Pat Musi, the undisputed "king" of Pro Street racing, was in the house trying the tougher Pro Modified class. Using a borrowed '63 Corvette, he fought electrical, computer and mechanical gremlins finally up-rooting the source of the issues. With the car now leaving under full power, it shook the tires hard on multiple occasions. Musi said, "This is a brand new combination and right now we're working with gear ratios and clutch settings to make the car run from A to B." If his success in the Pro Street ranks is any indication, it shouldn't be long before this team is running competitive times.
Arriving Sunday to test, Todd Tutterow and team provided the breath-stealing moment of the event when during a launch the left axle flange sheared off and the tire exited the car well before the 60-ft clocks. Todd fought to maintain control of the car and did an excellent job preventing the car from making contact with the outside retaining wall. The car suffered minor cosmetic damage; the team loaded up and headed for the shop immediately following the incident to evaluate the rest of the car.
Prior to this incident, Todd ran a leisurely 4.11/177 eighth mile pass despite driving through heavy tire shake.
Toby Chapman brought his Lesco-sponsored blown outlaw dragster and, after overpowering
the track on Saturday and the first run on Sunday,
came back to post back to back 3.97 eighth mile
times. Chapman said that they had worked for
two years to get into the three-second zone.
 Making
one of the only full passes of the day was Center
Morches, NY's John Montecalvo in his Citgo-sponsored
Sonny Leonard Hemi-powered Cavalier. He managed
a very smooth 6.52 @ 212 early on in the day
but subsequent attempts to improve on this failed
as the team was trying new suspension settings
in the never ending quest for lower E.T.s.
Matt Smith, son of Rickie Smith (NHRA and IHRA
Pro Mod and Pro Stock) was testing two cycles.
His "street outlaw bike" with no wheelie
bars and a little extra nudge of power provided
courtesy of NOS, ran a 7.20 at 196 with no problems.
Also testing an NHRA-legal combination Pro Stock
bike, he netted a 7.18 at 183.
Testing his beautiful
Eagle-powered Top Sportsman Grand Prix, Darren
Wilkins wowed the crowd with his spectacular
wheels up launches, carrying them past the 60-ft
mark.
|
