NMRA at Atco, New Jersey

Words and photos by Greg Acosta

The 2009 Atco round of the NMRA tour fell three months earlier than previous seasons being contested over the weekend of May 16-18. As the new date neared, weather forecasts weren’t looking promising, but the hardcore racers weren’t intimidated by the threat of a little rain, and came out ready to race. As a reward for toughing out the brief rain delay on Sunday morning, they had sub-sea level air in Sunday’s eliminations, resulting in blistering performances and shattered records

In Turbonetics Pro Outlaw 10.5, there was a light field, as several regular competitors weren’t quite finished rebuilding after the incidents in Bradenton. However, if one subscribes to the “quality over quantity” school of talk, three of the four entries were former champions. At the end of qualifying, Dan “The Desert Eagle” Millen sat atop the ladder with a 6.88-second effort. Keith Neil followed Millen with a 6.99, with Tim Essick taking the third spot with a 7.10 best on Saturday. Mike Murillo fought through transmission issues after getting the motor back together earlier in the week, and sat on the bottom rung with a 7.16. Come Sunday, however, it was a whole new ballgame, as Milled had smoked a connecting rod during qualifying and wasn’t able to get it back together for eliminations, giving Murillo – who found his mojo overnight – a single in the first round. Essick advanced over Neal to meet Murillo in the final, where Murillo shattered the current record with a 6.77 at 216 miles per hour to take the win.

ProCharger Super Street Outlaw, affectionately known as the “Ten-Inch Tire Freakshow” gave its fans more than their money’s worth this weekend. In Friday’s night qualifying session, John “The Fireball” Urist managed to do something only he has done before, and that was to dip into the 7.30-second zone, with a 7.39 at 189 miles per hour, taking the number one qualifier spot and putting the field on notice. However, races are won and lost on Sunday, and nothing drove that point home more than Urist’s first round loss to Chris Tuten. Tuten, who has been struggling with his small-turbo combination in SSO, ran a 7.515 to Urist’s 7.519. However after the semifinal round, the only two fighters left in the Freakshow were “Burndown Don” Burton and Yanni “SuperGreek” Papakosmas. In an upset, Papakosmas took the win on a holeshot, running a 7.61 to Burton’s quicker-but-losing 7.59 for his first SSO win.