6874PTK-3For the second year in a row, the Holley NMRA Nationals Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA Power Festival presented by Force Engineering was a smashing success. Held at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, the combination event that brings the NMRA and NMCA together created a packed house with over 500 entrants battling for awesome Victor trophies and valuable championship points.

Racers fought the heat and ran long into Friday and Saturday nights. Each day the drama built, with intense qualifying and some amazingly close elimination rounds. The event culminated in the final rounds on Sunday, when the champions were crowned. In addition to the high-horsepower hitters, fans enjoyed the UPR car show, manufacturer’s midway and special classes such as the F.A.S.T. (Factory Appearing Stock Tire) category.

Despite switching from a Roots-style to a ProCharger supercharger, Samantha Moore powered her way to the Limited Street final where she took a win in her Vector Motorsports Mustang.

The NMRA’s top class VP Racing Madditives Street Outlaw class was combined with the Mickey Thompson Street Outlaw class from the NMCA. Unfortunately, Mustang drivers bowed out early, resulting in an NMCA battle in the final round. Tony Hobson, who did take a win in the St. Louis make-up final, had the highest qualified NMRA entry with his 1990 Mustang. He ran 4.30 at 164 MPH, but fell to Marty Stinnett’s small-block Chevy-powered Fox Mustang, while fellow NMRA racer Steve Halprin’s New Edge lost to Ron Rhodes, both in the second round. Rob Goss and his feared Dodge Challenger Drag Pak grabbed the Street Outlaw win for the NMCA side.

New York racer Eric Bardekoff once again showed his prowess, as he qualified his Ford Mustang on the Edelbrock Renegade/Xtreme Street pole with a strong ET of 4.57 at 155.28 MPH. Sporting a new Whipple supercharger under the hood, Bardekoff powered to the finals where he found a familiar opponent in defending champion Joel Greathouse, who lit the red bulb and handed the victory to Bardekoff, who sailed to the win with a 4.58 at 155.93 mph.

Charlie Booze Jr. scored yet another NMRA win when he came up tops in G-Force Racing Transmissions Coyote Stock.

One of the most impressive performances of the event was turned in by Michigan’s Samantha Moore, who decided to switch combinations prior to this race. Moore’s former combo was penalized, so she switched to a ProCharger P-1X and a new intake and arrived at US 131 with no testing. Moore was strong out of the box, laying down an 8.38 at 65 MPH run to take the top spot in JDM Engineering Limited Street qualifying. Moore then tuned her Holley EFI and went all the way to the final round, where she bested Michael Lewandowski with an 8.42 at 165.81 MPH to his 8.92 at 151.62 MPH.

One of the crowd favorites is G-Force Transmissions Coyote Stock and it was Charlie Booze Jr. who took the pole with a 9.88 at 135.46 MPH. Shane Stymiest, who clicked off a 9.91 at 135.46 MPH qualified second and the pair worked their way through the field to meet in the final. Booze Jr. used a strong .011 reaction time and a 9.91 ET at 135.26 MPH to hold off Stymiest, who ran quicker (9.89 at 135.75 MPH), but was late with a .110 light.

Mark Anderson may have won Factory Stock, but John Leslie Jr. stole the show with a bumper-dragging wheelie.

Richmond Gear Factory Stock saw a battle of Two-Valve 4.6L Mustangs in the final, but it was Mark Anderson who came out on top. Anderson claimed the number-one qualifier position and took the win in his Fox Mustang. With every lap, he seemed to find additional performance and he saved the best for last, unleashing a 10.33 at 121 MPH in the final where he faced defending class champion John Leslie, Jr. Unfortunately for Leslie, Jr. his Mustang went sky high, causing him to abort the run.

It came down to the No.2 qualifier and the No.12 qualifier in Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle, but the higher qualifier prevailed. In a role reversal, Adam Cox was slow on the tree in the final and Matt Hargett took that edge all the way to the stripe for the win.

We saw this amazing 429 Cobra Jet-powered Torino running in the Factory Appearing Stock Tire category. It is incredible to see the kind of times these cars can lay down on skinny rubber!

ARP Open Comp is one of the most competitive NMRA categories, but Jason Henson of Florida stood the test of five rounds, making the final where he faced No.2 qualifier, Charlie McCulloch. Henson was .010 on the tree and ran 12.21 on a 12.20 to take the win in Michigan.

In Detroit Locker Truck & Lightning it was a clash of F-150 vs. Ranger as Mike Motyka squared off against Randy Conway in the final round. Though Conway qualified higher in the fourth spot, it was Motyka who got the jump at the tree and never looked back even though Conway ran right on top of his 10.27 index.

It’s always a tight battle in HP Tuners Super Stang and series defending champ Kevin McKenna, who qualified in the fourth spot with a .036 reaction time, made the final where he faced Rodney Ward. McKenna cut a better light but was unable to catch Ward, who won with a 12.83 on a 12.80 dial-in.

We spotted this 1979 Ford truck that was being raced by the grandson of the original owner. He told us the rust came from dust that exited the coal mine where his grandfather worked.

The street-legal set was booming at US 131 as the NMCA Torqstorm Superchargers/NMRA QA1 True Street was combined for one huge class. Holley NMRA Ford series drivers cleaned up, winning all the categories. Tim Flanders took top honors with his amazingly clean Foxbody that turned an 8.99 average. The Avalanche Gray 1986 Mustang GT is powered by a turbocharged Coyote engine and backed with an automatic. Former Pro Mod driver, Don Walsh Jr. piloted his amazing 2020 Shelby GT500 to a 9.6-second average, which is impressive for a mildly modified street car.

Other winning competitors included Matt Caldwell (9-second), Tyler Hassing (10-second), Cary Shotwell (11-second), Mike Baker (12-second), Rodney Ward (13-second), Ray Williams Sr. (14-second), and Dom Hoffman (15-second). Jager and Belcher took a cool $1,000 courtesy of Nitto Tire for running the company’s NT555RII drag radials out back. In Fastest Street Car Bracket Open, Stan Jones Jr. claimed the victory with a 5.57 on a 5.56 dial over Christine Kirbitz, who broke out with a 6.18 on a 6.19 dial.

Up next on the schedule is the Holley NMRA Ford Nationals drag racing series that will conclude at the Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals + Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival Presented by Competition Clutch at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. For more information and advance tickets, visit www.NMRAdigital.com/KY.