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The Yellowbullet Nationals has cemented itself as one of the must-attend events for small-tire racers, with promoter Monty Mikho putting up big bucks to win and Cecil County Dragway owner Jim Halsey providing what is often touted as the best racing surface in the entire northeast part of the country.
This past weekend several Holley EFI racers performed admirably, with one massive milestone broken and three final-round appearances on elimination day. This event brings out the toughest racers in the country in these classes, as Cecil County is a hotbed of X275 and Ultra Street action. Both classes have risen to prominence largely because of the action that occurs at Cecil County Dragwayโs monthly Street Car Shoot Out events.
Ron Rhodes has always walked his own path in X275, refining and adjusting his small-block Chevy nitrous combination to be a frontrunner regardless of rule changes. This weekend Rhodes had the quickest car of the event until the final round when parts breakage derailed his freight-train Camaro against Rob Goss's Dodge Challenger.
Ron Rhodes has about a year-and-a-half of electronic fuel injection usage under his belt on what we like to think of as the worldโs most awesome X275 machine. His stunning โ68 Camaro uses a Holley Dominator EFI-equipped traditional small-block Chevrolet engine and is still equipped with leaf springs, unlike every other competitor in the class.
With the help of tuners Mike Thompson and Dean Marinis, Rhodes has employed a lockup transmission, which has not been without its struggles as he works to stay at the top of the class with respect to performance and consistency.
He has been immensely successful with this car but battled track demons throughout the qualifying sessions. During the test session on Thursday, Rhodes tore the splines out of the forward drum in the transmission, received an overnight shipment from Rodney Massengale at RPM Transmissions and repaired the issue on Friday morning before qualifying began.
These struggles are not due to the quality of the parts, as Rhodes is pushing the absolute edge when it comes to lightweight parts and sometimes the parts arenโt happy with what heโs trying to do.
His 4.201 qualifying effort placed him fourth on the list entering eliminations, with only Mike Cerminaro, Rob Goss, and Dom DiDonato just thousandths of a second quicker in one of the quickest X275 fields ever assembled.
On elimination day, Rhodes used his first-round broke bye to test out the track surface and rocketed to a 4.182, the quickest pass of the session and .01 ahead of Gossโs 4.192, also achieved on a broke bye. The second round saw Rhodes turn in a 4.190 effort on the receiving end of a red-bulb gift from Brendan Mills. In the semifinal, Mark Dykeman didnโt make the call, but Rhodes put down a statement pass with a 4.156/172 mph blast, cementing himself as the racer to beat with the quickest ETs through the elimination rounds.
In the finals, he met up with Goss in a battle of X275 titans; with Goss drawing a .004 advantage on the starting line, Rhodes had his work cut out for him on the big end and hustled to catch up. Sadly, the forward drum expired again at half-track and ended his weekend as Goss crossed the finish line for the win.
โIt took us four days to get my racecar back after I decided to try to make it better. We found it just in time for eliminations but had a parts failure in the trans when we went into high gear in the final round. Weโll fix it and come back better than ever,โ said Rhodes.
The Hartsock/Wile Ultra Street team was on point at the Yellowbullet Nationals, breaking the class record and dominating the competition right up until the final round.
During the final round of Ultra Street qualifying, tuner โ and one half of the Hartsock/Wile Ultra Street team โ Connor Hartsock laid a tune in the teamโs car that shocked the world, blasting the teamโs big-block Chevrolet, nitrous-injected, Holley Dominator-equipped Mustang into the stratosphere with a monumental 4.493 effort at more than 155mph.
How sweet is it to take your home-built hot rod out to the racetrack and compete in Ultra Street with some of the most talented small-tire racers in the country on a weekend when you set the class record, broke a milestone many fans of the class thought would never be touched, and go to the final round before parts failure ends your weekend?
โIt started rocky for the first two passes in testing Thursday; we changed the nitrous system, fuels, and multiple suspension components, but the Holley Dominator made my life as a tuner easy work by being able to make quick changes all in one box, tune in every cylinder for the nitrous plate and correct for the different fuel. By Thursday afternoon, we had a 4.50 bracket car. We never went slower than a 4.58 all weekend. It was an amazing weekend for me and Dylan overall, grabbing the Ultra Street record and becoming the first car in the 4.40s, which is what we set out to do this year. We brought it all the way to the finals only for the cylinder we hurt pushing the car into the 4.40 zone to show its face right at the 330-foot mark and backfire, leaving us in the runner-up spot,โ said Hartsock.
This carโs performance results from the efforts of many talented people; the team relies on the generosity and kindness of several partners to support its endeavors on the track. Hartsockโs father builds the big-block Chevrolet nitrous-injected engine at Hartsock Racing Engines. Many others donate their time and expertise to help these two talented racers achieve their dreams. Stay tuned for a full feature on this car and team in the future!
Yankeyโs Nova not only performs well but its appearance was such that the Yellowbullet Nationals team awarded him the coveted Best Appearing Race Car award over the weekend. Yankeyโs Nova knocks off 4.20s in the 1/8th mile.
The Warriors Outlaw class is unique at the Yellowbullet Nationals as it is designed to bring together many different cars and combinations all aligned with the Warriors Outlaw Race Teamโs stated goal of supporting the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Devin Yankey made the trip with his stunning twin-turbo, Holley Dominator-equipped โ67 Nova built by JSC Racing Fabrication in Pennsylvania.
During eliminations, Yankey won handily over Tink Liptrap, John Cheman (broke bye), and Bill Cole before falling to Scott Klineโs Nova in the final round.
โWe came to our first Yellowbullet event ever, behind the eight-ball on a new chassis and engine combo. JSC was on board to work with the car and off the trailer it went 4.20s. My wife Jessica said we have something to work with now! After that we went rounds. In the finals we stepped up and the track didnโt hold it. Short story: best time ever; for now!โ said Yankey.
