Drag Racing Online - Race Results

NMCA DRIVERS START 2001 SEASON AT MOROSO

By Jeff Burk.
Photos by Steve Gruenwald.

It has now become a tradition for drag racing's street legal set to open their season with an NMCA-sanctioned race at historic Moroso Motorsports Park located in West Palm Beach, Florida. Street-legal fans look forward to this event as their first chance to see new cars, new classes, and who will establish themselves as the favorites for the rest of the season.

Fans and racers weren't disappointed this year, as one of the largest crowds-if not the largest crowd-ever attended an NMCA race at Moroso, according to track owner and competitor Rick Moroso, saw new classes and new cars but mostly the same names in the winners circle at this opening event.

ONE IS BETTER THAN TWO!
For the 2001 season NMCA decided to combine the old Pro Street and Outlaw Street classes into just one class. Their hope was that doing so would deliver a better show for their spectators by getting the best cars of what had been two weak classes in 2000. By any standards the Outlaw Pro Street class turned out to be everything they had hoped for. For the first time ever there were entrants in an NMCA premier class that didn't get to race on Sunday.

NITROUS CARS DOMINATE P/O/S

Twenty cars at Moroso attempted to qualify for the 16-car field. Qualifying was lead by NSCA Pro Street hitter and nitrous racers Pat Musi (above) followed by his customer and buddy Marc Dantoni (below). Musi put his '99 Firebird on the pole with a 6.703/210 lap followed closely by Dantoni's '97 Monte Carlo at 6.771/207.70.

BLOWN CARS STRUGGLE!

The first blown car to qualify was Chuck Samuels in his turbocharged S-10 truck. The first supercharged car to qualify was eventual runner-up Freey (sic) Davis (above) whose blown Corvette recorded a 6.87/208 in his final round loss to defending O/S World Champ Marc Dantoni whose nitrous injected Monte ran a 6.780/206.70. (next page)