Words by Michael Ray
Photos courtesy NSCA 8/1/06
Jeremy Harris
After Friday night’s qualifying was called due to weather at the Precision Turbo NSCA Nationals at US41 Dragway, it was decided that the session would stand for the completed classes. Qualifying resumed Saturday afternoon with the two prior scheduled rounds finalized without serious incident and the ladder was set for eliminations. While the Friday-Saturday “under the lights” departure from the normal weekend schedule definitely kept the racers and fans from overheating in the summer swelter, the dew falling at the late hour prevented the completion of most of the heads up classes. “There’s just no way that I would feel good about sending the high horsepower Super Street or Pro Street cars down the track with this much dew especially with the adjusted altitude quickly dropping,” commented NSCA President Tony DePillo. “We’ll play it safe and run the eliminations for the uncompleted classes at the next event at Thompson, OH.” The action was intense in all the classes and the points battle is escalating as the season hits the halfway mark. In the eliminators that were completed, Jeremy Harris took the record and the BES Pro Comp win over Larry Perkins in a battle of wheelstanding Chevrolets while Stephanie Dimino turned on the red-light to end her Nostalgia Super Stock winning streak and give the win to veteran drag racer Denny Ford. NMRA Factory Stock veteran Tim Duncan defeated Eddie Plybon for his first Street Machine victory and perennial threat Harry Hutten dashed James Gorski’s hopes in American Muscle Car. In Factory Modified, Zack Running made his way to the Winners Circle for the second time this season with a final round win over Dave Layer. In the Rolling Thunderz sponsored classes, Jason Carr drove his wheelstanding 9-second Malibu to victory in the Pump Gas Challenge Supreme Street Class race while Eddie Plybon, who was serving double duty running two classes, took the win in the American SuperCar Challenge Genuine Street Class race. The highlight of the evening was Hardcore Racing owner Ronnie Duke bringing out his 2006 Ford GT for a grudge match with Plybon’s Corvette. Duke pushed his Ford GT to an 11.8/122 mph in testing but violently spun the tires at halftrack to give this round to the Chevrolet. Scheduled for completion at Thompson Dragway will be the Edelbrock Pro Street final with Pro Outlaw Champion John Stanley and Craig Miller in an all blower shootout, Scott Merkel and Jarod Wenrick in Dart Top Sportsman, Jerry Morgano versus Elliot Thompson for the Precision Turbo Super Street crown, Doug Smith versus Pete Ricart in Pro-Filer Nostalgia Pro Street, and Jim MacKenzie and Verlin Hale will vie for the Pro Nostalgia title. Due to a scheduling conflict, Tony Orts will face off against Tommy Mauro at the Dart Motor City Shootout at US131 to complete eliminations in Goodyear Limited Street. Jerry Morgano was the lucky recipient of the Precision Turbo Bonus Bucks, a $500 bonus for entrants in the Super Street eliminator. Hebron, IN based Precision Turbo is the title sponsor of two events on the 2006 CORTECO NSCA event schedule and the official sponsor of Super Street. The NSCA would like to thank Precision Turbo’s Harry Hruska and Rod Short for their support. The next event on the CORTECO NSCA Drag Racing Series schedule will be held August 12-13, 2006 at Thompson Dragway in Thompson, OH. Visit the NSCA website at www.nsca-racing.net for more information.
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