Words by Greg Acosta
Photos courtesy NMRA

The 34th Annual NMRA Ford Expo, held over the Labor Day weekend at National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio, is usually bursting at the seams with all forms of vehicle from the Blue Oval family as in addition to the normal NMRA race and car show, there are special classes for Nostalgia cars and Y-Blocks. Of course, Mother Nature likes to throw a monkey wrench into the gears now and then, and the remnants of Hurricane Isaac threatened the race from the get-go. Fortunately, the NMRA race staff was on the ball and was able to get the race completed in the dry spells.

ProCharger Super Street Outlaw was light, with one of the always-there racers in the class, John Urist, at home with his very pregnant wife, leaving Phil Hines as the only class regular. Hines was joined by class newcomer Brian Green, who had spark plug issues all weekend. Hines didn’t go easy on the newbie, carding a 7.18 at over 203 mph in qualifying while green sputtered to a 13.86 at 129 mph. In eliminations, Hines (shown) took the win unopposed, as Green didn’t get his issues sorted out to his satisfaction.

Blow-By Racing Renegade had a 10-car field with a first-timer in the bunch. After two rounds of abbreviated qualifying, “Titanium Bob” Cook sat on the pole, with a blazing 8.54 at over 160 miles per hour. As eliminations rolled through, Cook was out in the semis against Chad Allmandinger while on the other side of the ladder, Brian Mitchell worked his way into the final round to meet Allmandinger in the final. The pair left with near-identical reaction times, but Mitchell pulled ahead down track to take the win light, 8.49 to 8.64.

AFCO Drag Radial only had one competitor brave the elements and come out, and that was the man wearing the number 1 on his windshield, Jason Lee. He qualified with a best run of 7.64 at over 187 miles per hour and just took the beams for the win.