger crowd in Garrett Pro Street. With a class full of Pro Mod cars Doug was able to qualify a respectable 4th at a 6.17 at over 230 mph while running a ten five W tire. That pass was the quickest ProCharger-powered car in history. Even though Doug came up a little short in the first round, he definitely showed he has what it takes to compete. ProCharger would like to congratulate Al and Doug for their record breaking performances, James for a strong showing, as well as extending our best wishes for all ProCharger racers in the 2013 season.
