oroso Motorsports Park hosted the 2nd annual BFGoodrich Tires NHRA Sport Compact Nationals. With national records falling faster than the mosquitoes being swatted off the arms of the capacity crowd, the compact racers saw a race ready track in their second stop on the tour.

With help from her husband and crew chief, Gary Kubo, and the first Top Fuel Funny Car driver to 300-mph and Director of Saturn Motorsports, Jim Epler, Lisa Kubo and her Saturn Ion Quad Coupe qualified No. 1 with a spectacular run of 7.963 seconds at 180.83 mph in the first round of qualifying, shattering the eight-second barrier and giving her the national e.t. record for ProFWD.

Nelson Hoyos' '03 Chevy Cavalier went 7.997 seconds at 185.56 mph in the second round of qualifying for the second seven-second run in ProFWD.


Ed Bergenholtz in his '04 Mazda 6 qualified third and met Hoyos in the first round of eliminations. Hoyos' 11.720 beat the Mazda's 8.729. Bergenholtz threw in a little extra entertainment with the demolition of the 330-ft cones.

Lisa Kubo and Saturn's Jim Epler celebrate in the winners circle.

For the fifth time in a row, Kubo and Hoyos met in the final round on Sunday, with Kubo beating Hoyos' holeshot with a 8.003/186.87, backing up her national record and setting new track speed record.

ProRWD's first round of qualifying saw Matt Scranton go 6.942/199.42 in the '03 Celica for the No. 1 spot. George Ioannou grabbed the No. 2 spot with a 7.062 at 207.13 mph for the fastest mile per hour in sport compact drag racing history. Brad Personett's '04 Titan Celica went 7.263/192.80 for No. 3, followed by Carlos Montano, Brent Rau, Manny Cruz, Brendan Alvarez, and Henry Garcia on the bump.


Craig Paisley, not qualified, replaced Rau due to parts breakage in the first round of eliminations.

Paisley's '03 Toyota Tacoma got past Carlos Montano, who had problems with his rotary Mazda MX6 in the second round, and then got the win over Scranton to head to the final. Ioannou went 7.130/205.10mph, backing up his 207-mph for the record, to beat Personett in the semi.

So it was George Ioannou and Craig Paisley in an all-Toyota final. Paisley did a crowd-igniting burnout and then stamped a big holeshot on Ioannou, but the Solara of Ioannou (pictured) went around Paisley's Tacoma for a 7.275/191.77, defeating Paisley's 7.784/146.67. Ioannou is nine for nine in his final round appearances.

In the Turbo Magazine Hot Rod class, the '04 Pontiac Sunfire driven by Marty Ladwig was number 1 after Saturday. After some problems on the line and a 21-second reaction time, Ladwig went 8.181/175.74, obliterating the national record of 8.45 set last year by Gary Gardella.

Ladwig (pictured) had a bye run first round and met Gary Gardella's '93 Civic in the semi's. Ladwig's Sunfire went 8.163/173.54 to take out Gardella and break his previous e.t. record run. Ladwig met Chris Gore's '97 Civic in the final and did it again. Ladwig went 8.082/177.09 to Gore's slowing 11.860/81.44, once again pushing the e.t. bar to almost four-tenths quicker than the previous national record to take home the champion's trophy.

No turbo, no blower, no nitrous -- the Honda Tuning All Motor class saw Jesus Padilla's rotary dominate. Padilla qualified in the first position with a 9.968-second pass at 130.89 mph with his '85 Mazda. In the semi-final Padilla ran 9.951/131.63mph to beat Scott Mohler's Neon pass of 10.125/133.29.

Jeremy Lookofsky's '02 DVS Civic took out Otis Evans in round 1, went around Ken Scheepers in round 2, and had a bye run in the semi's. In the final, Lookofsky left first, but Padilla's 9.998/131.75 defeated Lookofsky's 10.288/129.87.

You couldn't go wrong betting on a Carlos to win the Modified class. Carlos Gonzalez' '91 RX7 qualified first with an 8.055 at 166.91 mph, while Carlos Perez' '83 RX7 grabbed No. 2 with an 8.283/155.49. Carlos Gonzalez Jr.'s '73 RX3 qualified third with an 8.299/163.16, followed by Jose Ortiz, Luis Ferrer Jr., Hector Cabrera, Gary White, and Jose Toledo. Perez defeated Gonzalez Jr. in the semi's, while Jr.'s father planned revenge by beating Ferrer Jr.

Perez broke at the line to hand Gonzalez a single pass in the final round. Gonzalez ran 8.472 seconds at 167.62 mph, and picked up his trophy.


In Sport FWD, Jason Hunt's Civic took it all the way, qualifying number 1 and defeating number 2 qualifier Brian Ballard's '91 CRX with a 10.034/149.20 over a 10.161/149.65.

Sport RWD, featuring both rear wheel and all wheel driven vehicles, saw number two qualifier Farley Mahabar's Supra run a 12.347/103.09 to defeat No. 1 qualifier Juan Ruiz' '88 Porsche, which clocked a 12.400/125.99 in the final round.

The records...shattered. The racers...ecstatic. The fans...thoroughly entertained.


The sport compact drag race at Moroso drew a variety of spectators, including this alligator. This is probably one track you really don't want to drive past the shut-off area.

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