Rain Slows Eliminations

The first round of Super Pro Street eliminations at the Real World Street Nationals had just begun and as the rain moved from the top end shut-down area toward and the over the starting line Tony Christian’s crew began covering the racecar.  Other racers followed and began to retreat from the staging lanes back to safety of their transporters.

At one time in the early afternoon the Orlando Speed World track crew and NHRA jet track drier from nearby Gainesville had the quarter mile dried and ready for the announcers to call racers to the staging lanes.  That call to the lanes never came as a drizzle started - turning into a steady rain for the afternoon.

With today’s rain delays Track Manager Carl Weisinger back in the Speed World Tower commented, “First we got to wait for it to quit raining, then we have to start drying before we’ve got any idea how long it’ll take to dry.  This is an important race to a lot of people who came a long way and we at least need to get through the first round.  And if we can’t do that today and continue on then we’ll probably try again tomorrow.”

Weisinger then added, “Well yesterday (Saturday) was the biggest single day crowd we’ve had here at this racetrack.  A lot of that is because of the Appliance Direct people and a terrific ad campaign they did for us… we were on eight radio stations, billboards all over Orlando and on four TV stations.  In this economy I was really impressed with that.”

Ultimately the rain won out on Sunday postponing the Real World Street Nationals.  Racing will resume on Monday morning with the completion of Super Pro Street eliminations being up first on the schedule.

Round One Super Pro Street

This is as far as number five qualifier Tony Christian got before the rains came, he backed up from the burnout and shut off with a rain squall approaching the shut down area on what would have been a single run.  Craig Miller failed to show up for the first round.

Round One Super Pro Street

Tony Williams took the victory on a holeshot over a quicker Greg Cason.  Williams’ Camaro ran a 6.919 defeating a 6.862 for Cason.

Round One Super Pro Street

Scott Cannon ran a "best of the round so far" 6.625 taking the win over an out of shape TJ Dehaven who coasted to a 10.039.

Round One Super Pro Street

Annette Summer drove through heavy tire shake shutting off early after Ric Fleck fouled on the starting line.

Round One Super Pro Street

Todd Amandus took the win over Steve Kirk Jr after Kirk, on a 7.017 run, was moving around on the top end and crossed the centerline nipping a timing cone.  Amandus slowed to a 10.681 elapsed time with the cutes out early.

Super Pro Street Pits

Tony Christian gets ready for Sunday eliminations warming his nitrous-fed 738 inch Reher Morrison engine.  Christian will have a single in the first round as Craig Miller’s Pontiac is broken and will not make the call.

Super Pro Street pits

Number nine Super Pro Street qualifier Annette Summer prepares to warm up her turbocharged ‘57 Bel Air as her team readies a second transmission for future elimination rounds today.

The Quiet Man Watches

Engine wizard Scott Shafiroff smiles knowingly as Vinny Budano warms the engine on his ‘68 Camaro on Sunday morning.

Here’s the crash video of Gino Bia, who was qualified #8 in Heavy Street in his ‘72 Olds-powered Barracuda with a 7.555 at 183.52 MPH until all hell broke loose.  Bia bounces back off the right guardwall headed into the left lane as he runs over what is thought to be a ballast weigh knocked off from under his Cuda.