Pro Mod racer Rich Sachsel

NMCA at Bradenton, Fla.

Two classes added at 2015 Muscle Car Nationals

Results and photos courtesy NMCA

There was lots of excitement going into the 13th Annual Ross Racing Pistons NMCA Muscle Car Nationals that took place March 20-22 in Bradenton, Florida. With two new classes debuting and the addition of the local Outlaw 632 eighth-mile points race, the action during the NMCA Flowmaster Drag Racing Series season opener did not disappoint.

In VP Racing Fuels Pro Mod new rules for 2015 opened up the class to vehicles with roots or twin-screw superchargers. These alcohol-injected beasts with their raucous exhaust notes emanating from their zoomie headers certainly grabbed everyone's attention in Bradenton.

John Benoit of Vermont made the only 5-second run of the weekend with his nitrous car and went number one in qualifying, but the juice didn't last long. Michael Biehle II in his turbocharged machine and Robert Abbott in his supercharged '69 Camaro charged to the final. Rumor has it that Abbott was nursing a serious illness all weekend, but he made pass after pass regardless.

In the final race of the day, Biehle took the advantage off the line and his twin turbos hauled the mail on the top end with a 6.09/252mph winning performance to Abbott's 6.17/228. Hopefully Abbott, Rick Sachsel, and Tommy Dwyer will bring their blower cars to Atlanta and make some more noise in the Pro Mod ranks. 

Mickey Thompson Radial Wars was another exciting class to watch over the weekend. With Jason Carter's Malibu still getting some updates, Mark Micke got behind the wheel of Nick Agostino's twin-turbocharged Camaro, a car that everyone in the ranks said had the stones to run 3.9s. Micke took the Radial Wars Top Qualifier spot with a 4.10 pass at 194 mph.

In the final, though, it would be the Corvettes of reigning Radial Wars champ, Keith "Purple Rain" Berry and Mark "Woody" Woodruff that were lined up next to each other. Berry took the starting line advantage and never let up, taking the win with a 4.19/189 over Woodruff's 4.28 at 179 mph.

ARP Nitrous Pro Street always brings out some interesting cars. Throughout qualifying, competitors faced much adversity with new car/combination bugs, and even equipment failure that led to an overnight thrash by Danny Shemwell's crew. Putting in the hours proved fruitful, as Shemwell got his '69 Camaro into the final against Jeff Rudolf, himself facing a small nitrous explosion on his bye in the first round of eliminations. Both got the repairs completed and in the final, Shemwell pulled the holeshot and never looked back, while Rudolf's repaired hood launched into the air down track. Still, it was a close race with Shemwell taking the win, 7.57 to 7.65.

Phil Hines was the last Stainless Works Street Outlaw car to get into qualifying, but his car showed it was already dialed in and didn't need much to get him into the final against a hard-charging Eric Gustafson. Gustafson arrived with his NMCA WEST 2014 ProCharger Street Outlaw championship in hand, and his 6.94, 6.90, and 6.88 efforts showed the champ was here to bring the pain to the east coast contingent.

Though Dwayne Barbaree had also jumped into the 6’s, it was Hines meeting Gustafson in the final. Hines got the jump off the line and posted a 6.98 for the win. Gustafson had posted the faster 6.97, but his speed was down over 20 mph at the stripe, suggesting the engine was hurt and that he quite possibly would have run much quicker had it been at full steam the entire pass.