Doug Reisterer (Doug Israel Photography)

Outlaw Pro Mod racing is alive and well at the famed Texas Motorplex, where 12 entries showed up June 2, attempting to break into the eight-car O’Reilly Auto Parts Outlaw Pro Mod show. After two scheduled rounds of qualifying, veteran nitrous racer Doug Riesterer secured the top spot with 4.01-second blast at 187.52 mph, and then went on to score his first Texas Outlaw Pro Modified Association (TOPMA) win of the year.

“We’ve been racing with TOPMA forever and it’s really great to race with them at the Motorplex this year because the track is always in good shape and there’s a lot of room out there,” said Riesterer, a chemical engineer from Victoria, TX. “It makes it a lot easier for us to put on a good show.”

Driving a wild, multi-colored ’68 Camaro, Riesterer got his personal show going with a win over Eddie Roach in round one of eliminations before overcoming a sizable holeshot by Brandon McKinney to prevail again in the semis. Meanwhile, third-place qualifier Bob Alexander beat Phil Binkley in the opening round, then defeated Steve Wiley, winner of the previous TOPMA event at the Motorplex last month, to also reach the final round.

Alexander obviously came ready to race, posting a .014 reaction time in his C5 Corvette to Riesterer’s .029 off the start, but that lead soon disappeared and Riesterer won with another solid 4.08 effort at 180.50 mph.

“I had to pedal the car a little off the line, but then I started to catch him and I knew he had to be having trouble because it’s not too often I’m going to be catching a screw-blown car,” Riesterer said.

As it turned out, Alexander crossed the finish line in 4.23 seconds at 158.04 mph, just as he lost control and sideswiped the right guardwall. Track rescue personnel reached his side within 30 seconds of the car coming to a stop and helped Alexander to emerge unscathed from the wreck.

“I pulled the chutes and could feel it slowing down; I didn’t even hit the brakes. It’s like the front of the car dug in and went left,” Alexander recalled. “Then I hit the front, hit the back and came back into the center of the groove.”

Also visiting victory lane at the Texas Motorplex this past Saturday were Tommy Platt with a win over Scott Davis in the 5.0 Index final, Tim Henry in the 5.50 class, and Jay Casey in 6.0.

Former Top Fuel pilot Spencer Massey got the 7.0 Index win with his ’70 Nova.  (Randy Curtis photo)

The 7.90 Jr. Dragster final belonged to Daniel Jones, while 8.90 Jr. Dragster honors went to Audrey Wiley, daughter of defending TOPMA series champion Steve Wiley, and Brody Tigue claimed the 11.90 Jr. Dragster title.

TOPMA will return on July 7 to the Texas Motorplex for its third of five scheduled O’Reilly Auto Parts Outlaw Pro Mod Shows this year.    [06/05/18]

Among the presenters at the Wednesday, June 6, CMT Music Awards in Nashville will be NHRA Funny Car driver Courtney Force.

“As a country music lover, I am thrilled to be representing NHRA and am humbled to be in a room full of so many talented artists and performers,” said Courtney.

The 2018 CMT Music Awards will be held at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. CMT offers a mix of original series, music events and specials, and is available at two cable channels (CMT and the 24-hour music channel, CMT Music) and www.cmt.com as well as CMT Radio.  (Ron Lewis photo)   [06/05/18]

The 24th annual Hot Rod Power Tour kicks off on Saturday, June 9, at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, KY, and rolls through seven cities over the course of the next seven days.

Other tour stops are:

Sunday, June 10: Chattanooga State Community College in Chattanooga, TN

Monday, June 11: Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, AL

Tuesday, June 12: Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, GA

Wednesday, June 13: Darlington Raceway in Darlington, SC

Thursday, June 14: PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC

FINALE on Friday, June 15: zMAX Dragway in Concord, NC

Participants may register a vehicle (any year, make or model) for just one day, two days or more at www.hotrod.comevents/power-tour.    [06/05/18]

The National Muscle Car Association has announced a new class aimed at modern high-performance, street-legal vehicles that are available right off the showroom floor.

This class is expanding the Factory Stock concept with the support of Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels. The class, which will make its debut at the NMCA All-American Nationals in Norwalk, OH, on Aug. 23-26, is for modern IRS-equipped muscle cars and sedans – the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Challenger and even the Cadillac CTS-V and Pontiac G8 among others.

Vehicles competing in Heavy Street will be required to meet a 4,000-pound minimum weight and run on a minimum 17-inch diameter rear wheel, clad in DOT-approved tires. The original engine platform for the make and model must be retained, and power adders are a virtually anything-goes affair, with single or dual power sources permissible. Like the engine, the transmission is also required to be of original spec for the vehicle.

The category will also feature a unique format that will forego a traditional qualifying ladder.

“We are using a different type of format for Heavy Street. The class will run as a heads-up eliminator but there will be no qualifying ladder,” commented Rollie Miller, general manager and event director of NMCA. “Competitors will make three qualifying runs to get their car tuned up but not formally put on an elimination ladder. The pairings on Sunday will be randomly selected using chips pulled from a hat, much like we do in Outlaw True Street and No Time competitions.”   [06/05/18]

Graphics for motorsports marketing company Energize will be on the side of Corey and Kyle Michalek’s Top Alcohol Dragster for two events this year at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, OH.

While both have competition licenses, Corey will drive and Kyle will tune at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, June 21-24, and the 41st annual Night Under Fire on Aug. 11.

Energize is owned by Norwalk track president Bill Bader Jr. The Spitzer Race Cars-built dragster is powered by a 433-ci nitro-injected Hemi using Alan Johnson Performance Engineering components.   [06/05/18]