Mustang Champs Crowned in the Bluegrass State

Words by Greg Acosta
Photos courtesy NMRA

After an amazing year of racing, with new tracks and new faces, all the competitors of the Keystone NMRA Ford Nationals converged on the small town of Bowling Green, Kentucky, to contest the 11th running of the Nitto Tire NMRA World Finals at Beech Bend Raceway.

Going into the weekend, nine of the twelve classes were undecided. With so much on the line, the racers turned up the wick in hopes of ending the year at the top of the heap. Even as the skies darkened on Sunday and delayed the completion of the race until Monday morning, nothing could stop the racers from giving it their all.

The quickest class in the series, Turbonetics Pro Outlaw 10.5, put on a great show for the finals. At the end of qualifying on Saturday, it was the man with the “1” on his windshield at the top of the ladder, Conrad Scarry, with a 6.75-second blast at over 218 miles per hour. Also, by virtue of qualifying, Dan Millen locked up the points championship before eliminations began.

However, that didn’t seem to faze any of the racers as they all had it set on “kill” on Sunday, with only Jim Brown and Keith Neal left standing in the finals. With the race delayed, both racers’ schedules prevented them from staying over, so a coin toss was agreed upon. As the shiny quarter landed, it was Jim Brown who took the win.

The Ten-Inch Tire Freakshow, a.k.a. ProCharger Super Street Outlay, had a healthy battle between the defending champion John Urist and John Macdonald for the 2009 championship. In qualifying, Urist had troubles when his ‘chutes didn’t open on the top end, sending him on a wild ride that ended just short of the sand pit. Not to be shaken, Urist was ready to rock on Sunday. As the ladder played out Urist and Macdonald met in the second round, and Urist’s victory secured his unprecedented fourth-consecutive and fifth-overall SSO championship.

However the day wasn’t over, and in the final round, Urist had to face Sam Vincent. With his new and improved small-block nitrous combination, Vincent had shown that he had the power to put the champ on the trailer. However as the lights dropped, it was all Urist as he streaked down track to a record-eclipsing 7.31-second pass to take home the win.