NMCA at Maple Grove

Words and photos by Jake “The Snake” Amatisto

The 7th annual Kook’s Custom Headers NMCA Muscle Car Nationals started off a little unusual at Maple Grove Raceway. Friday began with some expected showers that lasted the entire day, but it cleared overnight and it was looking to be good weekend of racing. When the first round started on Saturday morning, track officials found that there was some water seepage at the top end of the racetrack, which forced them to run the majority of the first qualifying session in eighth mile format, a first for the NMCA series. When Sunday rolled around, the track dried and the racing was put back to quarter mile and the eliminations began. 

A newcomer in Pro Street, Joe Dunne came out of nowhere with his Pat Musi-powered machine and took out some heavy hitters to get to the final. Driving an all-new Jerry Bickel Camaro that he picked up only days before the Maple Grove race, he entered his new killer and managed to win it all.

His victory didn’t come easily either as he beat two of the best in the business after disposing of Vinny Budano in the semis and Troy Coughlin in one of the closest finals in recent history. Dunne took both wins on holeshots. Dunne busted a series of great reaction times throughout eliminations that, in the end, proved to be his biggest advantage over the other racers. In the finals he cut a nice .016 against Coughlin’s .020 and ran a 6.412 to Coughlin’s 6.411, the margin of victory came down to a matter of inches at the stripe in an incredible drag race.