Tony Alm

Tony Alm, who normally competes in NMRA's VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw class, felt the new rules for Edelbrock Xtreme Street gave his turbocharged combination a competitive edge, and after he qualified number one with a 7.72 at 186, it would seem that was the case. In eliminations, Alm unleashed a staggering 7.61 at 187 mph on his bye run, and Charlie Cooper's turbocharged Cobra Jet Mustang dropped a 7.88 on the competition as well. Alm dispatched Cooper in round two with a 7.64, beating Cooper's 7.91, but the nitrous cars were coming with Bill Trovato's LSX-powered Camaro posting a 7.90 and defending champ Dave Hutnick running 7.88.

Alm's turbocharged notchback was set on kill though, taking out Hutnick with a 7.61-to-7.79 lap, and then he finished off Trovato's 7.98 with an incredible 7.60.

The naturally aspirated, high-winding machines of Quick Lane of Toms River N/A 10.5 fought traction issues all weekend, though Leonard Long seemed to find the groove early as he laid down a 7.99 to claim top qualifier, Robbie Blankenship was right behind him with an 8-flat. In eliminations, Blankenship claimed the groove as his own, posting a 7.98, a 7.95, and then a 7.94 in the final to take the win over Dwight Ausmus who had to get off the gas when his Firebird got loose at half-track.

Kevin Lumsden

This event marked the debut of the brand-new Chevrolet Performance Stock class presented by Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center, and the five entries were all working out new-car bugs. Ronnie Hackelton showed just what was capable with the DR525 engine, posting a 10.44 elapsed time to claim number-one qualifier. In a battle of Fourth-Gen Camaros, number-two qualifier, Kevin Lumsden, dispatched Keith Vaughn and then took a bye into the final. Hackelton lost in an upset to Heath Shemwell, who then dropped a slight holeshot on Lumsden in the final. The orange SS of Lumsden, however, packed a little more power and drove around Shemwell at the top end for the 10.71-to-10.89 win.

The Ross Racing Pistons NMCA Muscle Car Nationals hosted a round of the local Ross Racing Pistons Outlaw 632 eighth-mile heads-up class, and it featured many a beautiful, yet wicked-fast muscle cars. Robert Briscoe's Chevy Nova was the gold standard in qualifying with a 4.42 effort. He would proceed through the 12-car field until he lined up next to the bright orange '69 Camaro of Ken Quartuccio. The Camaro was first out of the gate and the holeshot was enough to fend off Briscoe's 4.57 with Quartuccio's slower but winning 4.62.

Another new class that debuted for 2015 was E3 Spark Plugs Top Sportsman. Two of the best Top Sportsman cars in the land raced each other: Matt Buck and Jason Juday. Buck was ahead in qualifying (6.67 to a 7.07), and was obviously the favorite to win. Juday, who hasn't been in the racing game for some 17 years, made his license passes this weekend, and then hammered the Christmas tree with a perfect 0.000 light in the final. Buck wasn't far behind with a respectable 0.029 time, and his 6.87 lap was enough to see him to the finish line before Juday could get there with a 7.20.