Street Cars at Cecil County
Words by Michael Ray
Photos by Chris Simmons and Michael Ray
Rising Sun, MD – Mild temperatures and a well prepped track set the stage for record setting performances as the CORTECO NSCA Drag Racing Series rolled into Cecil County Dragway May 20-21 for the 8th Annual NUCAR CHEVROLET PERFORMANCE CENTER Nationals. With a completely revamped class structure including the combination of Pro Street and Pro Outlaw and a much anticipated Outlaw version of Super Street, the fans were treated to an incredible weekend of side by side racing down the 1320. Controversy was the word for the weekend as the blown cars in Edelbrock Pro Street and the turbocharged machines in Precision Turbo Super Street fired the first volley of the season, a shot the nitrous proponents intend to answer. 
Tim O’Hare’s performance was the talk of Edelbrock Pro Street as his blown 526-cube Alan Johnson powered ’69 Camaro blistered the track with a 6.414/224.14 to claim the top qualifying berth, but defending champion Pat Musi (shown) countered with a very strong 6.444/219.01 to show that Popeye ain’t skeered of nuthin'. Of course, this Popeye is powered by 737-cubes of sprayed Musi power instead of spinach. 
On Sunday, it appeared the two would bash it out for the winner’s purse but it wasn’t to be as O’Hare fell to an ever improving Steve King (shown) in the semis to set up the final. At the first flash of amber, Musi’s Firebird easilytook the lead over King’s blown ’98 Viper, but tire spin ended his day and he was forced to watch King lay
down his best pass of the weekend, a very healthy 6.448/222.69 mph.Dart Machinery Top Sportsman reigning champion Randy Jewell saw his hopes melt down Friday night along with his non-oiling engine, but several worthy competitors were ready to take the greenbacks. Virginia’s Mike Gardner and New York’s Scott Merkel led qualifying with solid six-second runs and made their way through the field on Sunday. Gardner’s 632 powered ‘04 Grand Am seemed to have the performance advantage, but Merkel kept turning up the wick on his 488-cube small block powered ’99 S10 with each round.
In the final, Merkel (shown) ran it out the back door to a 6.797 while Gardner fouled away his chances at the tree. As a consolation prize, Gardner took home the mph record with a 206.45 mph best while Merkel’s 6.785 in the semis netted his team the new elapsed time record.