Mark Micke
In the Pro Street category, 17 of the best Pro Street drivers in the country showed up but by Saturday morning, after a late, cold night of qualifying, nobody on the premises knew for certain who would be the champion as five competitors were solidly in the 6.30 range. After a slew of close side-by-side races, Vinny Budano got the glory by taking down Tony “The Sandman” Williams, Noel Felton, Steve King, and finally Bradenton winner Mark Micke in the finals with a 6.31 at 223 mph run.
Defending Super Street champion Jim Blair heats the hides before taking out Tony Nesbitt in the semi-finals.
In Super Street, Glidden thrashed on his familiar ride all weekend and was able to make it past the quicker turbo car of Pappas, and finally defending champ Jim Blair with a 6.99 run, despite breaking his “A” motor in a earlier round. He won it all after Jim Blair’s ProCharged Mustang got out of shape in the finals.
In Nostalgia Pro Street, Kevin Parent qualified third, but was able to overthrow Barb Nesbitt in the first, Mike Schmidt in the second, and got a bye before getting to the finals to take down Jim Widener’s Mustang after the rearend catastrophically failed, chucking the pinion support and driveshaft out of the car in a huge fiery explosion.
In Xtreme Street, Cameron Coble went through a tough bunch of racers to get to finals in his BBC-powered nitrous Mustang. He faced class newcomer Aaron Stapleton in the finals and was able to get it done with a back-monkey-eliminating 7.96 run against Stapleton’s surprising 8.25.