Between crash clean-up and weather delays the Orlando track crew has certainly had their work cut out for them this weekend and deserves credit for keeping the strip in raceable condition.

The wet stuff returned mid-afternoon, right after the last pair of Outlaw 10.5 cars made their second elimination pass. It was a short, but heavy shower, forcing a lengthy delay for track drying and prep.  Once racing resumed about 6:30 just two Drag Radial pairings took the green light before Eric Stubbs of Pasadena, TX, lost control approaching half-track and punched in both right corners of his ‘91 Mustang. Shortly after, the rain returned and by 8 p.m. the decision was reached to pull the plug on racing for today.

Race director Randy Weisinger said gates will open on Monday at 8:30 a.m., with racing expected to resume about one hour later. He also suggested calling the track at (407) 568-5522 for the latest information.

They managed to complete round two of qualifying for Heavy Street, Super Pro Street and Outlaw 10.5 last night in that order, but with nearly 100 Drag Radial cars in the lanes at 2 a.m., a phone call from a local councilman put an end to Saturday’s (Sunday morning’s) action at the Real World Street Nationals. The weather is much improved today with broken cloud cover and higher temps in the mid-80s and typical Florida humidity. Drag Radial’s second round of qualifying had a scheduled start of 8:30 a.m., but one final rainfall (hopefully!) shortly after 7 pushed back the start to 11 a.m. and it’s still underway at noon. Eliminations for all four classes will follow.

It’s 9 p.m., the remaining 12 or so Heavy Street entries are in the staging lanes and Super Pro Street just got the call to the lanes. Time to go!

Several oildowns and minor accidents significantly slowed the progression of qualifying on Friday and the first round for all four classes was still underway at 9 p.m. With 11 Drag Radial cars still in the lanes before the conclusion of their opening round, yet another lengthy clean up was underway, but just as the Orlando track crew finished up it started raining, prompting race officials to call it a day. Drag Radial qualifying will resume at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, followed by round two of Heavy Street, Super Pro Street, Outlaw 10.5 and back to Drag Radial.

The name says it all. Much like "Indy" or "Monaco" conjures up images of open-wheeled greatness and "Daytona" or "Darlington" defines NASCAR's best, "Orlando" has come to represent the epitome of doorslammin' outlaw street car racing. And with a fresh, new look for this year's 15th annual version of the Real World Street Nationals, Orlando Speedworld Dragway is taking the event to an even higher level for fans and racers alike. (DRO file photo by Ian Tocher)

For the first time in the 15-year history of the Real World Street Nationals, Orlando Speedworld Dragway welcomed racers to arrive on Wednesday for pit parking and nearly 150 teams took advantage of the early-bird offer. By mid-afternoon on Thursday more than 260 race rigs were already on the grounds and more were arriving every few minutes. Track operator Carl Weisinger, who recently completed a major overhaul of the historic, central-Florida speed factory, is expecting a record turnout from racers and fans alike for this year’s $100,000 event.

New York street racing veteran Tony Christian is already at the track, where he’ll be joined by the likes of perennial rival Pat Musi, last year’s Super Pro Street runner-up Chuck Samuels and Annette Summer with her wild twin-turbocharged ‘63 Corvette. Part-time Top Fuel pilot Scott Palmer also is expected to compete and several cars or combos will make their competition debuts, including a twin-turboed ‘62 Bel-Air from chassis builder Dan Parker with John Gullet behind the wheel.

In Outlaw 10.5 Tim Lynch and tuner Steve Petty are coming off a record-setting win at Englishtown, NJ, a couple of weeks back and will be looking to score a third Orlando title, but first they’ll have to get through such heavy hitters as defending champ Chuck Ulsch, Texas Twister Jeff Naiser and 2006 ORSCA champion Steve Kirk Jr.

In Heavy Street, defending event champ Monty Berney was still looking for a ride just a few weeks back, but expect to see drivers like Bill Lutz, Marino Cintron and John Schroeder head south to mix it up at 3,500 pounds apiece.

Last year Mike Keenan arrived all the way from Albuquerque, NM, to win the always-tough Drag Radial class. No word yet on whether Keenan will return, but ORSCA regulars Shane Stack and Spurgeon Adkins should be there along with a strong contingent of south-Florida teams.

The venerable Speedworld facility has been spruced up with a fresh coat of yellow and red paint throughout, more paved access roads and professional landscaping. Spectators will directly benefit from dramatically improved restrooms on both sides of the track, expanded seating and new, state-of-the-art scoreboards augmented by a new, more powerful public address system. Most significantly for racers, Weisinger installed new concrete retaining walls from start to shutdown, a new timing system, more trackside lighting in the shutdown area and two additional staging lanes. There’s also a new track-owned fire/rescue truck, two new track services trucks, two new track scrubber/vacuums and a new tractor with rotating broom to help clean and pick up spills.

See DRO’s previous coverage of the Real World Street Nationals at:
http://www.dragracingonline.com/livecoverage/viii_10-orlando-1.html
http://www.dragracingonline.com/raceresults/2005/vii_10-street-1.html
http://www.dragracingonline.com/raceresults/2004/vi_10-orlando-1.html