Aaron Stapleton’s red 309-inch ‘05 Mustang (far lane) destroyed the NMRA EFI Renegade records in qualifying with an 8.56/160.52 and was the quickest car in eliminations by nearly two tenths of a second. Bob Cook’s unheralded blue ‘90 fastback (near lane) supplied the event’s biggest stunner in the final round with a holeshot and an 8.94/153 to 9.44/155 upset!
Lexington, Illini “Grandpa Ron” Anderson was racing smallblock Fords thirty years before the creation of the NMRA but still imparts his wisdom to dozens of customers. The old man’s NMRA Pure Street entry, (313-inch maximum on 10.5 X 26 tires), ripped through the field with Low ET at 10.39 and beat NMCA Mean Street winner Jeff Swanson for the overall title.
NMCA’s Nostalgia Muscle Car has successfully revived “Junior Stock” with some amazingly bizarre class-legal combinations; Andy Warren’s D/NMC ‘71 406 Caprice somehow manages to move 4900 pounds a quarter-mile in 11.95 seconds at 113 mph.
Shawn Johnson lost his first elimination round of 2006 at the NMRA event in Martin, MI, but the undisputed king of NMRA’s Factory (Bone) Stock division came back with a vengeance at Joliet, winning on horsepower or holeshots and earning the overall shootout title to boot.
