Words by Jason Reiss and Jeff Burk
Photos by Mike Galmi

The NMCA and historic Atco Dragway celebrated a decade of thrills and fast doorslammer action when the Mustang’s of the NMRA returned to Atco Dragway for their 10th annual visit. A total of 12 different classes and 147 entries including a truck class were on the card for the three-day extravaganza of fast Mustangs and Ford trucks. A combination of great atmospheric conditions and a biting Atco surface delivered some great performances and new NMCA records including the sanctioning bodies first ever nine-second pass (9.99) in its Pure Street class.  

It has been a more than a month since the last NMRA event and an even longer two months since the season opener in Bradenton.  That gave the NMCA racers plenty of time to work on their rides getting them ready to attack the Atco quarter-mile track,

The Pro Outlaw 10.5 class was won by 2008 NMCA Champ, Conrad Scarry. In the championship round Scarry lined up against number one qualifier Mike Murillo. Murillo had earlier set both Low ET and Top Speed for the class with a blistering 6.7142 effort. He also set the Top Speed of the meet mark at 219.222 mph. But he couldn’t carry that performance over in the finals as he had a wounded motor and had to watch as Scarry motored to a 6.76 win.  

Five-time Pro Charger Super Street Outlaw Champion John Urist continued his absolute domination of the class by almost “running the table” at Atco. He qualified into the field in the top spot with a 7.402 blast, just in front of Bradenton winner Johnny MacDonald.  The pair then waded through the field in Eliminations to meet in the final round, where Urist’s 7.43 coupled with a holeshot was just enough to hold off arch-rival MacDonald for the win.

The only honor that Urist didn’t claim was the Top Speed mark, which went to MacDonald’s 194.322.